Archive for November 2013
Project Firebox 98
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sharply attired in stainless and scarlet, this guardian of the public trust was encountered over in Jackson Heights nearby 34th avenue. It only speaks a single tongue, is not vibrant, but is kind of diverse as you don’t see stainless steel used all that much for municipal street furniture. Sparkle on, firebox 7864, sparkle.
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recognized turnings
Wandering and twirling, evermore.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
No direction home, that’s me. Found this scene on Northern Blvd. somewhere out in Jackson Heights or Woodside… who the hell knows where these neighborhood borders are anymore anyway? Can’t we just have the realtors paint some sort of yellow or orange line delineating the space? What about a sign, which vultures can sit on?
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writhing sharply
Give thanks, or else.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the holiday weekend, which is ultimately a vestigial harvest festival celebrated by some post industrial nation state that occupies a third of a continent (and militarily speaking- most of the planet- for those extraterrestrials and Otaku who might be reading this), Newtown Pentacle will be in single image mode.
Now, go eat the things you are supposed to, then go do your patriotic duty and shop. Our enemies in east Australasia would prefer if you did nothing instead, and just continued to grow fatter. Your job is to go eat a bird which is native to the continent, so get to it.
The shot above depicts another sort of endemic creature infesting North America, the humble Cormorant, which is lucky enough to not be considered food by the well fed masses.
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fastened ajar
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These are my “tripod” shots from the night time excursion to Greenwood Cemetery which Atlas Obscura invited your humble narrator along on. I’m actually rather fond of both the one above and the second to last shots presented in this post. The only sources of light were being radiated by distant street lights shining through a heavy fog from those Brooklyn streets surrounding the victorian era cemetery, and from the candles set out by the Obscura people. What you’re looking at is beyond the range of human vision, as it was so dark that I had to briefly use a flashlight to allow my camera a lit vantage upon which it could lock in its metering.
from nytimes.com
At noon, yesterday, Mr. STEPHEN WHITNEY, one of the oldest and wealthiest of our citizens, died at his residence in Bowling-green. Some of his intimate friends state that he was but 70 years of age, while others affirm that he had completed his 80th year. He entered business, in this City, at an early period of his life, and has always been considered strictly upright in his dealings, but at the same time close and sharp in effecting bargains. These characteristics laid the foundation for a fortune which has accumulated of late years, until it is estimated at the enormous amount of $8,000,000.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This photo was from within the tomb itself. While taking this shot, I felt the need to call Forgotten-NY’s Kevin Walsh and say “guess where I am?”. When I told him where, he wasn’t surprised at my answer, which was odd. As you can see, the Atlas Obscura crew had installed quite an abundance of candles.
from wikipedia
In 1827, he joined William Backhouse Astor, son of John Jacob Astor, in building a Merchants’ Exchange Building at the corner of Wall and William Streets. The New York Stock and Exchange Board moved their operations from the Tontine Coffee House to the new building, adopting it as their first permanent home. In the 1840s he was involved in the founding of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an interesting dome which caps the Whitney mausoleum. For some reason, it struck me that there must be some sort of message or symbolism encoded in it which I cannot discern, which is common when you lose the cultural context which would be obvious to the dwellers of days gone by. The whole structure is laden with iconic symbolism, much of which is obtusely viewed by modern eyes.
also from wikipedia
Whitney was among the first multi-millionaires in the city. Many accounts refer to his fortune as second only to that of John Jacob Astor, who died in 1848 with an estate of $20 million. Whitney’s wealth was estimated at his death to be at least $8 million, although some thought it was $10 or even $15 million. Unlike the Astors, he was not given to public philanthropy, and the result is that the Whitney name is not remembered in the city the way that the Astor name is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another long exposure tripod shot, I’m actually quite taken with this one. One of my favorite things to do in settings such as this is to leave the shutter wide open for up to a minute, sometimes longer, in total darkness. The shot above was actually 30 seconds long, and the flares you see coming from the candles are actually beams of their light illuminating the fog as it rolls by. Again, this shot displays a dynamic range of both color and detail that were completely invisible to my naked eye. Yay for me, something works for a change.
from green-wood.com
Founded in 1838 as one of America’s first rural cemeteries, the Green-Wood Cemetery soon developed an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the fashionable place to be buried. By 1860, Green-Wood was attracting 500,000 visitors a year, rivaling Niagara Falls as the country’s greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked to Green-Wood to enjoy family outings, carriage rides and sculpture viewing in the finest of first generation American landscapes. Green-Wood’s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, that’s what I saw when I went to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn on a chill and foggy November night. Have a good holiday, lords and ladies, and eat too much. Newtown Pentacle will be in single image mode until Monday, when further vainglorious efforts to “break out of my rut” will be displayed.
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old and exalted
A night time trip to Greenwood Cemetery with the Obscura Society, part two.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As discussed in yesterday’s post, an opportunity to join up with Atlas Obscura’s excursion to the Stephen Whitney monument at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn presented itself. As is my habit, a profusion of photographs were captured while in the cemetery, which was encased in a foggy environment with little to no artificial light beyond that produced by the handheld lanterns and candles set out by the Obscura Society.
from wikipedia
Stephen Whitney (1776–1860) was one of the wealthiest merchants in New York City in the first half of the 19th century. His fortune was considered second only to that of John Jacob Astor. As a prominent citizen of the rapidly growing city, he helped to build some of its institutions, including the Merchants’ Exchange Building, the first permanent home of the New York stock exchange.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the Whitney monument itself, a refreshment was offered, and Allison Meier finished up her narration releasing the crowd to heterogeneous mingling. Your humble narrator had grown chill from the humid November night, but nevertheless continued to exploit this rare opportunity to visit with the tomb legions and night gaunts with the cemetery gates locked behind me.
from 1853’s Rules and regulations of the Green-wood cemetery; with a catalogue of proprietors, courtesy archive.org
” A correct idea, expressed in marble, may be very beautiful, so long as it is unique ; but by too frequent imitation, and in too close proximity with its original, it may destroy the charm of the first, and ultimately raise feelings in the beholder the reverse of those desired.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Stephen Whitney was the second richest man in New York City, and this is the monument he built to himself. He married into the Suydam family, a lineage of note dating back to that primeval era of the Dutch decadence when New York was called New Amsterdam.
from 1898’s Hendrick Rycken, the progenitor of the Suydam family in America. A monograph, courtesy archive.org
Hendrick Rycken had been preceded by other members of his family. The Annals of Newtown, page 301, reads : “When New Netherland invited the virtuous and the daring to seek a home in her wilds, several of the Rikers joined the adventurers coming hither. These were Abraham, Gysbert, Rynier, and Hendrick Rycken, the last of whom came out a few years after the others, and was the ancestor of the Suydam family, his sons assuming that name.” Hence the Riker genealogy is the same as that of the Suydams ; and the heraldry, the noble German ancestry extending back to the eleventh century ; these ancestors’ participation in the First Crusade, as ofificers in the army of Walter the Penniless, are equally their pride and glory.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The timed event was over, and the crew from Atlas Obscura needed to ferry the excursion participants back to the locked gates of Greenwood. I offered to stick around and “watch the stuff” while they did so, allowing a humble narrator a little “alone time.” I set up the tripod and got down to it, as I was alone in Greenwood for a spell.
from nytimes.com
At noon, yesterday, Mr. STEPHEN WHITNEY, one of the oldest and wealthiest of our citizens, died at his residence in Bowling-green. Some of his intimate friends state that he was but 70 years of age, while others affirm that he had completed his 80th year. He entered business, in this City, at an early period of his life, and has always been considered strictly upright in his dealings, but at the same time close and sharp in effecting bargains. These characteristics laid the foundation for a fortune which has accumulated of late years, until it is estimated at the enormous amount of $8,000,000.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 