The Newtown Pentacle

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi

looming up

with 5 comments

Continuing a night time stroll down Jackson Avenue.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

For generations have the children of Queens cried out in anguish and despair that they were denied their birthright – a chance to live in a small to medium sized but quite expensive apartment in or near Queens Plaza. Luckily, the powers that be over in Manhattan heard the children’s pleas and have answered their prayers. The under construction structure pictured above will be capped off by an “infinity pool,” which should answer another group’s longings – specifically the statistically relevant number of people who have always wanted to swim in a pool high above Queens Plaza. It’s a magical place, after all.

I get nostalgic for the porn shops and hookers, personally. They really dressed the place up, back in the day.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The stretch of Jackson Avenue lying betwixt Queens Plaza and 31st street is just horrible. You’ve got security fences and fortress walls on one side of the street, and long featureless construction fences on the other. A dizzying amount of automotive traffic occupies the center, and above there’s the tormenting sound of steel subway wheels grinding against the elevated rails. Jackson Avenue is too dark, and too bright, all at the same time. Everything is a confusion. It’s terrifying crossing the street, as every intersection is rumbling with traffic waiting to spring forth. Also, there’s vampires hiding up there in the steel.

God almighty, how I love places like this.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Dormitory style living awaits just a few blocks away, where all of that traffic – both automotive and locomotive – is coincidentally heading towards. Queens Plaza is where an automotive choke point turn off of Jackson Avenue carries you towards the onramps of the Queensboro Bridge. It’s also where the Flushing line subway conjoins with the Astoria service, so you’ve got that extra bit of steel rail sound to contemplate. I could not hear anything playing on the headphones jammed in my ears while shooting these photos, which indicates just how loud Queens Plaza actually is.

There’s lots and lots of new construction here, so the kids of Queens can finally live the dream. There’s that.


“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle


Buy a book!

In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.

Written by Mitch Waxman

January 20, 2020 at 11:00 am

5 Responses

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  1. OK, tilt the photos if it makes you happy.

    georgetheatheist . . . barf bags

    January 20, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    • OK you deleted my straightening-tool comment in the previous post. Absolutely no problem – it’s your futbol. A modest suggestion: why not go full-hog and post some pix upside-down? Or at a more obtuse angle than 45 degrees? That’s it! A more incremental approach to topsy-turvy.

      georgetheatheist . . . barf bags

      January 21, 2020 at 2:54 am

      • I didn’t delete

        Mitch Waxman

        January 21, 2020 at 2:55 am

      • Strange. Now you see it; now you dont; now you see it again . . . at least on my monitor. A Fancy Bear attack of The Pentacle?

        georgetheatheist . . . barf bags

        January 21, 2020 at 3:49 am

  2. The strip clubs were fun. I wouldn’t go as far as to nostalgize the hookers or porn shops.

    Tommy Efreeti

    January 21, 2020 at 12:49 pm


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