Manhattan faded ad mysteries

In Murray Hill: Magid handbags and the Coblentz Bag Co. are easy to read. But the others may have faded into garment-district history:

Up in East Harlem is this puzzling ad. Liver: a butcher shop? Cod liver oil? Livery stables? Another mystery.

Old-school subway signage

The MTA should bring back some of these vintage posts and signs—they’re such a cool throwback to old New York. These lantern-like beacons guard the Fifth Avenue and 59th Street station:

Vintage signage on the New York Life building, on Park Avenue South—important enough to have its own subway entrance. Interborough Rapid Transit is today’s 4, 5, and 6 line.

I hope the MTA does not replace or tidy up this weathered, slightly rusted subway post, in Inwood:

New York’s disappearing Hallmark stores

These stationery stores, with their telltale throwback lettering, used to be in every neighborhood all over the city. In need of school supplies, Hello Kitty paraphernalia, and last-minute birthday cards? The Hallmark store was your solution.

These days, their numbers are dwindling, and the stores aren’t looking so spiffy. I guess Duane Reade and Rite-Aid have begun displacing them.

Sam’s Hallmark, above, is in East Harlem.

Serena’s continues to hang in there on East 23rd Street.

Sunnyside still has one too.

A look at the old East 18th Street subway station

This vintage postcard sheds some light on the 18th Street station on the Lexington Avenue line—one of the original IRT stations that opened in 1904. It’s been closed since 1948 after the 14th Street-Union Square platform was lengthened.

Though the MTA has made 18th Street and other abandoned stations off-limits since 9/11, you still can catch a glimpse of it if you take the 6 train and look really hard out the window.

The station walls are dark and graffiti-covered, but it’s not hard to see the old columns and staircases—ghostly reminders of different periods in the city’s past.

Madison Square Garden on the move

Ever wonder why it’s called Madison Square Garden—when it’s not near Madison Square? 

The current Garden, on 33rd Street, is the fourth incarnation of New York’s premier sports and entertainment arena.

The first, at right, opened in 1879. Occupying an old railroad depot at Madison Avenue and 26th Street, it became a successful, 10,000-seat venue that featured boxing, bike racing, and ice hockey.

A decade later it was torn down. Famed architect Stanford White designed the second MSG in 1890, below left. This beautiful, 8,000-seat Moorish structure sported cupolas, arches, and a 32-story tower that made it the second tallest building in the city. 

 Madison Square Garden II’s rooftop restaurant became a chic place for New York’s Gilded Age elite to socialize. It’s also where White was murdered in 1906.

He was shot point-blank by Harry Thaw, the jealous husband of a teenage showgirl the 40-ish White had been having an affair with.

By 1925, White’s palace met the wrecking ball, and the third MSG was completed at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue. This arena was home to the Rangers, Knicks, and lots of boxing matches.

Outdated by the late sixties, it was replaced in 1968 by the fourth and current Garden, built on the hallowed grounds of the original Penn Station.

Old phone exchanges: East Side edition

This one was spotted on an apartment building in Manhattan’s East teens. ST is for Stuyvesant; Peter Stuyvesant’s bouwerie occupied today’s East Village and Gramercy Park neighborhoods.

Hidden behind a contemporary banner is this swinging 1960s sign, for Frenchman, an air conditioner business on First Avenue and 19th Street.

OR for Orchard? Oregon? Both Manhattan exchanges spanned the East Side below midtown.

The Bowery’s bare-knuckle boxing champ

Irish immigrant Owen “Owney” Geoghegan wasn’t a big guy—he stood just 5′ 6” and weighed less than 140 pounds. But as a teenager working in the gasworks on 21st Street and the East River, he earned a rep as one tough fighter. 

Eventually he began fighting in local sporting clubs for money. And by fighting, we’re talking bare fists, no gloves. Really rough stuff.

By the time he hit his 20s, he was a champion, holding the U.S. lightweight title from 1861 to 1863. 

Geoghegan left the ring soon after. He opened his own sporting club at 21st Street and First Avenue, which became a fighter’s hangout, and then opened another at 103 Bowery.

He also entered local politics, was arrested for a variety of crimes ranging from letting a minor frequent his Bowery club to murdering a local thug. 

After a stint in prison and bankruptcy, he died in 1885, only 45 years old. He was “permanently broken down,” as his obituary in the New York Times stated.

The Little Church Around the Corner

Officially known as the Church of the Transfiguration since its founding in 1848, the lilliputian Episcopal parish at 29th Street off Fifth Avenue got its nickname because it welcomed actors during a time when acting was considered a disreputable profession.

In 1870, when another church nearby at 28th and Madison refused to host an actor’s funeral, the Church of the Transfiguration stepped in. “God bless that little church ’round the corner,” a friend of the dead actor supposedly said. And the name stuck.

The Little Church also hosted the 1893 funeral of actor (and brother of a presidential assassin) Edwin Booth. It was and still is a popular places to get married in the city.

Set back from the street (which, needless to say, no longer looks as pristine as it does in the 1910 postcard above) with pretty gardens and an ornate entryway, it’s a captivating spot to break away from the rush of city life.

Obscure Manhattan phone exchanges

This one was spotted in a building on Park Place where some city agencies have offices. SW might stand for Swinburne—but why? The only Swinburne reference I’m aware of is Swinburne Island in New York Harbor.

On East First Street, a reminder of the East Village’s working class past, and the neighborhood’s proximity to GRamercy Park:

More signs that have seen better days

Dirt, dust, missing or crooked letters—these old yet charming store signs continue to hang on and get their message across.

Heather’s Treasures (free lay-a-way!) is on East 23rd Street:

Best Housekeeping has been on Avenue A since 1924 (no idea about the age of the sign, however):

Eddie’s Wholesales has stationary goods and paper goods:

Now this sounds like a real old German beauty shop, in Yorkville, of course: