Attention Superman: Lois Lane is in Staten Island

Haha, OK, very funny, Staten Island…

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Now where’s Jimmy Olsen Drive?

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I noticed this as I was driving down South Avenue in Staten Island last Friday. Google seems to think it’s Hughes Avenue – then again, they also insist on mislabeling the . . .

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Pocket Change

This is 126 Sterling Place in Park Slope. Most likely, you’ve never paid much attention to it…

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…and if you have, chances are you haven’t noticed the that the bricks on the upper levels don’t match the rest of the building.

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While it might . . .

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A Different Type of Scout Is Selling Cookies…

Every year, I somehow miss the Girl Scout Cookie ordering process. Not sure how it happens, but around April, everyone is enjoying their Thin Mints and Tag-A-Longs and I’m stuck with nothing. That is, until I learned about the Cookie Cupboards!

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Head into the lobby of 43 West 23rd Street, taking in . . .

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The Trees Have Eyes in Staten Island

So weird…I was scouting Staten Island today near New Dorp Lane. Lacking quarters for the meters, I turned onto the suburban side streets and found a spot. I got out of my car…and felt like I was being watched.

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Turns out, I was: by a tree!

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The Old Kitchen at Sea View Hospital

Sea View Hospital is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever scouted in New York, and I’m writing this post in part to encourage other film productions to keep it in mind for future shoots.

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Covering 350 acres of woodland on Staten Island and comprising of 50 historic buildings, Seaview was once the leading tuberculosis hospital in the United States.

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The hospital opened in 1913, and was accommodating as many as 2,000 patients at the peak of its tenure. Research and testing at Seaview led to powerful new drugs that played a primary role in eradicating TB. I was told by my tour guide that much of the cure for TB originated in this building.

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By 1960, the hospital was closed as a TB facility, and many of the buildings were left to fall into a horrible state of decay. With asbestos issues, structural instability, and overall weathering, saving any of these buildings, such as the former power plant below, would be a monumental task. The Seaview Hospital complex, Staten Island’s first historic district, is listed as one of New York State’s most endangered places by the Preservation League of New York State. As someone who finds restored historical properties far more desirable than dying ruins, walking the grounds is very upsetting.

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Currently, Seaview is a rehabilitation hospital and senior housing community, and at least some of the buildings are still in use. Many, like the administrative building below, were designed in the Spanish Mission style.

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Originally, the set-up of the complex consisted of eight patient pavilions, arranged in a semi-circle around the Administration Building, Kitchen and Dining Hall. This structure below is the exterior of the old kitchen.

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The old kitchen is incredible. A huge circular room with windows lining the ceiling, an ancient stove dominates the center, with an exhaust hood covering it.

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Here’s another view to give you a sense of the height and size:

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Decades have passed since the stove was last fired here. Currently, the kitchen is being used for hospital storage. This antique electric wheel chair is very interesting…

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…especially when one examines the old motor that powered it. Note the band connecting it to the axle.

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