As It Was - NYC History

04/09/2024

Ping

Anyone remember Adventurers Inn? It was a small amusement park and arcade that was off the Whitestone Expressway from the 1950’s to about 1980.

I was a Brooklyn boy (Marlboro Projects in Gravesend) and usually only ventured into Queens to visit relatives. One evening in 1972 or 73 a friend said we had to go to the arcade there to see this new game they just got in. I was very reluctant considering we had all the games we needed in Coney Island, but he insisted.and we took an hour road trip to the far reaches of Queens County.

We got there about 8pm and the parking lot was packed. The amusement section had already closed and we noticed all the people were in the arcade. We went inside and about a hundred people were crowded around this one game in the middle of the floor. As we pushed our way closer, all we could hear was BOOP….BOOP….BOOP….BOOP.

It was PONG, the first successful video game.

I waited at least an hour for a turn to play (I lost…badly) and was amazed you could actually feel the ball hit the paddle on the controller. It was amazing!

Just one example showing how far we’ve come in the last 50 years.

02/09/2024

No Respect

My favorite comedian of all time was Jacob Cohen. Don’t recognize him? He eventually legally changed his name to Jack Roy. Still no? Maybe you know him by his stage name Rodney Dangerfield.

I saw Rodney live a few times at his club Dangerfield’s (opened 1969) on First Avenue between 61st and 62nd. It was a small, intimate setting and he was always hysterical. The audience was never disappointed. I also remember seeing Jackie Mason there. Funny, but not a substitute.

Rodney died in 2004 and the club managed to hang on until 2020. I think the space is still not rented. I guess there’s no replacement.

By the way, Rodney took his name from a name used on the Jack Benny show.

31/08/2024

Say Goodnight Gracie

Gracie Mansion is beautiful.

It lies inside Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at around 88th Street and was built for Archibald Gracie in 1799. It was used as the Museum of The City of New York from 1936 to 1942 until Robert Moses convinced Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to use the house as the Mayor’s residence.

Mayor Robert Wagner built an extension on the house in 1966 that retained the original colonial ambiance, even including a fireplace from the William Bayard house on Jane Street - the same fireplace Alexander Hamilton died in front of after he was shot by Aaron Burr.

I was lucky enough to live in the neighborhood and visit the park frequently and even luckier to tour the house. My biggest problem is that because of heavy security, you can no longer see how nice this 200 year old house is anymore. All you see is police cars, high fences and blockout shrubbery. It really is a shame it can’t really be appreciated any longer.

The NYPL photo below from about 1926 shows the house in all it’s colonial glory.

30/08/2024

Urgent Care????

Growing up in the 60’s, we didn’t have all of these walk-in clinics like City MD every few blocks, so when something happened and you needed medical care quickly, you wound up going to the Emergency Room of the NYC Hospital that was closest to you.

The hospital closest to me for almost all of my youth was Coney Island Hospital on Ocean Parkway and being a sports crazy, rambunctious adolescent, we usually needed to go there at least once a year. As hospitals go, it was fairly clean and modern and had great vending machines. That was a good thing because you were usually there a looooooong time.

After checking in at the Emergency Room (usually 20 minutes to a half hour) the wait to be called was almost always 3-5 hours. During that time, you and about 50 other people in various stages of consciousness and pain would linger in the waiting room looking at each other and getting up to get snacks from those vending machines. Tedious and uncomfortable are not strong enough words.

The care was always great and Yeah, I realize I had to wait because my broken finger was not as serious as the guy who had been shot three times, but the experience always made you think twice about going no matter how much pain you were in.

The original Coney Island Hospital about 1910

29/08/2024

Fall Schedule is Here!

Hello History Lovers, I'm so happy to announce the lineup of public tours (both walking and virtual) for the fall. Many of them are new. Since walking tours are not the most beloved thing to do in the summer, I've had lots of time to do more research and uncover remarkable stories of NYC. Please che...

28/08/2024

The Best H***y Tonk North of Abilene

The Lone Star Cafe at 61 Fifth Avenue was a great bar. It was only open from 1976-1989 but it made a lot of noise when it was here; especially with that iguana on the roof that its neighbors hated.

I was there more than a few times while working in the city. On the day of a concert, my friend and I would get there extra early and sit at the bar. We’d order burgers (they had great burgers) and a few beers and be ready for the show. Besides their regular guy Kinky Friedman, I remember seeing Pure Prarie League, Asleep at the Wheel and one of my favorite’s, Roy Orbison. Orbison was great, especially since I was only about 10 feet away still on my bar stool.

Oh, and the iguana on the roof is now on the roof of the reptile house at the Fort Worth Zoo.

27/08/2024

Living in the Past

Hungry for the Good Old Days? Thirsty for Nostalgia? There are plenty of places in New York City where you can still eat and drink in a restaurant or bar that looks and feels the same way it did at the turn of the last century or before. These places are no secrets and can get a bit touristy, but they are still haunted by native New Yorkers looking for a bit of old-timey goodness.

Let’s start with Peter Luger Steak House (1887). Forget about the food (which I still think is very good) and the prices (which were never very good). Let’s focus on the 135 year old building, the sawdust on the floor and the waiters who look to have been there when it opened. It’s a lot more accessible since the neighborhood has gentrified. I remember going there and parking in a gated lot and then being escorted across the street to the restaurant.

Everyone knows about McSorley’s (yeah, they say 1854 but it was probably more like 1862). Sure, it was better before they let women in (I’m kidding, I’m kidding - I was too young to go there before 1970), but the place looks EXACTLY the same as it did when Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt and Houdini drank there - except for those women.

The Old Town Bar (1892) on E. 18th Street is one of my favorites, and not just because the urinals are from 1910. Another place that looks just as it did 100 years ago. Even the upstairs restaurant with its faded murals has a great feel (and pretty good food). As a bonus, go down the block to the ABC Carpet and Home Store on Broadway to see what the inside of an 1882 department store looked like (W & J Sloane).

The Ear Inn on Spring Street is one of the oldest bars in NY and alcohol has been sold there since 1817 in a building built c. 1770. With the old bottles and other stuff behind the bar it was love at first sight for me. It’s old, a bit lopsided and beautiful. Look up the James Brown House (no, not that one) to get the history of the house and why it’s called the Ear Inn.

Finally the White Horse Tavern (1880) on Hudson and W. 11th St.. They have a table there for poet Dylan Thomas, who supposedly drank 18 shots of whiskey there one night, went home to the Chelsea Hotel and died (he actually died a few days later of Pneumonia but I’m sure the drinking didn’t help). Still a great place to have a beer and a burger.

There are plenty more and please comment with your favorites, but these are just some I have been to recently (except for Luger’s which I can’t afford on a tour guide’s salary).

NYPL Archives 1937 - Inside of McSorley’s (looks pretty much the same)

26/08/2024

FREE WALKING TOUR!!!!

And now a word from your sponsor.
I am a walking tour guide in NYC and in partnership with the MJHI, I am doing a free walking tour of downtown Manhattan on Sunday 9/8 at 1pm.

Here are the details:
Join the Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative (MJHI) for a Free Tour of Jewish Lower Manhattan!

Sunday, September 8th
1:00pm-3:30pm

Space is limited!

Please RSVP to [email protected]
*meeting spot will be revealed upon registration

From the time Peter Stuyvesant was “persuaded” by the Dutch West India Company in 1654 to allow 23 Sephardic Jews from Recife, Brazil to settle in New Amsterdam, there has been a Jewish presence in NYC. Their ancient cemetery, which was consecrated in 1683, still exists today and contains the oldest Jewish gravestone in North America. It sits unobtrusively in Lower Manhattan; almost no one suspecting the enormous history this little plot contains.

But the Jewish history of Lower Manhattan does not end there!

Come join urban historian and educator Bradley Shaw as he captures the Jewish history of downtown Manhattan - from the Jewish neighborhood surrounding the notorious Five Points to the location of the first Synagogue in North America.

For any of my other public or private tours, please go to www.nyhistorytours.com

Thanks,
Brad

26/08/2024

It’s the Latest, It’s the Greatest

Students today have it so easy!

Anytime they need to do research for a paper or a project all they need to do is get on their computer (or phone), put in a few search words, and voluminous amounts of data are at their fingertips.

Us Boomers weren’t so lucky. Yeah, we had our encyclopedias for small stuff, but when we had to do REAL research (a, gasp, 500 word paper!) we would have to go to the library.
And for the really advanced stuff, we would need to go to the main branch, which for me was at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.

It was at least 20 times the size of my local library and had EVERYTHING. Books, periodicals, microfilm and all the desk space you could ever need. I usually spent the whole day there because I was a procrastinator and the paper was usually due the next school day and they were the only library opened on Sunday.

Yup, if you’re from Brooklyn, you remember it!

25/08/2024

My Hero

I love Italian hero sandwiches (grinder, hoagie, torpedo, sub, wedge - I’m from NYC, they’re heros). Lots of Italian meats, sharp cheese, the works (lettuce, tomato, onion, oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper) and I’m in heaven. I will travel over an hour just to get a great sandwich.

Of course I have my favorite - It’s Jimmy’s in Sheepshead Bay. I’ve been going there for over 50 years and though I now I live over 50 miles away, I still gotta go back to get my fix.
(my favorite sandwich, by the way, is roast beef, pepperoni, Swiss cheese and the works. A little odd, but tastes great).

Of course there are many other terrific hero places in New York City. A few that I will also go out of my way for are Sal, Kris and Charlie’s Deli in Astoria; Faicco’s in the Village, Defonte’s in Red Hook and Mike Greco’s Deli on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

Now, I’m hungry.

I’m sure there are others. If you have one to recommend, I’m all stomach, uh, ears.

24/08/2024

Mmmmmmm, Italian Ices

Growing up in Gravesend Brooklyn in the 60’s, my favorite cold treat was Italian Ices.

Most of the time you just went down to the local pizza place and got the mass produced Gino’s ice. Regular flavors like lemon, orange, cherry and chocolate did the trick but we knew there was something better.

Going a little bit farther you could find the old Italian bakeries that made their own. I remember a place on 86th St near 25th Ave that was great. It had all of the regular flavors, but also had many “exotic” flavors like honeydew, cantaloupe (my favorite), mango and watermelon.

Another great place for ices was Spumoni Gardens, but I usually got their signature Spumoni when I went there.

When I got older and started to go to Denino’s on Port Richmond Ave in Staten Island for pizza, I always stopped at the original Ralph’s across the street for great ices and spumoni which always came in about 1000 flavors. They are all over the place now but the original is still the best.

23/08/2024

PIZZA!

My favorite pizza place in the 70’s and 80’s was Famous Ray’s Pizza.

Not just any of the 2,347,642 Famous Ray’s in the city at the time, but the one in the Village at 6th Avenue and 11th Street. You know, the one you usually waited on a line to get into and sold mostly slices. After you ordered they would take a plain slice, dump requested toppings and a handful of mozzarella on it and stick it in the oven for a few minutes. What came out after what seemed like an eternity was absolute cheesy deliciousness.

I heard there were a few other “Ray’s” that were good, but I never found another one to compare. It was open until 2011, then reopened as “Famous Roio’s Pizza” (after original owner Mario DiRienzo) in 2013 but closed pretty soon afterwards for good.

21/08/2024

The Pelham Cafe’s Singing Waiter

For a small saloon in the notoriously bad neighborhood of Chinatown, Mike Salter’s Pelham Cafe at 12 Pell St was a popular place in 1905. It was always crowded by celebrities, Gangsters and tourists.

Among others, John Jacob Astor, Sir Thomas Lipton (yes, the tea guy), August Belmont and even Prince Louis of Battenberg came to the backroom to see and hear the Professor on the tin pan piano and 17 year old Izzy Baline the singing waiter.

When another bar in the area wrote an original song, Salter challenged Izzy and the Professor to write one too. The came up with “Marie from Sunny Italy”. Not sure what happened to the Professor, but Izzy Baline went on to have some success with songs like “White Christmas” and “God Bless America” under his professional name Irving Berlin.

By the way, the building in the photo still exists. It is now a Beauty and Hair Salon that has a sign outside that proclaims “Best Slice in the City”.

16/08/2024

So Much Shopping, So Little Time

I used to work for a check casher on 23rd Street in college and we had a contract with a company in a building on 18th Street and 6th Avenue to cash their employees’ paychecks. We would put about $8000 dollars in paper bags (yes, you heard that right) and walk five blocks to a small secure room upstairs and wait for the workers to come.
It was a large building with an ornate front and each floor consisted of a large room that spanned the whole floor with huge metal floor to ceiling columns about every 20 feet(?) or so. It was obvious this building had some history.

This company was located in the old Siegel-Cooper Department Store which at one time was the largest store in the entire world. Called “The Big Store”, it was only operational from 1896-1917, when large retailers started moving uptown to the Herald Square area (where Macy’s was and is).
It was at the beginning of “The Ladies Mile” on Sixth Avenue which spanned from 18th to 23rd Street and included many large department stores where women at the turn of the century felt safe to shop by themselves. Conveniently, the Sixth Avenue El ran right past. Siegel-Cooper was only one of many and amazingly was not the only one to survive.

The Ladies Mile on Sixth Avenue began with Siegel-Cooper at 620 Sixth Avenue. Across the street was B. Altman’s at 625. On the next block was Simpson, Crawford and Simpson at 635. Next to that between 20th and 21st was Hugh O’Neill’s at 661 and on the next block was Adams Dry Goods at 675. Each store took up the entire street on 6th Avenue and each building mentioned is still there.

If you go there to take a look at where your great (great) grandmother’s shopped and lunched (first store restaurant’s that catered to women), there is some more history to find.

At 20th Street is the 1845 Episcopal Church of the Holy Reunion which is now a Grimaldi’s Pizza and was once the infamous Limelight Club. And around the corner on 21st behind O’Neill’s is the Third Cemetery of Shearith Israel, active from 1829-1851.

A walking tour guide’s dream. A lot of history in a small area.

Photo courtesy of Bowery Boys website

16/08/2024

Batter Up

June 20, 1965 - The Yankees hold their first Bat Day on Father’s Day.
I was there with my dad along with over 72,000 people.
I was hoping for a bat with Mickey Mantle’s name on it (as was every other kid).

The bat I got…Arturo Lopez.

Yanks lost two to the Twins and finished the year below .500 for the first time in 40 years.

Photo courtesy NY Daily News

12/08/2024

Sauce?

Photo of Peter Luger Steak House in Williamsburg around 1940.

Yes, that’s the old Broadway Line above and no, they didn’t own the corner dining room yet.

Question
With great aged steaks that are unbelievably juicy and flavorful (my mouth started to water), do you really need their steak sauce?

You know where I stand by the way I phrased the question.

09/08/2024

The Shtarker

Big Jack Zelig (Selig Zvi Lefkowitz 1888-1912) is the most famous gangster you’ve probably never heard of. From 1910-1912 he ruled the Lower East Side of Manhattan (which included today’s East Village) from Segal’s Cafe at 76 Second Avenue.

He took over the gang from previous bosses Monk Eastman, who was sent to jail, and Max “Kid Twist” Zwerback, who was sent to the cemetery. His gang made money doing mostly normal gangster stuff - gambling, extortion, labor racketeering, protection - but stayed away from other things Zelig hated, like drugs and prostitution.

Though Zelig was a criminal and murderer, the large Jewish population of the neighborhood greatly appreciated him. He made the neighborhood safe from the Irish and Italian gangs that regularly robbed and harassed his Jewish brethren. Private investigator Abe Shoenfeld, who was hired by the Kehillah and Judah Magnes to investigate the rise in Jewish crime, said Zelig prevented at least a thousand more holdups than the police.

As was true for most gangsters of his time, Zelig didn’t last long. After becoming involved in the Becker-Rosenthal case in 1912, he was murdered on a Second Avenue streetcar at the age of 24. His funeral and motorcade to Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn was one of the largest ever on the Lower East Side.

I became acquainted with Zelig while doing research for my Lower East Side Jewish gangster tour. Most people have heard of Arnold Rothstein, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, but the list of Jewish gangsters and the stories about them are endless.

By the way, a Shtarker or Starker is a tough guy and usually refers to those who get involved in labor disputes by roughing up either the bosses or the strikers - whoever pays them more.

Wikimedia Public Domain 1910

06/08/2024

Grandpapa Frederich

On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, you will notice a very pink tenement house at 76 Forsyth Street. In 1885, a 16 year old Bavarian immigrant and barber’s apprentice named Frederich moved there to live with his sister and her husband. The neighborhood at the time was called “Kleinedeutschland” or “Little Germany” because of the great amount of German immigrants who had settled there.

He realized there were better opportunities than cutting hair and in a few years he was operating a hotel/restaurant/brothel in Seattle. He eventually moved back to New York City where he began a real estate company which was made extremely profitable by his wife and son Fred after his death during the 1918 Spanish Influenza outbreak.

That man’s name was Frederich Trump, grandfather of “The Donald”.

01/08/2024

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

If you grew up in Brooklyn or Queens around the 1960’s, one of the places you went to eat and especially for ice cream was Jahn’s. Jahn’s opened in Queens in 1892 and grew to about 30 stores by the 1960’s.

It was basically a diner with decent sandwiches and burgers, but you really begged your parents to go there to get one of their special sundaes. And the most special sundae they made and one you shared with all your friends was The Kitchen Sink.

It was filled with two scoops of every flavor of ice cream Jahn's offered; Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee, Butter Pecan, Cherry Vanilla, Pistachio Almond, Cookies & Cream, Vanilla Fudge, Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, and Sherbet. On top of that they added fudge and caramel sauces, banana, pineapple and nuts, mountains of fresh whipped cream, and enough sprinkles and cherries to satisfy a small army.

You dug in with the giant serving spoon and every taste you experienced was like a brand, new sundae. Yes, it started to get a little soupy towards the last mouthfuls but you always finished and couldn’t wait to come back and do it again.

Today, there is only one Jahn’s left but if you get the chance, go there and order The Kitchen Sink and carry on the tradition.

29/07/2024

Who’s Calling????

Most characters in The Godfather movies were loosely based on real mobsters. Some not so loosely.

Lee Strasberg, the great theatre director, actor and acting teacher, played Hyman Roth in the Godfather II, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1974 (he lost to De Niro).

After the movie was out, he got a call at home.

”Hello, is this Hyman Roth”, said the unfamiliar voice on the other end.

Confused, Strasberg answered, “No, who is this?”

”Hello, is this Hyman Roth”, repeated the voice.

”No, no, this is Lee Strasberg”, said Strasberg getting annoyed, “that was a character I played. Who is this?”

”Hello Lee, this is Meyer Lansky”.

A chill went over Strasberg’s body and every hair on the back of his neck stood up. First because he was talking to THE Meyer Lansky, famous gangster and obvious inspiration for the Roth character, and second, “how did he get my home phone number?”

They chatted awhile about their health and their kids. At the end of the conversation, Lansky praised Strasberg’s performance but offered some criticism before saying goodbye.

”Your performance was great, but you could have made me a little more sympathetic,”

24/07/2024

How to Solve NYCs Rat Problem

47 Madison Street, in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood (between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges) is old. It was built around 1810 on what was then Bancker Street. It’s more its history and less its age that makes it noteworthy.

In the 1850’s it contained J. Marriot’s Sportsman’s Hall which was later taken over by Harry Jenning’s Rat Pit. The latter name gives a more apt description of what was really going on there.

The owners would pay people, mostly kids, 25 cents for each live rat they would bring in. The rats were used for a popular gambling amusement they created in the basement. A dog, usually a bull terrier, would be placed in a ring with over a hundred rats. The vociferous crowd would bet on how many rats the dog could kill in a specified time. When they got tired of that “game”, they would put two dogs in the ring and let them fight it out - sometimes to the death. These pastimes were so commonplace, they were recreated for a scene in the movie “Gangs of New York”.

Fortunately, the people with sense soon realized these enthusiasts should have better things to do and closed down most of the rat killing / dog fighting parlors soon afterwards. Also fortunately, 47 Madison Street still survives, looking much like it did during its notorious past.

24/07/2024

Such a Misunderstanding!

As a NYC walking tour guide, I often come across a location that looks like it has history. I always research it, wind up going down endless rabbit holes, and usually come out with something interesting.

The old PS 20 building, on the corner of Forsyth and Rivington (or ri-VINK-ton as my grandmother pronounced it) on the Lower East Side is currently being converted to high priced condos. Starting in the 90’s, it was known as Rivington House, a nursing home for HIV/AIDS patients.

From 1898 until the 1980’s it was Public School 20 and most of the pupils were the children of recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. George and Ira Gershwin, Senator Jacob Javits and Edward G. Robinson (as Emanuel Goldenberg) were alumni.

On the morning of June 27, 1906 hundreds of parents gathered outside the school (and others in the neighborhood) pulling out their hair, beating their chests, and screaming “They Are Slitting the Throats of Jewish Children!”.
What really was going on was they were removing their children’s tonsils and it became known as the Tonsil Riots of 1906. The Board of Education medical team thought that since the parents were working so much, they would save them time and do it in the schools. They did send home permission slips for the procedure but since many parents did not speak English, the children signed the permission slips themselves.

How the rumor started is unknown, but angry parents started chasing anyone wearing eyeglasses, thinking they were doctors. They finally calmed the parents down by sending Yiddish speaking teachers out to explain and letting parents into the schools to show their children’s necks were intact.

22/07/2024

Art Deco Demon

Does anyone remember the Women’s House of Detention on Greenwich and 6th Avenue?

The Jefferson Market Library on 6th Avenue, built in 1877, used to be a court house and police station with a jail right next door. They thankfully knocked the original jail down in 1927 but unthankfully built the infamous Women’s House of Detention in it’s place in 1932.

The imposing (read ominous) art deco behemoth was both a scourge and must see tourist attraction. You know, something you hate but can’t look away. Walking or driving by when I was under 10 was absolutely terrifying considering you could just about see the prisoners through the opaque windows and hear their shouts and blood curdling screams.

Childhood traumas dissipated when the tore the negative force of the neighborhood down in 1974. It was replaced by a beautiful park and garden that accentuates the vibe of the Village today.

Yesterday and today. The yesterday photo was also once in color but the building sucked all the color out of it. (Boy, did I hate that building.)

20/07/2024

Progress?

The Brokaw Mansion on the Northeast corner of 5th Ave and 79th St was built for Isaac Brokaw in 1890 and passed on to his son George. George Brokaw’s claim to fame was he was divorced from writer and ambassador Claire Booth who went on to marry Henry Luce, founder of Time Magazine, and socialite Frances Ford Seymour, who went on to have two kids named Jane and Peter with actor Henry Fonda.

The house actually had a moat with water around it until a horse bolted and fell in, after which it was filled in for safety reasons.

In 1965, this house was bought by developers who planned to demolish the house and put up a beautiful apartment building (see photo). The neighborhood protested and got the newly created Landmarks Commission to agree to save it and half destruction when they opened Monday morning.

Over the weekend, before the writ could be finalized, the developers demolished the building. It was called the mini Penn Station.

Which one do you like better?

Now and then. That beauty on the right In the Now photo is the still extant 1899 Flether-Sinclair Mansion. It is now the Ukrainian Cultural Center.

18/07/2024

Wholly Trinity

Often called the finest example of Gothic Revival architecture in the United Stares, Trinity Church is really magnificent. From the moment you walk in, all you can say is “Whoa!”

The previous church, which was the second on that spot, was finished in 1790. In 1838, architect Richard Upjohn was brought in to fix structural damage in the steeple. He determined the damage was too severe and convinced them to demolish it and build the structure you see today from 1839-1846.

Since that little known play by Lin Manuel Miranda came out a few years ago, Trinity has been a busy place especially because it contains the graves of Alexander Hamilton,wife Elizabeth (Liza), son Phillip, sister-in-law Angelica and friend Hercules Mulligan.

By the way, is that a cemetery or a graveyard that surrounds Trinity? Answer below.

Whenever I give a walking tour of the area, Trinity is always a highlight. I have not met anybody who did not appreciate the great history and beautiful architecture.

Answer: It’s a graveyard because it is attached to a church. Freestanding burial grounds are cemeteries. It actually started as a cemetery though because the North side of the graveyard predated the first church built on that spot in 1698. The oldest extant tombstone, the oldest in NYC, is from 1681.

Trinity Church in 1895

17/07/2024

Meet The Mets

It’s 1884, you’re having a picnic in Central Park, and you realize the New York Mets are playing a home game that afternoon.. So you leave Central Park, walk down a few blocks on Fifth Avenue.and buy a ticket to the Polo Grounds for a great game of Base Ball.

Huh? Fifth Avenue? New York Mets? 1883? I thought they started in the Polo Grounds on 155th Street in 1962.

The Mets I am referring to are the New York Metropolitans and the Base Ball Stadium (baseball was two words in the 19th Century) is now known as Polo Grounds I, which was between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets.

The New York Metropolitans of the American Association and the New York Giants of the National League (who started out as the Gothams in 1883) both played there between 1880 and 1888. Unfortunately, the dual arrangement did not work out and the Metropolitans left in 1886 to play at the St. George Cricket Ground in Staten Island. They eventually disbanded in 1887. The Giants left in 1889 (after winning the championship in 1888) because the City of New York was expanding the city grid, needed to cut through the Park to make 111th Street and would not take no for an answer.

The Giants eventually found their way to the more recognizable location of the Polo Grounds near 155th Street, played there until 1957, and moved to San Francisco. The present day New York Mets played there in 1962 and 1963, moving into Shea Stadium in 1964. With no major league tenant for the old ballpark, it was demolished in 1964.

I unfortunately never got to see a game at the Polo Grounds, but I do remember being sad as I drove past the demolition on the Harlem River Drive.

Opening Day 1888 at Polo Grounds I from Wikimedia