Over the past week, I’ve been taking I-87 North to scout in Rockland County… …which means I’ve spent about an hour each day stuck in this: As anyone who travels it regularly knows, I-87 can be a hellhole of traffic due to the unholy convergence of multiple interstates and local bridges in the most inopportune…
Walk down East 2nd Street off of Bowery, and you’ll pass by Albert’s Garden, a small community garden midway up the block. If you happen to visit on a day when the gates are open, head inside and you’ll find a beautiful little East Village oasis maintained by local volunteers. But for something particularly special,…
A while back, I was driving around southern Long Island when I happened to pass by Valley Stream High School. At first, it seemed like just your typical deco-style public school. But the closer I looked, the more I started to notice a number of really unique little details… The first thing to catch my…
For years, I’ve been interested in scouting the Gates of Hell. Which, oddly enough, happens to be in Yonkers. Located on the shores of the Hudson, this is the local nickname for the Glenwood Power Plant, built from 1904 – 1906 and in operation until 1963. It has been abandoned ever since. For most of…
Hi folks – really exciting announcement today. Over the years, I’ve been approached by numerous NYC-based start-ups looking for a branding partnership with Scouting NY. And, to date, I’ve turned down every single one. It’s not that I’m against the idea in principle, it’s just that that all have wanted me to vouch for their…
Last February, camera assistant Sarah Jones was tragically hit by a train and killed while working on the set of director Randall Miller’s film Midnight Rider in Georgia. Despite the fact that Miller had expressly been denied permission to use the train trestle by the tracks’ owners, he went ahead with the shoot regardless. Earlier…
This week, Scouting NY is taking a frame-by-frame, then-and-now look at The Naked City. Shot on location in 1948, The Naked City provides an incredible, documentary-style look at the streets of New York. Let’s see how the city has changed over 65 years later. Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2! We…
This week, Scouting NY is taking a frame-by-frame, then-and-now look at The Naked City. Shot on location in 1948, The Naked City provides an incredible, documentary-style look at the streets of New York. Let’s see how the city has changed over 65 years later. Be sure to check out Part 1 here! Continuing from yesterday’s…
The Naked City, a 1948 film noir from producer Mark Hellinger, was filmed in New York City at a time when kids still swam off the docks in the East River… A time when horse-drawn carriages still passed through the Lower East Side… And a time when an elevated train still wound its way through…
One of my favorite things to stumble across are bits of architectural ornamentation that are nearly invisible from the street. Case in point: 150 Nassau, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Looking up from the ground, this is the view. You can tell there’s a bit of detailing at the top, but it’s too difficult to really…