[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library Digital Collection] This Bernice Abbott photo is described as “Billboards and signs, Fulton Street between State street and Ashland place, Brooklyn. (October 29, 1936).”

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is Bushwick Avenue and Cooper Street as photographed in 1941.

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[Image courtesy of New York Public Library] Here’s our good, old Ninth Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal as it appeared in 1940.

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This is a from a postcard we found up for sale on eBay from a photo taken sometime in the 1950s. The large building on the left is the Half Moon Hotel. Demolished, of course.

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[Photo courtesy New York Public Library] This is a photo of the coffee warehouse (aka the Empire Stores) on Water Street in Dumbo, which is currently being allowed to rot and deteriorate. It was taken by Berenice Abbott on May 22, 1936. Per notes from the NYPL: “Four-story brick warehouse with arched windows and doors, […]

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is Joralemon and Hicks Streets in an undated photo looking toward the East River, clearly pre-BQE.

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This is Second Avenue and 13th Street, roughly in the area where the big Lowe’s is located today. What’s of interest are the big structures in the background, which are the remnants of the Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) that was on the site and left a toxic soup deep underground. The toxins, which are left […]

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[Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library] Building the Williamsburg Bridge around 1903, give or take.

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We love old pictures of Brooklyn, old being anything pre-1990. We’re guessing many of our readers may have some gems and scanners. If so, and you’d like to share them, send us the JPEGS at thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com. [Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/flickr] After a snowstorm in March, 1956. The photographer writes: “When […]

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[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/GL Flickr Pool] The photographer, whose documentation of Brooklyn in the not-so-distant past we love, writes: “These were painted on the subway wall to celebrate the Bicentennial a few years earlier. Photo 1980. Avenue C and McDonald Aves.”

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is Willow and Poplar Streets in Brooklyn Heights, looking west in 1936, in the pre-BQE era.

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[Photo courtesy of the New York Pubic Library] This is Rosie Bernier in her home on Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush in a photo taken October 15, 1978.

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[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade] The photographer, who posts some utterly priceless photos of Brooklyn just a short generation ago, with which we’ve fallen in love, writes of this shot: “Reflection in store window. location: On Church Avenue (near Dahill Road) facing toward 36th Street – Culver L in the distance. The factory in the […]

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[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/Flickr] This is McDonald Avenue near Avenue C in Kensington in 1980. The photographer writes: “This is where the F train begins its rise to become an elevated train going out to Coney Island. I have to apoligize for my finger but I remember how nervous I was taking this picture […]

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[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/GL Flickr Pool] This is 36th Street near corner of Church Avenue in 1980. The photographer writes, “I think this was an old gas station.”

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[Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library] This is the view of the Williamsburg Bridge from S. 8 and Berry Streets in 1937. It is not dissimilar from what one would see today.

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[Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library] This is the Brighton Beach Boardwalk at Sea Breeze Ave. in 1929.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] The Gowanus Canal looking south from the Carroll Street Bridge in 1930

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[Click to enlarge photo] A very, very kind GL reader sent us this photo of Coney Island in its prime that he purchased years ago. It shows the Steeplechase Pavilion that was murdered by Fred Trump and to its right the Thunderbolt roller coaster, which was slaughtered by Rudolph Giuliani. The date of the photo […]

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is Carroll Street at Bond Street looking toward the Gowanus Canal. The building with the smokestacks is the power plant that is still standing today. This photo is from 1930.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] Here’s a shot of good old Prospect Park West after a bit of a snow in January 1978, about 31 years ago, give or take.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is Luna Park in Coney Island 1906. It burned to the the ground in a spectacular fire in August, 1944.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library] This is the Williamsburg Bridge under consruction in the early 1900s as seen from Kent Avenue in Williamsburg.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Pubic Library] This is the Erie Basin in Red Hook, which was home to maritime industries for generations and is now the home of the Red Hook Ikea, as it looked in 1920.

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[Photo courtesy of New York Pubic Library] This is Bedford Avenue at Empire Boulevard in an undated photo that is most likely from the 1930s.

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