04 September 2012

The Ghosts of Columbia Street Past: Otto's


I was recently contracted by the owner of Freebird Books, a fine indy used book store on Columbia Street, near Kane. He told me he had recently given given a cache of old photos by a neighbor on nearby Tiffany Place who was moving out. The photos and negatives were of the Columbia Street area, and date from roughly the 1960s, when the neighborhood was on its way down but had not yet been utterly killed by the long 1970s Columbia Street sewer dig. Many of the buildings that are now vacant, or have been converted to apartments or torn down, can be seen with stores in their ground-floor spaces. Quite a number of bars and restaurants, too.

You can see all the photos that have been scanned so far at Freebird's Flickr page. (Both of these photos are the property of Freebird.) There will be more to come. Here's one of Otto's Scandinavian Bar, at the southeast corner of Columbia and Kane. I have posted a photo of Otto's before on Lost City, but this is a new view. Below is a view of the space today. The restaurant that opened in the space last year recently closed. 






4 comments:

Parakeet Unplugged said...

Otto's! My grandfather, a Brooklyn boy, loved this bar well. It was his sneak away place to hang out with his brothers. He would still talk about all his great times spent there even when I came around in the 80's. Truth be told my grandma, rest her soul, would be happy it is now lost (as many paychecks of his were too).

upstate johnny g said...

At first I thought that the two photos were different buildings....I'm so used to the idea that developers stack additional stories on top of old low-rise structures....but on closer inspection that IS Otto's of today. Wonder why the circumcision of the third floor? My guess would be that there was a fire up there but the damage was confined to that level and it was just cheaper to cut the building down than it was to rebuild?

Also I'm struck by how much more open a city seems when you have a gas station/garage on a corner. Kind of punches a hole in the sky. And the trees make a difference too....seem to take away some of the gritty urbanity. Wonder how the comparison would go if the modern photos were shown in B/W....like the old ones. Now that might be really interesting.....

Ed said...

The area keeps on being tipped for some sort of revitalization but it never seems to happen.

crabapple said...

Hi Folks, does anyone know where I can find photo's of speakeasy's close to Columbia Street, 1920-30's era? My grandfather owned a speakeasy in the area.
thanks, Ed Dunne crabapple1951@me.com