Nothing annoys me more than scouting New York for an Ext. Dank Alley scene. For some reason (probably because of the movies!), everyone thinks of Manhattan as a city riddled with dark, grungy, dilapidated, smokey alleys that New Yorkers are constantly walking down and getting themselves into trouble in. The truth is, of course, that…
Each time I walk down East 43rd Street, I expect it to have been torn down: A beautiful Italianate marble building, 4 East 43rd Street has to be one of the few abandoned properties in Midtown. Nestled in amongst the skyscrapers adjacent to Grand Central, it has been decaying since I began my location scouting…
Walking west on 12th Street from 3rd Ave, you probably wouldn’t give it a second glance: a stone church located midway down the block. Coming from the opposite direction, however, you might notice something decidedly wrong with it. In short, the church has no…church. While this isn’t a secret to most New Yorkers, the remnants…
I was walking north of 21st Street on Tenth Avenue when I noticed something odd… …A pair of stones, each about three feet high and set into the concrete. Strange, and none of the surrounding establishments (an auto repair place, a restaurant) seemed associated with them. I turned onto West 22nd Street and found that…
Dear Scout – Love your site! I’ll be visiting Manhattan for the first time in a few weeks, but I’ll only be in town for a few days. Can you offer any advice on what to see/do in my short time there? Thanks! – A Frequent Reader Every week, I receive a number of emails…
Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about my favorite building in midtown, this chopped-in-half brownstone at 19 W 46th Street. The other day, I got a note that a Lego fan had built a Lego version of the building based on my pictures! Great job! Most of the time, a building this quirky…
By the time I got there, it was gone. The World’s Fair, you ask? Nope. I am referring to something far more unbelievable… That’s right: Queens once had an honest-to-God Parks Department-approved fountain named “Fountain of the Planet of the Apes.” And if that’s not odd enough, an identical fountain on the opposite side of…
Staring down 54th Street from 31st Ave in Woodside, Queens, a street lined with boxy brick apartments and a scant bit of foliage, one would not expect to find one of the oldest cemeteries in New York nestled in amongst the buildings… But there it is, halfway down the block: the Moore-Jackson Cemetery, founded in…
I must have walked past the entrance to Marble Cemetery on Second Ave (btw. 2nd & 3rd Sts.) countless times before I first noticed its existence (and I’m guessing I’m not the only one). Sandwiched between two buildings is this iron gate (technically 41 1/2 Second Ave), which is locked 99% of the year. Even…
A few weeks ago, I wrote about PS 110, an elementary school located just south of the Williamsburg Bridge… …whose roof is lined with a number of really great stone owls (a parliament of owls, to use the correct phrasing!). I notice the owls every time I cross the Williamsburg Bridge, and I mentioned in…