Help Solve the Mystery of the Columbus Avenue Footprints
By Carol Tannenhauser
For months, a stretch of sidewalk between West 74th and West 75th Streets on Columbus Avenue was undergoing a major renovation, so carefully done that workers built an impressive bridge over it.
Photograph courtesy of Beth Israel and Paisley Shaler, of The Shade Store.
The day after they took the bridge down to expose the new, gleaming-white sidewalk, this is how it looked:
What? No!
If you look carefully, you’ll see that the footprints in the cement are very narrowly placed, and small; I tried to walk in them, but my size seven sneakers were too big, and the steps were so far apart that I had to leap to reach them.
Why would the workers take the bridge down before the cement was dry? Was the culprit a woman or child, based upon their shoe size? Did the long steps indicate they were running? Was this an accident or intentional? Whose footprints encased in cement are these?
Any information or speculation is welcome in the comments. There are five (size small) West Side Rag T-shirts waiting for the five most imaginative — or obvious — answers.
Let me kick this off by ruling out the Riverside Park goats.
Leon, T shirt for you!
Definitely not the goats.
No kidding.
We’ll have to investigate this one step at a time.
Nancy Pelosi running for hairdresser’s appointment and $15.00 pint of ice cream!
Prince?
Une réponse facile, mais en anglais:
These are single impressions spaced far apart! Therefore, they are obviously the work of a one-legged person hopping up the avenue!
U.R. most welcome!
Jacques Clouseau
Slenderman!?
Someone tried to do a “”two step” dance move but “misstepped”.
It’s an invisible sculpture. (Duh…)
Clearly the work of the great, long, red-legged scissorman.
That or bedbugs.
Some of the prints are from a left foot shoe, alternating with those from a right foot shoe. And they are widely spaced, which indicates the mysterious stepper is either very tall or floats above the ground with some sort of foot stamper. Oh, heck — who knows??
The only remaining footprint (WSR’s own words!) of Ethan Freckles.
Banksy.
You get my vote!
Australopithecus afarensis. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetoli .
The proximity to the Museum of Natural History confirms the connection.
New evidence suggests ancient tourists waited in line for Levain’s even longer than their modern descendants.
I love this one!
As an upper Westsider we hate everything and I hate this!
These are obviously the long-lost steppes of the UWS-SSR.
Frustrated artist who volunteered as a banner untangler at The Gates in hopes of meeting Christo and launching a successful career. Didn’t happen. Saved pole. Has been creating anarchic art installations around the city since then, this time by sticking shoes at the end of the Gates pole and leaning over the side of the bridge.
Giving New York its own Golden Gates Bridge??
Mary Poppins
Someone with only left foot. 🤔
Little Foot!
It’s like the Cask of Amontillado of sidewalks. Whose feet are they?
I’m betting it was the workers’ own inside job, done by hand (not by foot…) and well before the bridge deconstruction unveiled their art project.
Or as Sherlock Holmes might say: “Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”
Defenitely a foot….
I’m positive it’s the same person that’s been trying to contact me about my vehicle’s extended warranty.
The artist signed their work – there’s a handprint and a small smiley face in the corner of this section of cement. A cool UWS mystery!
Now after the Covid-19 pandemic has abated a bit, these are the first steps in the return of shoe-business.
They are definitely the Wicked Witch Covid’s footprints being run out of the UWS.
Hopalong Cassidy?
Someone on stilts obviously did this on purpose after they gauged that the cement was just dry enough or wet enough to do this quickly and get away. Perhaps a retired member of the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus?
It’s the Wicked Witch of the West(side).
It looks like the footprints you see in Scooby Doo.
It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away to shake shake!
Daniel Day-Lewis sequel entitled “my two left feet”.
Semi Social Distancing.
Clearly left by the elusive legendary creature, Smallfoot.
Watch the movie Gaslight (1944) – that will explain this.
There’s a game afoot, here!
One small step for ……
We need to tread lightly before jumping to conclusions.
I confess.
A deeply inner soul/sole, this sidewalk phantom.
“Don’t look at us!” say the raccoons. We’re too busy emptying garbage cans than to fool around with nonsense like this.
Clearly an artistic homage to Julia Haart’s shoe line.
“When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you”
The Lord?
Locals stay in their lane.
Obviously not a skilled Hopscotcher,… clearly the line has been stepped on!
Someone who’s well heeled left these prints.
The ghost of Peter Stuyvesant