Park Avenue and E. 102nd Street

The ding of recognition dinged when we were watching The Garment Jungle (dir. Vincent Sherman, 1957). The wall, the underpass — that had to be Park Avenue. Train tracks run above. We walked through an underpass several years ago with our friends Luanne and Jim, on our way to and from the Museum of the City of New York. Here, look, then and now (the now courtesy of Google Maps):

[Click any image for a larger view.]

[The underpass for vehicles is flanked by two smaller ones for pedestrians.]

[Now with air conditioners and fire escapes.]

The underpass (one of eight) is at 102nd Street. The traffic pattern has changed since 1957. But if you look at the doorways and windows and the Carver Houses in the distance, you can see that it’s the same street. Bonus: the 1957 scene gives us the stuff of the city: stickball, an ice-cream man, a horse-drawn cart (notice the bells), people sitting on the stoop or looking out windows at a movie being made.

The Garment Jungle is a terrific movie, now streaming at the Criterion Channel.