WHILE traipsing the northern leg of the High Line recently I noticed something interesting about the green Corvington streetlamps along the West Side Highway, officially called West Street here, but also known as the Joe DiMaggio Highway (though I haven’t been able to spot a sign with that name). For one thing, they’re a dull green color; as a rule, NYC’s retro Corvs, bishop crooks, etc. are painted black, and back in the day the originals were a a dark chocolate brown color. Long ago, I read under what circumstances the retros are colored green (perhaps a Parks Department administration?) but I can’t locate the info at present.
The West Side Highway has always used unique lighting, from the weird 1930s zigguratted fixtures on the 1930s elevated highway, to the supertall 25-foot poles that carried General Electric M1000 fixtures in the 1980s and 1990s after the elevated highway structure was razed, to the current flock of Corvs that went up in the 2000s.
I noticed a bit of detail on this pole (and probably all the others along the highway) I’d previously missed. There’s a tulip at the top, on the finial! Older classic Corvs, and likely the early retros, had small knobs or perhaps acorns, but here, we see tulips, probably a nod to the Netherlands, as the Dutch were NYC’s first permanent European residents.
Super Seventies: West Side Highway
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4/22/25
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There is a sign for the Joe DiMaggio Highway on the southbound portion of the roadway at approximately West 64th Street.
That “tulip” holds the twist lock receptacle used for the photoelectric control. Photoelectric controls are not used for installations like the West Side Highway where the lights are controlled from a centrally located supply. Since the DOT has been installing Fisher Pierce controls which are black it is difficult to spot the controls in the tulips. Where the older orange Southconn/Ripley controls are still in place they are easier to spot. The controls are easiest to spot where the led fire alarm indicator in installed, such as on both poles at the intersection of Broadway and 37th Street in Astoria.