Story
Caleb Smith's 2001 Walk Down Broadway
Caleb Smith, a librarian at Columbia University, walked the entirety of Broadway in the summer of 2001: from 262nd Street in the Bronx to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. The photographs, taken during the walk, capture his view of Broadway, New York's uncompromising main street.
(He was later inspired to walk every street in Manhattan, which he did over a two-year period between 2002 and 2004.)
This walk is a "best of" Caleb's Broadway expedition.
Start
25 stops•37.2km•6h 51min
6655 Broadway
Caleb Smith believed that Broadway "provided multiple points of entry into the various narratives and trends that collectively constituted the story of New York."
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South Van Cortlandt Park
A year after this photo series, Caleb Smith bought a map of Manhattan with the intention of walking every street.
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5571 Broadway
Every street he walked, he would cross off on the map. This Broadway walk was a precursor to Caleb's later two-year full borough journey.
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Broadway Bridge
Caleb would walk most weekends, and in the summer he would leave work at 5:00PM and spend the remaining four hours of daylight walking.
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4787 Broadway
Describing himself as an intrepid urban explorer, Caleb familiarized himself with New York, which he described as a "celebrity," through the deliberate and meditative process of walking, armed only with his map, notebook, and camera.
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4223 Broadway
Overhead, the George Washington Bridge crosses from Manhattan into New Jersey.
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4161 Broadway
In a 2005 article in the New Yorker, Caleb claims that Washington Heights has the best street life. The article noted that "he had been forced to dodge errant baseballs and spurting fire hydrants."
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3875 Broadway
The campaign poster on the street light endorses Roberto Lizardo, a candidate for Manhattan's 10th District primaries. Summer of 2001 was a heavy campaigning period for Washington Heights, and such posters could be seen at almost every street corner.
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3579 Broadway
A little bit north of the photograph, Caleb notated on his blog that there was once the Bunny Theater at 3589 Broadway, which had become a 99-cent store.
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3227 Broadway
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2937 Broadway
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Straus Park
Straus Park is dedicated to Isidor and Ida Straus who died on the Titanic.
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2537 Broadway
Caleb had found that Manhattan's cuisine follows two trends: Chinese-Mexican (Asian-owned restaurants serving tacos) or Mexican-Chinese (hispanic-owned serving fried rice). The former can be found below 96th Street, the latter above.
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Ansonia Hotel
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Lincoln Center
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New York Institute of Technology
2 Columbus Circle (seen at center), which now houses the Museum of Arts and Design, underwent radical alteration in 2008. The facade renovation sparked debate amongst lovers of the "lollipop building."
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1515 Broadway
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Greeley Square
Greeley Square, named for the newspaper editor and political leader who famously said: "Go West, young man, go west." A few blocks away, Caleb finished his later two-year walk of the borough at the top of the Empire State.
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1097 Broadway
The billboard marks "Silicon Alley," the nickname for New York City's high tech industries. The name refers to California's Silicon Valley and was originally centered in proximity of the Flatiron Building.
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1195 Broadway
In April of 2002, Caleb stumbled upon the "Little Church around the Corner," a few blocks from here, on 29th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison. The surprise inspired him to continue walking to explore the less-travelled streets of Manhattan.
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Union Square East
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427 Broadway
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Transportation Building
Sightseeing Tours have nothing on Caleb's knowledge of Manhattan's streets.
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Netherland Monument
Nearby, Caleb bought his Hagstrom map, which he carried with him for two years.
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Statue of Liberty
Caleb's walk down Broadway terminated in Battery Park, where he snapped this picture of the Statue of Liberty.
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