Archive for July 2013
Project Firebox 78
At the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Were open and armed conflict between the Boroughs to break out, the Grand Street Bridge would likely be a key strategic asset for either side to possess. The nearby MTA bus depot serves the transit fleet of Brooklyn, not Queens, and the Maspeth Militias would not be able to pass up such a key strategic target.
This centuried firebox, a member of that peaceful legion which desires naught but an absence of harm and obeyance to a strict fire code, would enjoy a front row seat at the literal and littoral frontline- should hostilities erupt.
Want to see something cool? Upcoming Walking Tours
Modern Corridor– Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
forced economies
Today, we pass through a crossroad.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about Western Queens is the juxtapose between at least three different urban planning schemes and where they overlie each other. Of course, the term Urban Planning is seldom found prior to the 20th century, so modern bias interferes with understanding the why’s of where. Also, everything has been so extensively built and rebuilt over the years…
The oldest one wasn’t really planned, rather its where the colonials and farmers of Newtown laid down roads like Greenpoint Avenue or Thomson Avenue, which were literally means to an end- a way to move from point a to point b which took into account and diverted around natural features like hills and streams.
Overlaid on these atavist lanes is an industrial era grid, Skillman and Borden Avenues comes to mind. Hold overs from the locomotive city of the late 19th century- which favored long arcs and subtly graded streets wide enough to carry a street car or in some cases a full on steam locomotive.
Dross 20th century engineering was applied to the most modern layer, such as where Queens Blvd. originates at Thomson Avenue or where Greenpoint Avenue transmogrifies into Roosevelt Avenue at its intersection with Queens Blvd. The modern layer was designed to carry the automotive and mass transit city forward and which is pictured in the shot above. The latter two are definitively hostile to pedestrian activity, but the way.
signed contract
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To begin with, happy 4th of July.
Second, given that we are into our second decade of the “new normal” and all, I think we need to discuss some of these so called “holiday traditions” of ours. Sentimental attachment to the past is something by which we must not be ruled, after all, not in an America hating world which is as cruel and dangerous as this one. Our leaders instruct that all things should now be discussed and considered in the contextual framework of “newspeak” – whether it be the burning of coal for BBQ (climate change contributor), the ritual feasting (obesity epidemic), inebriation (drunk driving checkpoints), or the detonation of small explosives by the gentry (terrorist tendencies). Enjoy your freedom today, just not too much or too loudly, and within the guidelines set down by our ruling committees.
Also, if you see something, say something, and show me your identification papers.
each attempt
An abbreviated post today on underground difficulties.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been oft mentioned in the past, a humble narrator is no fan of being on the Subway. A necessary evil for transiting to and tithing for the Shining City of Manhattan, I usually spend my time on the train doing my level best to avoid anyone else’s gaze and playing around with settings on my camera. It is surprisingly difficult to get an ok shot down there. The light is very odd, the environment is somewhat hostile- always a study in extremes, and the place is absolutely infested with humans.
walked abroad
Another industrial corridor, just another day in Queens.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Clinging to queer ideations about the storied past, and to the ceramic bricks of the former Swingline factory on Skillman Avenue one fine and recent morning, your humble narrator began to accept the fact that he’s been working too hard. For the last several weeks, I’ve been up at sunrise, not going to bed until well after midnight, and the intervening hours have been more or less filled with various projects, deadlines, and curtailed wanderings. Additionally, chaos and argumentative situations have colored my perceptions.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Unlike certain others, my “busy time” of the year is during the summer, with nearly every weekend bringing another walking tour to conduct. The usual schedule of meetings, along with institutional obligations along the Creek and the larger Harbor, have kept me busy in the evenings. Suffice to say that my game is a purely reactive one at the moment, as I stumble from place to place and show up “a day late and a dollar short.” This is a somewhat untenable situation, and an enormous backlog of tasks gets a bit longer every day.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Accordingly, for the rest of this week, a series of short postings will follow this one. Its the holiday thing, I guess, and strong desires to fire up the BBQ and drink a beer rule the day. One would also enjoy just sitting in a dark room while staring at a blank wall for just a little bit. Time to regroup, regathering, refocus. It’ll be short posts through the holiday weekend, lords and ladies, as I try to take little break and catch up on what I should be doing instead.
The Newtown Pentacle 