The New York City Fire Museum

Another fire horn.

The firehouse for Ladder 8 and the Ghostbusters was built on North Moore and Varick Streets in 1912.

19th-century axes, and a very tall, narrow helmet.

Antique company badges.

A nineteenth-century fire wagon.

An antique shield.

Another antique shield.

Since I visited the New York City Police Museum a few weeks back, I thought It would make sense to visit the New York City Fire Museum next.  First opened in 1934 as the Fire College Museum in Long Island City, it moved to a firehouse on 100 Duane Street in 1959.  That same year, SoHo's Engine Company 30 at 287 Spring Street between Hudson And Varick Streets closed down.  By 1981, the Home Insurance Company donated a huge collection of fire memorabilia it had acquired over the years to the museum, making a move to larger quarters necessary.  The 1904 Engine 30 building, which had sat empty for years, underwent an extensive renovation and became the new home of the New York City Fire Museum in 1987.

An ornate wagon from the Astoria company.

Next to this old quilt was a breakdown of the FDNY logo.

North Moore Street in 1919, with the Ghostbusters firehouse to the left. (NYPL)

The Fire Museum, formerly Engine 30, was built on Spring Street between Varick and Hudson Streets in 1904.

So I took the 1 Train down to Franklin Street and got out at the Varick and North Moore Street exit, right across the street from the firehouse built in 1912 for Hook & Ladder 8, also home to the Ghostbusters.  The company dates back to 1865, and its original home around the corner at 153 Franklin Street was recently converted to a luxury condo for Domonique Strauss-Kahn.  There was talk that he was going to be staying near me at about 65th and 3rd, but a story on the news about it reported that the neighbors didn't want him.  It all comes together.

An 1880s banner from the Brooklyn Fire Department.

An 1880s-era fire wagon.

The museum had a great antique toy display.

Another toy on display.

The museum's oldest piece, dating back to 1820.

Anyway, just a few blocks up was Engine 30 on Spring Street.  I was greeted at the front desk by a couple of youngish looking people who were surrounded by the gift shop, displaying your standard stuff for the most part, but I was a little surprised to see a prominent display of t-shirts honoring Father Mychal Judge, with the silhouette of a Franciscan friar blowing a fire horn and a children's book about Father Judge entitled He Said Yes: The Story of Father Mychal Judge.  The Franciscan friar was an FDNY chaplain and is considered the first casualty of the September 11th attacks, dying in the collapse while giving last rights.  I'm sure this book is a favorite in Catholic schools.

A ceremonial fire horn.

An 1860s pitcher honoring Col. Ellsworth, the NYC firefighter who brought zouave regiments to the U.S.

From there I walked up an ornate staircase to the display on the second floor, which was dominated by a number of mid-nineteenth century fire wagons, the oldest dating back to 1820, all intricately decorated and beautifully preserved.  A sign described how in the nineteenth century, the independent fire companies in the city took great pride in their wagons and went to great lengths to give them an eye-catching appearance.  Surrounded by wagons were displays of badges of fire departments from all over the world, and a number of antique helmets, axes, and picks.  There was also a number of decorative ceremonial fire horns.  These long horns, once used by officers to shout orders during fires, remain a familiar symbol of the FDNY despite not being used for almost a century.  There was also an impressive collection of nineteenth-century heraldry.  Back then it was common practice for fire companies to present commemorative shields to each other as signs of friendship, which would be prominently hung up in the recipient's station house.

This truck was in the Ghostbusters firehouse in 1931.

Also on the second floor was a pitcher from the 1860s memorializing the death of Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth and the zouaves regiments that fought for the Union in the Civil War.  It is considered one of the first pieces of American pottery that commemorated a specific event.  The twenty-four-year-old Colonel Elsworth, who in 1861 personally captured the confederate flag of a hotel owner in Alexandria, Virginia, and was shot and killed by him in the process, is said to be the the first casualty of the Civil War.  Before the war, he was a prominent fire marshall in New York City, and is credited with bringing zouave regiments to the American military.  He was so impressed by the intricate and demanding training drills of the zouaves and by their heroic service to France during the Crimean War, that he created the first American zouave regiment from among the city's fire companies.  Eleven hundred firefighters were said to have volunteered within the first twenty-four hours.

On the first floor was a more modern collection, with a sign encouraging "children of all ages" to try on a couple of coats and helmets open to the public.  There are a number of trucks from the '30s and '40s, and the fire chief's buggy from the early twentieth century is attached to a model of a horse.  To my surprise, the museum wasn't mostly devoted to September 11th, but there was a room in the back with a large display showing each of the three hundred forty-three firefighters who died.  There was also a large display devoted to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of March 1911.

All in all, a good visit.  I left my card with them and asked them to check out RightHereNYC.com.  Next time you're down on Spring Street, check out the New York City Fire Museum for a little history of the city's bravest.

The Ghostbusters

Hook & Ladder 8 in TriBeCa, home of the Ghostbusters.

14 North Moore St. at Varick St., the Ghostbusters firehouse..

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stepped on Holy Trinity Church on 65th St. & CPW.

Dan Aykroyd drank to friend John Belushi, who was supposed to be in the film, at the White Horse Tavern on the night he died in 1982.

Dana and Louis' building on Central Park West and 65th Street.

After filming Ghostbusters II was completed, the sign was given to the station.

Hook & Ladder 8's logo painted on the ground in front of the building.

Firefighters waiting for the truck to return.

I saw Ghostbusters on VH1 the other day. It's one of their latest "Movies That Rock". To be honest, they're right. Ghostbusters does rock. I used to love that movie as a kid. My father said, "I'd rent that movie, and I really got my money's worth, because you'd watch it all weekend." And the thing is, as an adult, I enjoy it on a whole other level. It wasn't until about fifteen years later that I even noticed most of the things Bill Murray says.

Not to get too over-analytical about it, but I think that the four comedians who play the Ghostbusters portray their characters perfectly. Ray is kind of over-excited when he's optimistic and worries too much when he has doubts, with an almost child-like enthusiasm about what they've discovered. Egon's very serious and studious, and it's kind of hard to have a regular conversation with him because he seems to not have much of a sense of humor. Peter deals with these personalities by being very mellow and laid back, and cracking jokes all the time. While Winston comes along, and, as a blue-collar type, he really has the most down-to-earth and unpretentious personality.

After watching this movie for years, I only very recently found out that like me, Dana and Louis also lived on 65th Street, which I thought was pretty cool, but on the West Side, and so I figure it's time for an all-out Ghostbusters tour. Not exactly an easy task. On this day I realized that this movie really does take place all over Manhattan. So I walk across 65th Street, from 1st Avenue, through the park, to Central Park West, where on the corner is the church that the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man stepped on, and next to it, Dana and Louis' apartment building, with a strange peak on the roof that serves as Gozer's temple. A few other bloggers and webmasters I've come across have mentioned, and it's true, the building really is a lot smaller than it appears in the movie, which I also later see with the firehouse. A couple even mentioned that they thought the church was simply made to look like it was right there through camera tricks, and were surprised to see a church really was right next to the building, but someone like me, who truly studied the movie, can see the church in the background in a number of different scenes. They say anybody can be a blogger these days. Boy, they're not kidding.

On a side note, I visited the church a couple months earlier, and came across the choir rehearsing the Bach Vespers. Rehearsals are open to the public, and I must say, they're quite good. It's kind of funny to see these young hipster types with these operatic voices. The church also features cushioned seats, something I've seen often in Protestant churches I've visited, but not once in the many, many Catholic churches I've been inside of. I guess cushions are too ritzy for the Catholics.

Well, the next step is on to the firehouse -- Varick Street and North Moore Street in TriBeCa. I told you this movie was all over the place. Oh, well, better get going before it get's dark. I've done this kind of long walk before, but I've got to get used to doing it on these hot, muggy summer days. As I make my way first down 8th Avenue and then Hudson Street, I pass by the White Horse Tavern, an English style pub that's been around since 1880, and is a virtual shrine to the heavy-drinking poet Dylan Thomas. But it was a popular hangout for many writers and actors. The house Jack Kerouac used to live in is across the street, and John Belushi, who had a heavy drug problem, would come here often. When Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the script, they originally had John Belushi in mind for Peter, but he died when the movie was still early in production. Slimer, actually, is kind of supposed to be the ghost of Belushi. On the night he died in March 1982, Aykroyd is said to have come here during last call, have the doors locked, and bought everyone there a round in his memory.

Finally, I make it down to the firehouse, and almost regret bothering to walk all this distance. I've been down there a lot at this point, so I've gotten pretty used to it, but for a while, I always got a real kick out of seeing it, because the building is so iconic. While most firehouses are connected to the neighboring buildings along the street, this one is independant, and after seeing it again and again, in the movies, the cartoon, and even made into a "doll house for boys" of sorts, it looks almost exactly the same with only a couple of changes. The two black doors with mini-doors for walking through were replaced by a red door that comes down, which I think is standard in the fire department, and a much nicer steel-iron fence replaced the chain-linked one that was there before to the left. The door happened to be opened this day (it usually isn't) showing off the Ghostbusters 2 sign that was donated to them, just on the inside by the door, but I especially like how a version of the crossed out ghost is incorporated into the Hook & Ladder 8 logo, painted on the ground in front of the building.

So, it's time to start heading up north again. I still can't believe I'm doing this. After sitting for a while in Cavala Park, watching a couple young kids and one music major, who was clearly showing off, play the two pianos open to the public, I keep on going, desperate for the first drink of water I could find, which unfortunately wasn't until the old reliable Shake Shack in Madison Square. (The fountain in Union Square was occupied by a group of rowdy teens filling up water balloons.)

Believe it or not, I made it home, though my dogs were barking and I was dripping in sweat. Oh, yeah, along the way I take note of the New York Public Library main branch on 42nd and 5th. I suppose I could head uptown to Columbia University on 116th and Broadway, but ... no I couldn't. Maybe some other time.