A foray into what was formerly called “South Brooklyn” when it was actually the southern end of the City of Brooklyn before it absorbed the rest of Kings County and…
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AUGUST is the month of my birth. I breathed my first in Maimonides Hospital, a now-sprawling complex between 9th Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway, 48th and 49th Streets in Borough Park,…
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A few years ago, I reached into the archives to feature a photo from 1932 featuring a sign pointing to Glenn Curtiss Airfield, which is now the mighty LaGuardia Airport.…
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THERE are multiple numbered street intersections in NYC where each cross street has the same number. Maspeth, Queens is the most egregious example, with multiple intersections of 59 and 59,…
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HOW the mighty have fallen! The former United National Bank of Long Island at 101st Avenue and 95th Street is now used as a 99-cent store. Amazingly, it has retained…
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A look at any picture book of old Brooklyn will show you that Fulton Street from about 1850 all the way to about 1950 was the pre-eminent street of the…
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Is there anyplace more inviting than a classic railroad-car diner? It’s a matter of taste of course, in more ways than one. I’d eat in one every day, but my cholesterol…
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FALCONRY is the art of training birds of prey to catch game (in which they are instinctually adept) and bring them back to the trainer, or falconer. Small game such…
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SITUATED at a bend on Hillside Avenue on the border of Jamaica Hills is a hidden war memorial that wasn’t always as clandestinely placed as it is today. On a…
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OAK Street is just one of Greenpoint’s “alphabetical” streets, that begin with Ash and end with Quay; the L street’s place is taken by Greenpoint Avenue and the P by…
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THERE are two monuments to famed 19th Century preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) in the Boro Hall — Brooklyn Heights area, the one seen here and one at Beecher’s church,…
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SYLVAN” is an adjective that means “woodsy” or “like a forest” and there are three uptown alleys named “Sylvan”: Sylvan Court and Sylvan Place, which are on East 121st Street…