NEIGHBORHOOD TIME TRAVELING, PT. 4: "NAKED CITY" (SEASON 1, EPISODE 11)

Other than seeing familiar New York locations, the best part of watching Naked City are the soon-to-be-famous actors popping up from time to time. Some appear only once. Others return several times. 

Of the latter, Peter Falk is always a treat to see, as he is in this episode titled "Lady Bug, Lady Bug". He makes a slam-bang entrance, throwing a live hand grenade outside one of the townhouses on Sutton Place, one of the classier Manhattan streets, before the opening credits. I'm surprised ANTIFA didn't dream up that stunt during the protests here last summer.

Sutton Place is a familiar area to us, as we pass it when either biking on York Avenue or taking the M59 transit bus. There were so many recognizable shots that I put the before & after pictures side by side rather than atop each other.  Feel free to enlarge them on your device of choice.

LEFT: Peter Falks roars down York Avenue and swerves left onto Sutton Place's 58th Street block. Those old cars look like they're going to flip over when they take sharp turns.

RIGHT: I couldn't get as close, seeing that I don't have the juice to close traffic like the Naked City crew could. But other than some cosmetic changes on the apartment buildings, it's the same.

LEFT: You know you're rich when you can get the city to change your street name  from York Avenue to Sutton Place. The UN Secretary General lives in a townhouse a block or so south from here, which is where I saw Kofi Annan give a press conference the morning after the invasion of Iraq. The second invasion, I mean.

RIGHT: I always thought the Sutton Place townhouses were untouchable, so it was surprising how the exteriors have changed over the years. That's another way you know you're rich: you take a perfectly nice exterior and change it for no reason other than you can afford to.

LEFT: A young woman walks her dog down the 58th Street block of Sutton Place. Too bad she doesn't know Peter Falk is waiting to slash her pretty little face.

RIGHT: The exteriors on this block have changed so radically that I walked down the others in the area just to make sure I was in the right place. I took a wider shot than in the show just to provide a better look (which is a nice way of saying I was too far away). And a day isn't complete without scaffolding ruining the picture. At least there are still trees.

LEFT: The woman is walking to her doom down to Sutton Place Park, which isn't so much a park as it is a place to sit on a bench. If you ask me, the Queensborough Bridge (aka Edward Koch Bridge, aka 59th Street Bridge) is equal to the Brooklyn Bridge for being evocative of New York.

RIGHT: The NO PARKING sign is gone. The greenery has grown. In the background, high-rises are taking over Queens. And if you look carefully, you can see part of the park has been elevated, with a fence around it.

 LEFT: She and the pooch are walking down the flight of stairs.

RIGHT: The stairs have been replaced by a sloping path. The brick wall that was in the background is now hidden by trees, while the wall on the left was replaced by wrought iron. (Is there any other kind?) The trees are growing larger. Greenery on the right where there used to  be none. Overall, the area looks nicer now.

LEFT: A simple brick walkway and a couple of benches face a cement wall along the East River. The slanted fence is a common site along the river.

RIGHT: I took the shot from a slightly different angle to emphasize the difference from 1959. The park is now divided into two areas, upper and lower, with more greenery than before. The slanted fence remains. I felt like something of an intruder since I don't live here. But that's too damn bad, right?

LEFT: Peter Falk jumps the Sutton Place Park wall to do his nefarious deed. It's about an eight or ten foot drop.

RIGHT: Not anymore it isn't. See that wall all the way in the background? That's where Falk jumped. It's no longer as high, thanks to the elevated section. Oh, and there's a tall fence atop it so he couldn't do it now anyway. Can't a guy have some fun?
 

LEFT: Textbook example of an establishing shot: the street sign at East 62nd Street & York Avenue.

RIGHT: High-rises have replaced the smaller buildings, while a helpful sign leads you to the FDR Drive. Sleek, tall LED light pole replaces the older, more stylish kind. And while the newer street signs might be easier to read, they lack the charm of their earlier counterparts. There's a WALK/DON'T WALK sign now. Wonder how many more pedestrians were plowed down in 1959. 

LEFT: A phone both at the Mobil station on 62nd & York serves as a key plot point. The gas station was there until about a decade ago. It was handy, when pulling off the FDR, in order to return your rental car with a full tank. Note the 59th St. Bridge behind it.

RIGHT: A restaurant, "cleverly" named Service Station, went up on the site, and didn't last nearly as long as Mobil, although the sign remains. Any restaurant located between the entrances and exits for the FDR Drive is doomed before it opens. A high-rise hotel opened next to it on the same block.
 

LEFT: The police detectives drive off the FDR onto 60th St. toward York Ave. That's the Department of Sanitation in the background, along with the ubiquitous 59th St. Bridge.

RIGHT: A retro (and not necessarily in a good way) design now adorns the wall leading from the FDR. The Department of Sanitation has been replaced by a playground with a large orange art installation. Traffic-related stuff are now painted on the street. Move along, nothing else to see here.

LEFT: The cops cross York as they continue on 60th. A Cadillac dealer is on the left. Fairly low buildings are on this street, all the way up to 1st Avenue. Note the old two-tone transit bus on the upper right. Look how much sky is visible.

RIGHT: Look how much sky is hidden. The Cadillac dealer is long gone. Steel and glass high rises are on the left, while concrete apartment buildings can be seen in the distance. On the right is the New York Presbyterian Hospital, which presumably accepts all religions (who can pay). A crosswalk has been painted. By the way, I took this in the middle of the street when the light was red. You're welcome.

LEFT: It isn't always easy keeping track of locations when the Naked City cops are driving. In the previous shot, we saw them on 60th going toward 1st. Now, they've just passed 62nd on York (remember the Mobil station?). I have no idea what that old building across the street from Mobil is, but I like it. Relatively low buildings along this street, other than the New York Hospital looming in the background. That's where my daughter was born some time  later. Like, 37 years.

RIGHT: Here's a surprise: construction blocking the view of the street. That cool building across from Mobil was replaced by a soulless high-rise. To the left of it is part of Rockefeller University which, along with the trees, block much of  the view of New York Hospital. Lots of high-rises behind it where none were before. If people thought New York was a big city in 1959, they should see it now.

LEFT: Now we're closer to my place. This is the path along the FDR Drive. On the left of the photo is the sloped walkway that leads to the overpass leading to East 78th. That's Peter Falk (or his stand-in) running to it.

RIGHT: As with the bridge over the East River leading to Randall's Island discussed in part two of this series, fences have gone up to prevent citizens from taking a swan dive. Makes things safer, of course, but it ruins both the view and the photos. The sloped walkway has been rebuilt as well.

LEFT: Falk runs on the overpass. In the background on the left is John Jay Park. On the left and right are the Cherokee Apartments co-op, built in 1912 as the East River Homes, which you can read about here. Just from the exterior, they're likely among the nicest places to live in the area.

RIGHT: Fences, fences, fences! Damn, what's a guy gotta do to get an unobstructed view? As usual, the background shows plenty of high-rises that weren't there before, while the trees (and fence) are blocking the view of the Cherokee Apartments on the left.

 LEFT: Peter Falk is running so fast that his feet don't touch the ground. On the left in the background is Roosevelt Island, which hadn't yet become the next allegedly-cool place to live. The building toward the left on Roosevelt Island, as I pointed out in the first of these time time-traveling pieces, is what remains of  the New York City Lunatic Asylum. If you've been following the news, you know it should be re-opened pronto.

RIGHT: The cinematographer definitely has better camera lenses than me. If you look carefully, you can see the loony bin between two high-rises.  Ironically, part of the newer fence on the left of the overpass is smaller than it used to be, and the street lights are gone. But those aren't the only changes...
 

LEFT: A cop who's been following Falk is in John Jay Park. Check out how steep the end of the overpass is! A guy could break his neck biking down that thing...

RIGHT: ...which is why the city made it longer and a lot less steep. I remember the original layout, because this is a fairly recent change. As with Sutton Place, it's so radically different now that it looks like another area. The traffic now goes west instead of east, too.

LEFT: A cop in front of one of the many identical Cherokee Apartment doorways. Despite what you might think, he isn't breaking out into song, but rather springing into action after Falk is shot in the street. 

RIGHT:  Gold push- and kick-plates are on the door now. The mini-garden outside the left window is gone. The building's had a thorough sandblasting, too. I could use one myself.

LEFT: Peter Falk dies an exceptionally good death when he falls victim to several police bullets. He lies in the middle of 78th off the FDR. 

RIGHT: The trees are larger, the cars are facing west, and Falk has been picked up by the meat wagon.

What can we take from this Naked City episode? On the upside, there are more trees, and the overpasses are safer for pedestrians and drivers below alike.

On the downside, the old New York charm is harder to find. And you can't turn a corner without walking under (or into) scaffolding.

Oh, Peter Falk is no longer running around  the Upper East Side throwing live hand grenades and slashing women in the face.  That's a good thing. 

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