The NYPD used to have Ford Fox Body Mustangs
The NYPD used to have Ford Fox Body Mustangs in their vehicle fleet.
This is pretty incredible. I just found out that the NYPD used to have a small set of confiscated and re-used Ford Fox Body Mustangs as part of their highway fleet. These vehicles were taken from street racers and re-badged to be working NYPD vehicles (both on the streets and in PR news).
It sounds like all of these were done away with in the early 2000s which might explain why I’ve never seen any of these Ford Fox Body Mustangs at any area car shows. Wish they were still around!
An unofficial return of the 9 train
A rare sighting of the old 9 train in the NYC Subway.
Late one night recently, I was riding the 1 line uptown and happened upon this roll-sign showing the old 9 number used when I was growing up. From what I remember when I was younger, the 9 train did skip-stops along 7th Avenue on the IRT line after the 2/3 trains split into the East side of Manhattan and the Bronx.
With today’s population boom in Upper Manhattan along Broadway (specifically in Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights), it would be great if we could get skip-stop service back to relieve some congestion on the 1 line.
The abandoned Abercrombie Castle in Upstate NY
A walk-around of the Abercrombie Mansion near Ossining, NY.
Abercrombie Castle 2024
A few weeks back I took a trip up to Ossining, NY to visit the Ossining Weir and on the way back I stopped by the long-abandoned property known as the Abercrombie Castle (or Abercrombie Mansion).
As you might have guessed, the property takes its name from David Abercrombie, one half of the duo that would lend its name to the brand we know as Abercrombie & Fitch. Records show that the home was built and completed in 1927 and occupied by David Abercrombie and his family until his death in 1937. He had named it Elda, after the names of his children. The structure and land changed hands several times before going completely abandoned despite efforts to turn it back into a home and retreat in the mountains.
A quick walk around the property still shows the incredible stone work laid to build this structure. Most of the wood has fallen but unsurprisingly, the structure still is intact, protected by thick forest on all sides.
In 2022, a large part of the property was burned and today, it has sat decaying and open to the elements.
No trespassing signs at the Abercrombie Castle
On my visit, it was clear that the property had been locked up a bit tighter with large no trespassing signs littered throughout and solar-powered video cameras installed along the exterior of the building. Be aware that if you walk on the property today, you will set off automatic alarms (although in my observations, they don’t really do anything except give an audible warnings), but if you know where to look, you can avoid them pretty easily.
Some more photos
Congestion Relief Pricing: An anecdotal take
Some observations from the first week of Congestion Relief Pricing.
Times Square on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, around 3PM
It has been a long time coming, but after an 11th-hour reversal last year by NY Governor Kathy Hochul, Congestion Relief Pricing finally became official in NYC on midnight January 5, 2025. It has been just under a week and several business days of this program, which charges a toll for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th St, and so far I’ve already seen some improvements to city life.
So far, I’ve noticed a significant decrease in the noise level in the Midtown area. Not just less honking, but just less white noise from car engines. It’s insane how different it feels. I’ve always believed the phrase Cities aren’t noisy, cars are noisy and this seems to be proof of that.
On Tuesday this past week, I traveled in a Lyft from 30th St to 155th St with some gear and both me and my driver noticed that there was no traffic on the West Side Highway during rush hour. I’ve taken this exact same route before at roughly the same time (rush hour) and have always known that the ride would take roughly 45 minutes. Typically, the West Side Highway is jammed with traffic, especially leading up to around 45th st just after the bend in the road near the Intrepid (don’t ask me why this is, it just is). My trip on Tuesday took all of 16 minutes — that’s nearly a half hour cut from my travel time. My driver was ecstatic about it.
On Wednesday, I was biking around the city and also noticed how empty Times Square was in the middle of the day. I traveled through around 3PM and there was no bumper to bumper traffic blocking any of the streets. I continued towards Penn Station and noticed the same thing; there were mostly car service and TLC vehicles in this area of Midtown during the middle of the afternoon.
Later that same evening, 6th Avenue which is normally filled with heavy traffic at rush hour, was more or less moving along swiftly. No congestion blocking any intersections. More observations to come…
The last of the Meatpacking District holdouts
A deal has been made for the last meat packing businesses to move out of the Meatpacking District.
Gansevoort Market in late 2024
The last of the original meat and butchering plants in NYC’s Meatpacking District have accepted a deal to sell the land back to the city for redevelopment.
While I didn’t grow up in the Meatpacking District, the area holds a special place in my heart not too long before it became the upscale shopping and entertainment district it is known for today. When I was younger, I would often walk with my camera to this area of the Meatpacking District to make friends with some of the un-housed people calling the area home. Back in the 2000s, the Meatpacking wasn’t quite as dangerous as I had read about in decades past and it also wasn’t developed much until the boom that came with the High Line Park in 2009. During this period, I would walk around, talk to strangers, occasionally walk the abandoned rail line (High Line), and photograph the “grittiness” of the neighborhood. It was quiet then, nobody around to bother you, and honestly kind of nice.
Gansevoort Market in 2024
Soon, the last remnants of what I remember of this area from my own childhood will be gone, and the remainder of the memories of an even older Meatpacking District for some others will only live in the heads of past generations.
If you’ve followed any developments in the Meatpacking District in the last decade, you’ll know that this was a long time coming. Gansevoort Market stood at the epicenter of a grand revival for the Meatpacking, with Little Island on one side and The Standard Hotel and upscale shopping on the other side. It is, in my opinion, an unofficial extension of the West Village and in some ways, even looks it from the streets.
At this time, there isn’t a move-out date for these businesses at the Gansevoort Market, but now that the deal is done, you can be sure that they’ll slowly move out rather than wait for the final hammer to drop.
