Lillian Edelstein, 2F
Lillian Edelstein, a self-described “housewife,” became the leader of the East Tremont Neighborhood Association and kept up a valiant fight against Robert Moses and the Cross Bronx Expressway.
A Bronx de Chirico
I chose this photograph for the strangeness of the long, sloping, vanishing building, which makes me think of Giorgio de Chirco’s Mystery and Melancholy of a Street.
Two East Tremont buildings
Two of the East Tremont buildings destroyed to make way for the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Playground design
In the Robert Moses universe, playground design allowed for little variation.
Just some guys hanging out?
285 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Another disappearing pharmacy
Another Third Avenue pharmacy torn down for the Gowanus Parkway.
Nothing orange can stay
New York City subway cars will be losing their orange and yellow seats in 2025 . Replacing them: blue and yellow seats.
There is no there there
This building, at the southeast corner of 46th Street and 3rd Avenue, was one of many that were destroyed to make room fo Robert Caro’s Gowanus Parkway.
Dr. Max Korowitz
The druggist whose pharmacy was torn down to make room for the Gowanus Parkway. A 1936 Brooklyn Eagle article.
“NO FOOD FINER”
The Diner, “No Food Finer.”
New York words
Sliding pond.
Clarkson Diner
If you click for the larger view, you can see a Bell Telephone sign, a Schaefer Beer sign, the name Clarkson, and several blurry pedestrians.
T SIDE and WEST SID
I chose these photographs for the signage and for the fellow who appears to be iceskating his way into the frame.
Chamois chop suey
It’s like something from the world of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer.
Needle & Thread Grill
With spindles, a spinning wheel, and a loom (?) in the window.
Zoom!
I found this photograph by chance (swear), closing my eyes and clicking the mouse. Was the photographer more deliberate, wanting to catch this car in motion? Or did the driver just zoom into the frame?
Kids making the scene
What happened one day on 38th Street: those three kids followed the photographers down (or up) the block. These kids would not be denied, though I doubt that anyone was trying to deny them.
Ladies & Gents Restaurant
In Manhattan, next to the Fat Men’s Shop.
Jack’s Diner
I like seeing a diner wherever there’s space for one.
Recently updated
The House of Pets, now with added mayhem.
Animal house
Walk down Flatbush Avenue from (what I’ve dubbed) the Leaning Tower of Brooklyn, and you woul have found The House of Pets, aka Altman’s Long Island Bird Store. With scenes of animal mayhem.
Eric Adams, defending himself
Trumpian narcissism and victimhood.
The Leaning Tower of Brooklyn
The camera angle makes this corner look like the Leaning Tower of Brooklyn, but in truth it’s the tip of an triangle bounded by Flatbush Avenue (to the left), Ashland Place (to the right), and Lafayette Avenue (out of sight).
Recently updated
Another Hopper Zippy.
Just some diner?
A diner, a delivery truck, a radio show.
Neon in semi-daylight
4920 New Utrecht Avenue: I chose this photograph for its neon in semi-daylight, vivid in the shadow of the El. The band of light between the El and the buildings looks itself a bit like neon, or at least like fluorescence.
Empire of signs
In Columbus Circle.
Recently updated
A lost Clipper: now with 1950s film footage of the strangely shallow building on Doyers Street.
A lost Clipper
The China Clipper Restaurant and the mysterious disappearance of its owner.
A New Utrecht address
I wonder if anyone who isn’t reading this post knows of the tragedy that visited this address just over a century ago.