Archive for January 2019
rested uneasily
Flushing Creek at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s not Flushing Creek in the shot above, rather it’s part of a largish NYC DOT facility that adjoins it. I’m fairly sure that the elevated roadway to the left is the Whitstone Expressway and that the one on the right is Interstate Highway 678, which is odd since 678 never leaves NY State and actually connects the Bronx and Queens with the Hutchinson, but there’s Robert Moses for you. There’s a tangled cloverleaf of high speed roads here – where East Elmhurst, Willets and College Points, and Flushing combine. As mentioned earlier in the week, I call this the area “where boulevards collide.” It’s all very confusing, and one of the least pedestrian friendly spots in the entire city.
There is a protected bike lane, though, because… priorities…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An open fence allowed access to the water at Flushing Creek, alternatively known as the Flushing River. This shot looks sort of westward along the industrialized canal. Both Flushing Bay and Creek have all the usual environmental issues – I’m told – involving open sewers and post industrial pollution that are commonly observed along NYC’s inland waterways like the Gowanus or my beloved Newtown Creek.
Again, I’m not overly familiar with this “zone.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I believe that’s Northern Blvd. up there, on the truss bridge over Flushing Creek. This shot is looking towards “Downtown Flushing” and the Main Street area. I intend to get to know this waterway quite a bit better in the coming months, as I’m always looking for something new to point my camera at, and to learn more about the Borough of Queens.
More tomorrow.
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too shapeless
Flushing Bay Promenade.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s part of the World’s Fair Marina at Flushing Bay, looking westwards towards LaGuardia Airport, in the shot above. Having attended a NYC Parks Dept. meeting discussing their plans to reinvest and upgrade the Marina (Parks runs it) a couple weeks back, a mental note to return and explore a bit was overturned last week before the weather got ugly. Off to East Elmhurst’s border with Corona and Flushing went a humble narrator, using the Q19 Bus as my conveyance.
I mean, come on, doesn’t everybody hang around the Queens waterfront at night in January?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was medium cold, as a note, although as the night went on and the wind picked up it did become increasingly uncomfortable. During warmer months, I’m known to be out on one of my little night jaunts for six to seven hours, but this time of year, shorter intervals are required due to the climate. In all actuality, I was ok, but the camera gear was malfunctioning a bit. The camera itself was fine, but my remote release wire was “sticking.” I soon started sticking it into an interior pocket of my sweatshirt to warm it up, which made its malfunction predictable rather than sporadic.
I had longtime Newtown Pentacle curmudgeon and frequent comment offerer Don Cav with me for this one, who met me at the entrance to the park. Don is a World’s Fair(s) enthusiast and never misses an opportunity to visit the place, or to tell me in person that I’m wrong about absolutely everything.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unfortunately, as Don and I were chatting, I missed wiping my lens down for the shot above. I’m sure that a certain other frequent commenter named George will soon ask why I included it in this post due to the many photographic imperfections created by the dusty lens, to which I will offer – I just kind of like it.
I also get to say “Candela Structures” when describing it, but it might be more accurate to describe this thingamabob as a “Schladermundt Structure.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned above, it wasn’t life threatening cold like it was at the beginning of this week, as we were walking around the promenade, but there was ice floating about in the salty waters of Flushing Bay so… it was cold enough.
The shot above looks eastwards towards the mouth of Flushing Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Across the water “my kind of thing” was visible.
By that I mean large scale industrial properties with interesting utilitarian shapes. I’m not going to get all “granular” about what’s found in this area, as it would be entirely disingenuous for me to present freshly discovered details in a manner indicative of some long familiarity. I can tell you where colonial era farmhouses used to stand in Maspeth, but have no real knowledge of Flushing’s environs. That’s something I plan on addressing this year, another one of my little mental notes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More tomorrow, and Flushing Creek at night, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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youth’s madness
East Elmhurst.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, I uncharacteristically rode a bus from Astoria to East Elmhurst in order to get into the right spot for some “waving the camera around” action, which deposited me a few blocks away from my destination. A scuttling I went, heading eastwards on Astoria Blvd. I was heading for the zone I describe as “where Boulevards collide” or “just so Robert Moses.” It’s where Ditmars, Astoria, and Northern Blvd. all smash together with the Grand Central Parkway and Citifield at the edge of Flushing. You’ll be walking down the sidewalk in certain spots, and all of a sudden find yourself walking onto an off ramp to the highway.
One of the least pedestrian friendly spots in Queens, I tell you, although I’ve only been through here a few times.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way, I spotted this tiny domestic survivor from long ago on Astoria Blvd. Itty bitty and wood framed, it had advertisements in its windows advertising a “Cuarto en renta” (room for rent). Something about the propert caught my eye, and instinct told me that “something has happened here.” Can’t tell you what, didn’t do the research on the property, but usually if something catches my eye the way this place did…
I’ll look into it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s one of the entranceways to the Flushing Bay Promenade pictured above, which is actually a pedestrian bridge overflying the Grand Central Parkway with Flushing Bay beyond. LaGuardia Airport is to the west, Flushing Meadows Corona Park to the east. Directly north is Flushing Bay, and as you can discern from the shot above, I arrived right on time just as the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself had ducked behind Manhattan. The night time, it’s the right time, I say.
More tomorrow.
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meagre documentary
Mind your yum yums, it’s cold outside.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Intrigued by some of the sights observed and recorded at Flushing Bay recently, a humble narrator decided that a return to the premise was required. My goal destination was the corner of 31st drive and Ditmars Blvd., where the NYC Parks Department offers free passage over the Grand Central Parkway via a pedestrian bridge that terminates at the entrance to their “Flushing Bay Promenade” facility. Of course, waking up in Astoria introduces a lot of “how do I get there” questions when discussing the north eastern shorelines of Queens. I could always take the just walk or use the 7 line to get to Main Street in Flushing and then walk back in westerly direction thought I, but remembrances that I had publicly vowed to ride a variety of bus routes offered by the MTA here in Queens came to mind.
A short interval later, I had my route and schedule figured out and accordingly set off into the crisp January cold.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The walking to the bus thing could have been alternatively accomplished by using another bus – the Q101, I believe – which proceeds along Steinway Street. The bus which I was planning on traveling to East Elmhurst’s border with Flushing was the Q19, which stops at Steinway and Astoria Boulevard. Quite a pleasant walk through the neighborhood HQ is found in, however, involves the diagonal path of Newtown Road, which supposedly predates the street grid surrounding it.
Newtown Road intersects Steinway Street at 30th avenue, and from there it’s a three block walk to the bus stop. All told, it was about seven blocks from door to bus. Three if I’d taken the 101, of course, but seven blocks away is “around the corner” for one such as myself and it was quicker to just walk. I arrived at the correct spot with five minutes to spare for the arrival of a Q19 meant to arrive at about 4:12.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Roughly thirty minutes later, I was still waiting for the Q19. The printed schedule on the box thing mounted on the pole dictated (as did the MTA site) that there should have been two Q19’s passing this stop during that half hour interval. The 4:36 was there just about on time, but was packed with throngs of people. Other than the unpleasant jostling you’d expect in a crowded bus, the ride went smoothly and seemed to be on schedule. Apologies again, unknown lady, for the tripod incident.
At least I arrived at my destination just when I expected to do so at 102nd street and Astoria Blvd., about two and half miles from Steinway Street. More tomorrow.
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correlate every
Artsy fartsy on Roosevelt Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Funnily enough, I was actually talking on a conference call about MTA with a couple of colleagues while shooting the shots in today’s post. Additionally, I was freezing my yum yums off, but what does a little existential discomfort matter when one is pursuing the muse? I had scuttled along this pathway on Roosevelt Avenue sometime in the last couple of weeks and decided there and then that I needed to come back with the intention of capturing the artificial light playing along the steel of the IRT Flushing or 7 Line elevated subway tracks above. These shots are from where and when I did so.
Last Monday and Woodside, which sounds sort of anticlimactic, I guess.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, during the day, the steel structure casts harsh shadows that are framed by extremely bright shafts of sunlight which reduces photo exposure options significantly. At night, however, traffic and street lights – even light spilling out of apartment windows – creates a random and often quite colorful luminance. Throw in passing auto traffic and illuminated shop signs? Yup, interesting place to do some long exposures.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Roosevelt Avenue, however, isn’t exactly a backwater. It’s densely travelled by vehicles of all kinds and there’s lots of pedestrians as well. Luckily, the steel girders supporting the overhead trackage provide lots of places for you to set up and compose a tripod shot. Unfortunately, these girders seem to be favorite spots for illegal dumping or vomiting and are very popular with the canine population of Woodside. C’est La Vie, ay?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path I decided on walking was, by necessity of climatological conditions, short by my standard. A quick subway ride on the M train from Astoria to the Roosevelt Avenue stop carried me to Jackson Heights, whereupon a southeasterly posture was assumed by turning onto Roosevelt and walking up the hill towards Queens Blvd. After finishing up my self appointed task, one walked down the hill at 48th street and back to HQ in Astoria.
Yes, I was tempted to cut things short and hail that cab in pursuance of warming up my yum yums.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The conference call I was on, as mentioned, revolved around the MTA and various issues surrounding it in Queens. Given the dearth of subway lines serving 75% of the Borough, and the fact that most Queensican commuters have to rely on Buses, I volunteered to begin using the bus system more and more to “get smart” about it. Back when I was full time advertising guy Mitch, one of the agencies I worked for was Ogilvy & Mather, founded in part by a fellow named David Ogilvy. Ogilvy was one of the first scientific marketers back in the “mad men” era, and wrote several books about his experiences and realizations. One of his bits of advice involved signing up for or using your customer’s products, to learn what the experience is of the said customer you’re trying to sell something to.
I’m not trying to sell you bus rides, of course, but within a year I’ll be able to speak a lot more intelligently than I can now (I literally live over a Subway line, so I’m going to have to go far afield of “my way” on this one) about what’s good or bad about Bus service in – at least – Western and Northern Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Baby, it was cold outside. Luckily, I arrived at my turnaround point at Queens Blvd., packed up the tripod and wide angle lens, refitted the camera to handheld settings and affixed a “bright” night lens. As it turns out, my yum yums survived the cold and are in fine fettle.
Next week – something completely different at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
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