NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Stone Street. New York City’s first paved street. Financial District.

Stone Street is a narrow cobblestone alley that was first developed by Dutch colonists in the 1600s. Its claim to fame is that it is New York City’s first paved street and as such it is recognized as a historic landmark.

It’s the main part of an area currently known as the Stone Street Historic District. Nestled among skyscrapers in the Financial District, it’s something of a time machine back into another era of New York City’s history. The street is the site where British merchants traded and sold goods, where American colonialists passionately spoke of independence and where tracts of land were purchased and sold (completely disregarding the earlier inhabitants of the area).

The Dutch West India Company first sold this area to European property owners in the mid 1600s. It was around 1658 that the street was paved. The name Stone Street actually came about in the late 1700s. Prior to being named Stone Street, this alley was called Hoogh Straet and then Brouwer Street and also spent some time as Duke Street. Since the street is so close to the waterfront, it was the site of a tremendous amount of commercial activity for two centuries.

In the mid 1800s, the area was destroyed by the Great Fire. Even though the Great Fire leveled hundreds of buildings in the area, the Stone Street district bounced back due to New York City having the leading maritime port in the country. However, in the mid twentieth century the area saw a decline due to maritime activity moving to the west side of Manhattan. In the mid 1990s, funding was secured to restore the area back to its former glory.

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Shot with the Sony a99 a few days ago on a bitterly cold winter day here in New York City, I can’t think of a better time to experience this historic alley. It comes to life in the summer when it is full of chairs and tables linked to the many dining establishments that now inhabit the buildings along Stone Street. But it’s in the winter when the light barely reaches through to the ground and when the breeze from the river cuts through to the bone that it makes an indelible mark on the heart.

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Looking through the arches of the Municipal Building. 1 Centre Street. New York City.

We move slowly towards the light over the cobblestones that the weary feet of all those who have passed over these same paths have passed before us.

And through the archways and doors that sit in our immediate view, the city opens up like so many opportunities that sit every so slightly out of our reach.

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This photo was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other Instagram posts made to this blog here. You can check out all of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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Sunny’s Bar on Conover Street. Red Hook, Brooklyn. New York City.

There are streets and places that feel as if they have been taken out another time. They seem to exist independently of the world around them as fragments of history that have somehow made it into the present.

Sunny’s is a 120 year old saloon that is located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a neighborhood of New York City that has quite a colorful history. The bar is named after Antonio “Sunny” Balzano who was born in 1934 in the deep red brick apartment right next to the bar. Growing up near the waterfront in Red Hook in the 1940s, he would play alongside ship cargo and after surviving violent street brawls in the 1950s and the crime of the 1980s, he became the owner of the bar that neighbored the apartment where his life unfolded through the years.

The bar was originally run by Sunny’s uncle where it revolved around the shipping industry. Longshoremen were the main clientele back then. When Sunny moved back home in the 1980s to take over the operations at the bar, the neighborhood was a shell of what it used to be. The shipping industry had moved its operations across the harbor to New Jersey and for quite a few years the streets remained quiet and Sunny operated the bar just to keep it open for a few neighborhood regulars.

Red Hook has since changed as it has been embraced by both developers, the arts community and families looking to settle down in a quiet part of Brooklyn. Sunny’s still exists though, a testament to Red Hook’s colorful history.

- History pieced together from “Sunny’s Wonderful Saloon” New York Times By Wendell Jameison, October 2002

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Night. Central Park, New York City.

Over glistening cobblestones in the haze of summer heat, the twinkling lights of oncoming cars cast their glow like fireflies in a dense urban forest.

As somnambulists glide over uneven paths, the wind plays a nocturne.

This is when the city dreams.

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Sunset over a cobblestone street. Tribeca, New York City.

The first whispers of summer are carried on warm breezes urged on by the sun stretching itself out from under the faintest cover of clouds.

As cobblestone streets soak up each and every last bit of golden summer sunlight the buildings glow like fiery embers in the sun’s wake.

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Central Park East at night. Upper East Side, New York City.

Over the glistening cobblestones in the haze of the late summer heat, the twinkling lights of oncoming cars cast their glow like fireflies in a dense urban forest.

Somnambulists glide over uneven paths as the wind plays a nocturne: its vibrato pulsates rhythmically with each and every breeze.

This is when the city dreams.

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Soho cobblestone street at night. New York City.

There is a certain serenity that can found when wandering New York City streets at night. These moments pause the forward motion and flow of city life. Street lights flicker against wet cobblestone and glass windows stare back languidly. Remnants of previous signs of life sit on curbs while bicycles lean against stoops resting briefly in the calm embrace of the night.

Someone suggested a few months ago that a common theme to my photography was loneliness. I recounted to him how in the earlier days of my website, people would message me asking if I deliberately removed people from my shots. They couldn’t believe that in a city as densely populated as New York City, moments like the ones I am fond of capturing exist in reality. I can definitely say that I have never removed anyone from my shots.

The truth is that even in a city of a little over 8 million people, the city often pauses and takes a breath. The in-between moments where life empties from the streets, when the city becomes a private sanctuary are captivating.

These moments are fleeting and short-lived but they breathe life into the same streets that boast activity in the moments that tend to define them.

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Old and new on a cobblestone street at night. Soho, New York City

The city is composed of many layers. Each layer wraps around the previous layer as the years pass preserved only in fading memory. Under the soft flicker of street lamps you can sometimes catch these battle-scarred battered remains. These transient pieces of the urban landscape are but a pause in the forward momentum of the city; a tattered sigh and a ragged exhale at the end of an excited phrase

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Summer night. Central Park, New York City

Over the glistening cobblestones in the late summer haze, the twinkling lights of oncoming cars cast their glow like fireflies in a dense urban forest.

This is when the city dreams.

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Washington Mews, a preserved piece of history. Greenwich Village, New York City.

The north side of this cobblestone street dates back to the 1800s and the south side dates back to the early 1900s. In the early days this was home to private stables. After motor cars became popular in the early 1900s, the stables were converted to artist studios. In the middle part of the 20th century, NYU leased the entire street. Edward Hopper remained in his artist studio there until his death in 1966. The buildings and street have been preserved and the street remains as it appeared in the early to mid 20th century.

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Washington Mews. Greenwich Village, New York City.

This particular street has always had the feel of a street straight out of an older European city. It turns out that it has an interesting history. Until I looked into its history recently, I had no idea that Edward Hopper had a studio there.

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South Street Seaport, Manhattan.

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Brooklyn Bridge.The view is from Dumbo, Brooklyn.

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The skyscraper shown here is the Beekman Tower designed by Frank Gehry. It will be one of the tallest buildings in New York once it is finished. 

The view is from the South Street Seaport, Manhattan.

South Street Seaport, Manhattan.