I was plodding along West 23rd Street west of 5th Avenue in June 2024 when I spotted something curious. Over the past 20 years, a new species of lamppost has been seen on NYC streets, officially called the City Light pole. It was the winner of a design competition held in 2004 for a new design for NYC lampposts, to supplant the dominant octagonal-shafted poles. That never happened, but City Lights, with its cylindrical shaft and unusual mastarm with LED lamps arranged on the bottom, can be seen in various locales around town; a flock of them was installed on 23rd Street and Essex Street downtown a few years ago. I call them the “harpoons” as I think the guy wire arrangement, which seems to be solely decorative, reminds me of a fish and whale catching projectile.
This one, though, is different from the others. At some point something happened to the “harpoon” and the Department of Transportation had to scramble and improvise, as apparently no new “harpoons” were available.
|
|
|
|
|
A more conventional arrangement was arrived at, as a short mastarm with an LED fixture was placed atop the shaft. City Lights posts appear odd to me, as they seem to have necks but no “heads.” At least this compromise has a head on it.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site. Take a look at the new JOBS link in the red toolbar at the top of the page on the desktop version, as I also get a small payment when you view a job via that link.
8/20/24
1 comment
The City Light fixture is made by Cooper Lighting. Here is their video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqs-UX8T9vs . My uncle also thinks the City Light fixtures are weird. The one with the normal LED fixture is made by Cree Lighting and is called the Cree XSP2.