August 5, 2022

I was looking through my old photos from August 2007, and I ran across this...

 ... which I just want to show you because it made me laugh:

Crazed rabbit

The reason I was poking around in that section of the 19 thousand photos I've uploaded to Flickr is that I happened upon the new NYT article "Can a Neighborhood Be Instagrammed to Death? The return of tourism to New York has brought crowds back to one of the most popular selfie spots on earth. People who live there aren’t feeling #grateful." 

That's about a vantage point I remember photographing when I sojourned in Brooklyn 15 years ago. Yes, here's my photo:

Encroaching buildings

That was taken before there even was an Instagram — Instagram began in 2010 — and there was no concept of Instagrammable. Only bloggable. 

Blogged here, where somebody said he thought he recognized the shot from "Once Upon a Time in America."

19 comments:

Rusty said...

Top photo.
Albrecht Durer on acid.

Dave Begley said...

Ann's shot in Brooklyn has been in many movies. I think it was in "Once Upon a Time in America."

Charlie said...

No comment from Meade in 2007?

Ann Althouse said...

"No comment from Meade in 2007?"

That's funny. Whenever I go back to an old post of mine, from before Meade and I got together, I always look for Meade. It's not as if he was always around in the comments. He was there enough to be memorable, but he was selective.

Joe Smith said...

'OUATIA' is exactly what I thought of.

Although in most shots you can see the arches on the bridge...probably from a different street.

Joe Smith said...

'Whenever I go back to an old post of mine, from before Meade and I got together...'

So ante Meade (AM) and post Meade (PM)...

rcocean said...

What a great thread about NYC circa 2007. I too can remmember a similar shot in "once upon a time". Also reminds me of a shot in "The Naked City" 1948. If its right next to Brooklyn bridge that makes sense. Since it would be easy to shoot for Movie cameras.

Its a nice view too. It just needs more Illegal aliens from Texas.

TickTock said...

Dumboland. That's my home there, or it was in the mid 70s. Down underneath.the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. My first wife had a large loft there in the big building to the right. Even managed to learn to sleep through the trains rattling across the Bridge. Left only when I started getting calls in the evening, when in conference with a partner, that kids were torching another car outside the back windows. Used to pick her up at the subway station and escort her home with a sharped screwdriver in my back pocket.
Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end ...

Temujin said...

It IS a great shot and it does seem like I've seen it in a few movies.

Looking at your older post, I read with interest the comments from Trooper York, which started, "Maxine you should give it a rest...New York is the safest big city in America...". And went on from there.

Times change. Places change. People change. Things Change.

Speaking of which, its also a great movie: Things Change.

TickTock said...

Loft had huge beams inside. Built I think shortly after the Civil War. Bouncer from Plato's, one of the famous sex clubs lived on the first floor, some weird architects on the second. we were on the third. Basement was used to store stolen pharmaceuticals. Tall windows and thick wood floors. Thanks for the memories.

Joe Smith said...

I think this is the famous shot/angle.

Note the spire of the Empire State Building framed in the lower arch...

Original Mike said...

I have a similar photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Have always liked the composition.

realestateacct said...

I own a painting of that view.

realestateacct said...

It was a favorite walk of ours when we lived on Bridge Street in downtown Brooklyn.

Robert Cook said...

It's such a shame what has happened to DUMBO.

Andrew said...

If you Google "Poster Once Upon a Time in America," you'll see that image on the movie poster. As others have said the angle and possibly street are different.

Joe Smith said...

'It's such a shame what has happened to DUMBO.'

He wasn't very happy in the circus...

FullMoon said...

Speaking of tourists...
Many times I have been handed a camera or phone with a request to take a photo.
I take the camera/phone in hand and turn and pretend to run away.
They are shocked, and then relieved.
Try it, it's pretty funny.
Not in open carry state though, why take chances?

Richard Dolan said...

I remember your sojourn in Brooklyn and the meet-up at a place on Atlantic Avenue with your son. It was a nice evening.

Still living in Brooklyn Heights -- it's always been a very nice place to grow old, and happily has improved with age. This part of Brooklyn outgrew that graffiti-scared look in your pix long ago -- not good for RE values and all that. The area is still photogenic but in different ways. Today, the properties are mostly renovated, and there's even Brooklyn Bridge Park, complete with carrousel and lots of young parents pushing carriages.

Worth a detour, as the guidebooks say.