woodies

Once upon a time, wooden lampposts like this one dominated NYC parkways constructed by Robert Moses in the twenties and thirties in New York and on Long Island. The Shore (Belt) Parkway, Cross Island Parkway, Laurelton, Grand Central, and Northern and Southern State Parkways all had them. They were also featured in parks and main roads throughout the NYC area. Their numbers began to diminish in the 1960s as aluminum poles began to proliferate on the parkways.

There are just a few surviving members of this once proud race of lampposts. Here's where to find them.

One of the dozen or so Woodies still standing in NYC, this one lights the exit ramp of Shore Parkway just before it reaches Ridge Boulevard and Wakeman Place.

Standing forlornly in the middle of the vast Riis Park parking lot on the Rockaway peninsula, this Woody, which is gradually losing its wood, is the last of a vast flock.

Another example of a 'new' woody that has come along in recent years are the park lights in the new Robert Wagner Jr. park just below Battery Park City.

These lights are especially atmospheric because their light shines through blue glass.

Lampposts made almost entirely of wood have been gracing parkways in New York City and Nassau County since the mid-1930s. They were the original lampposts that appeared on parkways designed by Robert Moses such as the Circumferential (Belt) Parkway and the Northern and Southern State Parkway. They've supported quite a number of luminaires over the years from incandescent lights to bucket-type sodiums (left).

In recent years, however, on the Parkways the Woodies have increasingly been giving way to modern aluminum poles. They can still be found, though, if you know where to look. The pole at left is on the Shore (Belt) Parkway off ramp that gets you on to Wakeman Place and Ridge Boulevard in Brooklyn. The Belt used short-arm poles like this one on its off ramps, the longer ones on the parkway itself.

Probably the most unusual use the Woodies have been put to in the five boroughs is on the ancient wooden Ocean Avenue footbridge that connects Emmons Avenue and Shore Boulevard in Sheepshead Bay. When I was a kid bridge and poles carried a battleship gray color; today they're a bright blue.

Note battered "Ocean Avenue Bridge" sign attached to the woodie.

Picture shot in January, and brother, it's cold on this bridge with nothing to catch the wind but you.

Broadway and 155th Street, Harlem

Cheating a bit here, since the pole at left isn't actually in the five boroughs, but rather in the Planting Fields near Oyster Bay in Nassau County. However, it still gives you a good idea of what the woodies looked like from the 40s into the 80s when incandescents like this ruled the parkways. There are still a good number of these in Nassau County.

This Woody graced Randalls Island in the mid 1980s, and featured a rare "Gumball" luminaire. This picture was snapped in the early 1980s, and the pole may still stand today.

Photography: Robert Mulero.

In spring 1999, the DOT replaced the old Ocean Avenue Bridge Woodies with the newer fixtures, sort of faux bishop crooks,

Three Woodies are still standing close to the Clearview Golf Course in Bayside. I've found that golf courses are good places to find ancient lampposts, for some reason.

The one on the right has a metal plate on it that says "1959" so I suppose that's the last time anything was done to it.

RIP: 2003