Making up somewhat for previous oversights, I invaded Chinatown in February in search of ancient laneways that contain hidden architectural “Easter eggs” and traces of long-vanished neighborhoods. I’d be remiss…

I had gone past Claremont Terrace thousands of times — literally –without giving it a second thought about what it was. It’s an alley that is hidden along another dead…

For such a huge city, NYC is short on roadside oddities. You know, like the World’s Biggest Lightbulb in Menlo Park NJ, or the Big Duck of Flanders, NY in Suffolk County, or the Paul…

ForgottenFan Victoria and I were on Cherokee Place (I’ll let you rack your brains for a minute to figure out where that is) and East 77th and 78th Streets in spring…

Your webmaster will admit it. When I lived in Brooklyn (1957-1993) I really never had all that much to do with Ocean Avenue, and it’s still by and large an avenue…

Who was “Great Scott,” anyway? Which Scott was it? Most pundits have come to the conclusion that it was none other than General Winfield Scott of the Mexican and Civil Wars,…

When “Charlotte Street” is mentioned, anyone in NYC over age 40 can remember the two words with dread, remembering the dead landscape full of burned, crumbling buildings visited by President Jimmy…

While it seems at times that Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens are dominated by unimaginative street names… numbers, letters… in actuality vast swaths in all 4 boroughs are still dominated by…

It was 20 years ago (as I write in 2008) that the Williamsburg Bridge was shut down briefly as the then-85 year old bridge was discovered to have serious structural damage,…

Both the MTA and the weathermen blew it on Saturday, April 5th, 2008–the MTA because it usually does, cancelling LIRR trains for trackwork from Shea Stadium to Woodside, and the weathermen,…

Tompkins Square Park, a green oasis in the East Village between East 7th and East 10th Streets and Avenues A and B, has always been an open space in this part…

Fiske Terrace is one of the beautiful neighborhoods south of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, that includes Caton Park, Prospect Park South, Beverley Squares East and West and Ditmas Park, with block after…