Machate Circle, unknown date. Originally, this area of land surrounding Prospect Park’s entrance was known as Park Circle. It was renamed Machate Circle in 1989 to honor the life and service of anti-crime officer, Robert Machate, who was shot and killed in pursuit of a suspect in March of that year. Similar to the other park entrances, Machate Circle is part of a greater architectural narrative. It exemplifies the intent of park architects, Olmsted and Vaux, who designed the circle to be space of transition between the busy city and the bucolic escape offered by the park.

Coney Island Avenue, west side, south from Beverly Road, 1929. A James Butler grocery store was located on this corner. The one-story building seems to have a tall cast metal cornice.

453-457 Coney Island Avenue, 1961. These three storefronts, with their excellently appropriate mid century signage, now have different businesses and signs. Today the cornices of the buildings have also been painted a bit more colorfully than seen in this image.

Stretching from the southwest entrance of Prospect Park to the ocean shore of Coney Island, Ocean Parkway spans just under five miles across the borough of Brooklyn. In 1894, the parkway became New York City’s first dedicated bicycle path, and the very first in the United States!