This photo of an old-school newsstand in Harlem was taken last summer. Note “CandyLand.” Mike is no fool…the stand was located on the block with a public elementary school. When I shot this photo, Mike’s wife told me he’d proudly been operating this stand for decades. Sadly, I recently walked by this spot to find […]
Archive | History
Snapshot: Immigrant Leaving Ellis Island
This beaming new American is leaving the Ellis Island Immigration Station and embarking on a new life, full of promise. This is actually my photo of a photo in the Ellis Island Museum that stopped me in my tracks. The young man’s joy and excitement are palpable. Like so much of the museum, looking into […]
Murray Hall: Tammany Hall’s Tough Guy (Or Was He?)
On January 19, 1901, New Yorkers woke to shocking news in the New York Times: Well-known political figure Murray Hall was dead. But the real bombshell was to follow! Murray Hall was known as one of the toughest guys working for Tammany Hall, the corrupt political machine that “organized” New York City’s government for over 150 […]
The First Gay Pride March
I’ve long been ambivalent about the Gay Pride March. In three decades in NYC, I’ve never marched and seldom gone to watch. I believed it was less about pride than pageant – swaggering leather queens, in-your-face drag queens, and, of course, the exhibitionist A-gays, bumping and grinding for the adoration of fellow Adonises. I didn’t […]
Father Duffy, Fearless New Yorker
Who is Father Duffy? Well, he’s important enough to have a statue on New York’s Times Square! A venerated Catholic priest and Army chaplain—for whom the pedestrian island between West 46th and 47th Street is named—Father Duffy is one of New York’s most fascinating residents. Francis Patrick Duffy was born in Ontario, Canada in 1871. […]
Annie Moore, the First Ellis Island Immigrant
On January 1, 1892, Annie Moore stepped onto Ellis Island… and into history. She was the first of 12 million immigrants to arrive on the island, and instantly became a symbol of those coming to America in search of a better life. Since becoming the first immigrant to Ellis Island, Annie’s story has been celebrated in art, story, […]
Martin Luther King Jr. in NYC
“This is not your city of residence, Dr. King, but it is your city nevertheless…We claim you, henceforth, as an honorary New Yorker.” With these words, Mayor Robert F. Wagner presented Martin Luther King Jr. with the Medallion of Honor of the City of New York in 1964. New York City played a significant role […]