Walkin' In Canarsie

It's been some time since I've been in Canarsie. I haven't been assigned to any schools in the area, but I have driven along Rockaway Parkway, which can be extremely frustrating.

Yesterday, I had to give someone a lift to Canarsie High School to get a vaccination. Since parking was easy to find, and I had at least a half hour to wait, I decided to take a short walk around the neighborhood.

My pics of the high school didn't come out due to a combination of new phone, bright sun, polarized glasses, and user error, heavy on that last one. The school takes up two full city blocks, from Avenue J to K, and from E 95 Street to Rockaway Parkway (which would be E 97 Street).

The first stop of note was a sign on a tree for Truckleman's Lane, which looking left and right on either side of the parkway, I did not see. I saw what looked like driveways or backyards. A Google search tells me that the lane does in fact exist and curves, so I wouldn't have seen the other end. However, I don't remember seeing an entrance to it. At least, not one that seemed like a public entrance. I guess I missed out.

Next up, at Flatlands Ave was Holy Family Church, one of the many by that name in the Borough of Churches. It made for a nice picture on a sunny afternoon. I can't remember when, but I'm sure that I've been inside, for either a wedding or a funeral. My friend Rob used to live in the area, but neither of those events happened in his family at that time.

Just down the street is the McDonald's... okay, just kidding about that, but I have actually eaten in that location. Down the street is the Canarsie termal of the L train. I once road that line from Union Square in Manhattan back in college. Of all things, I had to go to a corporate office to get a W-2 for a job that I had for about 3 weeks the previous year during the fall semester of college. It was too late for them to mail me another copy, and about a decade too early for them to email it to me. Behind the entrance is a bus depot, which causes a lot of the traffic on this stretch of Rockaway Parkway. The fact that it's only one line in each direction at this point doesn't help matters either.

Smiths Lane cut straight through to E96 Street. Though there was one building entrance on the lane, the address was for the Parkway. It would've been a 9600 number otherwise. The rest of the lane was the backs of buildings on Farragut Road.

My last photo before I had to turn back -- my friend had his shot and was waiting to schedule the followup -- was Fire Compnay 257. I always liked the look of the building. And the fact that it has three doors is a little unusual. In my walks, I've usually only seen one or two doors on fire houses. Engine Company 257 started out as Engine 57 of The Brooklyn Fire Department on December 15, 1897. It was later reorganized to Engine 257 on January 1, 1913. I got this straight off their website. The Fire Department bought the lot measuring 80 feet by 100 feet deep on October 9, 1903. New York paid the estate of Leonard Eppig $1,500 for the corner lot at Rockaway Parkway and Avenue "F" (now Farragut Road). It opened in 1908.

Since I haven't used an app since they updated it beyond the capabilities of my old phone, here's a Windows Paint map of my walk: