Archive for the ‘Greenpoint’ Category
decreasing confidence
Today’s post is about enormous things hidden in the mist.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering around during a recent spate of gray skies, your humble narrator found himself staring at the familiar geometries of Whale Creek at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Still, rainy days lend a surreal quality to the Newtown Creek and its tributaries. Alongside the futurist architecture and ongoing construction of the great sewer mill, it is impossible for one such as myself not to record such otherworldly scenery.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
It is a strange compulsion, recording everything one might see. Some tell me that I hide behind the camera, comfortably isolated from interaction with others- which is always a painful and embarrassing experience fraught with unknown possibility and consequence. Thing is, look at the things which I see.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Deep regret exists in me that so many experiences over the years were not recorded in the manner that I employ these days. Places, people, experiences relegated to hazy memory and the dimness of time. Without a photo of some thing or event as evidence, how can you honestly say it happened?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
wriggling out
Today’s post is about things that really suck.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
As often described, one of the many odd things about your humble narrator is my ability to suddenly notice an incongruous pattern or subtle environmental alteration invisible to others.
Something that has popped up recently are a large number of vacuum trucks plying area streets. The crew hard at work in the shot above was cleaning a noisome and aromatic sewer found at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge in Hunters Point, and they seemed to be doing an admirably sucky job.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
This truck sucks. It didn’t seem to be sucking in anything other than fuel at the gas station on the corner of Steinway and Northern, but it still had the potential to massively suck. It is, in fact, labeled as being a “Supersucker.”
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Greenpoint too, it seems, needs trucks that suck. Observed turning north onto West Street from Greenpoint Avenue with the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory behind it, this massive machine seemed to possess a capability to suck harder than the other two, combined, could.
This odd predilection of mine, noticing hidden patterns and odd coincidences hidden around the blasted heaths of the Northern Brooklyn and Western Queens, often reveals things that just completely suck.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Project Firebox 72
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Found nearby McCarren Park in benighted Greenpoint, this scarlet centurion has been reduced to life as a medium for neighborhood advertisements and is laden with missives. No matter the indignity, it stands its post, awaiting the moment.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
slowly onward
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently in the wilds of Greenpoint, a Checker Cab. For those of you who came to NYC late in the game, these taxis were as iconic as the Empire State Building or Tugboats “back in the day.” There’s always a few Checkers in Greenpoint, repurposed as hotel limousines by the Box Hotel in DUPBO (Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp). This model appears clad in stickers and vehicle wrap that seems authentic, and the color is spot on. Only thing missing is the smell of vomit.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
It has been mentioned in the past that this “future” of ours, life lived in the 21st century, is kind of a let down for me. As a child, I was sold on lots of conceptual technologies (I will admit that we’ve gotten the pocket sized personal computer network consoles) which have never materialized. Moving sidewalks, domed cities, jet packs- that sort of stuff.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Instead, we just seem to have a lot more cars zipping around, carrying people back and forth to a lot of unimaginatively shiny buildings, and a single orange can cost you as much as a dollar in Manhattan. Necessary evil, I suppose, these automobiles of ours. People to see, places to go and all that. One wonders, however…
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
deeds and aspect
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
- photos by Mitch Waxman
For this Maritime Sunday, check out the show (visible from the infinities of Brooklyn) which was playing out on the East River last Friday.
What you’re seeing are two Moran Tugs- The Doris Moran and the James Turecamo- towing a floating dry dock past midtown. The Caddell company’s gargantuan… dare I say cyclopean… equipment is an amazing maritime structure. A floating dry dock will submerge itself, whereupon a boat will be floated into position over it, and the structure will rise up and capture the vessel. The dry dock will fully resurface and lift the ship into the air, allowing repairs and maintenance to be performed.
- photos by Mitch Waxman
Here’s a shot of a tug undergoing repair on another one of Cadell’s drydocks at the Kill Van Kull.
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
