Manhattan
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Travel the World by Sea or Air
On 8th Ave btw. 39th and 40th is this really great faded travel sign, complete with an arrow on the right side pointing down to where a (long gone) travel agency used to be. I love finding remnants of old travel ads throughout the city. In a world of Travelocitys and Expedias, the idea of…
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On the corner of 23rd and Fourth…Or Is It Park?
I’m standing on the corner of 23rd and Park Ave South… So why does that building on the corner say 4th Ave? This is another one of those great “walked by it a thousand times, never noticed” quirks. Now the shortest avenue in Manhattan, Fourth Ave was once all of Park Ave until it was…
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The River Below Fifth Avenue
One of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Manhattan is the idea that streams and rivers that once flowed above ground continue to this day deep beneath our feet. In some instances, man-made canals were built to divert their path; in others, persistent rivers fought through landfill to continue on their way. One such…
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The 9th Ave Demons Don’t Like You
I’ve been scouting for something around Times Square/Hell’s Kitchen over the last week (as evidenced by some of my recent posts), and I noticed this great building on 9th Ave between 52nd and 53rd. Above each window on the second and third floor are these awesome busts of…well, I’m not really sure what. They sort…