One of the welcomer features of the new Moynihan Train Hall, which opened January 1, 2021 in the former James Farley US Post Office distribution center, is the use of…
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My mission was simple in October 2018—I was going to walk the entire length of the Rockaway peninsula, from Riis Park all the way east to Far Rockaway. I nearly…
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These handsome lamps were standard issue in the 1950s for very specific purposes: they lit pedestrian walkways on expressways built during that decade. Poles very much like it can be…
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The Astoria Elevated runs from Queensboro Plaza north to Ditmars Boulevard on 31st Street; it has been here since 1917, and was originally run in an unusual joint operation by…
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Over on my Facebook page (you should try it — if you’re a Facebook subscriber, “friend me” — it’s 100% fun with no nastiness, politics and personal attacks) I occasionally…
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Central Flatbush, clustered around Flatbush and Church Avenues, boasts a number of historic buildings in a relatively small area, similar to other originally Dutch Colonial NYC towns like Flushing and…
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Danish-born crusading journalist and photographer Jacob Riis (1849-1914) made his home in Richmond Hill, Queens, beginning in 1886. In 1887, Riis photographed the squalid, inhumane conditions prevalent in New York City’s…
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The Yorkville Clock at 1501 3rd Avenue and East 85th Street has been here since 1898 — lasting an entire century and parts of two others. Like many other sidewalk clocks it originally…
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Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko isn’t the only Polish Revolutionary-era patriot honored with a bridge across Newtown Creek. Manhattan Avenue formerly connected with Vernon Avenue (now Boulevard) in Long Island City via a…
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Staten Island is calling. 2020 was the first year I didn’t set foot on the island of myth since Forgotten New York began “principal photography” in 1998. In fact I…
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From the NYC Municipal Archives, here’s a look at 71-66 Austin Street in Forest Hills which then housed a Womrath’s library. Since I remember Womrath’s in Bay Ridge as a…
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10th and Broadway in Williamsburg? You might think these signs would be found in the Union Square area, where East 10th and Broadway do intersect (at Grace Church, one of…