Van Cortlandt Park

Continued from Part 1 I’m continuing my “Under the El” series, which recently visited 31st Street in Astoria, with a walk under Manhattan’s last remaining el, which continues on as…

Only a few horse troughs, or drinking fountains, remain around town. I’ve noted ones placed by The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and funded by Edith…

There’s a park trail in Van Cortlandt Park that was once a railroad. It can be reached by walking east through the park directly from the W 242nd Street stop on…

Heavy snow in NYC winters is unpredictable.  A series of winters with little snow can be followed by years of blizzardy winters.  But a fearsome, freak blizzard in early March 1888…

In Country Days in New York City, author Divya Summers describes this old commuter line that is now used for another purpose: The Old Putnam Railroad Track, a defunct railroad bad…

In New York City, between the golden age of cast-iron lampposts, approximately 1895 and 1950, and prior to the brave new world of green-white fluorescent bulbs (which held sway between…

Once upon a time, New York City avenues were dominated by a long-armed, chocolate-colored cast-iron pole that my fellow lamppost maven Jeff Saltzman (whose site you can reach here) calls…

There are still a few of them left and some are actually working. “Crescent moon” style luminaires, called “crescents” because of their shape, were in vogue from the mid-40s until…