Category Archives: New York

Old New York In Photos #199 – Luna Park Coney Island 1915

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Entrance To Luna Park 1915

This magic lantern slide is from about 1915 and shows the ornate entrance to Coney Island’s Luna Park. Along with George C. Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park (opened 1897) and Dreamland (1904) , Luna Park (1903) was one of the big three Coney Island amusement attractions at the turn of the century. Luna’s founders,  Frederic Thompson and Elmer “Skip” Dundy took over Sea Lion Park which opened in 1895.

Dreamland was destroyed by fire in 1911. Luna Park would suffer a similar fate on August 12, 1944. Steeplechase shut down in 1964.

Having never been to Steeplechase or Luna Park I can only relate the tales of my grandparents who describe old Coney Island as a crowded, glorious pageant of exciting and colorful sights, unique smells and sounds that Continue reading →

Why I Don’t Eat At Fast Food Restaurants

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I Prefer To Eat At Home Because….

I prepare my own food.

Maybe the food was contaminated before it came to me. But I have no vermin or roaches in my house. I keep my home clean. And I prepare food safely.

Unfortunately that is not the case for many eateries. And I don’t know the true cleanliness of most establishments, regardless of the letter rating restaurants are given to display in their windows.

This observation about health code violations should not be confined to fast food restaurants. I was eating at a fine steak restaurant in lower Manhattan when a mouse ran across my foot. So the notion that vermin only stake out fast food restaurants is not true.

But how does something like this occur? This tidbit is  from the West Side Rag –

Subway, the fast food sandwich chain’s location at 2508 Broadway (between West 93rd and West 94th streets), was shut down by the health department on August 13th after 63 violations were found upon inspection. Violations include: live roaches, filth, flies and pests in food and non-food areas, and failure to follow temperature control regulations for food. The full report can be found here. This is the second time this summer the Subway location was ordered to close after inspection; the first was on July 2nd, with 60 violations.

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Old New York In Photos #198 – Brooklyn Bridge c.1890

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Brooklyn Bridge Walkway & Elevated Trains

This magic lantern slide view of the Brooklyn Bridge is from around 1890.

On the right is a train and on the left we can get a glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge shuttle station. Trolleys and horse drawn vehicles are on the outer roadways as  pedestrians cross the span on the bridge’s central walkway.

At first Continue reading →

The Unbuilt Lower Manhattan Dock Complex – 1922

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Gigantic, Never Built Dock Buildings Along The Hudson

Originally this illustration appeared in the January 26, 1922 issue of The New York Times Mid-Week Pictorial magazine. We colorized this birdseye view of The Battery showing lower Manhattan crowded with ships and skyscraper buildings.

It also shows something that never came to be.

On the left is a series of uniform buildings stretching along the Hudson River waterfront. Today this area is the site of Battery Park City.

The Times description Continue reading →

New York City Taxis Of The 1920s & 1930s

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The Taxi Cabs Of New York City Of The 1920s & 1930s

At the turn-of-the century, New York City had over a million horses serving the public.  That situation was greatly affected by the arrival of automobiles. By the 1920s there were few horse drawn carriages still transporting people to their destinations. Along with the subway and buses, the taxi / auto industry had taken the horse’s place.

So what did these early taxi cabs look like? Below are some examples.

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Old New York In Photos #197 – 23rd Street Before The Metropolitan Life Tower

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Metropolitan Life Insurance Building & 23rd Street – 1900

This Detroit Publishing Company photograph is from 1900. We are looking east along 23rd Street.  The corner of Madison Avenue and Madison Square Park is visible on the left.

The 11-story building completed in 1893 is the home office of The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

To the left of Metropolitan Life is the Madison Square Presbyterian Church. The church was led from 1880-1918 by Dr. Charles Parkhurst, a vocal foe Continue reading →

Turning Immigrant Children Into Good Americans – 1893

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Indoctrinating Young Immigrants To Be Patriotic

Independence Day Celebration

A Short Article From The New York Evening World July 3, 1893

Immigrant street scene with patriotic children NYC circa 1916

CHEERED LIKE AMERICANS

Independence Day Exercises at
the Baron de Hirsch School.

Little immigrants Show the Results
of Patriotic Training.

Four hundred and fifty very bright-looking little boys and girls, children of Russian Hebrew Immigrants and pupils of the English day classes of the Baron de Hirsch fund school, this morning commemorated Independence Day at the Hebrew Institute, East Broadway and
Jefferson street.

The exercises were simple, but full of patriotism, and gave ample evidence of the wisdom of that part of the curriculum introduced by Auditor Balch, of the Board of Education, which relates to the inculcation of sentiments of love for “Old Glory” and the country over which it floats. Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #196 – Union Square East 1905

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Union Square 14th Street & 4th Avenue 1905

We are looking east along 14th Street towards Fourth Avenue. There are al least 50 people in the background, but the sparsity of pedestrians and traffic in this usually very busy area indicates that this was probably taken on a Sunday morning.

The seven small buildings between 14th and 15th Streets feature advertising of the day.

With street scenes as this, establishing a date is as simple as looking at the surroundings. Continue reading →

The Cost Of Living In New York City In 1921

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In 1921 The Annual Cost Of Living In New York For Working Men & Women Was Just Over $1,000

A Family Of Five –  $2,263

Moving and searching for a new apartment illustration Eldon Kelley, New York Herald

For several weeks The New York Times has been running a column on the weekend “Affording New York.’

The headlines show there is a wide range of what is considered affordable in order to live in New York City.

Some of the recent articles hidden behind the Times paywall are :”How a Geologist Lives on $200,000 in Bushwick, Brooklyn.”  “How a Florist Lives on $23,000 a Year in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.” And “How an Artist Lives on $36,000 a Year on the Upper West Side” These articles elaborate on how people cope with the cost of living.

105 years ago in 1921 Dr. William Mosher of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, conducted an exhaustive study of the cost of living in New York.

What Dr. Mosher found was that a male clerk could subsist well on $1,093 Year, while a single woman would need $1,118.

The study of minimum quantity and cost budgets made by Dr. Mosher was primarily dealing Continue reading →