This is Hempstead House today: In comparison, the below picture was taken in 1940, shortly after Hempstead became a home for refugee children from England, who had been sent to the US because of World World II. The caption reads: “Huntsmen three play safari in the jungle that once composed the formal garden. Pith helmets…
When you own an enormous castle like the one pictured below, and it’s only used to house your servants and horses… …you’re living in a world few of us can imagine. Castle Gould, based on Kilkenny Castle in Ireland, is located in Sands Point, NY (about 45 minutes from the city), on property once owned…
This is the third-floor hallway of an abandoned orphanage. Opened in 1940 to house English children orphaned because of World War II, it continued operating until the mid-1960’s. Now, bedrooms that once housed dozens of orphans at a time, pictured above and below, are empty and forgotten, and have been for over 40 years. The…
The Jericho Turnpike, cutting east-west through Long Island, is pretty much a wasteland of strip malls, corporate office parks, and fast food chains… …and the last place you’d expect to find anything of historical or cultural value is in the parking lot of a Home Depot. I think that’s what makes this place so great….
Two of my favorite ruins in Manhattan can be found partially submerged in the Hudson River, overshadowed by the nearby West Side Highway and row of ugly, bland Trump apartment high rises. They’re certainly not secrets to anyone who’s ever walked through Riverside Park, but I recently scouted them as backdrops for a film, and…
On two different movies I’ve scouted for recently, I was asked to find a genuine “occult store.” Of course, by occult, they actually mean cliched movie magic shop ala the curio shop in Gremlins. Sadly, the reality is that such shops SIMPLY DO NOT EXIST. Literally, there is not a single store in New York…
I think this is quite possibly my favorite road sign in New York: You can find this decaying sign on Seagirt Boulevard just before you cross the bridge to Atlantic Beach in south Queens. But the real question is: what the heck does this sign mean? You’re already in the middle of New York when…
I’m always on the lookout for the remnants of old storefronts. You can pretty much find them in any residential area that has gone through a period of economic decline, and Williamsburg is no exception. One in particular I’ve always wondered about is at the corner of North 5th Street and Berry Street… Now boarded…
If you believe Hollywood, every single college lecture hall in New York City looks like the one below: Rows of individual wooden desks and tiered seating… …an enormous wood-framed green chalkboard with sliding panels for additional writing space… …a wood-paneled front desk for the lecturer… …and even one of those little doors that swings back…
I saw the coolest thing as I was driving over the Williamsburg Bridge the other day… Above this building at the end of Delancey Street… I noticed a huge flock of birds circling overhead…Except, they never left the area. They just kept circling, and it soon became clear they were following something… That’s when I…