8

But I saw a street called Myrtle Avenue, which runs from Borough Hall to Fresh Pond Road, and down this street no saint ever walked (else it would have crumbled), down this street no miracle ever passed, nor any poet, nor any species of human genius, nor did any flower ever grown there, nor did the sun strike it squarely, nor did the rain ever wash it. For the genuine Inferno which I had to postpone for twenty years I give you Myrtle Avenue, one of the innumberalble [sic] bridlepaths ridden by iron monsters which lead the heart of America's emptiness. If you have only seen Essen or Manchester or Chicago or Levallois-Perret or Glasgow or Hoboken or Canarsie or Bayonne you have seen nothing of the magnificent emptiness of progress and enlightenment. Dear reader, you must see Myrtle Avenue before you die, if only to realize how far into the future Dante saw. You must believe me that on this street, neither in the houses which line it, nor the cobblestones wich pave it, nor the elevated structure which cuts it atwain, neither in any creature that bears a name and lives thereon, neither in any animal, bird or insect passing through it to slaughter or already slaughtered, is there hope of "lubet", "sublimate" or "abominate." It is a street not of sorrow, for sorrow would be human and recognizable, but of sheer emptiness: it is emptier than the most extinct volcano, emptier than a vacuum, emptier than the word of God in the mouth of an unbeliever.

Henry Miller Tropic of Capricorn p.298

written in the late 1930's

book published in 1939

4.19.69

9

[note in top margin: vol. numbers refers to book clippings are in]

May 1, 1969

Clippings from Long Island Historical Society

Vol 108 p102 - July 19, 1956 Ridgewood Times

Myrtle Ave line gets 13 of Cities Brand New Buses.

"The new buses feature charcoal and coral seats, with blue sidepaneling, larger seats with more leg room, springs of rubber air sacks, wider exit doors and smoother starts and stops, the standee will find improved hand grips and the elimination of all obstructions running to the floor"

Vol 94 page 110 Eagle March 23, 1952

"At Franklin and Myrtle the East Brooklyn Bank was across from Franklin Ave. Billy Lupton's saloon was next, Dr Hassett's shoe store, then Leventahal's cigar store, then Daniel's dry goods store. Later on Charlie Daniels bought the shoe store from the McKees. What a swell fellow Charlie was."

(it goes on and on this way - etc etc)