Category Archives: New York

Permanent Street Signs in New York

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Looking Above Street Level

There is nothing extraordinary about 1113 First Avenue, the building at the northwest corner of 61st Street and First Avenue. A late 19th century five story walk-up building with a restaurant at ground level. But if you look up to the corner between the second and third floors you will see the street name etched in stone and attached to the building, circled in red in the photo above.

The rectilinear street grid layout imposed upon Manhattan at the beginning of the nineteenth century assured the builder of this building that it would be located at 61st street and First Avenue seemingly forever.

Before the twentieth century street signs were not at every corner. There were in fact few street signs in New York and they were usually at major intersections or the nicer parts of town.  Continue reading →

New York City Middle Schools – As They Were Fifty Years Ago

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1961 Documentary – New York City Junior High Schools

The New York City Junior High Schools or Middle Schools as they are called now,  were once the breeding ground for a well-rounded education. My parents and grandparents were the products of the old New York City public school system and they never went to college. Yet they could read and understand Latin, had beautiful handwriting, could type, played and studied music and developed “the lifelong habit of turning to books for the information they needed.”

Brooklyn, NY Walt Whitman JHS 1961 Yearbook page

In 1961 students learned how to make things because the U.S.A. was still an industrial society and could actually design and manufacture useful products.

As shown in this 20 minute film, everyone learned about electricity, the elements of printing and participated in the novelty shop; where they could “build things for use and for pleasure.” There was what would now be termed sexism – girls learned millinery work, domestic arts, dressmaking, respect for manual labor and “neatness,” while boys learned the manly arts of metal, wood,  print, plastics and electrical wire. But up until the 1970’s gender work roles were applied in most of the fields of employment.

The children were taught “ideas and facts in citizenship, current affairs, history, geography, and government, to appreciate democratic ideals.”

Okay, maybe they were brainwashed.

But compared to today’s middle schools, they got a fine education. Continue reading →

New York in the 1920’s and 30’s as Seen by Luigi Kasimir

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Six Views of New York by Luigi Kasimir

In 2000 and 2001 Swann Galleries (a New York auction house) held New York City auctions.  All the items: books, posters, maps, ephemera, photographs, prints and art were related to the city. It was a great concept that they discontinued after 2001. It was at these auctions where I first encountered the art work of Luigi Kasimir.

Kasimir was born in 1881 in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and later came to New York where he repeatedly captured the architectural sights of the city. Today, Kasimir is best known for his detailed etchings, many of which were done in color, which apparently was not the norm for early 20th century etchings.  The New York Times distinguished Kasimir from other etchers of the time at a contemporary exhibition in 1926 by referring to him as a “colorist.” Continue reading →

Old New York in Postcards #3 – A Tale of Three Buildings: Franconi’s Hippodrome, The Fifth Avenue Hotel & The Fifth Avenue Building

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A Tale of Three Buildings: Franconi’s Hippodrome, The Fifth Avenue Hotel & The Fifth Avenue Building a.k.a. The Toy Center

The west side of Fifth Avenue between 23rd and 24th streets had been country land well into the middle of the 19th century. The land for many years had been occupied by a quaint tavern and horse changing station.

Franconi’s Hippodrome- Fifth Avenue 23rd -24th Streets (click to enlarge)

On this site in March 1853, Henri Franconi, a European from a long line of equestrian performers, arranged with investors to have an amphitheater built which was then called Franconi’s Hippodrome. This precursor of the modern day circus with performers, animals and chariot races was housed in a large structure shaped like an ellipse and was 338  feet by 196 1/2 feet that could seat 10,000 people and was covered by a red, white and blue canvas supported by a center pole 70 feet in height and a circle of smaller poles 40 feet in height.

It opened on Monday, May 2, 1853, and The New York Daily Times was not impressed with the class of people attending the Hippodrome shows. Attendees they said “…were blacklegs, gamblers, rowdies, and the miscellanea of polite roguery and blackguardism.”  The reporter added “The Hippodrome is badly conducted and Continue reading →

The Coney Island of Yesteryear – The Original Coney Island, Luna Park and Steeplechase Park In A Vintage Film

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Coney Island in the Late 1930’s Early 40’s

Coney Island Luna Park entrance 1942On so many levels this is extraordinary. The time is somewhere between 1937 & 1941 based upon the rides shown at Luna Park at Coney Island. The original Luna Park closed in 1944.

When I first saw this film I re-watched it three times. What would it be like to experience the original Luna Park? This film gives you an idea.

Where is the time machine?

Old New York in Photos #10 – Rapid Transit 1905

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Crosstown Rapid Transit, 1905, New York City


It probably made the crosstown trip faster than we currently do.

I like the sign in the background – Milk, Cider, Cream Soda, Buttermilk, Lemonade 3¢.

And I  love old handwriting:

Tuesday A.M. Dear Mamma, What do you think of this for rapid N.Y.  Please send my letters to Aunt Emma’s. Came Monday, will write to-day Love, Evan(?)

According to Appleton’s Dictionary of New York in 1905, there were 7-8  mail deliveries per day and the postal service made a profit. Continue reading →

The Death of New York Rock Radio

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WRXP-FM (101.9) Becomes All News WEMP-FM

Commercial FM album rock radio is dead. Period.

That slow death began when WPLJ-FM flipped to CHR in 1983. It has been in a steady decline since then. The WRXP-FM flip to all news in August confirms that no station programmer can succeed in New York in the capturing of a dedicated rock listening audience large enough to satisfy the bosses.  These behemoth, chain radio station owners care about three things and they are: ad dollars, ratings and demographics.

The remaining rock commercial stations in the tri-state area: WAXQ-FM (NYC Classic Rock) , WBAB-FM (Long Island Rock) and WDHA-FM (Dover, NJ Rock) play the same rotation of old songs, with few new artists mixed in, so how is that going to attract new listeners? Satellite radio (narrowcasting), ipods and streams have hastened that death.

But the real underlying reason is, is that kids are not being introduced to rock n’ roll for the most part, except through the few parents who know how important it is to explore music with their children. Otherwise they will listen to the junk that all their friends listen to. Rock n’ roll has lost a generation of listeners that I fear cannot be recovered. The few young people who do listen to rock, are the exception.