Method

Lenny Zeltser lives in Park Slope and researched this corner out of curiosity about the neighborhood. He noticed the sign under the sign, and kept going in pursuit of the Zodiacs. He is grateful to the librarians, archivists, neighbors and readers who have helped, and to everyone who has written in.

Where the facts come from

Every fact in the story comes from a public record: deeds, directories, license notices, census sheets, newspapers and city photographs. Two commenters on neighborhood posts passed on memories, one a husband's and one a neighbor's. The story marks those as memories where it uses them.

Reading the records

A directory printed a telephone number so callers could find it. A census taker wrote down a household because the law required a count. None of these documents was made to tell this story. Where two of them disagree, as the two 1922 front pages do, both versions are on the page.

A directory's date is when its publisher compiled the listings.

Facts, memories and open questions

A fact from a record names the document behind it, with a link. A memory says who gave it and when. An open question is asked as a question. Where nothing turned up, the story says “no record found in this research”. That's a smaller claim than “none exists”.

Theories and leads

People who saw the sign online have suggested who the Zodiacs were, and other leads appeared in the records. Each chapter's “Theories and leads” tab lists them. Each entry has two parts: the suggestion, and what the records show. The second part is one of three verdicts. “Still possible” means nothing was found for it or against it. “Nothing ties it to this address” means the group or event was real, but no record connects it to this corner. “Ruled out by” names the record that contradicts it. Suggestions are welcome through the form.

Why so few pictures exist

The corner lies just outside the Park Slope Historic District, drawn in July 1973 along Seventh Avenue, one block east. The surveys that photographed the district passed it by.

The records

Open the records page. Every citation says what the document is, who made it, when, and where to find it. A link appears where one exists, and the shelf or reel where it doesn't.

Write in

If something here is wrong, or if you remember this corner, write in.