Scouting The Remains of Brooklyn’s Incredible Paramount Movie Theatre
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Scouting The Remains of Brooklyn’s Incredible Paramount Movie Theatre

In my travels through the city, I’ve driven down the northern end of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn roughly eight billion times… …and I have never once given a second thought to the nondescript office building at Dekalb, part of the Long Island University campus. And I don’t think I ever would have if I hadn’t…

What The Monopoly Properties Look Like In Real Life
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What The Monopoly Properties Look Like In Real Life

Whenever I played Monopoly as a kid, I used to love imagining what the game’s city would look like in real life. I remember thinking of Mediterranean and Baltic as being these short, run-down alleys ala West Side Story, while Pennsylvania Ave and the other greens as Fifth Avenue-style apartment buildings. What I didn’t know…

How A Beautiful 19th-Century Marble Archway In Manhattan Became An Auto Body Shop
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How A Beautiful 19th-Century Marble Archway In Manhattan Became An Auto Body Shop

The other day, I was driving up Broadway toward the northern tip of Manhattan when something caught my eye off to one side… Poking up behind the auto body shops and brick storefronts… …was that a crumbling stone archway? Something seemed very out of place about this. I pulled over and looked it up on…

Why I Love Scouting Apartment Lobbies In The Bronx
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Why I Love Scouting Apartment Lobbies In The Bronx

I’ll never forget the first time I walked into an art deco apartment building in the Bronx. I was taking pictures of a mural on a Grand Concourse building, when a passerby suggested I check out the interior. I headed through the nondescript entrance hallway… …into what has to be one of the most beautiful…

The Fanciest Diner In New York: The Polish Tea Room of Times Square
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The Fanciest Diner In New York: The Polish Tea Room of Times Square

Some time ago, I was meeting up with some friends to eat in Times Square, and they suggested we go to a diner called Cafe Edison, part of the Hotel Edison on 47th. My culinary expectations were pretty low (as you may have heard, Times Square has a couple of “tourist traps”), but my friends…

Stumbling On The Abandoned Ruins Of King Zog’s Long Island Estate
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Stumbling On The Abandoned Ruins Of King Zog’s Long Island Estate

I’ve recently been scouting around the Syosset area of Long Island, and have frequently found myself driving north on 106. And, every time I do, I’ve noticed these gates – clearly the entrance to an estate of some kind: But why was there a chain across the front? Curiosity finally got the best of me…

The Queens Movie Theater You Will Not Believe – Scouting The Valencia Movie Palace
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The Queens Movie Theater You Will Not Believe – Scouting The Valencia Movie Palace

Last week, I was scouting on Jamaica Ave when I noticed a movie-theater-turned-church up the block. This is pretty common in New York, where are a LOT of once great theaters have been gutted and repurposed, most often into churches, pharmacies and gyms. I’ve stopped in quite a few hoping to find the rare gem…

A Secret World on the Upper West Side: A Trip Down Pomander Walk
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A Secret World on the Upper West Side: A Trip Down Pomander Walk

When you first turn onto West 95th Street from Broadway, it seems like pretty much any Upper West Side block: a few apartment buildings, some fire escapes, a tree or two…Nothing in particular to catch the eye. In fact, I’m not even sure how many trips down the street it took before I finally noticed…

The Smallest Graveyard In Manhattan
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The Smallest Graveyard In Manhattan

One of my favorite cemeteries in New York is so small, I must have walked by it dozens of times in my travels before I first noticed it. Don’t feel bad if you’ve missed it too. Lined by residential buildings, it’s only natural to assume the short stretch of fencing on the south side of…