“Nightfall in Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn Bridge”
Scan of an undated, uncredited postcard I bought when I first moved to the city and never sent. From the absence of the Chase Building and bulky office blocks on Water Street, and with all those working piers, it must be from no later than the late 50s. Artists would have had lofts in the nineteenth century buildings along Pearl Street; the El still curled around the feet of the towers, cigarette smoke through the offices. I love how, by night, the markers of eras vanish between the lights, how recent and fast this feels.
None of which occurred to me when I bought the card. I liked it because it looked like Starry Night.
