A Journal of Civilization
As a disclaimer: These photos were taken during a visit in April 2024, so this post may not be representative of these sites today.
Philip Williams Posters
Look at this place! I’ve always loved posters (though my clean white walls would certainly fool you otherwise), so when I found this place, I knew I had to make time to go and spend a good hour perusing its shelves and piles.
The gallery, as the owners refer to it, was established in 1973 in Tribeca, and it holds one of the world’s largest vintage poster collections in the world.
They carry over 100,000 different poster designs, including posters from as far back as 1870. They also host a rotating display of art, especially work from Southern artists.
The Mysterious Bookshop
Located right next door to Philip Williams Posters, the Mysterious Bookshop is an independent bookshop that specializes in mystery fiction, so that its walls are filled to the brim with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. It first opened in 1979, though it has existed at its current location in Tribeca only since 2005.
Not for the first time, I wanted to see this place because of a video game. In Control, you get to explore the offices of the Federal Bureau of Control (imagine the X-Files, only on steroids), which is held at a building known as The Oldest House. This ominously-named building is modeled after 33 Thomas Street, a windowless, Brutalist skyscraper built in the 1970s, and which once served as a telephone exchange center.
Gold Colored Fox 