30 April 2007

Four Flags Over Bay Ridge


Found this on a wall in Bay Ridge, lost among the surrounding dung heap of auto body stores and spare tire outfits. The flags surround the Stars and Stripes are, clockwise from bottom left: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Stumped? Well, before "Saturday Night Fever" made everyone think Bay Ridge was full of Italians and nothing but, the nabe was home to a huge Scandinavian population. More Norwegians than Oslo at one point, they said. Mostly gone, now, of course. But this wall gives passersby a silent reminder.

Reason the Swedish flag is bigger than the other two? Could be because the still-hanging-on Swedish Social Club is just next door, to the right.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Norse code...

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/norwegians/norway.html