nickcarr
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The Giant Tetris Game On Third Avenue
Last week, I was walking up Third Avenue near 22nd Street when I noticed something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before in New York… …an enormous, 21-story highrise that appears to have been built to accommodate a diminutive, three-story townhouse below. What bizarre parallel universe had I stumbled into?! Here’s a view from straight…
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Inside the Paramount Theatre, Shuttered For Over 25 Years
Whenever I drive down Bay Street in Staten Island… …I always wonder about the boarded-up movie theater between Union and Prospect. Shuttered for over 25 years, this was once the art deco Paramount Theatre, one of Staten Island’s grandest movie theaters. Built on the site of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s childhood farmhouse, the Paramount opened in October,…
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Searching For An Underground River in Morningside Heights
About a year ago, I got a letter from a reader about an underground river hidden somewhere in Morningside Heights: Years ago, I lived at [removed]. My father swore there was a stream running under a lot of the buildings there. I’m endlessly fascinated by Manhattan’s underground rivers. Once an island covered in streams, brooks,…
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The Mystery of the Hell’s Kitchen Ghost Sign
For the longest time, I’ve wondered about a mysterious ghost sign at the corner of 51st & Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen: If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a ghost sign is a sign left from a business that no longer exists. This one is for “Network – The Entertainment Company,” and it’s in such…