The Vewer Avenue Tunnel

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Inside Manhattan's Graffiti Tunnel It started the way most things do these days: with a phone in my hand and nowhere particular to be. I was scrolling through the usual digital noise when a video stopped me cold. A crowd of people spilling into a tunnel, its walls erupting in color so dense and layered it looked less like concrete and more like the inside of someone's fever dream. Tags, murals, massive bubble letters stacked ceiling-high. My thumb hovered. I watched it again. That was the Park Avenue Tunnel, buried under one of Manhattan's most recognizable thoroughfares. And from what I could gather online, it had become something of an open secret, a once-busy vehicle artery turned accidental gallery. Legendary names were showing up on those walls. Local favorites, too. I'd heard of mob bombs before, those spontaneous, loosely coordinated art invasions where writers descend on a space and leave it permanently changed. But this felt different. This felt like a fa...
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Former Seth Boyden Housing Projects

 




It recently hit me that the abandoned Newark Seth Boyden Projects were being demolished to make way for 16,000 apartments in the area spurred by the incumbent Mayor of Newark Ras Baraka. I explored the Seth Boyden projects in 2019 with a penciled-in return for some time later. Well, that future next time never materialized. So into the archives I dug and found what I was looking for. 

Seth Boyden was Newark's first public housing built in 1939 after the Great Depression. Seth Boyden or Dayton Street Houses comprised 12 buildings totaling 530 apartments when it was closed down due to high maintenance costs and public safety issues in 2015.

During my time in the area, the grounds were evidently the dumping grounds of illegal dumpers and an inordinate amount of graffiti. Locals also used the wide-open projects for quicker access from one street to the next. A majority of the buildings were mostly empty and picked apart by long-gone copper scrappers. 

Now future development holds the promise of mixed rate and affordable apartments for Newark residents.


Status: Demolished Feb/Mar 2022






















































































































🏢 Did You Live in the Seth Boyden Projects?

Were you a resident of the Seth Boyden Housing Projects? Do you have photos from inside the buildings, memories of the community, or stories about life in this Newark complex before its abandonment? Share your experiences below.

Drop a comment below or contact me directly. Full credit given to all contributors.

🏙️ More Newark & New Jersey History
From housing projects and factories to hospitals and music clubs — explore the forgotten landmarks that shaped New Jersey's largest city.
🏢 The Seth Boyden Housing Projects were part of Newark's mid-century public housing landscape — now documented here before they fade from memory.


Source(s):


1. Eyewitness News, "Demolition begins on Newark's first housing project", February 17, 2022, ABC7NY

2. Yi, Karen, "Newark's demolition of South Ward housing project comes with promises of new development", February 18, 2022, Gothamist

Location: 741 Frelinghuysen Ave #811, Newark, NJ 07114, USA

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