The Newtown Pentacle

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Sleek, styled, and svelte- witness the sentinel which stands at the corner of Astoria Boulevard and 70th street here in noble Astoria. The Grand Central Parkway was driven into the land here by Robert Moses, sundering a long ago Dutch village called Astoria into distinctly differing sections.

On one side of the road is St. Michael’s Cemetery- with row and apartment houses stretching out beyond its southern gates. To the north, a residential neighborhood is surrounded by highways, trains, and industrial concerns- but whether itinerant workman or long time resident, all may find succor at the silvery side of this guardian of the public trust.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Hardly breaking news, but when wandering around the other day, I came across the famous Jackson Hole Airline Diner which had a brief appearance in the classic 1990 film “Goodfellas”. Here amongst the blessed hills of Astoria, we make it a point of acknowledging when one of our own gets famous, and you don’t get more famous than appearing in a Scorcese film.

Worth a shot or two, thought your humble narrator.

from movie-locations.com

The ‘Idlewild Airport’ scenes used the cargo buildings of Kennedy Airport. Idlewild became Kennedy Airport in 1963, but it’s near to New York’s other main airport, LaGuardia, that you’ll find the ‘Airline Diner’, where the grown-up Hill (Ray Liotta) and pal Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) steal a truck. It’s now part of the Jackson Hole franchise. Confusingly, but thankfully, it keeps the famous old neon ‘Airline’ sign. You can grab a burger in the classic pink and chrome interior of the Jackson Hole Diner, 69-35 Astoria Boulevard at 70th Street in Queens (tel: 718.204.7070).

- photo by Mitch Waxman

I’ve only eaten here once, and that was after a funeral, so can’t really say how the food is.

The star of the show in this place is the neon signage and supremely modern design, if modern is still considered something that was in vogue 40-50 years ago. Relicts like this always remind me how remarkably dynamic the culture of urban and industrial design once was, and how static it has became today.

Think about it, this sign is probably older than you are, but still looks modern.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

So little has actually changed in the last half century, from the fundamentals point of view. Sure, the technology has advanced but we’re still driving cars which a driver from 1972 would instantly know how to operate. It may be playing on your phone, but it’s still “I Love Lucy” you’re watching. There’s a new Superman movie coming out this year, a character which was first introduced to an audience in 1938- 74 years ago.

Just saying… we were supposed to have moving sidewalks, jet packs, and mile high buildings with trains running across their roofs by now…

for a page at ny-eater.com which features a shot of Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci at the location in the Goodfellas movie, click here

- illustration courtesy wikipedia

Also, this coming weekend there will be a huge celebration going on in Greenpoint at the Monitor Museum as they celebrate the 150th anniversary of the launching of America’s first ironclad.

Check out http://www.greenpointmonitormuseum.org/ for details on the parties, parades, and other events they’re offering. I’ll be around, see you there.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

One would imagine multiple generations inhabited this place, celebrating dozens of birthdays and decorating scores of Christmas Trees. It’s only been a decade or so that I’ve been consciously watching this moose of a house sit abandoned, its windows gathering evidence on the actions of small boys, and it’s yard producing thousands of feral cats. There are several of these large homes sitting shuttered in a cluster on 31st Street and 37th avenue here at the borders of Astoria and Dutch Kills, so one would assume that the amalgamated combination of them will form the footprint of some ambitious real estate project in the future.

This house, this “shunned house”, just breaks my heart.

from allmediany.com

Astoria’s “Ghost House” at 31-01 37th Ave.

Ok, so this one is not a haunting—the house is just out of every scary movie, ever. Abandoned for decades, this eerie house has fallen into disrepair, with its siding removed and what little paint is left chipped into oblivion, making it the perfect setting for ghost stories. It’s even said to be on a toxic site! While no one is known to have died in the place, it is a mystery why the owner doesn’t want to sell it…

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Amongst the few friends your humble narrator has managed to acquire, one or two are Astoria natives who feel similarly about this house, but shrug their shoulders while pointing out sagging wooden beams and bulging walls. Speaking with certain authority, a sturdy Croat who has some familiarity with the arts of home construction and carpentry opined to me that it would be cost a small fortune to restore the place just to “livable status” let alone to restore lost glories. He suggests harvesting anything “made of old wood” within that has value, followed by a tear down and new construction.

A year or two ago, the roof was removed at this “shunned house”.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

I’m hardly the first person to mention this house, of course (it’s even been featured briefly in other posts here at Newtown Pentacle). Scouting-NY and Forgotten-NY have featured the enigmatic wooden structure before. Area wags speculate on its fate, and tell me that the abandonment of the structure might be as long as two decades.

Anybody out there have information on the place, and is it, as Scout suggests, a “ghost house” or has it merely been shunned?

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Often have I mentioned to you, Lords and Ladies of Newtown, that illegal dumping is a bit of an art form here in Western Queens. As the solitary wanderings around the neighborhood often carry me along distaff and seldom walked streets, the majestic compositions of refuse I observe are staggering.

To wit, the tire and rim above was found along the nameless local street which follows the Brooklyn Queens Expressway between 46th and 49th street in Astoria.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Nearby, what must be an entire apartment’s worth of goods, arranged indelicately amidst another nameless spot defined by Astoria Blvd. South, the BQE, and 48th street. A youth of indeterminate status was picking into the mass, searching for discarded treasures. Notice the large television near the stairs, and the expensive leather furniture. He didn’t care about these items, and was actually looking for video game cartridges or jewelry. Astoria kids grow up fast, and wise to the world.

Such is the lot of things, of course, dust to dust and all that.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Old Astoria, where public housing abuts multi million dollar mansions, sewer plants, power stations, and a magnificent park- this scene was captured at the corner of Main Avenue and Astoria Blvd., where an odd concentration of manufactured goods lay abandoned and unnoticed.

Your humble narrator is sometimes guilty of casual littering, but as “Woodsy Owl” instructed me in youth- it’s “my garbage” so I should dispose of waste in proper receptacles and will often carry trash for blocks looking for a public basket.

Of course, what are you supposed to do with used tires, or an entire apartment of stuff in New York City?

What color bag are you supposed to put them in?

-photo by Mitch Waxman

Others have beat me to the punch on sharing this very funny bit of signage, however, it’s too funny not to share.

Spotted on Broadway and 31st street here in Astoria.

-photo by Mitch Waxman

I haven’t spotted the poor beast, but one hopes Killer will be found. Has anyone called the phone number displayed yet?