Archive for October 2009
Manhattan Bridge Centennial Photos
The whole set is up at flickr, here’s a few selects. I’ll be writing this up properly in a few days, but posts are going to still be a little sparse this week, and I don’t want to leave y’all hanging.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
– photo by Mitch Waxman
– photo by Mitch Waxman
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What a crazy weekend
The steely resolve of nature in darkest Brooklyn – photo by Mitch Waxman
A state of satisfied exuberance hangs about the age scarred countenance of your humble narrator. The company of lettered scholars and antiquarian esthetes, combined with the unique cultural milieu called Astoria and the machinations of the larger metropolis beyond, has occupied my nervous attentions.
The Forgotten-NY tour of Ridgewood was cheerfully narrated by Kevin Walsh himself, and that font of metropolitan lore managed to keep the large group’s mood bright, despite the appearance of sometimes heavy rains. Of course, this weekend was the last phase of the “Blood Moon“- a period of latent energy and transition in occult terminology- whose autumnal occurrence coincides with the atmospheric unpredictability customarily experienced along the Atlantic coast during equinox. After the tour, a few of us stalwart Astorians walked home- picking our way through the heavy industry and railheads surrounding the Newtown Creek.
Later that night while walking- I discovered one of my neighbors- an affable hibernian barkeep who suffers from a disorder of the nerves affecting his legs- had collapsed a few doors away from his house. A pair of good hearted urchins had come upon him and assisted him to the stoop, but two young boys cannot lift a 200 pound man, and both myself and another of the neighbors were enlisted to assist the afflicted saloonkeeper to his quarters. We struggled and managed to get him to the third floor apartment, up the narrow stairs of the Matthews Model Flat in which he dwells. I then continued on the walk, which was originally dedicated to the happiness of my little dog, Pazuzu, and proceeded home. I then slept for exactly 4 hours.
Pazuzu the dog – photo by Mitch Waxman
Upon waking, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself stumbled into the dawn and went to serve as Manhattan Bridge Parade Marshalls. She later went to a dog birthday party in Long Island City, and I went to a fireworks show (alongside the Williamsburg Bridge) which celebrated the Manhattan Bridge…
More on all this in later post- which will return to our accustomed pace and format shortly- after I run through and process the astounding amount of photos I’ve taken in the last month.
OHNY
Open House New York Weekend is upon us once again, the 10th and 11th of October.
check out http://www.ohny.org/ for details on their various offerings, many of which are free but require regsitration. Of special interest to Newtown Pentacle fans and Creek enthusiasts will be the Bernard Ente and Dave Frieder led tour of the Manhattan Bridge, and the tour of the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Saturday the 3rd, Forgotten NY is conducting a walking tour in Ridgewood. Kevin Walsh himself will be leading the walk.
from forgotten-ny.com
Ridgewood is NYC’s latest neighborhood to be recognized by the Landmarks Preservation Commission! Ease into fall with a guided tour of the Onderdonk House, a rebuilt version of an early 18th Century farmhouse, a walk on one of NYC’s most beautiful blocks, Stockholm Street, and a trip to see the gorgeous Gustave X. Mathews flats that inspired the latest Landmark.
Also, I’ll be helping out at the Manhattan Bridge Centennial Parade this Sunday (the 4th). You might still be able to participate. Click here for details.
The Newtown Pentacle 