By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group
Welcome to another installment in the Rag’s Historical Photo Challenge. The image above was taken somewhere on the Upper West Side, sometime in the past. Can you figure out where, when, and what it shows? Look closely; this week’s challenge photo, like the others in the series, includes clues that will help you identify the scene, if you’re a dedicated UWS history sleuth. And even if you don’t recognize the picture—not to worry! Come back in two weeks and I’ll decode it, show you the clues that help identify it, and—best of all—tell you a story the image unlocks, because this column isn’t just a test of your neighborhood knowledge; it’s also a rolling celebration of the people, buildings and events that wove the tapestry of the Upper West Side.
Ready? If you think you know where and when the photo was taken and what it shows, post your answer as a comment on this column.
Solution to Historical Photo Challenge #4
Subject: Aeromarine Seaplanes
Location: Hudson River at West 86th Street
Year: 1922
Image Source: timetableimages.com
Shoutout to readers: A number of you correctly identified the location on the Hudson and the connection to the short-lived Aeromarine service (see below); fewer indicated how you knew by calling attention to the specific apartment buildings on Riverside Drive at West 86th Street. EW and Edge of UWS did so, as well as RD Eno and Dpug Barton. Tom Fedorek added the information about Robert Moses’ eviction of the Columbia Yacht Club. Don B really did it right: date, location, and evidence. Steven asked how yacht club members accessed the river, given the railroad tracks. You’ll find the answer in two of the images below—a footbridge over the railroad. Here’s a bonus image, taken in May 1934 when Moses ordered a steam shovel to literally cut a ditch that removed access to the homeless camp on the river created by Army veterans, who were being evicted simultaneously with the yacht club.
Clues: That’s right, seaplanes on the Hudson! The river is obvious enough, but unless you know about the long-departed Columbia Yacht Club, the best clue—given the barren-looking state of Riverside Park in its pre-Moses condition—are the two prominent apartment buildings at the top right of the photo, which you should recognize as the Clarendon and the Dorchester, at 137 and 131 Riverside Drive, respectively.
The rest of the story: Now here’s a forgotten chapter in Upper West Side history: In the early 1920s you could head to 86th Street and the Hudson River, walk to the edge of the wooden dock of the Columbia Yacht Club, step into the cabin of a seaplane, and take off for…Havana? Yep, and 100 years ago, there were also flappers and gents wearing straw boaters and three-piece suits commuting by seaplane to the Hamptons!
In the early 1920s, passenger air travel was in its infancy. Carrying mail by air was a real business, and a small Florida operation called Aeromarine won a contract from the U.S. Post Office to carry it from Key West to places like Nassau and Havana. U.S. Navy “flying boats” and pilots who had trained to fly them in World War I were available, and service was inaugurated. Aeromarine quickly expanded its ambitions and advertised service taking off and landing from the Hudson River at 82nd Street, then moved its “terminal” to the yacht club at 86th. Customers could take $15 sightseeing trips around Manhattan Island, or—as one family did—hire a plane to scatter ashes of a loved one around the Statue of Liberty. Passenger service included scheduled flights to the Hamptons in 80 minutes or even hops down the east coast at 110 mph to Havana. Aeromarine’s planes were built in Keyport, N.J.; their larger model could accommodate 11 passengers in wicker seats. The company claimed to have taken 10,000 passengers “in perfect comfort and safety,” but the business proved untenable economically and the service folded by 1925. Remember the pioneers of Aeromarine the next time you walk by the noisy helicopters taking off from the Hudson near 30th Street.
…and that’s the story behind the mystery image. Now scroll back to the top of the column and take on your next challenge, Sherlockians! If you’ve missed any pictures in this series, here is the complete collection.
About the author: Rob Garber has lived on the Upper West Side since the late 20th century and is a member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. To learn more, visit their website at upperwestsidehistory.org. All photos in Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenge are used by permission.
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Broadway and W 65th
I agree it has to be where Broadway and Columbus meet, the EL is the old 9th Avenue line.
9thAvenue/Columbus…likely 66thSt. Across from the future Lincoln Center.
66th and Broadway? The area outside Lincoln Center. Biggest tell is the Columbia Storage Warehouse, which would be broken up and later become the ABC Studios.
66th and Broadway. 66th Street Subway station for the 9th Avenue EL. on the right. The old armory can be seen on the left. Later it would be the Ansonia post office, and then currently the AMC Lincoln Square movie theatre. Judging by the cars and the lady, circa 1920.
Price of cigarettes may suggest 1930s
looking NW from 65th and B’way. 9th Ave. El running along Columbus Ave. on the left
Looks like 65th-66th St & Broadway, looking north up Columbus and Broadway.
The old elevated train line on Columbus is visible, with Broadway crossing narrowing to the ‘point’. The 66th St uptown IRT entrance is also visible at street level. Richard Tucker Park (farmers market) and 66th-Lincoln Center 1 station today.
65th Street and Broadway.. Ninth Avenue el on Columbus Avenue can be seen in the upper right portion of the photo.
That is the 9th Avenue El. crossing Broadway at 66th St. It was dismantled in 1940 and (as I was told numerous times) the scrap metal was sold to Japan, where it was thereafter returned to the US in a different form.
e.e. Cummings was referring to the 6th avenue el in his famous poem “told hiim.”
…. (he didn’t believe it,no
sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth
avenue
el;in the top of his head:to tell
him
Yes, I agree. Broadway as crossed by Columbus Ave (AKA Ninth Ave with the old Ninth Ave El to right. Facing North (looking at the site of the old Century 21 store).
Can I just say, I really appreciate this series as it starts me looking into cool history of our neighborhood. I feel like the EL line should be brought back as a street level TRAM system
The Campbell Funeral Home was located at 66 & Broadway in the 1920s, so that would coincide with Lincoln Square area today.
Campbell’s Funeral Church was opened in a McKim, Meade & White building between 66th & 67th on Broadway in about 1915. It hosted Rudolf Valentino’s funeral! https://www.landmarkwest.org/boulevard-encore/1970-1972-broadway/
Judging from the fur coat, hat and shoes on the lady on the left side, and the cars, I think this image comes from the mid-1920s.
84 th and Comumbus
Hello again,
I believe this photo is dated from 1925-26 based on the parked cars and fashionable woman’s dress, and that pictured is West 66th Street and Broadway, with the old 66thSt elevated subway station, No. 1 line.
Love the Aeromarine history. Thanks so much!
San Juan Hill (as it was known then), but now Lincoln Center around 66th and Broadway/Columbus. Thinking late 1920s. OMG that gigantic cigarette ad (!) on what would later be Barnes & Noble (and now Century 21).
Love this old photo!! Very rare to find any photos showing the 9th Avenue EL. Plenty of them with the 3rd Avenue EL however. Would love one day to see many more of these!
my apartment, slightly farther uptown than the intersection shown, has windows overlooking Columbus Avenue.
Photos like this one are telling: it’s hard to imagine either train—uptown or downtown— rushing by my window as close to me as the far side of the street tree canopy is now.
When I first arrived in New York I lived in The Bronx across the park opposite the elevated 4 Train, where the new Yankee Stadium is now.
Those trains were deafening in the summer, when all resident windows were wide open. To me it was part of ‘the scene’. I loved it.
Can’t say the same for a train only 50 feet away.
197O Broadway around 1922
125th & Broadway
The timing of the photo would be about 1930. The Old Gold cigarettes slogan “Not a cough in a carload'” was introduced in 1930. Considering the cars and what the woman on the street was wearing, it was not much later than that.
That’s where Cybill Sheppard’s character worked in the movie Taxi Driver
https://www.comicbookandmoviereviews.com/2024/07/four-film-locations-featured-in-taxi.html
Broadway at 65th 66th Street. 66th Street station of 9th Avenue El on what is now Columbus Avenue. Photo likely 1902 or 1903, as it appears the IRT subway is being built under Broadway.
66th street in 2 years.
Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution
Re: Aeromarine
Would that be great to re-create that Columbia Yacht Club for the boat basin dockhouse, instead of what they are building?
Also, Old Gold cigarettes with that ad campaign appeared about 1926, so that’s my estimate of the time frame, aside from the cars and clothing.
I think this is where Broadway and Columbus Avenue cross at W. 66th Street around 1910.
When I was a kid in the early 1960’s a train somehow fell off the el near the Sutter Avenue IRT station in Brooklyn. A train car ended up not horizontal but nearly vertical with the front of the car in the street and the back of the car pointed up to the tracks. This gave rise to much lively discussion at nearby P.S. 219.
This one was too easy.
The diagonal means it has to be Broadway and the sign “Columbus Storage” is a clue that it’s Columbus Avenue. So this small park must be what is now Richard Tucker Square. About 66th.
Hi Bob, You can’t get more West Side than this picture, it’s the angle of the street that screams out Broadway! (or maybe to some Boulevard!) The big El on the right is the old 9th Ave El (the only elevated line in the Upper West Side, I believe) which crossed Broadway at 65th St. The clincher for identifying the location was on the left where we can see the 22nd Regiment Armory that was on Broadway from 67th to 68th Streets.
Location: W 66th St from Broadway to Columbus Ave.
Date: There are two dates that bracket this picture. The 9th Ave El was first built in the 19th century, but the station at 66th Street was expanded to two track levels following the subway “Dual Contracts” in 1913. The second is the Armory on 67th street which was demolished in 1929. There is still one rather bedraggled-looking horse in the scene, but lots of spiffy automobiles, the kind they were making in the late 20’s. My Guess: 1926.