Bray House
My neighbor Ken was on his way to Temple when he called and said that the light on the house at the bottom of our road was nice. I walked down and took this photo, mostly for him. It was a beautiful warm day, but as soon as the sun went down it got quite cold. When he gets home tonight, he will have this image in his email box. I really like the immediacy of photography.
Albanese Meats & Poultry
This block of Elizabeth Street runs just south of Houston, and I know it really well because my good friend Herman Boykin started living there in 1979. Before I moved to the City in 1986 and while I was living there I would spend a lot of time in the neighborhood. There were many more shops like Albanese’s back then, but the area is really different now.
Moe
I took the train into New York City on Tuesday and met Craig Williams at City Hall Park. He took me over to One Liberty Plaza to meet some of the September 11 Memorial folks and have a peek at the WTC site. We then went over to Engine Company 6 which is just an amazing place. / The main purpose of the trip was to photograph the Albanese Meats & Poultry shop on Elizabeth Street. The history is a bit too involved to get into, but Moe has been cutting meat here for a very long time. He worked with his mom, Mary for almost 50 years until she died in 2002 at the age of 97. He is an amazingly nice guy. I’ll post more soon.
Royal Palm
Peter Carroll and I went out for Indian food in Collegtown when I was in Ithaca. The Royal Palm has been there forever without much obvious change. It is a pretty cool building.
Newsstand
The New York State Museum is looking at some older style newsstands that are slowly being replaced by a more modern version. I was in the city yesterday on a mad dash down Broadway starting at 178th Street and ending around Times Square. It was very windy, rainy, rushed and a total blast. We were helped out by Harley Spiller, who is THE expert on the stands and in particular the paperweights used to hold down the piles of papers. An amazing and very cool guy. This stand is on the corner of 46th and Broadway.
Cold War Bunker
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been a bit fluish for the past week. / After shooting the Attica artifacts in Palmyra, we went over to a near-by site in which Craig Williams was interested. In the 1960’s, New York State built a comprehensive system of underground bunkers to house important people in case of nuclear attack. The sites were spread all around the state. This one was totally abandoned about ten years ago, but for a time housed some State Police offices. I met one of the guys who had to work down here; an undercover narcotics detective and he said the conditions were pretty awful. After years of neglect, this place was gross. All the maps that were painted on the walls were faded, there was mold everywhere, the air quality was probably toxic, and it was just plain nasty. What a great place to photograph.
Clingstone
I am partway through shooting a story for the Old House Journal about a most amazing house off the coast of Jamestown, RI. Clingstone was built in 1905 and is now owned by the Wood family of Boston. It was abandoned from 1941 to 1961 when Henry Wood bought it for $3600. Last weekend was the annual “work weekend” when volunteers come to the island to help out with all sorts of repairs and upkeep. It was a very interesting collection of people. This shot shows Dan Wood on the launch with the house in the background.
Smithsonian
I was in Washington last week and got a chance to see a friend at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It is such an wonderful building and the art is so accessible. Peter Carroll and I worked on a project several years ago there for the Lunder Conservation Center. It is worth checking out; Peter’s videos and my photos are still looking great after all this time. The work is on display on the 4th floor in the media hallway and when I saw it a flood of nice memories came back. A lot of really great and talented people to have worked with.
John S. Lane & Son, Inc
I went here once many years ago with my neighbor Dan to get trap rock for my driveway. It is a very cool business in an interesting location. I drive past on occasion and just recently noticed how lovely the sign looks at night.
Mountain States Telephone
My Dad was born in Central City in 1917 and had two older sisters. When they moved to Denver in the 1920s Shirley and Leora eventually got jobs with The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. Shirley died very young, but Aunt Lee worked for them her entire adult life. I have some of her Bell System awards for long-time service, including a lovely gold bracelet with an inset diamond for 40 years. Cris and I were walking on 14th near our hotel on Curtis and I looked up to see this sight. The building is awesome. There are murals both inside and outside that look to have been done sometime in the 2os. I can imagine my Aunts walking in through the entrance on their way to work each day.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
1 comment