[249–255 Mulberry Street, Little Italy, Manhattan, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]
It looks like an outtake, but it’s in with the standard tax photographs. I like seeing the circle, looking like an enormous ball that the WPA man is bouncing. And I like the triangle that he appears to be holding under his arm. I know that the circle and the trinagle are only present in my imagination, but the WPA man does appear to be having Fun with Shapes.
This stretch of Mulberry Street, long regarded as part of Little Italy, is today part of what’s known as Nolita. (Thank you, real-estate promoters.) There’s now a six-story building where the building housing Galline Vive/Live Poultry and Houston Motors stood. The buildings immediately behind and on the other corner still stand.
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Sunday, March 30, 2025
Fun with Shapes
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comments: 2
Great. Any pencil identification? The billboard seems to be about reading material - "on sale at the main stands. - the best Italian advertising medium". In neighboring photos there's a guy in a window, and a guy sitting on a window ledge!
Impossible to identify the pencil. Il Progresso Italo-Americano was a daily newspaper — I can make out that much. I’ll take your word about the windows! There are all sorts of surprises in these photographs.
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