Tuesday, May 16, 2023 – PICK A STREET IN THE CITY AND FIND GREAT SITES

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

TUESDAY,  MAY 16,  2023

ISSUE  991

WALKING AROUND 

THE LOWER EAST SIDE

CONTINUED

JUDITH BERDY

Between teaching classes for election workers today, I had plenty of time to roam the neighborhood.  After starting at Chrystie Street I was back on 2nd Street, east of where I strolled last week. 

On the corner of Avenue A, is the Berlin Bar, situated in a former dry goods strore.

At 113 East Second Street, this grand iron fence shelters a wooden structure.  The sign on the lower corner advises to all that a rodent station is inside. Do the rodents seek sanctuary here?

Gringer has been a place for all home appliances for decades and still is going strong on First Avenue.

Up the tree lined street is Marble Cemetery.  I have heard about if for years, and there it was in all it’s glory, a sanctuary for all who pass.  In summer there are days when the grounds are open.

Right up the street is the Nord Anglia International School. It’s wonderful graphics enliven the facade of the building.

Across the street are the Archives Film Archive.  The building was originally the Third Magistrate Courthouse.

Just off the Bowery and First Street is Extra Place. Unfortunately, 2 of the three restaurants there are shuttered.  The place leads to a new Avalon apartment house so it is not an alley, just an entrance to a building now.

Back on the Bowery, a few of the restaurant supply dealers remain.

Time to get back to work and just a quick glance at the Liz Christy Garden.
It is amazing what you can spot in one hour as you look up from you phone and take in the wonders of the City.  I am so glad to work at this site, the Chinatown Settlement/YMCA at East Houston Street. It is only an 18 minute subway ride from Roosevelt Island!!!

TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
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ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

Former gas station at the corner of Broadway and West Houston Street

FROM JENNIFER DUNNING
And thanks for all the goodies, especially the one about the serendipitous (sp.?) Second Street. I loved wandering, on foot or on my bike. I was in love with the Red Hook waterfront area years ago, before it got tarted up. So comfortably worth, costly utilitarian, even a bit Italian uturistic in spots. I discovered it when I went to an outdoor danceus performance. The warehouses, silver sugar uprooting like some giant happenstance sculpture, the dark little bar, the little row houses. I wanted to buy one and I probably could have then but it occurred to me that since I didn’t drive I’d h0ave to go through that then-dangerous housing project to get to work by public transportation. And I was often assigned to write advance pieces on historic NYC walking tours. The guides were sometimes endearingly nutty, too. One of my favorites, Margot Gayle, kept backing into traffic on a SoHo tour she took me on.


Thanks again, Judy

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated

JUDITH BERDY

THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.

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