Photo by myself of the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, from the edge of Brooklyn, earlier this year.
Upstream of the East River, you can see the 59th Street Bridge, where Roosevelt Island begins. The bridge and the Roosevelt Island tramway played roles in the first Spiderman movie.
Roosevelt Island, partially seen here, is legendary for being the site of Bellevue Hospital, a well-known psychiatric facility. The name alone was frightening.
According to its Wikipedia entry, Bellevue is still going on strong, with hundreds of thousands of patient visits per year.
Strangely though, you rarely if ever hear people talk about Bellevue these days. People live on Roosevelt Island, and I've been driven around there. It has a spooky, outdated atmosphere.
Additional note: Several hours after posting this, Mark let me know that I would have to print a retraction. The blue bridge in the photo is actually the Manhattan Bridge, and the bridge in the distance is the Williamsburg Bridge. There'd be no way we could have seen Roosevelt Island, from where we were, at the tip of Brooklyn.
Egad!
Related posts: More of the Brooklyn Bridge, From Under the Bridge and In the Fast Lane.
10 comments:
cela donne un beau paysage, j'aime bien Roosevelt Island, il y a une superbe petite église.
it gives a beautiful landscape, I like Roosevelt Island, there is a superb little church.
This is a beautiful shot, Kitty! The name Bellevue does conjure up some scary images! I didn't know it was still in operation.
I took a bunch of pictures from the same spot in September. I found the Manhattan Bridge to be every bit as photogenic as the Brooklyn Bridge from that location.
It never occurred to me to wonder where Bellevue was. Now that I know I'd probably be tempted to take a look out of morbid curiosity.
Thanks Kitty.
The island was originally known as Blackwell Island and also hosted a small pox hospital and a prison see link below:
http://www.correctionhistory.org/rooseveltisland/berdybook.htm
hi Kitty, fabulous, grand photo!
I love the picture! And great that you talked about these lil' islands that you so difficultly get to hear if you don't live there in the area.
Gorgeous photo and yeah that name does make me think of scary things.
Despite all that, it remains a lovely image!
The geography is a little off. That is the Williamsburg Bridge in the background. Roosevelt Island is about 2 miles further up the East River. A great picture and great spot in the city. They have movies in the summertime in this park...great views
Sorry for te correction but Bellevue Hospital is in Manhattan and was never on Roosevelt Island. The former SmallPox Hospital, now in ruins, is visible from Manhattan. It is the City's only designated landmark in ruins. It sits close to the island's south end and previous to te excavation of the subway was the South point of the island.
It was formerly known as Welfare Island due to its many hospitals and other institutions established for the public welfare of society. Towards the North end of the island site the now converted Octagon building which was the central building of the former lunatic asylum.
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