Archive for 2013
city noises
The tribute in lights, from the harbor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Started off this week with a Working Harbor Committee trip on September the tenth, whereupon we observed the so called Tribute in Lights rising alongside the Freedom Tower (aka one World Trade) from the place of national remembrance and mourning. Here’s what I saw.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
always susceptible
In today’s post, a familiar path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The triple lobed eye of that thing which cannot possibly exist at the cupola of the sapphire tower, a structure in Long Island City’s Court Square area often referred to as “The Megalith” at this – your Newtown Pentacle – must enjoy one heck of a view. Norse God Odin is meant to have sat upon a “hildskalf” or high seat from which he could see the entire world, he also had two ravens which were sort of like unmanned drones that he sent off on espionage missions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I may have read too much popular literature of the Science Fiction genre, probably, but the notion of armed robots flying, swimming, and tunneling around the world makes me a bit more nervous than two magical ravens serving a one eyed god. Saying that, I for one welcome our new robot (or raven) overlords, and look forward to the glorious efficiencies they will bring. Also- just in case- Hail Ming. Pictured above, the gates of Calvary in late afternoon sun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One feels as if he is in a bit of a rut at the moment, overly familiar with certain corridors connecting familiar destinations. Wanderlust is at the forefront of my ambitions, and I wonder what new frontier there might be out there which I’m not learning about. If you’re not actively learning something new, you’re actively dying inside. Unfortunately for me, I’ve been dead inside for a long time… can’t you smell it?
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
broad slab
In today’s post, the night terrors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Perambulating through the fuligin night, across the cracked ambitions of Western Queens, recently did your humble narrator find his lonely self. A meeting in Brooklyn with the cognoscenti of Greenpoint had run late, and no offers of automotive conveyance were offered, so off I went. The tenebrous shadows ran slickly together as one crossed a bridge spanning a creek and shambled through Blissville and its tenement haunts. Entering the Sunnyside, whose name is but a cruel promise when the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself has slipped below the horizon, one experienced a deep unease and nervous apprehension of a dire near future set in.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Feeling one of my states coming on, with its attendant fugue of panic and self critique, vast mental effort was expended in the name of maintaining my pace lest some creature of the night take notice of my passage. Lurking in fear and scuttling toward Newtown Pentacle HQ, the vulnerability of my position with its attendant possibilities carried me toward that panicked chasm of madness and other worldly horror which, once crossed, destroys all succor and peace. Prescription tablets, ordered by my team of physicians, were hastily consumed. Their influence calmed me, but how can one remain calm in a realm of halogen and sodium shadow as he plunges his feet towards the earth in an uneven and arrhythmic syncopation which might simply be described as “out of step”?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What malign and queerly unicellular thing might lurk and scheme in some nearby warehouse, a sort of life which must at all costs avoid contact with sunlight? Where, in the shadowed obscurity of the buildings all around me, might some criminal organization, cabal of hidden cultists, or conclave of conspiratorial partners gather- or are gathering? Why, asked I, could no one offer me a ride back from Greenpoint, knowing that night time is scary and full of half guessed at horrors which only the sickest minds can perceive? Who, passerby must ask, is that shabby shambling fellow- the mendicant with a camera- taking pictures as he scuttles along in the dark? How, exactly, does a humble narrator always find himself stumbling along in the darkest corridors of a hostile universe?
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
fairly well
In today’s post, a Rooster I met who was named Chicken.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found me at a friends wedding in some vast wooded space, north of the Bronx and south of Albany, which was quite overgrown. There were animals wandering around, which were not rats or cats, and some of them were quite large. It smelled odd there, as well, with little automotive smoke hanging in the air- but the slightest hint of manure was on the breeze- something which made me feel right at home.
One always pines for his beloved creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The owner of the parcel informed a humble narrator that this garish descendent of the dinosaurs was hers to care for, although her charge was more often than not quite cocky and demanding. Not pictured, this downy biped was observed feeding from the sort of dish normally used for the wholesome quadrupeds of the canine race. There was something threatening in its demeanor, as if it was attempting to make a conscious display of its strength.
This so called “Chicken” was freaking me out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An attempt to describe the odd environment in this place would be made, but an alien landscape such as this is surely beyond the capability of one such as myself to transmit. There were buildings there, spaced widely apart and squamous in aspect, which jutted from an oddly angled terrain which gave the appearance of having been carved and macerated by some titanic force in the not so distant past. Everything showed the effects of water action, and in every direction there rose shallow peaks. Odd intelligences and alien things moved within the woods, uttering unfamiliar cries.
One desired only to return to the regular geometries and relative safety of Queens, rather than stay in this vast tangle where roosters may run free and unabated.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
2013 Newtown Creek Boat Tour
The 2013 Newtown Creek Boat Tour.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On Saturday -the 28th of September- the Working Harbor Committee is producing and offering a boat tour of the Newtown Creek for any interested parties to attend. A special emphasis on the waterway’s storied history and maritime legacy will be made.
I’m going to be doing the history part, speaking in my capacity as the Newtown Creek Alliance Historian, and am tasked with highlighting the various points of interest encountered along the route. Anticipated to be some three hours in length, this boat tour will be delving some three miles inland, proceeding to the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge crossing English Kills in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Maritime History of Newtown Creek is one largely forgotten in these decadent times, but even now an odd tugboat and barge might be spied making their way down the waterway on any given day. Property owners were considered to have been blessed by some of the finest industrial bulkheads in the world a mere century ago, yet many of the businesses based along the Creek today ignore this invaluable resource, allowing their waterfront property to decay and decline.
Nevertheless, a staggering amount of maritime traffic is still observed here, and towing companies such as Reinauer, K-Sea, DonJon, and Poling and Cutler are regular visitors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Vast operations will be witnessed by those onboard, many of which are involved in the scrap metal and recyclables trade. Responsible for an enormous amount of cross harbor shipping, companies such as SimsMetal are heavily reliant on the maritime trades for their economic success.
Not all that long ago, Newtown Creek carried a greater tonnage of cargo than the entire Mississippi River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An active and thriving industrial zone in the center of New York City, from the water one can truly grasp the sheer scale of Newtown Creek’s busy waterfront. Normally hidden by high fences and obscured by street facing structures, the intensity of the Newtown Creek is laid bare before the admiring gaze of first time visitor and veteran urban explorer alike.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A tributary of the estuarine East River, Newtown Creek extends some 3.8 miles from its junction with the more familiar waterway, and provides demarcation for the currently undefended border of much of Brooklyn and Queens. Named to the Federal Superfund list, the Creek suffers from a history of environmental degradation and municipal neglect.
An era of great change is upon the Newtown Creek, and this trip will be one of your last chances to see it in its current form.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We will see four moveable bridges, and this year will be your last chance to see the static Kosciuszko Bridge which carries the BQE, as the NYS DOT has indicated that construction on its replacement will begin quite soon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along it’s banks, great fortunes have risen.
Amongst others- Peter Cooper (BO Railroad, Canton Iron, and Cooper Union), Charles Pratt (Astral Oil, and Pratt University), and ultimately John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil)– all grew richer than the dreams of avarice in this place. Alongside them, the darkest mills of the industrial revolution- rendering plants, yeast distilleries, bone blackers, and acid factories provided tens of thousands of jobs to the immigrant populations of Brooklyn and Queens. Today- National Grid, BP, Amoco, ExxonMobil, and a host of other multinational companies still maintain an enormous investment in this valuable industrial canal.
Upcoming tour: Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman.
Come explore Newtown Creek by boat with Working Harbor Executive Director Captain John Doswell and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman as your guides.
Boarding begins at 2:30 p.m., and departs at 3:00 p.m. sharp. The 2.5 hour, fully narrated, round-trip excursion departs from and returns to the New York Skyports Marina found at East 23rd Street & the FDR Drive in Manhattan.
There will be a cash bar onboard.
For inquiries about group discounts please call 212-757-1600.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 