what about the plastic animals?

Houdini's House

Harry Houdini died 86 years ago today.  He lived at this house on W 113th Street for the last 22 years of his life.  Houdini and his wife Beth had an agreement that, if there was an ability to communicate from the other side, he would do so if she held a seance on the anniversary of his death.  There is an "official" seance held every year to this day.  I did not see any evidence of paranomal activity when I walked by the house this morning.

An exhibit, Houdini: Art and Magic, just opened at the Jewish Museum.

Once a Bum, Always a Bum

I don't remember this costume but I was a Halloween hobo one year.

Inside and Outside the Paterson Museum

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The mills and factories that were powered by the Great Falls are in various states of repair.  Some have disappeared.  Others, like the Samuel Colt Gun Mill are ruins thanks to arsonists and neglect from the city of Paterson.  Still other buildings have been converted to housing, light manufacturing, a school and the Paterson Museum.  The latter is the building in the background of the top photo.

The museum fills the ground floor of the former Rogers Locomotive Works.  Some 6200 locomotives were manufactured in that building.  Engine 299, which sits right outside was not one of them.  It was built by ALCO-Cooke after Rogers closed shop.  The two most famous Rogers' locomotives are Engine No. 119, which was the westbound Union-Pacific train that met an eastbound train at Promontory, Utah when the Golden Spike completed the trans-continental railroad and The General, which was involved in the Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War.  Old Engine 299 was used to build the Panama Canal and was returned to Paterson in 1979.

Also in the Paterson Museum are two submarines.  Not just any submarines, these are the first two practical submarines.  Irish immigrant John Holland built the Holland I and tested it in 1878 above the falls in the Passaic River.  It wasn't ready for prime time so Holland scuttled it in the river.  The submarine was raised from the river in 1927 to much publicity.  It is said that a local sandwich maker noted the resemblence between the underwater vessel and the sandwiches he made.  The Holland II, or Fenian Ram, was tested in New York Bay in 1881.  It had a crew of three, could submerge to 50 feet, and had a surface speed of nine knots.

Those are just a couple highlights of the museum.  The engine for Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis was built in Paterson by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, which at its peak had five manufacturing plants in Paterson, and a sister engine is in the museum.  There are also many looms and other items from the silk industry, which at its peak a century ago produced sixty percent of the world's silken goods.

There's more, but I don't want to spoil everything.  You, whoever you are, should go.  Admission for adults is two dollars and the guys there are not only friendly and happy to see you, they are also surprised to have a visitor!  I spent about an hour there and was the only visitor in the museum for most of that time.

Wall of Orange

Lots of orange leaves on campus today.

Libby's Lunch

Libby's Lunch is a short walk from the Great Falls in Paterson.  The thing to get at Libby's is the Texas Weiner all the way (i.e. topped with mustard, onions and chili), fries, and a birch beer.  Texas Weiners may have been invented in Paterson.  It is hard to write "e" before "i" but that is how it is spelled.

Pretty Paterson

You may recall that I visited the Great Falls in Paterson this past July.  I wanted to go back after a rainfall and earlier in the day (so there would be better light).  A dry summer and a broken hand delayed the return trip until last weekend.

I don't know how long it takes for rainfall to make its way downstream but we had a rainy few days before my visit last Saturday and the Passaic was flowing at more than double the volume of early July.  Someone needs to trim that tree on the left so it doesn't cover up the S.U.M. hydroelectric plant.

In addition to seeing the falls I ate lunch nearby, toured the Paterson Museum, walked around downtown, saw a really large fungus, and paid my respects to one of Paterson's native sons.

Fall on the Bronx River

It felt almost like summer but the colors said fall on the Bronx River this afternoon.

Charlie Parker's version of Autumn in New York.

Maples on White, Maples on Black

Which is better, scanning the leaves on a black background or a white background?

Erratic

The borough of Glen Rock, New Jersey gets its name from this rock which is located on Rock Road.  Glen Rock is the hometown of Uncle Floyd, the greatest of all Garden Staters.

All Nude Tasty Baby

A correspondent asked on the phone tonight what was next now that Iowa is done.  I don't know.  Tonight, however, we have all nude tasty baby.