The Lost Plate

A license plate tucked on a utility pole on New Scotland Avenue near Myrtle.  I don't know how long it's been there, but perhaps it's a bit of flotsam from the bad storms which flooding the intersection last evening.

Lost Pearls

A necklace of fake pearls hangs from the dootknob of a vacant building on New Scotland Avenue near Madison Avenue.

The Diner Sign

The sign above the old Quintessence Diner at New Scotland and Dana Avenues is dark; the beautiful old diner is closed and the property one of several recently acquired by the ever-expanding Albany Medical Ceneter.  While I wasn't a big fan of the diner's most recent incarnation, the building itself is a terrific classic diner and it would be wonderful if it could be moved instead of demolished.

Armory Emblem

A crumbling State seal on the former National Guard armory on New Scotland Avenue.  When I was in grade school, this was the site of an annual Shrine Circus. 

The Shoe Window

A display of knick-knacks in the window of a shoe repair shop on New Scotland Avenue.  They include a bottle shaped like a glass slipper, elegant ladies boots, and a large Dutch clog.

World War I Memorial

Albany is dotted with all sorts of monuments and memorials. This is one of those monuments that I have always known was there...yet didn't really know what it stood for.

This graceful maiden with her palm frond and olive-entwined sword stands on the lawn of the Capital District Psychiatric Center at the corner of New Scotland and South Lake Avenues. I've noticed it a hundred times since childhood and even sometimes romped around the little playground just yards away. But until this summer, I never knew what this monument stood for.

The olive branch and palm - symbols of peaces, of course - are quite common on war memorials and hint at this one's purpose. But, from the front, one can't tell exactly who or what it commemorates. You have to venture around to the back to find the inscription on the sarcophagus-like base.

THAT THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO MADE THE SUPREME
SACRIFICE IN THE WORLD WAR MAY REMAIN FOREVER FRESH
IN THE HEARTS OF A GRATEFUL PEOPLE

The inscription doesn't specify which World War, but a small carving near the maiden's right foot offers an explanation. It gives the sculptor's name - Attilio Piccirilli - and a date of 1923.

World War II was still some years away and I suppose that, at the time the monument was dedicated, World War I was indeed very fresh in the minds and hearts of Albany's citizens.

Attilio Picirilli, by the way, was an Italian-born sculptor of some note. Coming from a family of artists, he was responsible for the Maine Memorial at New York City's Columbus Circle, the Fireman's Memorial in New York's Riverside Park, busts of Presidents Jefferson and Monroe in the Virginia State Capitol, and sculptural elements for the Frick Mansion, Rockefeller Center, the Wisconsin State Capitol, and a number of other public or civic buildings.

A short bio of Picirilli gives the official name of the monument here in Albany - The Mother's War Memorial.