Montefiore Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, 1938. The Montefiore Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1901 and six years later moved into their brand new synagogue on Hewitt Place. The Romanesque building was modeled on eastern European synagogue styles but is also topped with a pair of—somewhat fanciful— onion domes, more common in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. For two decades the congregation was led by an impassioned and dynamic leader named Rabbi Jacob Katz. Russian born, he arrived to New York City as toddler, later attending City College, Columbia, and Jewish Theological Seminary before getting a law degree from NYU. He began his career at a Flatbush synagogue before taking the leadership in 1920 of this Bronx community. He also served for 32 years as the chaplain at Sing-Sing Prison. As chaplain he attended to the spiritual needs of the general population and as well as more than 70 men executed for their crimes. Rabbi Katz moved on from Montefiore in the early 1940s. The religious building was designated a landmark in 1980 (as part of the Longwood Historic District) while serving as the home of the Hewitt Place United Church. The imposing structure still stands, with its eye-catching roofline, but sans its ornate stained glass (which is either lost or covered up).

Hupfel's Brewery, 1898. The South Bronx was once a brewing mecca. As a German immigrant community with more open space than Manhattan, dozens of brewers set up shop here in the mid to late 19th century. Originally owned by a Xavier Grant, the business was purchased by Anton Heupfel in 1863 who later passed it along to his sons. The brewery was located on a steep slope between St. Ann's Avenue to Eagle Avenue. This hill provided an excellent spot for digging out caves. These naturally insulated spaces were perfect for aging and storing the lager that the brewery produced. When Prohibition came to New York's breweries, many continued to produce "near beer" (and real beer surreptitiously and illegally). Adolph Hupfel Jr. had a different plan. He converted his family business into a "mushroom plantation." The beer-aging caves were also well suited to mushroom growing, and the business produced more than 200,000 pounds of the crop per year. The brewery closed in 1938, presumably after returning to beer production when Prohibition ended in 1933. The Hupfel brewery still stands in ruins, the only 19th-century Bronx brewery building still extant. The tall red brick building can still be seen boxed in by the newer low-rise industrial buildings on St. Ann's Avenue south of East 161st Street.

Loew's Burland Theatre, 1938. The Loew's Burland originally opened in 1896 as an open air theatre that was only open during the warm summer months. The theatre seen in this photograph opened in 1913 and had both an indoor and outdoor theatre that could house more than 3000 patrons total. Not originally opened as a Loew's theatre, it is not clear when it became part of that circuit. The theatre closed in 1971 and is currently occupied by a laundromat.

New York Public Library, Woodstock Branch, ca. 1915. This Bronx Carnegie Library was designed by the venerable firm of McKim, Mead & White and constructed in 1913-1914. The Renaissance Revival building shares many of the same features as other NYC Carnegies including brick with limestone cladding and the general shape and palazzo-style front. It is almost identical to the West 40th Street Branch, also designed by McKim, Mead & White, and finished a year before this one.

Prospect Theatre, April 26, 1938. Opened November 12, 1910, the Prospect Theatre was designed by Charles E. Horn, with interior decoration and murals by French artist, Arthur Brounet. When completed it was one of the largest theatres in the Bronx with seating for 1,600. The original offers of the venue were legitimate theatre, vaudeville, burlesque, and Yiddish theatre. By the 1930s the space was converted into a movie theatre (an all too common transformation of New York theatres). This April 1938 photograph captures the marquee advertises 'I Met My Love Again' with Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda. The theatre was operated by RKO for many years. The recently history of the still-standing building is unfortunately bleak. It is unclear exactly when the movie theatre went out of business, but the space was renovated in 2000 for a short-lived concert venue. While the restoration was comprehensive, the concert hall was an unsuccessful business venture that closed in 2006. Over the next few years the venue was occupied (also short-lived) by a church who largely gutted the interior. As of 2018, the building remains in rough and neglected condition, inside and out, with no concrete plans for its future.

Eagle Avenue Bridge, 1915. This 1915 photograph of 612 East 161st Street was taken from the Eagle Avenue Bridge. This steep hilly area of the Bronx necessitated a bridge over the road and the first crossing at this spot (seen here) was a steel structure with stairs allowing pedestrians to descend to the street below. The 1936 bridge, with one lane for traffic, a parking lane, and two sidewalks, no longer provides this access. (The older bridge also had much more attractive lamposts.) The buildings, such as this one, immediately adjacent to the bridge have long since been demolished and the steep slope of the hill here is much more visible today.

Franklin Theatre, 1928. Built by successful theatre owner and producer B.S. Moss and named for Benjamin Franklin (Moss was a Franklin fanboy), the Beaux-Arts venue opened in 1921. Designed by famed theatre architect Eugene DeRosa, the space had a capacity for nearly 3000 patrons. Originally presenting Keith-Albee vaudeville and movies, the theatre eventually became strictly a movie house. In 1954 the theatre was robbed at gunpoint. While a movie was playing, the manager and two staff were forced to hand over $2,500 and their own jewelry, before being handcuffed to water pipes. The victims called out for almost an hour before they were heard by a few movie-goers. The theatre closed by the 1960s and the space was converted into a supermarket. The building was demolished in the 1980s and a garden apartment complex was constructed in the site.