Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Wallet card with the new Avenue of the Americas medallions

Two of my favorite Wallet Card posts are my tours of the remaining medallions on the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue). [Part one and two]

After World War II Sixth Avenue was renamed "Avenue of the Americas" in order to drum up interest among the various countries of the Western Hemisphere to do business in NYC. It remains the official name of the street although most New Yorkers still call it Sixth Avenue. In order to emphasize the new name and function of the street, medallions featuring the various countries of the Americas were affixed to street lights. They were taken down in the 1990s as they were exhibiting signs of age and many streetlights were being replaced anyway. 

This year, new medallions have been put up, bringing that post-war look back to the Avenue of the Americas. (The old ones that were still standing are being replaced too.) The design is not exactly the same but I am really enjoying seeing Sixth Avenue looking like it's old self again.

I tried to do a couple of faraway photos to get a sense of seeing several medallions at once, but I am not a good photographer.
Here's a close-up of one of the medallions (chosen at random!). The design is a little sparser, and the holder is a different shape. Still, it's nice to have a bit of the old New York recreated in a new way.

 

1 comment:

  1. Is there any particular reason why new ones have been put back up?

    ReplyDelete