Second Avenue: Then & Now

In this posting you will see how Second Avenue, in and around the TBM launch box site, looked in the early 1970s compared to how it looks today.

The black & white survey photos (below) were taken as part of the design process for the Second Avenue subway in the early 1970s. The MTA had photos taken of every block on Second Avenue, from Greenwich Village to 125th Street in Harlem, to document the streetscape.

I found these photos in the archives of the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn last year and the museum graciously agreed to let me reproduce them here on this blog.

As you will see, quite a lot has changed in 40 years.

Please Note:
The black & white images shown below may not be reused in any
format without the written consent of the New York Transit Museum.
The caption above each of these images was provided
to me by the Transit Museum.


This first set of survey photos were taken by an unknown photographer in April 1971.


As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue between 92nd and 91st Streets, looking south. Also shows buildings, automobiles, fenced vacant lot, woman walking dog, and signage. R132A S10_z006
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
4/4/1971


2/7/2010
btw. 91st and 92nd streets - looking south

The vacant lot on the right, in the survey photo shown above and below, was part of the 22-acre site that was once the old Jacob Ruppert Brewery. The brewery was closed in 1965 and demolished to make room for Ruppert Towers, Yorkville Towers, Knickerbocker Plaza, and Ruppert Park.

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As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue between 93rd and 92nd Streets, looking south. Also shows buildings, automobiles, truck, fenced vacant lot, and signage. R132A S10_z005
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
4/4/1971


4/12/2009
92nd Street - looking south

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As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue at 94th Street, looking south. Also shows buildings, automobiles, pedestrians, and signage. R132A S10_z004
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
4/4/1971


4/12/2009
btw. 94th & 95th - looking south

Apparently the traffic at this intersection, in 1971, was controlled by a single old style traffic signal on the NW corner or 94th and Second, as shown in the in the survey photo above.

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As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue at 96th Street, looking south. Also shows buildings, automobiles, and signage. R132A S10_z002
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
4/4/1971


4/12/2009
btw. 96th & 97th streets - looking south

I was surprised to see, in the survey photo above, that parts of Second Avenue still had a cobblestone surface as late as 1971.

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As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue at 97th Street, looking south. R132A S10_z001
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
4/4/1971


4/12/2009
97th Street - looking south

The Century Lumber building, on the right in both photos above, is in the process of being demolished to make room for an ancillary building #2 for the new 96th Street station.


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The second set of survey photos, shown below, were taken by New York City Transit photographer Lawrence M. Lebow in September, 1974.


As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue at 91st Street, looking north. Also shows buildings, barricades around street maintenance excavation, and automobiles. R132A S9_z2062
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
9/1/1974


2/10/2010
91st Street - looking north

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As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photo shows Second Avenue at 92nd Street, looking north. Also shows buildings and automobiles. R132A S9_z063
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
9/1/1974


4/12/2009
92nd Street - looking north

Note the Gulf station on the NE corner of 93rd and Second, in the survey photo above.

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And this final survey photo, which was probably also taken in 1974.

As part of the documentation of the proposed Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, survey photograph shows the east side of Second Avenue between 85th and 86th Streets. Also shows buildings, storefronts, signage, pedestrians, and automobiles. R132AS9_z014
Courtesy of New York Transit Museum
ca. 1970s


4/4/2009
btw. 86th and 85th streets - looking east

Schaller & Weber and the Heidelberg Restaurant, both long time neighborhood fixtures in Yorkville, are still thriving today.


References:

"Yorkville Project Is Approved For Housing, School and a Park"
By Seth S. King - The New York Times - 3/21/1968

Ruppert & Yorkville Towers
The Upper Eastside Book: Third Avenue
By Carter B. Horsley

The Craft of "Then and Now" Photography
by John Walker - 11/2006


Also see:
Second Avenue Subway Construction in the 1970s
The Launch Box - 9/21/2009