The Healing Garden (photos) is a memorial to Staten Island's 9/11 victims. It occupies a formerly weedy strip of green space that served as a parking lot on 9/11 for members of nearby FDNY Rescue Company 5 — eleven of whom never returned home from the World Trade Center. The garden includes, among other things, a Fireman's Grove — 78 smoke trees planted in honor of the 78 Staten Island firefighters who died on 9/11 — and a piece of steel from ground zero.
The white text on the side of the truck reads:
"Spirit of Oklahoma"Beside the driver's door (close-up) is what appears to be a list of FDNY and NYPD 9/11 victims who had previously assisted with the search and rescue efforts after the Oklahoma City bombing as part of FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1.
As in Oklahoma, the strength of your people will not be measured in your buildings, but instead, in your hearts. For therein lies the spirit that defines your character.
Because of the senseless acts of terrorism on 4-19-95 and 9-11-01, a bond between our people has forever been forged. May we find strength from one another always.
Oklahomans are steadfast in our support of the FDNY. As this life saving memorial to the 343 heroes who perished on 9-11-01 is used on the streets of New York City, we join with all New Yorkers as you proclaim to the world,
"Our Spirit will never be Broken"
These eleven pairs of empty boots memorialize the eleven members of FDNY Rescue Company 5 who died on 9/11. There's also an honorary "Eleven in Heaven Square" street sign here on Clove Road.
This SUV is adorned with several three-dimensional pieces of Aztec-like art, including the version of the Aztec calendar stone you see in the center of the hood above (the cracks are painted on). More photos here.
Looks like it might have saved somebody's life.
Most of Brady's Pond, including the artificial beach built out over the water, is privately owned and open only to members of the Cameron Club. There is a modicum of public access, however: the north/northeastern shoreline, along with a sliver of the pond itself, is part of an undeveloped piece of parkland called Brady's Pond Park.
The garden itself is not a memorial, but three of its statues are dedicated to 9/11 victims.
American flag turned bowling lane, courtesy of Scott LoBaido. Also, laser mazes.
A 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud (left) and a 1949 Cadillac Series 75
This isolated road built through the marsh (aerial view) was devastated by Hurricane Sandy (video, Street View).
August: Lots of sod
September: Only one strip left
December: Lots of sod
I'm guessing this space has been taken over by Shannon Florist & Nursery, which sells sod and is located just up the block (that's its green sign at left).
FOR ALL OCCASIONS
WE RESTORE VERY-VERY OLD PICTURE
The sign above the door says "EST. 1923", but the studio's Facebook page just says it's been "operating for over 30 years."
Life is short, art is long, experience is difficult
The awning of Dikansky's Health World, Inc. offers a paraphrased version of Hippocrates's first aphorism.
From a 2012 Brooklyn Daily article:
A Catholic martyr’s death came to life in the streets of Bensonhurst during the weekend of Sept. 29.You can see photos from the most recent procession here.
One hundred fifty members of the Societa Santa Fortunata di New York acted out the horrific killing of Saint Fortunata and bore a casket containing her likeness around the neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday — a tradition that has crossed the Atlantic from the tiny town of Baucina in Palermo, Sicily . . .
Santa Fortunata was a Christian woman living in the Roman Empire during the persecuting rule of the Emperor Diocletian. In the year 303 AD, Fortunata refused a proposal from the emperor’s son because she didn’t want to convert, and so the prince first threw her to lions, shot her with arrows, and boiled her in hot pitch. But Fortunata held onto life until her spurned suitor finally stabbed her in the head. Her remains were brought to Baucina from the mainland in 1790 — where her body is still used in the procession today — and immigrants brought her rite to Brookyn in 1900.
P.S. 127 Remembers
All Our Heroes, Victims And
Families Of September 11, 2001.
We Dedicate This Garden To Them,
And To All Our Children Who Are
Our Hope For The Future.
This Jewish high school occupies the former Yeshivah of Bensonhurst.
Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette, at the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette
Dyker Heights is home to NYC's most famous Christmas lights. While there are individual houses in other parts of the city that rival the craziest ones here, there's no other neighborhood that can match the density of over-the-top displays — house after house after house — that you'll find in this section of Dyker Heights (photos). At peak hours in December, the most illuminated blocks are packed with people gawking at the lights; tourists come from around the world, and there are even $50-per-person guided bus tours. The house above belongs to Lucy and Angelo Spata, Dyker lights pioneers who have been putting on a Chrismastime spectacle for some three decades now.
At PS 176. You can see all the labyrinths we've come across so far here.
