The loss of several hundred photos shot in 2013 because of a hard drive incident has forced me to go deep into the ForgottenArchives, and so I fished out this…

Street signs in Philadelphia are maintained by the Traffic and Street Lighting Unit of the Philadelphia Streets Department, just as NYC’s Department of Transportation does.   The predominant Philly street sign…

His biographers say that Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t particularly care for NYC (or the East Coast for that matter), and he produced only one major work in the five boroughs:…

Glen Campbell Road, in the northwest Philadelphia Roxborough neighborhood, isn’t named for the country music singer of “Galveston” and “Wichita Lineman” fame. It’s nested amidst a number of streets with…

In a super-rare occurrence, a Chelsea business has rid itself of  a newer sign in favor of an older one that had been hidden for years. This laundromat at 9th…

I felt like getting out of town for awhile. Now, for some people that means a couple of weeks in Italy, or perhaps Vienna with a side trip to Macchu…

I think humanity is alone in the universe, which for me doesn’t cause anomie, just disappointment. At age 55 I already feel cheated that half of things are over with,…

For the most part, Manhattan and even most of the other NYC boroughs have eradicated their alleys. On an island, real estate is in short supply and there isn’t room…

Though standard Philadelphia street signs are green on white, 4-sided and trapezoidal with room at the top of the sign for the cross street, Philly has never been as fanatical…

In Boston, subway and surface lines are identified by color: red, blue, green and orange. Recently, an express bus system was implemented, known as the silver line. Lines can be…

Stamped-metal sign commemorating Andrew F. Hayes, who was killed during World War I, at Tremont and Parker Streets in Roxbury, Boston. I’ve become fascinated with these signs, which can be…

Walk past most police precincts in New York City, and you will notice that almost inevitably the entrances are lit by a pair of lamps mounted on each side of…