Mr. Junkersfeld and the Evolution of Cadman Plaza

By on December 15, 2009 7:56 am in History

Mr. Junkersfeld has delivered a new opus and provides us with this description:

“If you don’t know your history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree”.

Those of us who reside in Brooklyn Heights are especially sensitive to history being that we live in a historical landmarked designation. Brooklyn Heights was the first historic district officially created by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965.

After viewing this film, it is my hope that when walking down Cadman Plaza West towards Montague, you will hear the el and have a mental picture of what it was like in the 1930’s. The Fulton Street area , now called Cadman Plaza West, was a totally different place to live. It was a very conjested, dark, noisy area that bears no resemblance to the open spaces we experience today.

Finally, this film is especially topical today with the use of eminent domain with respect to the Atlantic Yards project. Of course, it was a different time back then. and a one to one correspondence would be unfair.

Hopefully you will enjoy this short film and after viewing come out with a better appreciation of where we have been and hopefully a better perspective to where we are going.

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  • North Heights res

    Mr. Porter, I appreciate your attention to details and accuracy. This is at least the second time that inaccuracies have been discovered in Mr. Junkersfeld’s work. As a writer myself, I understand that sometimes mistakes creep into work, despite one’s own best intentions. What is more disturbing to me than the mistakes is Mr. Junkersfeld’s rationale for them.

  • my2cents

    Nabeguy,
    Ratner’s stocking is going to be chock full of coal. and that coal will have bed bugs in it. and the bed bugs will have swine flu.

  • http://mermaidsonparade.blogspot.com melanie hope greenberg

    Excellent! How fascinating. Looking forward to the next film. I love the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Historical Society, too.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    North Heights res,

    I don’t believe I mentioned Cobblestones or to be more accurate “Belgian Blocks’ once in the piece.

  • anon

    Karl, loved, loved, loved the film. Didn’t know the history, which made the joy of dicovery quite fun. If I may, since I (and perhaps others) get turned around a bit and the photos move kinda fast for my personal taste, is to better identify the street names, with relevant cross streets, and if the view shown is north, south, etc. I kept stopping the video to try and identify the direction, using Borough Hall as my beacon. Still a great film, and well researched, so bravo.

  • anon

    Reading my post I just wanted to clarify that the street info and locations, and direction may be obvious to you but not to newbied like me. If this is for history then the more detail the better. Still a great video but having watched your other videos but never commented I thouight I’d add my thoughts, especially when I read above that you’ve revised the video in reponse to other comments.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    I hear you anon, concerning directionality. I’ll try to do better. This is an accepted practice with pictures that I unfortunately ignored. One consideration I had at the time was i didn’t want to distract the viewer with too much verbiage. Many frames already had some sort of written detail and due to ephemerality of each frame, of which you were cognizant, there is only so much I can write. What I will do in the future is keep southern view pictures together. That way you wouldn’t be looking north one frame then south the next then back north again the next frame. Good point. Thanks.

    Unfortunately, as far as duration of each frame, my2cents made same observation, I’m working with certain constraints. YouTube limits the total duration of a film posted to their site and Homer already thinks my films are entirely too long. It is a tradeoff, limited duration of picture or less of them. I’d opted for more pictures at lesser duration considering, as you said, the ability of the viewer to freeze frame if necessary.

    By the way, I used the post office as my frame of reference or beacon with northern shots and Boro Hall for pictures that were more south.

    Thanks for your kind words.

  • http://www.brooklynpix.com Brian Merlis

    I sent it to friends to enjoy!

  • http://www.brooklynpix.com Brian Merlis

    Hi Karl:
    Nice job on the film, but I’m a bit surprised as a number of the early dates and a couple of locations were not quite on base…yet very informative and entertaining!
    I have some excellent images of the west side of Fulton Street – 1940s and 1950s for your next project.
    Feel free to give a call: 516-808-1214
    Best Holidays,
    Brian Merlis

  • Pete & Irene

    Wow! What a great video – and very professional. Karl, we really did enjoy it, but more importantly, we enjoyed meeting you on one of our visits to Brooklyn. As you might remember, my wife and I were passing time one Sun. morning when our paths accidentally crossed and you gave us a very personal, first-hand tour of BH that was unbelievable and very educational. Thank you very much! Your love and pride in BH history was obvious and truly admirable. Keep that spark alive, Karl, and we will continue to follow your work on the blog.

    Hope to run into you again in the Spring.

    Pete & Irene, Naples, FL
    Mahwah, NJ

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