Sunset Park’s Chinatown has one crucial bit of infrastructure, and you might walk right by it: the 8th Avenue (at 62nd Street) subway station, a low-slung, washed-out, pigeon roost that could pass for an old bathhouse at a city beach but for the yellow-circled “N” out front...
The Dutch & the English, Part 2: A Wall by Any Other Name
In 1653, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam built a fortification along the northern edge of the town, running from the Hudson River (today's Greenwich Street) to the East River (then lapping at Pearl Street). Eventually the English captured the city, and named the street that ran along that old fortification Wall Street. But what did the Dutch call it?
Sunset Park: On the Avenue, 5th Avenue…
The Dutch & the English, Part 1: Good Fences, a History of Wall Street
Sunset Park: Here Were...
Hall of Records: Where Brilliancy Is Necessary
It’s a fairly regular occurrence for me to walk out of our Municipal Archives offices on the first floor and see a group of people standing in the vestibule of the building, craning their necks as they point to the ceiling, mouths agape. I’m not surprised when this happens; after over five years of working at 31 Chambers Street, I still find myself doing exactly the same thing...