From the Mayor's Mansion to the End of the Line

Another day, another Key to the City adventure.  Lynn and I managed to take a tour over our lunch break, then I took off to the far reaches of southern Brooklyn in the evening.

Our lunch destination was Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of the City of New York.  This is another of the many places on this project that I've meant to see before but never got around to it.  The house was beautiful--I do love the Federalist style!--and the tour was really enjoyable.  Our two guides were great, and they told many anecdotes of the families who lived in the house before it became city property as well as the Mayors and their families.  My favorite part was seeing a British Revolutionary War cannon ball on a mantelpiece in the main parlor.  It was discovered in the ground while the mansion was being renovated, having done its part in destroying the house that stood there before Gracie Mansion was built.

Our key opened a closet upstairs in the master bedroom.  The whole upstairs is traditionally the residence of the Mayor, but since our current Mayor Bloomberg opted to reside in his own house, the second floor has been opened to the public.  Inside the closet was a portrait of Archibald Gracie, who built the house and lived there until his sons lost it in a business venture.  Also there was the original check Gracie wrote to purchase the property--in 1798.  Our tour guide explained these things, and showed us a real NYC Key to the City.  I'll have to find a way to earn one of those some day.

Later in the evening, I jumped on the subway and followed it to the end of the line.  Four subway lines end at Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island.  The huge subway station there pours riders out into the thick of the Coney Island beach atmosphere.  There are food stands, beach stores, and of course, the original Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.  A block away and you're on the iconic boardwalk with all the arcades, stands, music, and rides.  There's also sand, and some water too.  This lock was not amidst all that, but one avenue north in the more practical part of Coney Island.  Here are the real stores for the people who live there, and the places they go--like the local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

This was the first time I've struck out on my own to find a lock, and coincidentally it turned out to be a good one for it.  I found a metal safe box on a reference shelf that matched my key.  Inside was a whole history of Coney Island.  Newspaper articles stretching back a hundred years, a printed history of the early settlements on what was once literally an island (today it's only an island in name, landfill attached it to the mainland of Brooklyn long ago).  There were artifacts as well, including an old tin can of Coney Island brand sea food, that was once quite popular, and an early electrical conductor found preserved on the ocean floor off-shore.  It was a good place to sit, read, and learn.  Who would've thought?  I went to the library and ended up reading.

I visited the beach, which was empty as it was both late in the evening and starting to rain.  I was so close, I just had to go see the ocean.  And of course, stopped for dinner at Nathan's.

Today marks two milestones in the Key to the City adventure.  First, Gracie Mansion marks the 12th lock opened, meaning the Coney Island library took me beyond the half-way point to opening every single lock.  Second, Coney Island finishes off all the locks in Brooklyn, the second borough completed.  Time is short to reach all of the locks by the end of the project, September 6th.  But with some good planning, I may just make it.


View Key to the City - Man/BK - 8/18/10 in a larger map