There is a group of 13 or so houses standing in Miller Field; they apparently date back to when the site was an Army airfield. Given that they're now located in the middle of a park (Miller Field is part of Gateway National Recreation Area), I was surprised to find that they're still used as residences! One woman standing in front of her house told me that only National Park Service workers and certain other federal employees (and their families) are eligible to live in them. You can see the houses and the neighboring soccer fields in this aerial view.

This former Army airfield, established just after World War I, is now part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Most of the property is currently covered with athletic fields, but the building above, erected in 1920 as a double seaplane hangar, serves as a reminder of the site's aviatic past. At right is the old Elm Tree Lighthouse, a namesake of the original nautical beacon that stood in this area: a large elm tree at the foot of New Dorp Lane that ships used as a navigational landmark. The similar-looking brick pillar is a former parachute drying tower.

I've briefly mentioned Miller Field once before on this blog, by the way, as the site where an airliner hurtled into the ground following a mid-air collision in 1960 — a disaster commonly known as the Park Slope plane crash, named for the residential neighborhood in Brooklyn where the other airliner went down.

Nothing new here: "When neighbors are talking in Midland Beach, they say, 'Which lake do you live on?' "

but I believe the birds have been fed.

This guy told me the perplexing artwork above the garage door was put up by a previous business, and he has no idea what it's supposed to represent. But he said the neighborhood kids love it, so maybe that's why he's decided to leave it in place. Or perhaps he just appreciates the virtues of a unique sign (see license plate).

Nothing commands respect like the use of the word "poo".

but the sign lives on.