Grate Fishing

A 12-year-old boy goes fishing with "uncanny skill" for coins and other treasures in the city's subway grating in 1959. His only tools: a small rock tied to a 12-foot piece of string and some lard (which is used to make the rock sticky). He then lowers the line and hauls up his catch. Sometimes a dime, sometimes a subway token, sometimes a ring of gold. Times photographer Allyn Baum captured the boy as he was surrounded by a large crowd in Times Square, an area home to the most profitable fishing spots. "Sometimes people throw coins down there to see if I can get them," he said. "I'll get anything except pennies. I don't bother with pennies." His earnings for the day?ÊFour dollarsÊin coins, plusÊsix subway tokens, which he used to buy clothes and contribute to the support of his widowed mother.