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The Hole, a section of Lindenwood along the Brooklyn-Queens border, could be an extremely unflattering name, except that the area truly is a hole: the land is 30 feet below grade, meaning the area is marshy in places and homes are built only a few feet above the water table, so they must use cesspools instead of the municipal sewer system. Nathan Kensinger compiled a photo essay of this neighborhood, which is famous for bodies and for horses: bodies because it was an old mob dumping ground, and horses because they used to roam the fields of The Hole. Some horses still reside there, as does The Federation of Black Cowboys. Kensinger’s essay captures a piece of New York that is both ancient and timeless, and it reminds us how diverse the land is within the boundaries of New York City. It’s a city with an island of pick-up trucks and lobster shacks, massive skyscrapers and financial juggernauts, beaches, forests—and The Hole, a neighborhood that harks back to the Wild West.
The Hole [Nathan Kensinger]
Meet ‘The Hole,’ [Curbed]
An Urban Frontier [NY Times]


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  1. I know this place well. I lived nearby on Liberty Avenue. It’s only a short walk from the Grant Avenue A station, just before it goes out from the underground tunnel to the elevated rails. It’s next to the Conduit Blvd.
    My sister dated a guy whose aunt lived there and I once had dinner at their house, great meatballs, I remember the aunt telling us that they dug the streets downwards for some reason decades ago and the basement became the first floor. I also had a high school friend who was dating a pretty girl who lived somewhere in that small neighbohood, I remember being jealous of him as we drove her home one night after a night in the city, she had a heavy Brooklyn accent I recall. It was an Italian area mostly, back then, don’t know who lives there now. It was never a place that was considered nice to live in, but still , it had a charm reminiscent of an Edward Hopper painting where everyday is like Sunday.