Archive for 2017
loosely knit
It’s National Piña Colada Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that the final weeks of the old Kosciuszcko Bridge spanning the fabled Newtown Creek are at last upon us, one has been determined to record a few portrait shots to commemorate its long tenancy over the waterway. To wit, last week, one determined that it was time to carry the tripod all the way to eastern Greenpoint and stand there in the dark while shooting the end of an era in this particular corridor of the “House of Moses.” The tripod was needed to allow for long exposure, hyperfocal aperture depth, and deep saturation. Where I was will be instantly recognizable to some Newtown Creek enthusiasts, but to most – not so much. It’s off the beaten path, off the pavement in fact, and my specific vantage was shielded from street lights, perfectly dark, and stunk to high heaven from a passing slick of sewage.
Ahh… my beloved Newtown Creek.
I’m pretty happy with what I got in the shot above, which is a 30 second exposure captured at about 9:10 p.m. As always, if you click the photo it will open up a new window to Flickr, where you can zoom in or whatever.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While I was there – and as you’d imagine – one shot multiple variations of the first shot in today’s post using different exposure triangles, but it was randomly decided at the end of my little seission to pivot the tripod head about and get some shots of the surrounding creek as well. This is looking northward at the Queens side, and that black slab forming the background against the sky is the tree line of First Calvary Cemetery.
Documenting this project has been a long standing project of mine – this 2012 post tells you everything you could want to know about Robert Moses, Fiorella LaGuardia, and the origins of the 1939 model Kosciuszko Bridge. Just before construction started, I swept through both the Brooklyn and Queens sides of Newtown Creek in the area I call “DUKBO” – Down Under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp. Here’s a 2014 post, and another, showing what things used to look like on the Brooklyn side, and one dating back to 2010, and from 2012 discussing the Queens side – this. Construction started, and this 2014 post offers a look at things. There’s shots from the water of Newtown Creek, in this June 2015 post, and in this September 2015 post, which shows the bridge support towers rising. Additionally, this post from March of 2016 detailed the action on the Queens side. Most recently, here’s one from May of 2016, and one from June of the same year. Here’s one from August of 2016, the December 2016 one, one from March of 2017 which discusses the demolition of the 1939 bridge.
Most recently – a post showing what I saw during a pre opening walk through in early April of 2017, and the fanfare surrounding the opening of half of the new bridge in April of 2017, and a walk through of the Brooklyn side job site in June of 2017.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking west along the Newtown Creek, towards the Shining City of Manhattan. The burning thermonuclear eye of God itself doesn’t dip behind the skyline until about 8:30 this time of year, and the shot was captured less than five minutes after the first shot in today’s post. That’s about when Indecided to break down the gear and head back to the rolling hills of Astoria, after having spent about an hour at my location.
As far as the burning question everybody’s been asking me – no, I don’t have any intel on when the old bridge is coming down or not. Newtown Creek Alliance has recently published this post, which discusses the issue in detail and tells you what to expect from the operation.
Upcoming Tours and events
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – July 15th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m..
The “then and now” of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in LIC, once known as the “workshop of the United States.” with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Atlas Obscura – July 22nd, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m..
Explore the hellish waste transfer and petroleum districts of North Brooklyn on this daring walk towards the doomed Kosciuszko Bridge, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
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intimate setting
It’s National Macaroni Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a summer Friday quickie today, lords and ladies, focusing in on Zuzu the dog. Zuzu has a double coat of fur, which makes the summertime quite uncomfortable for her. Accordingly, whenever Our Lady of the Pentacle is watering the plants, Zuzu makes a game of it and lunges for the stream of water coming out of the hose nozzle for a cold drink and a quick cool down. This results in an immensely wet dog, as you’d imagine.
I happened to have the camera handy one recent and quite hot morning, and was lucky enough to capture the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love the “freeze frame effect” when a dog begins to shake off moisture, and never so much as when my soaking wet and double coated girl goes into her “barrel roll.” The problem with Zuzu cooling off by lunging at the hose, of course, is that she gets completely soaked. This results in everything within five feet of her getting wet as well as she discards the water.
Zuzu doesn’t actually care about that, she’s a dog.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve always found this spiral shake business that dogs utilize to dewater their fur fascinating. They all do it, so there must be some sort of genetic programming behind it which is innate. If you watch it happen “live” it’s all over in a few seconds, but by slowing time down to the tiny increments captured in a photograph the canine procedure is revealed. The head shakes and sheds water first, and then the motion travels down the spine to the tail. Along the way, excess water is released in vortices.
Dogs are fascinating critters, IMHO. Back Monday with something completely different, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
Upcoming Tours and events
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – July 15th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m..
The “then and now” of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in LIC, once known as the “workshop of the United States.” with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Atlas Obscura – July 22nd, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m..
Explore the hellish waste transfer and petroleum districts of North Brooklyn on this daring walk towards the doomed Kosciuszko Bridge, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
odd pantaloons
It’s National Fried Chicken Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pondering just what the hell I’m doing with my life is something that happens everytime I cross the Pulaski Bridge, for some reason. As a matter of fact, existential pondering on that subject is a mental activity reserved specifically for crossings of the Pulaski Bridge, and a point is made of not wasting time on such matters elsewhere. I have other locations around Newtown Creek, all of which are assigned to different sets of worries, such as pooping my pants whilst conducting a tour and figuring out how to deal with the public shame and embarrassment (I worry about that at the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge) – but that’s another story.
I’m all ‘effed up.
Anywho, that’s the Mary H. Tug entering Newtown Creek while towing a fuel barge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mary H. is a regular on the Newtown Creek, working for the Bayside Fuel people whose facility is coincidentally found alongside the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge, over on the East Williamsburg side of the world. Technically speaking, Bayside Fuel is on the English Kills tributary and if memory serves – they’re 3.1 miles back from the East River.
Personally, I’ve always thought it pretty cool that tugboats service an industrial dock some 3 and change miles deep into Brooklyn, but that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bunch of the photographers I know have been doing the aerial drone thing of late, so this view of a tug has become rather commonplace in recent years, but I still prefer doing the old fashioned way – finding a high vantage and waiting for it to come to me. I worry about losing my technical edge when I’m over on the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge, if you’re curious. You don’t want to know what I worry about on the Borden Avenue Bridge… brrrr.
Upcoming Tours and events
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – July 15th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m..
The “then and now” of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in LIC, once known as the “workshop of the United States.”with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
cylcopean blocks
It’s National Spareribs Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Not just having the titular cake, nor the eating of it too, ever seems to satiate the lustful aspirations of the Real Estate Industrial Complex here in Long Island City. Population loading – despite intensifying the looming infrastructure crisis surrounding transit, electrical, and water systems – just continues. The backdrop in the shot above represents a not insignificant number of the approximately 13,000 new apartments added to LIC in the last decade. NYC City Planning is about to unveil a new rezoning plan called the “LIC Core” which will change current regulations and make it legally possible for about another 20,000 apartments to be built. Hospital beds? Not so much.
LIC Core, btw, brings the eastward march of these glass shrouded monstrosities to just within throwing distance of Newtown Pentacle HQ. Couple that with the monstrous Sunnyside Yards development proposal, which would bring half the population of Boulder, Colorado into the mix? As a note, while capturing the shot above, my back was turned to the former Paragon Oil building on 49th avenue and 21st street – once known as the Subway Building and or Queens Borough Hall.
Bugs Bunny, who is another Brooklyn kid, said it best. Batman says it well too.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whose fault is all of this runaway development – devoid of some overarching governance plan that demands some municipal payback from these Manhattan based developers that sow and reap hereabouts?
NYC’s real estate economy is not exactly set in the 1970’s anymore, as far as there being a excess of undeveloped land which the City had to beg developers to do something with, offering sweetheart deals with reduced taxes and lots changing hands for a dollar. Why does the Real Estate Industrial Complex still get to operate in the manner that they did during the Koch administration? Why can’t we get a Subway station or a few hospital beds out of them? Who is responsible?
The Mayor, City Planning, Councilmember, or the NYC Economic Development Corporation? The Governor, or the Assembly member, or the State Senator? What about the Congressional Representatives, or the Senators? What about the Borough Presidents? Is it all of them, or is the horrible truth actually that there’s nobody steering the wheel at all?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On a related note, I’ve been reading up a bit on the Borough Presidents of Queens recently. Interesting group, and reminsescent of early Norman history.
1) First up was the City Consolidation era BP Frederick Bowley, from 1898-91.
2) “Curly Joe” Cassidy was BP from 1902-05, and the sewer situation on the Queens side of Newtown Creek is pretty much his fault. Cassidy was accused of 47 different counts of financial corruption during his terms, 24 of which were proven but he was never brought to trial. In 1912, however, he did a year in Sing Sing prison for trying to sell a seat on the NY Supreme Court.
3) Joseph Bermel ran as reformer against the corruption of Curly Joe’s administration, and was in office from 1906-1908. He effectively resigned as BP by skipping out of the country – on an ocean liner to Rome – during the lunch break on a day in 1908 that he was testifying in court – at his own corruption trial. BP Bermel’s final statement to tthe press was “I have nothing to say except to leave good luck for my friends and enemies alike.” He died in 1921 in Czechoslovakia.
4) Lawrence Gresser was Borough President of Queens from 1908-11, and was removed from office by the Governor of New York State for abusing the BP office’s power, and for being incompetent.
5) Maurice E. Connolly was BP from 1911-28, and is my 2nd favorite political character in Queens history, after BattleAx Gleason. Connolly resigned in 1928, then brought to trial for a sewer construction graft scandal. He was fined, convicted, and did a one year stretch in prison.
6) Bernard M. Patten stepped into the office for seven months in 1928, filling in for Connolly in the same way that David Patterson filled in for Elliot Spitzer as Governor a few years back. This sort of thing is common in the history of the Broough President’s office in Queens.
7) George U. Harvey was the first Republican Borough President, serving from 1929-41. Harvey was deeply involved with a series of Robert Moses’s projects, but the 1939 Worlds Fair is the one most closely associated with him.
8) James A. Burke put the Borough Presidency back in the hands of the Democrats, and he served from 1942-49 when he resigned the office.
9) Maurice A. FitzGerald was Borough President of Queens from 1950-51, and died of a heart attack while on vacation.
10) Joseph F. Mafera served out the remaining four months of FitzGerald’s term in 1951.
11) James A. Lundy was the last Republican Party Borough President, from 1952-57. He was an energy industry captain, and had a long public career ahead of him after leaving office.
12) James J. Crisona was BP in 1958, a members of the Democrat Party which has claimed the office since. Crisona was a real climber, having previously been elected to the NYS Assembly and Senate, he resigned as Borough President in 1958 and assumed a seat on the NY Supreme Court.
13) John Thomas (Pat) Clancy stepped into the office from 1959-62, resigning to become a Queens County Surrogate Judge.
14) Mario J. Cariello was Borough President from 1963-8, was a former State Assemblyman, and also resigned to take a position on the NYS Supreme Court.
15) Sidney Leviss was BP from 1969-71, before resigning and following his forebears to the NYS Supreme Court.
16) Donald Manes was BP from 1971-86. In 1986 he was under investigation for various charges when he first attempted to commit suicide in his car. He succeeded in killing himself a few months later, after stabbing himself in the heart with a kitchen knife. As a note, during Manes’s term, a City Charter revision occurred which neutered the power and influence of the Borough Presidents in favor of a “strong Mayor.”
17) Claire Shulman took over the office, and served from 1986-2002. The first female BP title goes to her.
18) Helen M. Marshall came next, and was in office from 2002-13.
19) Melinda Katz was voted into office in 2014.
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distant relations
It’s National Barbecue Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Have a happy 4th of July, lords and ladies, celebrating the original Brexit.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 