On Saturday night, I was walking through Astor Place past the iconic “Alamo” sculpture (aka The Big Black Cube That Has Never Actually Been Called The Alamo By Anyone Ever Other Than The Artist’s Wife Who Named It) when I noticed it looking distinctly Christmas Tree-ish: I crossed to the island, where something neat was…
While searching the NY Times archives recently, I stumbled on a bunch of amusing articles about New York City hauntings from the 1800’s. Today, a modern Times reporter would probably have to shake hands with a ghost before any such article would see print, but back then, superstitions ran high and articles on ghostly occurrences…
At the corner of Richmond Ave and Amsterdam Place on Staten Island… …is a decaying graveyard known as New Springville Cemetery: The deteriorating fence alone gives a pretty good indication of what awaits inside: The first section of the cemetery is in decent shape… As you make your way back, however, you soon come across…
Down among the industrial warehouses in Gowanus… …bordering on the canal… …is an old vacuum cleaner bag factory. Today, there’s something very special going on inside: This is the studio of artist Tom Otterness. Even if you don’t know the name, you’ve almost certainly run into Otterness’s sculptures on the streets of New York (or…
Spotted next to the Queensboro Bridge: Boring building… …Rock star door handles: Sort of makes up for it. -SCOUT
I swear I’ve gone by the Yakuel cab stand on 12th Street and the Queensboro Bridge a million times without ever looking inside. Other than the bright new paint job and the nice potted plants, it really doesn’t seem any different from most cab stands in this area of Queens. Except, the plants outside… …are…
From the ground, you’d never know there was anything special about the building at 409 East 60th Street… …but, as anyone who’s ever walked across the Queensboro Bridge knows, it has a pretty great rooftop secret… An abandoned rooftop greenhouse! And sadly, it won’t be around for much longer… The now-ruined skeleton covers the entire…
After watching the premiere of Boardwalk Empire last night, I was really excited to check out the Atlantic City set for myself, which was built in a parking lot in northern Greenpoint. A locations friend who lives in GP pointed me to a vacant lot on Commercial Street and Clay Street, and I hopped on…
Spotted on a wall in Williamsburg… -SCOUT
Over the past few months, I’ve been getting letters from readers about an abandoned school in Garden City, Long Island, called St. Paul’s, on the verge of being demolished. Last Friday, I hopped the train with my bike and camera to have a look for myself. It took less than five minutes to bike to…