Archive for 2013
The 2013 Spring and Summer Tours Schedule
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mai Armstrong
Want to see something cool?
Odds are that a bunch of the folks who will be reading this might have no idea who Mitch Waxman is, why they should come along with him on a tour of some weird neighborhood in Brooklyn or Queens or Staten Island, nor what a Newtown Creek or Kill Van Kull are- let alone where. Who is this weirdo?
Check out the “bio” page here at Newtown Pentacle, or this profile of me from the NY Times published in 2012. My tours of Newtown Creek have garnered no small amount of interest from the fourth estate- whether it be DNAInfo, untappedcities.com, Queens Chronicle, newyorkview.net, the 22blog, photobycateblog.com, or Queensnyc, and I’ve turned up in a bunch of media reports, documentaries, and been interviewed for multitudinous reports on the lamentable history of the Newtown Creek.
Most recently, it was National Geographic and Curbed. Attendees on my tours come from a variety of backgrounds- photographers, history and rail buffs, maritime enthusiasts, and there always seems to be an odd and welcome concentration of elected officials and journalists about.
What is with this guy?
I’m the Newtown Creek Alliance Historian, Official Photographer and Steering Committee member of the Working Harbor Committee, a member of the Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee and the Newtown Creek CAG, and am also a member of the Kosciuszko Bridge Stakeholders Advisory Committee. Newtown Pentacle, this blog, has been steadily published since 2009. I live in Astoria, Queens with my wife and our little dog, Zuzu.
In just the last few years, I have exposed thousands of people to the Newtown Creek, and its incredible history. This is where the industrial revolution actually happened, along this 3.8 mile long waterway that defines the border of Brooklyn and Queens.
– photo by Mai Armstrong
In 2013, continuing relationships with Atlas Obscura, Newtown Creek Alliance, and the Working Harbor Committee (as well as friends like the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, and others) allow me to offer the following schedule. Live ticketing links will be made available as they come online, and all dates are subject to cancellation or rescheduling due to weather or unforeseen circumstance. There are 6 unique walking tours listed here, and one boat trip in which I will be the principal speaker.
Private tours are possible, schedule permitting, and can be arranged by contacting me here. Last year, for instance, several private University classes engaged me for a day at the Creek, as did a few private groups. As mentioned, contact me and we will figure something out if you’ve got a meetup group, college class, or special request.
Here then, is my official schedule as it stands right now. There will likely be a few additions as time goes on, which I will let you know about as they occur. Best to subscribe to this blog (top right, email subscription) or “follow” me on Twitter @newtownpentacle for news.
In April, 2013- There will be a brand new tour of Greenpoint debuted, which I call “Glittering Realms.”
Glittering Realms– Saturday, April 20, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
In May, 2013- We start off with 13 Steps around Dutch Kills, go to the Insalubrious Valley, visit DUKBO, and finish off the month with a Working Harbor boat tour.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, May 4, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Parks and Petroleum- Sunday, May 12, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets on sale soon.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman – Sunday, May 26,2013
Boat tour presented by the Working Harbor Committee,
Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
– photo by Mai Armstrong
In June, 2013- We visit the Poison Cauldron, return to the Insalubrious Valley, and check out the Kill Van Kull.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets on sale soon.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets on sale soon.
In July, 2013- We visit Queens’s Hunters Point with a brand new tour. I might have another offering or two for you, but nothing I can speak about quite yet.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
– photo by Mai Armstrong
In August, 2013- We return to the Poison Cauldron, repeat the 13 steps, and the Kill Van Kull walks.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets on sale soon.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills- Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets on sale soon.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, August 24, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
There are a few other dates coming in the fall, and a couple of more summer events which are still being discussed, but I’ll let you know more about them in coming posts.
Also, I will definitely be onboard but not on the microphone during the Working Harbor Committee “Beyond Sandy” Hidden Harbor tours on Tuesday nights, all summer. Hope you can come along.
lifelong seclusion
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
Welcome, once again to Maritime Sunday at this, your Newtown Pentacle. With the return of agreeable weather, a humble narrator has been making up for lost time, and found himself on… Staten Island… last week. The vessel you see is a Bouchard tug, called Evening Tide.
Evening Tide was built in Louisiana, in 1970, and was originally called the “Captain George Edwards.” She measures 127′ x 31′ x 15′ and Evening tide is a powered by a 3,900 HP engine. Recently spotted transiting away the Kill Van Kull towing a fuel barge, the otherwise wholesome seeming Tug was involved in an accident just ten years ago.
from marinelog.com
The oil spill occurred during the afternoon of April 27, 2003, a bright and clear day. A Bouchard owned and operated tugboat, named the Evening Tide, was traveling en route from Philadelphia to Sandwich, Massachusetts. The Evening Tide was towing an unpowered barge loaded with over four million gallons of No. 6 oil, a thick, viscous and adhesive petroleum. All navigational, communications, and steering systems aboard the Evening Tide were in good working order. Navigational charts identifying all hazards in the area, which are published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were on-board the Evening Tide in paper and electronic form.
While traveling northwards, the Evening Tide veered off course as it neared the first green buoy marking the beginning of Buzzards Bay channel. The Evening Tide and the barge traveled to the west of the first green buoy, the Information alleges, striking a series of rocks. The impact from the collision ripped a twelve foot hole in the bottom of the barge, rupturing one of the barge’s ten separate tanks containing oil.
Also- TOURS:
Glittering Realms– April 20, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– May 4, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman presented by the Working Harbor Committee, departs Pier 17 in Manhattan May 26,2013 at ten a.m. Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
Project Firebox 67
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While visiting the Shining City of Manhattan recently, this decapitated Firebox was encountered along Broadway in the west 50’s. A policy of so called benign neglect and reduced maintenance budgets, which betray the anti Firebox prejudices of a certain Mayoral administration, have resulted in the startling condition of what appears to be an early 20th century Gamewell alarm box. Perhaps the stalk and husk of the sentinel can be used to display a touch screen, of some kind, which could be used to direct tourists towards designated shopping centers or the nearest Shake Shack.
Also- TOURS:
Glittering Realms– April 20, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– May 4, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman presented by the Working Harbor Committee, departs Pier 17 in Manhattan May 26,2013 at ten a.m. Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
decided agitation
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fear that I’ve let you down today is inescapable, as the 2013 tour schedule (long promised) is still not quite ready for public review and remains a revisionary work in progress. There’s a lot of behind the scenes nitty gritty to lock down, HTML to code, and routes to solidify and I’m just not done yet- unfortunately. I’m hoping to have the list live by early next week and apologies are offered. It has been a busy few weeks for me, and everybody is pissed off at me that my ducks aren’t- as usual- in a row..
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just the other day, Tuesday as a point of fact, I unexpectedly and suddenly ended up onboard a ship which was carrying the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance annual conference, serving the event as one of several “staff” (volunteer) photographers. The group presented a “who’s who” of planners, maritime experts, and political types discussing the post Sandy shape of our local vicinity. Discussion of various plans of action was offered, as well as a swell luncheon.
Additionally, on Wednesday night, a Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee meeting went long at the sewer plant in Greenpoint. NCMC, as the latter group is known (nickmick is how its pronounced,) is one of the longest serving community groups in NYC. NCMC interacts with the DEP to ensure that neighborhood concerns are dealt with at the enormous and still under construction Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My devotions to the various organizations of the Newtown Creek community such as Newtown Creek Alliance or NCMC, or the larger harbor community groups like Working Harbor Committee or the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance demand the expenditure of enormous amounts of time spent in meetings and attending “events,” but it really is a worthwhile investment. There is so much to learn about this City of New York, facts which range from the utterly mundane to the fantastic, that it is worth every minute spent even if it means you’re a little (or a lot) behind on your own work..
Also: Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman presented by the Working Harbor Committee, departs Pier 17 in Manhattan May 26,2013 at ten a.m. Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
universal prominence
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ribald exuberances and bruising melancholia have marked the passing of the winter months for a pitiful yet humble narrator, but this interval of inactivity is ended at last. Gird yourselves, lords and ladies, for the long threatened 2013 tour schedule is about to pierce its glistening caul and stand naked before you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few final details will delay the announcement of the full schedule until tomorrow, unfortunately, but at this moment I can say that 2013 will include a series of walking tours and a singular boat trip around and upon the Newtown Creek. In addition, there will be a couple of opportunities to return to the Kill Van Kull on… Staten Island…
Additionally, my beloved Working Harbor chums have cooked up a whole new schedule of tours and routes, which I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you about yet- but they promise to be very cool.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That Newtown Creek boat trip I mentioned, which will be conducted by the aforementioned Working Harbor Committee, already has a live ticketing page- which is available via the link found below. Group rates, a discount for parties of four or more, can be discussed with the WHC office at the phone number listed on said page.
This will be a three hour tour, and proceed all the way back to Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg onboard a NY Water Taxi. Special emphasis will be paid, and discussion offered, about the maritime significance of the Newtown Creek in this first WHC boat tour of the troubled waterway “Beyond Sandy.”
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman presented by the Working Harbor Committee, will be depart Pier 17 in Manhattan May 26 at ten a.m.
The Newtown Pentacle 