The Leaning Tower of Brooklyn

[113-115 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

Some serious density of signage. The camera angle makes this corner look like the Leaning Tower of Brooklyn, but in truth it’s the tip of an triangle bounded by Flatbush Avenue (to the left), Ashland Place (to the right), and Lafayette Avenue (out of sight).

Everything in that triangle, along with the El, is gone, and there’s now an Apple Store on the corner. But the Brooklyn Academy of Music is still going, on Ashland Place, Fulton Street, and Lafayette Avenue. Elaine and I saw Twyla Tharp Dance perform at BAM in 1984. And I said hello to André Gregory in the lobby.

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More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)