In Manhattan, there are a pair of “mystery poles” that continue to flummox and vex me, as no satisfactory identification of their purpose seems imminent. This one can be found…

I don’t have too much to say about this 5-story walkup building at #105 Broad Street, corner of Water, in the Financial District except to say it’s unusual for the…

THERE was a time when Blimpie ruled the roost as far as fast food submarine sandwiches (known by a variety of names elsewhere in the country) in the New York…

LEHIGH Valley Barge Number 79, a 30’x90’ railroad barge built in 1914 with a wood exterior, is the last of its kind still in existence. During New York’s era as…

In New York City, the smallest possible number you can get when adding the numbers of both cross streets that have numbers is two, in the East Village, where First…

THOUGH NYC divested itself of most of its colonial-era “royal” names after defeating the British in the Revolutionary War, there are a few that doggedly hang on, sich as Prince Street…

THE name Russell Sage pops up in two disparate areas in Queens that otherwise have nothing to do with the other. The doyenne of Far Rockaway churches is the Russell…

In Bayside Hills, a neighborhood in Queens south of Northern Boulevard bordering Bayside to kits north, 48th Avenue splits in two at 216th Street, with the right side curving to…

JUST for fun, I dragged my H.G. Wells Time Machine out of the closet for another spin. It’s always tricky to travel into the past because the least little thing…

MAJOR General Franz Sigel (1824-1902) overlooks Riverside Drive at West 106th Street. Sigel, born in Baden, Germany, served in the German military until 1852, when he emigrated to the US,…

On a recent jaunt in Borough Park, I strolled over to Alben Square, where New Utrecht Avenue meets 11th Avenue and 46th Street, to check out the old Loew’s 46th…

COOGAN’S Bluff is the cliff leading down to the Harlem River from Edgecombe Avenue. It used to overlook the Polo Grounds, the ballpark home of the New York Giants, and…