Clipping from the 1935 New York Times article (L); Tom Otterness sculpture at the 14th Street/8th Avenue subway station depicting the event, via MTA Arts (R) While most New Yorkers spent yesterday in sweat pants watching Netflix, Michael Miscione was busy celebrating “Alligators in the Sewers Day.” The Times recounts how, allegedly, on February 9, 1935, a group of teenagers caught and killed an eight-foot, 125-pound alligator in a manhole on East 123rd Street while shoveling snow. A headline in the paper the next day read, “Alligator Found in Uptown Sewer,” fueling an urban legend of an entire underground alligator population. […]
82 years ago, a 125-pound alligator was wrangled in an East Harlem sewer : 6sqft
