Archive for May 2015
preserved body
LIC, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One always seems to be heading somewhere, but somehow I never seem to arrive. An attempt to grab as many shots of the Bank of Manhattan Building in Queens Plaza, before a 70 atory monstrosity rises next to it (literally) has been underway for several months. Got this one on Sunday morning, while walking over to Greenpoint to conduct a Newtown Creek Walking Tour for Newtown Creek Alliance and the Municpal Art Society’s Janeswalk event. I’m seldom found in Queens Plaza in the morning, so a few camera dials were adjusted and the shutter button was pressed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along my path, this hunk of construction equipment was encountered, which was similarly bathed in morning light. Should Western Queens ever adopt its own flag, I would suggest that both back hoe’s and construction cranes form part of the design.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking of construction, over on the corner of Jackson Avenue and the former Jane Street in Queens Plaza, you’d never know that West Chemical was ever there. Thats part of the plan I suppose – who would want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a condominium in Queens Plaza if they knew their home was founded on the site of a chemical factory? The Real Estate Industrial Comlex has done pretty good work in obfuscating the history of Hunters Point – no one there asks about the plumes of Benzene, Oil, or solvents in the ground.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
richly draped
A few random shots from around Queens, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over on Steinway Street, here in almond eyed Astoria, these iconic representations of the Disney corporation seemed to just be chilling out in front of the Salvation Army thrift store the other day. Not sure what the story is with the ghostly one on the right, maybe it’s the “Mickey of Christmas Past” or some other Dickensian (Mickensian, perhaps) meme.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was heading into the City one day last week, performing my usual exercises with exposure and camera settings while waiting on the Subway platform when I got this shot. Don’t know why, by I just kind of like it. I do wonder what the fellow on the left was listening to on those headphones.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The angle between Woodside and Sunnyside, as well as the convergence of Greenpoint and Roosevelt Avenues with Queens Blvd., there’s something about this paritcular intersection that one such as myself finds visually interesting. A point is made to pop off a few exposures whenever I’m passing by, which in this case was on my way to visit Second Calvary over in Woodside.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
flashed before
New York Harbor, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, my chums at the Working Harbor Committee conducted one of the group’s Education Tours for students. We had a gaggle of ninth graders onboard, as well as some rather top shelf speakers from the NYC EDC, Maritime Association, and Port Authority. The goal of the trip is to encourage the kids to consider a career in the Maritime industry, and teach them a little bit about the harbor. Most of the kids onboard were from inland neighborhoods in Manhattan and the Bronx, so visiting the sixth borough was a real treat for them. Me? I was there to take pictures, and frankly, I was just happy to be out on a boat again after the insane winter we’ve all just suffered through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trip was conducted on a NY Waterways Ferry, and proceeded from Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan first to Erie Basin in Red Hook and then up the Kill Van Kull (a tidal strait found betwixt Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey) to Port Elizabeth Newark in Newark Bay. Pretty familiar turf to me, as long time readers of this, your Newtown Pentacle, will attest – but it was fantastic watching the faces of the kids who were seeing it for the first time. Education about the harbor of New York and New Jersey, after all, is ultimately what Working Harbor Committee’s mission is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In between getting shots of the kids and dignitaries on the mike, one managed to crack out a few shots of passing maritime traffic, as evinced by the shots in today’s post. I’m going to be on the mike for a trip down Newtown Creek on the 31st of May (leaving at 11 a.m. from Pier 11), which will be directly followed by a second journey down the Gowanus Canal. My pals and I at WHC are currently forming up a summer tour schedule which will visit locations both familiar and novel, btw, and will shortly be announcing our 2015 schedule.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
soft and rubbery
DUGSBO, Down Under the Grand Street Bridge, in todays post
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, on Saturday I had to do a tour of my beloved creek and found myself crossing into infinite Brooklyn via the venerable Grand Street Bridge. Running a bit late, I nevertheless found myself cracking out a few shots of the Newtown Creek scenery as the sky was uncharacteristically free of pesky avians. Life forms of any kind are best avoided, by one such as myself. Suddenly, the ancient bridge began to shudder, and one spun on his veritable heels to ascertain the source of the vibrations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, there’s something you don’t see every day, thought I. That’s an MTA Bus Company heavy duty tow truck “wrecker” pulling what appears to be a somewhat destructed double decker bus painted with primer gray.
As a note, one has always favored the British spelling for the name of that most decidedly neutral color – which is “Grey.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An amiable pilot was behind the wheel of the gray bus, who offered a gestural greeting as the wrecker towed him across that centuried span which joins Brooklyn’s Bushwick East Williamsburg with Queensican Maspeth. My guess is that they were heading for the titan Grand Street depot found on the Queens side of the currently undefended border between the two boroughs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, the shuddering emanations of the powerful diesel engine found within the wrecker dissipated as it entered Queens, and the Grand Street Bridge ceased its incessant uluations. This allowed me the time to capture an extra one thousandth of a second slice of reality, way out here in DUGSBO.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
historical realities
From the Magic Lantern show…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Welcome to DUPBO, Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 3, 2015 –
DUBPO, Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, a free tour offered as part of Janeswalk 2015, click here for tickets.
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
The Newtown Pentacle 