Via Ego Trip, dig this Wild Style: Then and Now over at Complex.

Banksy’s back in town.

Welcome back to another edition of Where & When, where we try hard not to peek at the photo credits while sleuthing for the answer to the $64 questions about New York City, past or present.  Speaking of which, I’m presently trying to bring some of these challenges to the present, but it’s not an easy thing to present.  Instead, I drag you back into a familiar era (a present for you already!) and present you with this:

Maybe some of you are familiar with this place, which still stands as it did over a hundred years ago and is surprisingly still in use, but for a lot of commercial urban crap. If you were to go there today, the remnants of this building, which served a long-defunct train line that is now used mainly by Amtrak and Conrail (clue!), are still visible.  Regarding the picture, it was taken 22 years before the train line it served closed.

So you know how this goes; you try to figure out where and when this was taken, and perhaps flash a little knowledge such as who designed the building or what was the name of the train line and where did it begin and end, or even what significant features of today are missing from the picture… or the name of a store that presently occupies the building?

Send your answers to cixposse at gmail dot com (Doggone spambots) First one to get it right gets a root beer, those following suit get a cream soda. I’ll check in with you later in the day and post the answer here and in the latest thread at or after 6pm (or earlier if you figure it out sooner).  Have fun!

I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue.

The inspiration for Hopper’s “Early Sunday Morning”…

Welcome back to Where & When, where we use our fine detective skills to figure out where and when a given picture was taken, and then we settle into general satisfaction, swapping of tales and quaffing of root beers and cream sodas.

Here is today’s challenge:

This one shouldn’t be too tough. Some may see a similar view on a regular basis. So, tell us the location depicted, including the structure, which should also give you a notion when the picture was taken. Bonus if you can list any other features in the picture (relative to the year).

Send your complete answers to cixposse@gmail.com. I will try to reveal the answer later in the day here and in the most current thread. Stories and descriptions of neighborhoods are especially encouraged, so share away and good luck!

I saw this dude on my subway ride to work today and asked if I could photograph his arms. He’s a Brit but has a deep love for New York.

I asked him why Lou Gehrig and he said, “Why not?”

Good enough, right? He was a shy kid, wasn’t talkative and that’s cool. I’m thankful he let me admire his devotion to New York.

The best way to spend lunch. Dip over to the Museum of Modern Art and look at my favorite Matisse picture.

This past July the Times had a story on the future of the Brill Building:

If ghosts paid the rent, Eric Hadar would have an all-star tenancy: Freddy Bienstock, Johnny Burke, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Van Heusen, to name a few. Not to mention J.J. Hunsecker and Danny Rose.

But ghosts do not pay the rent. Neither do fictional characters. Their onetime home, the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, at West 49th Street, now stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Records and the Sound One postproduction studio.

I worked for Sound One when I was in high school and college and then later as a freelancer. That building is where I came of age in many ways. Bummer what’s going on there now.

[Photo Via: The Brill Building Documentary]

Welcome back to Where & When; to make up for my error from Monday, I’m presenting an extra challenge this week. Today’s game is hosted by RIYank who writes:

Let’s change decades for this one.
There are obvious visual clues for the approximate year, and also a kind of conceptual clue.
I don’t think it’s too hard to get the approximate location, but see how precise you can be.
I’ll release a clue later in the day.

Send guesses to:

whereandwhen.riyank@spamgourmet.com

Good luck!

[Photo Credit: Ephemeral New York]

Via Media Storm peep this short documentary on Walter Backerman.

Today’s gem is a little a little difficult to date, so I’ll be lenient with the exact date unless you can figure out the hint.
Hint: This picture was taken two years after one of the buildings in this picture was built.

A root beer to you if you get the location depicted and the date. Bonus if you know the nickname of a certain feature within this picture. Feel free to discuss as much as you want on the thread about it without directly revealing the answer (which will be published at or after 6pm tonight). Hey, I’m still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, so bear with me >;)

Answers, challenge submissions and suggestions can be sent to cixposse@gmail.com. As usual, do not use the photo credit link in researching your answer. Have fun!

{photo credit: Shorpy Historical Photo Archive}

The story of Dorothy and Herb Vogel is a good one. 

Our last game worked out pretty well, with Banter regular rbj winning a root beer for being the first with the full correct answer. To make this even more fun, I’ll be tallying winners throughout the month and posting the leaders on the last post of the month. Thus, one correct answer = 1 root beer, and subsequent correct answers in each game will receive an honorable mention = 1 cream soda >;)

Here is today’s challenge:

Hint: This picture was taken when one of the clues in this picture was in its second year of operation.

The first player with the complete answer of Where the picture was taken and When (what year; exactly or closest to it) wins a root beer >;)

You may submit your complete answer to me at cixposse@gmail.com

The deadline for answering will be midnight EST tonight, and the answer and winner will be posted tomorrow morning at or after 9am EST. No peeking at the photo credit. Good luck!

[Photo Credit: Shorpy Historical Photo Archive]

Because New Yorker’s can’t ever get enough of the ideal street food here’s Gothamist’s 12 Best Pizza Places in town.

It was cool in the Bronx this morning so for the first time since the spring I wore a jacket. Happened to have a wool cap in the pocket which was good because it was chilly once I got outside. Dude lives in my building is standing on the steps outside with his son and he says to me, “It’s not that cold you gotta wear a hat.”

Few blocks later I pass by an old woman I see every morning. She says, “It’s not winter yet, you don’t need to wear a hat do you?”

Remember when you were a kid and you wouldn’t wear a hat for anything, not even if it was freezing out? Now that I’m grown I’m not about getting sick, man, so if the shit is cold, I’m wearing a hat.

So, what to take from this story? That the citizens of the Bronx are kids at heart, or maybe they are sad that the summer is over. Both may be true. What’s also true is that certain parties just love to bust balls.

Marc Hermann recreates crime in the city.

Welcome to the first official edition of Where & When, wherein you the player try to solve the mystery of where and when a given picture is taken. Because of the success and fun of the Geography Quiz post, it’s been decided to post subsequent games semi-regularly on Mondays and Thursdays. I had a list of rules and regulations sketched out and all, but I’ve decided to kinda let things fall into place by themselves and answer any specific questions you may have as we go along. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to post a comment. Above all, have fun!

Our first challenge comes from Banter regular RIYank who, I must say, gave me the inspiration to make this game, so it’s only right that he leads off:

“I don’t know if this one is easy or not. I would find it quite confusing, though there is definitely enough information in it for you to figure out the location and the approximate year. I’m tempted to say more, but I’m afraid extra commentary would make it too easy.

A Klein bottle full of Brett Gardner’s Famous Imaginary Root Beer to the winner!” – RIYank

My only current requests are that you answer the question fully: Where is the location and When was the picture taken. Also, although you are allowed to use the internet, in the interest of fairness please refrain from using the photo credit for your research. The link is for copyright purposes and may reveal the answer to the challenge, which would basically negate the purpose and spirit of the game altogether. Be sure to credit the sources you do use while answering the question; be it a web page, a book, personal experience, whatever. Feel free to share any trivia or personal experience you may have related to the location depicted, and again, have fun.

The answers will be posted at or after 6pm the next day, so that our friends overseas or on night shift duties can also play.

Have at it!

[Photo Via: Ephemeral New York]

Woody’s New York. 

A week or two ago, Alex posted a link with a picture from a site which had an interesting picture. It was suggested in the comments that I might be able to solve the mystery of which Hudson River-crossing bridge was featured in the process of being built a fairly long time ago, owing that I grew up in the Hudson Valley I suppose. After some quick research, triangulation, divination, a helpful clue from RIYank and a toss of the quarter, I surmised that it was the George Washington Bridge. It was a fun bit of detective work, and going off of a suggestion in the comments I asked our Fearless Leader what he thought of the idea to presenting similar challenges as a new feature on the Banter. His response: “You’re hired.”

Wait, what?

With that in mind, let me present to you a geographic puzzle and see who among you can correctly identify the location and date of this picture. This one should be fairly easy for some of you as you may recognize a thing or two in it. If you can identify the main street and the structure it leads to, plus the year the photo depicts, you win the Internet for a week. Feel free to utilize the vast repository of cyber-knowledge that is currently at your fingertips for help while I figure out how to turn this into a regular feature (I’m open to suggestions, but not hypnosis).

Photo credited to the book New York Then & Now from the website Ephemeral New York.

I lived in Brooklyn from the fall of ’95 to the summer of 2000 and was in my Bronx apartment on the morning of September 11, 2001. But I still had a lot of friends in Brooklyn like my pal who was in his Carroll Gardens apartment. When the second plane hit he walked to his roof to see what was happening.

A few hours later the roof and the streets were covered in white like a ticker tape parade. Only it wasn’t ticker tape but paper from the twin towers that had blown across the East River.

This one that still gives me the chills all these years later.

Love and respect to everyone who lost someone that day.