The Phantom Flour Sack

44 Central Avenue is one of two buildings which form "The Point" where Central and Washington Avenues meet.  A wonderful old commercial brick building an old hoist stick mounted on an upper floor, it is now home to the Preservation League of New York State.

I have walked past this building hundreds of times over the years - as a little girl going shopping at Woolworth's and, later, on the way to buy David Bowie albums at World Records or vintage clothing at Daybreak.  In more recent years, I'd walk by on the way to Honest Weight.

But, while I had noticed the faded ghost signs which overlook the parking lot on the west side, I would never have noticed this ghost sign on the front if not for a discussion in the Facebook group, Albany...the way it was.  If you're from Albany, have an interest in its past (distant and recent), and you're on Facebook, consider joining them.

 It's a flour sack - a nod to the building's past as a grain and feed store.  Man

JC

This older building on Central Avenue bears the letters J and C between the windows on its third story.  Perhaps these were the initials of the original owner or builder.

Signs Revealed

Renovations on a storefront along Central Avenue reveal a set of vintage signs.

Toothpick Guy

Isn't he cute? I don't buy much in dollar stores because I've had bad experiences with items that are just so cheaply made they aren't worth the dollar I paid for them. But last week I had need of some envelopes and a Central Avenue dollar store was the nearest place to get them...and that's how I found this little fellow and his brothers (they're yellow and blue, respectively). I was low on toothpicks anyway!

Central Avenue Whimsy

This brownstone on Central Avenue hasn't aged well. The facade is blackened with pollution and scarred with remnants of poorly cleaned graffiti. But it retains some eye-catching details like this whimsical carved figure.

The Brownstone Bouquet

With this year's especially active winter weather, I'll take whatever signs of spring I can get. In this case, carved garlands of flowers on the underside of a turret-style window on the Central Avenue brownstone of Michael Schrodt.

The Brownstone Bear

A carved bear overlooks Central Avenue near the famous Blue Note music shop. The bear (which looks admittedly feline when viewed in profile) adorns an 1889 brownstone which was originally by architect Ernest Hoffman for Michael Schrodt, founder and general manager of the Beverwyck Brewery.

House of The Rising Sun

About six weeks ago, while walking a friend to the Chinatown bus pickup on Central Avenue, I spotted this small stained glass window high in the turret of a brick building just a few doors from the Double Happiness bus' storefront office.

I tried several times to photograph the window - a stylized rising sun in shades from white to orange to black - but the light was always wrong. Until yesterday, a cold damp afternoon that wasn't really great for the St. Patrick's Day parade, but perfect for finally getting a picture of this window.

Summer Buff

A couple of weeks ago - before I spotted the Catskill brick - another brick caught my eye on a facade near the Burger King on Central Avenue. I was waiting for my partner-in-crime to finish a phone call and noticed words stamped on the ends of some of the pale yellow bricks.

On a cold winter day, the phrase SUMMER BUFF seemed a little ironic.

It refers, of course, to the color of the bricks which are also stamped with the manufacturer's name, Hanley. Hanley bricks were used in the construction of the iconic Chrysler Building, as well as the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China, also in Manhattan. The company, based in Summerville, PA was founded in 1910 and acquired by Glen-Gary Brick in the mid-1980s.

Catskill Brick

On Monday, my partner-in-crime and I had to drop off his friend at the Double Happiness Chinatown bus stop. While we waited for his NYC-bound coach, I tried unsuccessfully to photograph a small stained glass window on a nearby building. Unfortunately, the light was wrong and tree branches were in my way.

And then this brick embedded in the grimy, rock-salted encrusted, cigarette-littered sidewalk caught my eye. It's not the first time I've noticed bricks stamped with the names of their manufacturers...in fact, there's some pale yellow bricks further up the Avenue that need to have their picture taken, too.

The town of Catskill...not to mention much of the Hudson Valley...has long been a center of brick manufacturing. A bit of quick research at a brick collecting web site (yes, people do collect bricks) shows about a dozen such companies. I believe this one came from the Catskill Vitrified Paving Brick Company.

There's a stack of old bricks in my garage. I'm just a little tempted to go out and see if they have any interesting markings. But it's snowing and I don't feel like venturing off the back porch.

Red

I'm not one to complain too much about the weather or seasons. I find a lot to like in all the seasons and weather has its purpose.

That said, sometimes winter seems terribly colorless. White snow, gray days, salt-bleached streets.

Any splash of color is welcome. Such as the berries on this tree growing in the below-street-level courtyard of an apartment for senior citizens on Central Avenue.

A One-Dimensional Neighborhood

When I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, I recall a bit of a mania for painting murals on the sides of buildings and otherwise unadorned walls. Most of the murals are vague memories for me, with the exception of the one closest to my house. I remember white silhouettes of dancers in mid-leap set against bars of blue on the south wall of Justin's Restaurant at the corner of Madison Avenue and Lark Street.

Most of the murals from my childhood are long gone. The one picture above, if I recall correctly, came somewhat later. It decorates a wall in the parking lot of the McDonald's on lower Central Avenue and, well, it's not in the best of shape. The paint is still bright, but peeling in places...and graffiti has made its appearance on a number of the panels.