By 1920 Polly Adler was well on her way to becoming, in her words, “the best goddamn madam in America.”

The Upper West Side apartment Babe Ruth called home for more than a decade is once again on the market.

I wanted to capture it and preserve it for the future. Now it's the future and those days are vanished.

What do a seemingly random collection of words etched into the concrete of a bridge in Riverside South have in common?

The Apthorp mansion was "an exceedingly good house, elegantly furnished, commanding beautiful prospects."

A sense of place is the essence and character of a location and the emotional bonds individuals form with it.

These Upper West Side moms had access to money, lawyers, and the media — their block was brimming with influential neighbors.

A few Thursdays ago, a reader commented that the photos had “so many hats!” "A theme!" I thought.

The city's grid street plan spelled the end for Jauncey Lane, which ran between two new city-planned streets.

I was fascinated by everything on the Upper West Side in those vanished days and I tried to photograph it all,

100 years of The New Yorker; strings at St. John the Divine; a jewel box of a gallery; college hoops!

When it opened in 1900 the Wollaston was said to be in “the choicest and most convenient section of the West Side.” 

This week, Throwback Thursday shifts its focus from people to places that once lined the avenues of the Upper West Side.

Why were stoops a blessing in the late 1800s? Wanna guess?

There’s no rush here, no errands to run, no need to go faster, higher, further. West End Avenue offers respite from the chaos.

I don’t know if it was their clothes, their expessions, their gestures, their postures, but I was impelled to photograph them.

In its long history, the building now occupied by Symphony Space has been a food hall, a restaurant, and an ice skating rink.

This was life! There was a wonderful diversity and humanity and everyone seemed to belong.

We found no motel to lodge us. A Howard Johnson’s diner agreed to serve us, only if I ate in the kitchen.

I simply walked the streets, wherever and whenever I could, and photographed what attracted me, which was almost everything and everyone.

New York has a long history of not giving a pigeon’s butt about the past.

The stores for me were the heart, indeed, the soul of the neighborhood.

At the "Sanskrit College" on West 74th Street people paid $50 to look into a crystal ball for information about loved ones.

How lucky are Upper West Siders with easy access to Central and Riverside Parks, lying under a blanket of white.

The gingerbread version of The Dakota building weighs roughly 13 pounds.

Enjoy this look backward as the new year begins.

"Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus."

Christmas and Hanukkah share the same night this year, begging the question, What'll it be, latkes or lo mein?

The Winter Solstice takes place on Saturday. Here's what to know.

See "Elf" live in concert; hear Big Band holiday classics; bake and donate cookies; ride in a vintage subway car.