Bread Line On Dover Street: 1931

A spot not too far away from where Buster Keaton was filming in 1964

Buster Keaton In The Fourth Ward: 1964

Just up the block from the location of the previous post. Southbridge Towers was soon to be built near here. For more on what Buster was doing here:

During the summer of 1964, Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett collaborated making a black and white, avant garde, nearly silent short movie entitled Film.  Keaton, who is seen only from the rear, plays a man attempting to evade perception, eluding everyone except himself.  It was Beckett’s only screenplay, and one of Keaton’s final films.
Production began on July 20, 1964, by filming exteriors within the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Film critic Leonard Maltin, then a young teenager, had read about the planned shooting in the newspaper, and traveled from his home in New Jersey to witness Keaton at work.  Leonard brought along a handful of stills for Buster to autograph, and spent a few moments chatting with Buster between takes. 

Dover and Water Street: 1951

from the mcny collection

A View Of The East River And The Brooklyn Bridge 1918

from the library of congress collection

South Street: 1905

from shorpy
comments that accompanied the picture:

The Chester W. Chapin was a passenger and freight steamer that ran aground up in Providence in 1901. This steamer was named for Chester W. Chapin (December 16, 1798 – June 10, 1883), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877). The ship was of the twin-screw type, 312 feet in length, 64 feet wide, with a tonnage of 1,882. It was built by the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrow's Point, Maryland, for the New Haven Steamboat Company in 1899. The piles of ballast stones near the bottom of the photo, as well as the railcar float to the left of Pier 20.

1800 Era Map Of The Cherry Hill Area Showing Site Of The Brooklyn Bridge

A Labeled Close Up Of The 1916 Bridge Photo

Brooklyn Bridge 1916

!891 Map Of Area Near The Brooklyn Bridge

Bowery Bugs

Watch Bowery Bugs in Family  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Bowery Bugs is a Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Arthur Davis, written by Lloyd Turner and Bill Scott, and released in mid-1949 as part of the Merrie Melodies series, released. It stars Bugs Bunny (voiced by Mel Blanc) and Steve Brody (voiced here by Billy Bletcher), who was based on the real-life Brooklyn bookmaker Steve Brodie, who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge.
Bugs Bunny is standing at the base of the famous Brooklyn Bridge, (about 1/2 mile from the southern end of the actual street called the Bowery), telling an old man a story, in carnival-barker style, about how and why Steve Brodie jumped off the bridge.

Daniel Carone Leaps Off The Brooklyn Bridge: 1921

Steve Brody Jumps Off The Brooklyn Bridge: 1886

brody

Steve Brodie (1863–1901) was an American bookmaker from Brooklyn who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived on July 23, 1886. The newspaper reports at the time gave Brodie lots of publicity, and the New York City tavern he opened shortly afterward was a success.
Hoax or not, Brodie became famous, and his name for a time became slang; to "pull a Brodie" or "do a Steve Brodie" came to be understood to do something flamboyant and dangerous.
In 1933, Brodie was portrayed by George Raft in Raoul Walsh's film The Bowery. He also appears as a character in the June 4, 1949 Warner Bros. cartoon short Bowery Bugs, starring Bugs Bunny, directed by Arthur "Art" Davis and presenting a fictionalized account of why Brodie wished to jump from the bridge in the first place. Brodie (misspelled "Brody" in the cartoon) is portrayed as a cigar-chomping, hard-drinking, gambling-addicted, thieving lout who seeks a rabbit's foot to change his bad luck; Bugs' subsequent antics eventually drive him to jump from the bridge out of pure madness.
In Samuel Fuller's paean to the fourth estate, Park Row (1952), the character Steve Brodie is prepped to make the leap, and then becomes the primary focus for the first edition of The Globe newspaper.
"Doing a Brodie" is referred to in David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" essay.
The "spinning knobs" once commonly bolted to the steering wheels of farm implements and trucks prior to the advent of power steering were referred to as "suicide knobs," and, by association, "Brodie knobs," as their misuse could lead to loss of control of the vehicle.

Brooklyn Bridge 1909

A close up of the image reveals several building painted ads such as one for a play called, "The Bachelor," an ad for the NY Frame and Picture Company, one for the circus and of course the ubiquitous Fletcher's Castoria

from the library of congress

South Street Viaduct

from Cliff

It's a shot of South St. before the viaduct was built--when I first got into photography. Taken from the Manhattan Bridge.

I would guess it's from the early 1950's.
from nyc roads

1954: The South Street Viaduct between the Battery Park Underpass and Jackson Street (on the Lower East Side) was completed over the existing boulevard.

Viaduct reminds me of the old Marx Brother's routine from the Cocoanuts.

From The Brooklyn Bridge: Views Of Smith and Knickerbocker: 1957

President's Week Special: Site Of Washington's Mansion

from the bowery boys

You'll be forgiven if the corner of Pearl and Dover streets does not happen to ring any bells for you. Although nearby a few South Street Seaport restaurants and bars -- including the Bridge Cafe -- its mostly unused given its proximity to the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge and FDR Drive.
But a sad, tiny plaque here uncovers a surprising fact -- here once stood the first presidential mansion of George Washington. The nation's first president lived here from April 1789 to February 23, 1790, just a short carriage ride to Federal Hall on Wall Street. His inauguration procession on April 30th even began here with a reception for the new nation's creators.
This was considered uptown to Revolutionary era New Yorkers, and the white Colonial home, built in 1770, was surrounded by other sumptuous houses overlooking the East River. In fact, Washington's neighbor, at 5 Cherry Street, was John Hancock. DeWitt Clinton would later reside in the former Washington home.
Cherry Street still remains in lower Manhattan, but the section which once included the presidential mansion and the other austere residences was demolished in the 1880s to make way for the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage. That might seem scandalous to modern-day history preservationists, but by then, Cherry Street was far from a tony address.
One Cherry Street was unceremoniously torn down to widen the street in the 1850s, but by then, it was a mercy killing. The neighborhood had become New York's notorious Fourth Ward, lined with saloons and brothels, the once-glorious mansions turned into boarding houses. It was Manhattan's most decrepit neighborhood, so few took offense when it was proposed that the neighborhood be partially demolished to make way for the Brooklyn Bridge entrance. Cherry Street still exists but only on the north side of the bridge.
Georgie moved from One Cherry Street to 39 Broadway -- shorter commute -- in 1790. The tiny plaque is all that remains of a far more genteel day in lower Manhattan.

President's Week Special: Pearl And Dover Street Panoramic Movie

A Panoramic Movie made at the intersection of Pearl and Dover Streets. This is adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge's SW side. At the Bridge's side, where there is a yellow cab, a plaque is located commemorating the site of President Washington's mansion when his Presidency began in New York City.

originally from give us each day our daily pan
from the KV memory archives, the scene of a mugging, by Son Of Seth

Yes, I was thrown out of the Canal theater a number of Saturdays for rolling in the aisles laughing. I think one of the movies that prompted my gaiety was "Psycho" - the shower scene. What can I tell you? I guess I wasn't tuned into the mood at the time. Also I saw many rock and roll movies at the Canal, Elvis films and the Murray the K fests. Saturday I often would go there with Joey Maldonado and his cousins. We would load up on candy by the quarter pound from that obscure bakery that was just around the corner on Madison Street, quarter block from Catherine - around the corner from the Brokowsky's fruit store, Gogol's and the pharmacy on the corner, next to the newstand. Remember? By the bus stop. See what I'm saying? (In your mind, can you see it?) The bakery had golden and tan tile design but couldn't hold a candle to Savoia. No marble floors either.
I saw many a Frankenstein/Dracula/Godzilla movie at the Tribune near City Hall.  Also the Uncle Remus movie and a bunch of others.  Murray and I were involved in an incident, after exiting that theater - we were mugged - walking under the Brooklyn Bridge.  Pace College has expanded into the space.  It stood just as Park Row turned a corner towards the river and you could see the water.  As soon as you had a view of the river, you had a view of the theater.  See what I'm saying?.