Random New York City

OK, so today is the REAL birthday for Lou Perry and Dean Finder, which I messed up royally on Feb. 23rd. Go back and look at that day for Sue B's fun pictures!

New York City. Maybe you've heard of it. Tall buildings! The subway! Museums! Slices of pizza! A really big park! And, well, that's about it to be honest. No need to even go there. I've had some random scans from NYC for years, and I finally decided to try to make a blog post with them. Maybe you'll learn a little something about sharing, or friendship, orbelieving in yourself, or some damn thing. 

This first scan is from the 1950s, and is a view from the Empire State Building looking past the Chrysler Building toward the East River, and beyond. If you are standing on your head you might see La Guardia airport! OK, I lied. The atmosphere is vaporous, from all of the alligator exhalations in the sewers. 

Here's a map. Maps are useful.

I thought it would be a piece of cake to find a contemporary view just like that old one, but it was surprisingly difficult. The one below, scrounged from the Internet, is about as good as it got. In this modern view, you can see the Koch Queensborough Bridge crossing the East River and Roosevelt Island. Wave to the nice people in Astoria! There sure are a lot more tall buildings (how's that for incisive commentary?). 

Next is one from the 1960s, taken by my friend's boss. This fellow was an artist, and he liked to render photorealistic paintings of various store fronts in San Francisco, Paris, Rome, Oxnard, and other notable cities. They are quite nice! I looked up "The Dug Out", but wasn't having much luck. I found another place called The Dug Out on 3rd Avenue, but it wasn't a match. However, on some other site a person said that there was a place called The Dug Out on Bleeker Street. OH REALLY? Using Google Maps' Street View, I went to 145 Bleeker Street (the number on the window in my photo). 

So here's the view. I mean, it's sort of the same, but of course it's pretty different too. I was feeling pretty good about it, in general, but that staircase is a lot narrower, and that seemed odd. I should mention that the blue awning barely visible to the left is the famous venue, "The Bitter End", which opened in 1961, considers itself to be New York’s oldest rock club and built a legendary reputation after showcasing young performers like Joni Mitchell and James Taylor and comedians like Woody Allen and Billy Crystal." At the club, Bob Dylan played pool, watched performances, and occasionally performed circa 1961. I should mention that I had to go back a few years in Google Maps, because a structure is now on the sidewalk, mostly blocking this view.

Next I looked for old photos of The Bitter End, and lo, we can see that the stairs match my photo, and there is The DUGOUT (one word)! WHOO-HOO!

And finally, here's a photo (dated October, 1968) taken from inside somebody's car as they tootled along some mystery road. It didn't take very long to figure out that this is FDR Drive, which parallels the East River for miles and miles. That's the Manhattan Bridge nearby. Being unfamiliar with the territory, I thought that the Empire State Building was dead ahead, but it is several miles to the north (which would be to our right). 

Here's another Google Maps contemporary view for you.

I hope you have enjoyed these oddball New York City views!