The Ghosts of Columbia Street: More Irving Street Shots

Here are some more shots of the vanished Brooklyn waterfront road called Irving Street, all courtesy of Freebird Books.

Read more »

The Blowing Up of the Valley Candle Company

You think dining at Pok Pok is exciting? That's nothing. Once upon a time, they had some high times on Columbia Street, Brooklyn. Like exploding buildings—on purpose.

The folks at Freebird Books recently uncovered a long forgotten episode of wanton destruction in the history of Columbia Street. Once an industrial area, the road was home for many decades to the Valley Candle Manufacturing Company, which stood at 158 Columbia Street.

By the 1980s, many of the building on the west side of Columbia between Kane and DeGraw Street were abandoned, and much of the manufacturing had left the neighborhood. The Valley Candle building, standing between Irving and Sedgwick Streets (both now demapped) was one of the last still standing. The television show "Miami Vice" took advantage of the depressed situation to use Valley as the set for one of its episodes, blowing the joint to kingdom come. Above and below are screen captures of the scene, caught by Freebird.

Read more »

The Ghosts of Columbia Street: An Actual Picture of Irving Street!

I've written in the past about the Brooklyn waterfront ghost streets of Irving Street and Sedgwick Street. These were two two-block thoroughfares that rans from Columbia Street, between Kane and DeGraw, to the East River. They were lined with warehouses and businesses having to do with the shipping industry. Both streets hung around for more than a century or so before being eliminated in the 1990s when the land west of Columbia was denuded of buildings and paved over in service of the waterfront. For years, signs still hung on Columbia Street indicating the former locations of Irving and Sedgwick.

Until now, I never seen an actual photograph of either road. But the clutch of old photographs recently uncovered by Freebird Books includes a few shots of Irving (though none of Sedgwick). The photo above is taken from a lot on Columbia looking west down Irving. As you can see, the lane led right to the water. That thatch of green you see at the end of Irving is Governor's Island. The street is lined with old warehouses and industrial building, just as every map I've seen has always indicated it was.

Over their long existence, Irving and Sedgwick were places of action. The newspapers are full of old accounts of factory fires, fights, murders, the production of illegal booze, suicides and various other crimes that occurred on those gritty blocks.

The fellows in this picture look like tough customers. But they're actually hard at work converting that empty lot into a kind of recreation area for the surrounding Puerto Rican community.

The Ghosts of Columbia Street: Parade Day

Not much information to go along with this lovely image of Columbia Street, between Kane and Degraw Streets, circa 1955. I'm guessing it's an Independence Day parade, judging by the many flags, the bright sun and the summer clothing. The barber shop in the background is 133 Columbia Street. The building doesn't exist anymore.

As with all the previous photos in this series, they belong to Freebird Books of Columbia Street.

The Ghosts of Columbia Street: Rayco Machine Co.

Here, in the latest of the wonderful stash of old Columbia Street images recently claimed from obscurity by Freebird Books, is a shot of the Rayco Machine Company, a player in the area's now bygone industrial past. It stood at the northeast corner of Columbia and Baltic Street, and there's not a sign of the company or the building today. (All photos are the property of Freebird Books.)

But Rayco is not what's interesting about this photo. What is is the gigantic ad for the Guido Funeral Home of the side of the building. This business is still a going concern, and operates on the corner of Carroll and Union Streets inside the historic John Rankin mansion. There it is below (photo courtesy of Carroll Gardens Patch.) There's a long, long history to that building, which I really should tell one of these days.