3rd Ave EL

As a child, I was fascinated by New York's EL's. These were elevated trains built before the invention of electric propulsion. The first, the 9th Ave EL, dating to 1867, was initially powered by a moving cable, but this proved impractical and steam engines were substituted. Except for a brief stub that connected the Polo Grounds (Giants stadium) to Yankee stadium across the Harlem River, this El was torn down in the 1940's. The remaining stub was torn down around 1958 but I could see it from where I lived around Jerome Ave in the Bronx.

The 3rd Ave EL in Manhattan was still standing when we came to the USA in December 1955 but had been shut down and was due to be demolished. My parent's bought their first dinette set in the shadow of the EL at 3rd Ave and E 86 St. The Bronx portion of the 3rd Ave EL continued until 1973 when it too was torn down. I used to ride the EL every chance i could get. The trains skirted the buildings so closely that you could probably have stuck your hands out the windows and touched them going by. The train threw out awesome sparks and you were at the perfect level to stare into the windows of the tenements going by.

I watched Yul Brynner's Port of New York (1949) and clipped a segment where an actress stood waiting on the 3rd Ave EL platform at Canal St and I posted it on Youtube.