[138 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, New York, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]
We’re in The Bronx, though at a safe distance from the path of the Cross Bronx Expressway. I chose this photograph for the strangeness of the long, sloping, vanishing building, which makes me think of Giorgio de Chirco’s Mystery and Melancholy of a Street. The partial face on the billboard adds another kind of strangeness. That billboard must be for Chesterfield cigarettes, whose slogan was “They Satisfy.”
This building stands today: it’s a church, the Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque Roman Catholic Church, established in 1923. Readers of James Joyce’s story “Eveline” will remember Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, who was canonized in 1920, post-Dubliners.
Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)
Sunday, January 12, 2025
A Bronx de Chirico
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Good choice, a moxie soda sign shows up in 1914 Morris Ave pic
ReplyDeleteMichael, I think it would be so cool if you would go to these sites today and dress up like the people who are caught by the camera – – to re-create the photo!
ReplyDeleteHow iconic that ad is – – I immediately recognized it before I even read your post
Yep — 1914 seems to be the official address. I‘ve tried Moxie, which you could easily find in supermarkets in Boston in the 1980s. It’s quite a drink.
ReplyDeleteFresca, me and the guys are planning to hang out in front of that Red Hook garage real soon. Please don’t call the cops on us.
Oh — and here’s the Moxie sign.
ReplyDeletei think this is a 1960s view
ReplyDeletehttps://nyclandmarks.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYClandmarks~2~2~73758~86868:Morris-Avenue-Historic-District?sort=lp_number
Yes, that looks like the Moxie side, minus the Moxie.
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