Railway Historical

While I've posted this image before, I recently re-scanned the negative for more detail in the shadows. This was taken in the fall of 1981 (42 years ago) when I first moved to Brooklyn.

The entire 4 x 5 inch negative is shown here. As for the subject matter, no caption needed given today's date.

One image © Richard Koenig.

City as Metaphor

Lower Manhattan as seen from the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, taken 1988 and 2021. Images by Richard Koenig; for more of this project please go here.

Washington Square Park

Once again, an image made while I was commuting from the Photo District (now called Flatiron) to Brooklyn. I would high-tail it down Broadway to this spot, and then make my way to the Brooklyn Bridge (as there was no path on the Manhattan at that time).

One image by Richard Koenig; taken in July of 1987.

Aboard the Staten Island Ferry

Here are three images made from the Staten Island Ferry—looking toward the tip of southern Manhattan. City Pier One is visible in color images, adjacent to the Battery.

I have a feeling the images are out of order—with the black and white taken on my way to SI, while the color was taken upon my return.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken in the summer of 1983.

On the West Side

I have here three views taken along the Hudson River from the mid-1990s. The first image, looking down the Hudson River toward the upper-harbor, could have been made around Pier 32 or just south of that. Towers One and Two of the World Trade Center are prominent in the left-hand side of the image of course. The Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island can be made out in the distance.

In the second image, Pier 32 foregrounds the ventilation building for the Holland Tunnel. (The pilings from Pier 32, sans deck, are still evident at this location today.) In the final image we see the south side of a building (that closely resembles its current state), now part of the sprawling athletic complex at Pier 40.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken in March of 1995.

From the West Side

Here are a couple of shots I ran across recently—one looking northeastward toward the upper twenties and the ESB while the other looks downtown toward WTC and where the Hudson River hits upper bay. Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in March of 1985.

[I think I locked down the locale of these two shots—taken from a building that sits at the corner of West and Bethune Streets.]

View from the Dorm

And lastly, here are two images (posted before) taken from my dorm while studying at Pratt Institute.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in the fall of 1981.

View from the Bridge

Here’s a shot (posted before) with the World Trade Center and the Woolworth Building—shot from the center of the Brooklyn Bridge.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken January 1988.

World Trade Center

These were taken at the base of the two towers in the spring of 1982. Two images by Richard Koenig; not posted prior to today.

Bodega and the World Trade Center

This is a view from my apartment's fire escape on Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn. One image by Richard Koenig; taken in 1987.

East River and World Trade Center

I've posted these before, but I just did a nice new scan of the first image (a 4" x 5" negative). These both were shot from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade; the dates are the fall of 1981 and January of 1988. Two images by Richard Koenig.

Atop the South Tower—World Trade Center

One image by Richard Koenig; taken in the fall of 1982.

High Over the East River

Here are some shots taken from atop the Manhattan Bridge. The first image shows lower Manhattan, the second a partner in crime, and the third has midtown visible in the distance.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken in the summer of 1984.

The Changing Face of New York

Here are two views taken nearly forty years apart: lower Manhattan as seen from the Brooklyn Promenade in the Heights.

In the foreground, recreation has taken the place of shipping infrastructure, and in the background, the relatively new One World Trade Center has taken the place of the twin towers of the original World Trade Center (destroyed on September 11th 2001). This new building, the tallest in the United States, opened in 2014.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in 1981 and 2021.

Never Forget

Here was the view of The City from my dorm in Brooklyn. This shot was scanned from a 4" x 5" negative, but cropped quite a bit. One image by Richard Koenig; taken in the fall of 1981.

Never Forget

World Trade Center from the Brooklyn Promenade—I shot this with 4″ x 5″ view camera very soon after arriving in New York in the fall of 1981. Photography by Richard Koenig.