HIDDEN histories abound in New York City’s street names. In Gravesend, a one-block street, Boynton Place, connects West 7th Street and Avenue X between 86th Street and the MTA’s Coney…

Why would there be a Toledo Court at 92-30 56th Avenue in Elmhurst, adjacent to Elmhurst Park and close by Queens Center Mall? The answer, it would seem, is that…

I am having a hernia fixed on Monday, September 18, so will be taking a few days off from Forgotten NY and “real work” for rest and recuperation. Post-op, my…

TODAY’S view in older Queens takes us back to 1937 and this view of Saultell Avenue looking north toward Corona Avenue/111th Street, with the still undeveloped Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in…

EAST Flatbush and Flatlands comprise block upon block of neat, well-kept detached homes, with an occasional shopping strip and apartment building for contrast. Its southern flank, Mill Basin, was the…

BEFORE the land between Elmhurst and Flushing was developed in the 1850′s, there were only a dozen families living in the area. From the highest point on a hill 108…

In the early 1920s, in addition to assigning the majority of streets numbers and creating a unique hyphenated house numbering method, the Queens Topographical Bureau also designated several major routes…

I always liked the song “I’ve Been Everywhere”; its most famous versions are by Johnny Cash and Hank Snow. More than 131 versions exist adapted from the Australian original with…

MIDAFTERNOON shadows make it tough to get a good picture of the old St. Ann’s Parochial School on East 11th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues. One of two reminders of…

In the colonial era, the neighborhood now known as Maspeth, Queens was the site of the home of a prominent canal builder, De Witt Clinton, who held nearly every available…

THIS auto collision repair shop at #1552 McDonald Avenue near Avenue M in Midwood likely does not have a proprietor named Culver. Instead, it is found under the only elevated…

IT’S been awhile since I’ve mentioned the Seaman Estate Arch in Inwood, or even been in Inwood, so I’ll just feature it today for those who are some what new…