West Brighton

In November 2021 it occurred to me that I had never walked the full length of Forest Avenue in Staten Island. I embarked on it, but did about half, getting…

The Gardiner Tyler Mansion, 27 Tyler Avenue between Bement Avenue and Clove Road, was constructed circa 1835 when most of the surrounding region consisted of farms and fields. President John Tyler’s…

“Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last…

The north shore of Staten Island is a fairly Godforsaken place. There, I have said it. It does have its moments, and we saw most of them on a ForgottenTour…

I did a thorough survey of Staten Island’s Tompkinsville and Stapleton, especially Van Duzer Street, in December 2010 (to match my earlier page on the gorgeous homes of St. Paul’s…

Staten Island’s surviving Broadway is one of the main north-south streets of West New Brighton, running from Clove Road at St. Peter’s Cemetery generally north to Richmond Terrace. I say…

Your webmaster would have to say that October, and even November, are my favorite times of year for picture taking. For one thing, those months contain my favorite weather, with a…

EDGED as it is between the Russian delis and nightclubs of Brighton Beach, the colonial houses and cemeteries of Gravesend, and the sideshow freaks, kiddie rides and mermaids of Coney Island, West Brighton doesn’t get a…

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…

Still thriving between St. George and Tottenville, the Staten Island Railway, a subway in everything but name that extends from St. George Ferry to Tottenville, was once much more extensive.…