That 40s show: Get lost in the NYC Municipal Archives's online collection

The New York City Municipal Archives delivered an early holiday gift this month after putting their 1940s tax photo collection online. (Previously these were only available to view in person via microfilm.)

You can browse for yourself — there are 720,000 digitized photos! — at this link. High-resolution versions of these tax photos — print or digital — are available to purchase online.

Anyway, I spent every waking free moment in recent days a few hours getting lost in the archives. I posted a few photos here from this neighborhood, picking addresses that (mostly) will look familiar to you today. The top photo is from 14th Street and Fourth Avenue (now the Zeckendorf Towers, completed 47 years after this shot).

Here we go (in no particular order):

The Con Ed power plant on 14th Street and Avenue C...



The Church of the Immaculate Conception on 14th Street at First Avenue...



The Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



McSorley's on Seventh Street...



East Houston looking southwest at Norfolk and Essex (P.S. 20 the Anna Silver School is on that corner now)...



Astor Place (where Starbucks is now in the retail space)...



Looking toward Stuyvesant Street and 10th Street from Second Avenue...



The southwest corner of Seventh Street and Avenue B... (where 7B/the Horseshoe Bar/Vazac's is)...



The Christodora House on Avenue B at Ninth Street...



St. Brigid's on Avenue B at Eighth Street...



66 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street (where Ink on A, Alphabets, Mast, Lancelotti Housewares, etc., are today) ...



313-315 Bowery (315 would become CBGB ... then John Varvatos ... the Palace Hotel was around until 1993, when the Bowery Residents Coalition signed a lease for the upstairs space)...



224-226 Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street (Mona's is in one of those spaces now)...



125 E. Seventh St. at Avenue A (currently Miss Lily's 7A Cafe in the retail space)...



106 Avenue C at Seventh Street...



28-30 Second Ave. at Second Street (now the Anthology Film Archives and Manhattan Mini-Storage)...



... and one spot that's not entirely recognizable today — 25 Cooper Square (now the Standard East Village)

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota resigns; Twitter responds

ICYMI: On Friday, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota resigned — effective immediately — after just 16 months on the job. (Lhota’s other full-time job is as chief of staff of the NYU-Langone hospital system.)

Here's some more reaction to the resignation via the Twittersphere...

Joe Lhota resigned from the MTA to spend more time with his signal problems

— andy (@andipalmur) November 9, 2018

After 18 months on the job, Joe Lhota resigns.

And after 18 months, the NYC Subway system is still in crisis. https://t.co/HSv4aomoFC

— Louis Ortiz (@LouisOrtiz92) November 9, 2018

But now who is going to not run the MTA?! https://t.co/oFla8gc6TK

— Next AG Ryan Hassett (@ryan_hassett) November 9, 2018

I want to thank MTA chairman Joe Lhota. Without his tenure I would never have adopted the habit of biking to work. #FixTheSubway https://t.co/w46Euv8AEZ

— 🌹 No Friend of Kissinger Scott Wooledge (@Clarknt67) November 9, 2018

Congrats to Joe Lhota and Cuomo on stabilizing the subway. The L train I took during this AM rush hour was extremely stable, in fact it stayed at Lorimer for 15 minutes in a dramatic showing of stability. https://t.co/RK6BpCuPbv

— Tommy Kahn (@tommykahn) November 9, 2018

Joe Lhota has resigned from the job he claimed he did not have, in order to spend more time with his other full time jobs. #cuomosmta

— David L. Bragdon (@DLBragdon) November 9, 2018

Joe Lhota resigned as chair of the MTA today. Could scenes like this be the reason why? (Courtesy of this morning’s F train) 👇 pic.twitter.com/YOw4KoMXAX

— Chris F. (@fnytv) November 9, 2018

As long as you love me

The story of an NYPD officer singing “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys over the PA yesterday on Astor Place is starting to go viral (with the help of PIX 11 and the Post)...

Here's the clip, via Instagram...

View this post on Instagram

The NYPD absolutely nailed it today. So cool to see the humanity in our law enforcement. A small thing like this can really give you some hope in such uncertain times. #nypd #nyc #lowereastside #manhattan #backstreetboys

A post shared by Jordan Haskins (@jordanphaskins) on Nov 10, 2018 at 11:38am PST

Week in Grieview

[The Jimi Hendrix experience on Avenue A]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

1st signs for the future tech hub arrive on 14th Street; more details emerge about 14th @ Irving (Monday)

A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street (Friday)

The Tompkins Square Park holiday tree lighting is Dec. 9 (Thursday)

Vacant lot at 14 2nd Ave. sells for $7 million; will yield to 10-floor condoplex (Thursday)

The Mars Bar lives! (in a penthouse suite in Times Square) (Wednesday)

This week's NY See panel (Friday)

Police looking for suspect in slashing outside Karma on 1st Avenue (Wednesday)

1st signs of the 14th Street SBS lane (Monday)


[A post-election scene on Avenue C]

Election results: All 3 NYC ballot measures approved (Wednesday)

At the You Can't Fire the Truth rally in support of protecting the Mueller investigation (Friday)

Remembering Todd Youth (Thursday)

peter radley's "Summer Hibernation" (Saturday)

Atino Eyewear Optical closing at the end of the month on 7th Street (Thursday)

New signage and a Michelin star for Tuome on 5th Street (Wednesday)

Pawsitive news: School for the Dogs relocates to larger space on 7th Street (Monday)

The return of 'The Village,' and the loss of a tree (Friday)

Setting up for the Union Square Holiday Market (Tuesday)

Pressure washing around the fountain (Thursday)

A new broker for 503 E. Sixth St. (Wednesday)

Uluh Tea House debuts on 2nd Avenue (Monday)

Report: New owner for 531-533 E. 12th St., the onetime home of the East 12th Party Crew (Tuesday)

Dunkin' done on 1st Avenue at 13th Street (Monday)

... and for this Veterans Day... members of the Air Force Honor Guard on Second Avenue and Seventh Street via Derek Berg...



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These laundry baskets outside the Marble Cemetery have dead chickens in them

An EVG reader shared this rather grisly discovery this morning from outside the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... inside the baskets are at least two dead chickens as well as an assortment of candy and broken dishes.



One resident on the scene said that this was likely a Santeria ritual, conducted by someone of the Santeria faith, with each chicken representing a curse on someone. (If any occult experts want to chime in...)

The reader who shared the photos said that the NYPD was notified of this discovery.

The 'Parts Unknown' series finale, featuring the East Village and Lower East Side, airs tonight

[Photo of Kembra Pfahler and Anthony Bourdain via Instagram]

As you might know, CNN is airing the series finale of "Parts Unknown" tonight at 9.

The episode, which arrives five months (and three days) after host Anthony Bourdain's death, is set in the East Village and Lower East Side ... and features Harley Flanagan, Lydia Lunch, Richard Hell, Fab Five Freddy, Amos Poe, Jim Jarmusch, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and John Lurie, among many others.

Along the way, Bourdain, a former LES resident, visits old haunts including Ray’s Candy Store, Veselka, John’s of 12th Street, Max Fish (where they're screening the episode tonight) and Emilio’s Ballato.

Here's a mini trailer...

Some of the biggest names in music, film & art came out of one New York neighborhood. Tony returns to the Lower East Side on the final episode of #PartsUnknown, Sunday at 9p ET on @CNN pic.twitter.com/Ea7FHaOU62

— CNN Original Series (@CNNOriginals) November 8, 2018

And for more on what to expect, here's a preview via Eater:

In the episode, a recurring question Bourdain has for his interview subjects regards the romanticization of a time and a place that, in many ways, was dangerous and bad. Was it all really better then than it is now, with clean streets, Target stores, Whole Foods supermarkets, and fancy restaurants filling the blocks? For Flanagan, it was a “horror story,” but he misses it. Lydia Lunch, who fronted bands and starred in independent films, doesn’t look back with nostalgia and instead lives in the present: “I still have shit to do,” she tells Bourdain over a white-tablecloth meal.

And via Rosie Spinks at Quartzy:

Of course, like the prior episodes in this final season — which, with the exception of the season premiere in Kenya, are devoid of Bourdain’s narration, which he he had not finished at the time of his death — the episode feels haunted by its star’s absence. The voice that told you what was what, who was who, and why you should care is replaced by frenetically-styled transitions, and on-screen text introducing the next interviewee or luminary. The absence of Bourdain’s voice as an anchor feels like a loss throughout, and the disorientation it brings feels like delayed reaction to his death — a reminder that the world we live in is one that Bourdain chose to leave.

In a review of the episode, Verne Gay at the Chicago Tribune sums it up this way: "In one final whoosh, Bourdain is framed in an episode of pure, unadulterated post-punk joy."

Michael Steed, the director, told Eater: "People are going to feel a lot from this particular episode. I just hope people feel something."

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CNN has released several interviews with people featured in the episode, including Lunch (access here) and Lurie (access here).

And if you feel like a post-show egg cream and conversation ... then you can head over to Ray's Candy Store...

View this post on Instagram

Join us at @RaysCandyStore Sunday night @ 10PM following the airing of the final episode of @AnthonyBourdain’s @PartsUnknownCNN for a celebration of travel, food, and friendship. The show airs at 9PM on CNN. Swing by after. Nothing fancy. Ray will be cooking up the classics. Come say hello, enjoy some of Ray's simple pleasures, and raise an egg cream. Click the link in our bio to visit our Facebook Page and view the event details. 📸: Photo via @LauraLeeFlanagan #️⃣ #rayscandystore #eastvillage #alphabetcity #avenuea #nyc #realnyc #smallbiz #ourmanray #everythingmadewithlove #anthonybourdain #partsunknown #eggcream

A post shared by Ray's Candy Store (@rayscandystore) on Nov 9, 2018 at 12:31pm PST

Summer Hibernation

Summer Hibernation

Returning to all that was lost

to sweltering days now passed

those clothes that were tucked

away in their snug piles

for the past season having

been too hot to consider

where are my gloves away

on a walking tour of the Hebrides

a little stiff from their excursions

the unexpected discovery of a

garment new at the end before

summer began in earnest

re-discovered born again into cooler climes

scarfs hats that no matter how

many you have collected

boil down to the same few

that your friends will recognize

before they recognize you.

•

peter radley

Make a lantern and join a parade tomorrow at the Green Oasis Community Garden

The Green Oasis Garden's annual Lantern Festival happens tomorrow (Sunday) from 1 to 4 p.m. A parade follows at 5 p.m. Per the invite: "S'mores & cider, fun for all ages, make a lantern and join the parade!"

The Green Oasis Community Garden is on Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

The fall collection from Tompkins Square Park

From Tompkins Square Park this morning... peak colors with the changing of the leaves...



Also, those two bras and witch puppet are still hanging at the Avenue A/St. Mark's Place entrance...

Friday's parting shot

Photo in Tompkins Square Park today by Bobby Williams ...

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's this week's NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood and NYC...

The 'Hit' parade

After 30-plus years of work in bands like Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the Honeymoon Killers, Jon Spencer has released his first solo record, Spencer Sings the Hits!, which is out today on In the Red Records.

The video here is for "I Got the Hits."