In December 2021, when I squeezed off this shot, I was risking life and limb. Well, maybe not life, but certainly limb. That’s because that month, speeding bicycles still ruled the right Manhattan-bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge plank walkway, and racing bicyclists used it cheek by jowl with strollers, or, as the bicyclists termed them, “clueless tourists.” Fortunately, about a year later, a traffic lane was turned over to the bicyclists. In my bicycling heyday, 1970s through 1990s, I did not bicycle the BB often, but bikes were slowed down. by the presence of stairways around the brick towers which have since been removed. In that era, the bridge was not nearly as clogged with out of towners and strollers. I worked nights and only once did I bike from Bay Ridge to the midtown (45th Street) type shop where I worked via the BB; it was too onerous so I switched back to the mugger-moving subway in the wee hours as before.
I have walked the BB since, and while I’m thankful I didn’t have to deal with bicycles anymore, the pedestrian walk is still clogged by vendors, especially near City Hall on the Manhattan side. Pedestrians are lowest in the pecking order and their needs and desires are an afterthought. [See Comments: the vendors are banned, apparently, and that may be an assignment this weekend to check that out]
The lampposts on the walkway have had basically the same design, at least the hooded apices, since the bridge opened in 1883. In those days, Mr. Edison’s harnessing of electricity was not as pervasive as it would soon become and the lamps were gaslit. There are ladder rests on the shafts to accommodate the lamplighters. I’m not sure when the switch was made, but the poles were electrified (some years ago, their photocells activated them automatically at dusk). When I first encountered them in the 1960s, the poles held incandescent “gumball” fixtures. However: the bases were not nearly as ornate as you see here.
The more elaborate bases came along when the lamps were replaced in the 1980s and the lamp fixtures became yellow sodium, which themselves have been replaced now by bright white LEDs. I wish I knew more about Brooklyn Bridge lighting; it’s an aspect I haven’t seen touched upon by anyone but me.
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8/6/24
4 comments
Vendors on the pedestrian walk were finally banned as of January 2024. The ban is enforced by several police officers that patrol the bridge daily.
When we were kids we often had the bridge to ourselves.No one ever walked on it,it seemed,it was
just cheaper and easier to take the subway for 15 cents if you wanted to cross the river
I think the 1980 transit strike reawakened people’s awareness and interest in walking across the BB. I remember in the 70’s it was one of the nice, quiet, kind of “secret” NY things which I enjoyed doing and showing to out-of-town visitors….(kind of like the South Street Seaport in those days….)
Thank you for sharing this! I have sweet memories of my parents & I walking on this beautiful bridge . It was Easter, 1954 . I was about 5 years old , and everyone was dressed up . My wonderful Dad was the hardworking superintendent of our apartment building, at 128 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. We had the below-street apartment.I loved when he could get some time off work to be with us. For my 75 th birthday & our 50th wedding anniversary in April, my husband & I visited NYC & strolled across my beautiful bridge ❤️