Archive for August 2020
vestiges of
How many times a week can you say it’s Monday, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described last week, my pal Val drove her Valmobile – with myself and a libertarian named Scott within it – out to a photogenic spot on the Kill Van Kull waterway which forms a busy martime shipping channel as well as the border betwixt… Staten Island… and Bayonne, New Jersey. After visiting this spot – known to my circle as “Skelson’s Office,” it was decided to make like a chicken and cross to the other side. Our path carried the Valmobile over the newly reconfigured Bayonne Bridge.
By reconfigured, I mean that the Port Authority has just finished spending multiple millions of bucks to raise the roadway from its original height in pursuit of allowing ever larger cargo ships access to the Port Elizabeth Newark complex in Newark Bay.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In Bayonne, which is largely the unknown country for a humble narrator, we floundered around a bit but managed to find a couple of opportune spots that largely looked westwards towards the port facilities. We were becoming increasingly apprehensive about weather, which as you see from the shot above, was forming up an afternoon thunderhead of the type you expect to see in late August around these parts.
If I was a superhero, my nom de plume would be “Captain Vocabulary.” On that note, the beams of light at the left side of the shot are referred to as “crepuscular rays.” Scott the Libertarian didn’t care, which is a big part of that particular political philosophy – not caring – and he was busy trying to figure out a spot where we could buy lunch in the surrounding neighborhood on his phone while Val and I waved our cameras about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the control tower at Newark Airport just left of center, which kind of suggests where this shot was gathered. The blue tug is part of the DonJon outfit, and it was wrestling a seemingly empty group of barges into place.
More tomorrow at this – you Newtown Pentacle.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 24th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
less annoying
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, a recent day trip with a couple of friends found the camera being waved about at “Skelson’s Office,” a particularly photogenic spot on Staten Island’s Kill Van Kull waterfront frequented by a dearly departed photographer pal of mine. The bridge in the background is the Bayonne Bridge, which acts as a gateway to the Port Elizabeth Newark shipping complex. A significant percentile of the economy of the entire United States is focused through this tidal strait, I would offer.
Pictured is the Highland Eagle, an offshore supply vessel flagged in the UK.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Bayonne coastline of Kill Van Kull is all about petroleum and the various refined products derived from it.
Pictured is the Ernest Campbell, a 1969 vintage Tugboat, wrestling a fuel barge away from its dock and into the currents of Kill Van Kull. The structure behind it hosts the various hoses which the upland tank farm uses to move the product around. A bit of maritime trivia – the various hoses and fuel barges have different connectors on them to keep one product from mixing with another. The kerosene pipe doesn’t connect to the gasoline or #2 fuel oil gasket, which keeps volatile mistakes at a minimum.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Moran Towing’s Turecamo Girls Tug was likely returning to their base at Kill Van Kull when this shot was captured. Moran Towing has the iconic NYC tugs, with the red wheelhouse and big letter “M” on them. Moran names their boats after family members, generally, but in this case the 1965 tug was acquired after a merger with another towing corporation (Turecamo Towing) back in 1998.
Back Monday with more from the waterfront.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 17th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
likewise inaccessible
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Earlier this week, one met up with his pal Val and we jumped into her shiny Valmobile with the singular intention of shooting ships. Accordingly, Val oriented the Valmobile in the direction of… Staten Island. After all these months of quarantine/pandemic walks around LIC and Newtown Creek, a humble narrator was positively squeaking with excitement as we heroically mounted the Verazzano Bridge and headed towards the Kill Van Kull waterway.
Adventure, excitement… a Jedi craves not these things, but I ain’t no Jedi.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our first stop was at “Skelson’s Office,” where my old and dearly departed pal John Skelson used to spend his time. This is a spot along the old and abandoned Vanderbilt Staten Island Railroad tracks which follow Kill Van Kull. KVK is often mentioned here during normal times, but for anyone not clued in – it’s a tidal strait that connects the lower harbor of New York with Newark Bay and another strait called Arthur Kill.
Kill Van Kull is the preferred approach route to the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island and the Global Marine/Port Elizabeth Newark complex in Bayonne, New Jersey for maritime shipping. For enthusiasts like my pal Val and myself, it’s “tugboat alley.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The show started as soon as we arrived at Skelson’s Office.
Our efforts later in the day found us over in Bayonne, and along the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. One thing that emerged during that part of the day was a sincere desire to find out more about the industrial sections of this section of New Jersey. I mentioned several times that I wished we were in a boat on the water, and that I was also anxious to find an analogue of Newtown Creek Alliance for this area to introduce me to the place.
A third person was in the Valmobile with us, my friend Scott, but he’s a Libertarian so we didn’t pay attention to anything he had to say. More tomorrow.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 17th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
furry thing
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering back towards home through Industrial Maspeth, my happy place, one encountered a cool car. This is a 1965 Mercury 4 door sedan, which I believe to be a “Monterey” model. This absolute unit of a car was parked on 56 drive/road/Rust Street in front of an operation which specializes in the revitalization of classic cars and the kitting out of more modern ones.
I’m of the opinion that every car in Industrial Maspeth should be at least 50 years old, guzzle a lot of premium “Hi-Test” gasoline, and be put on display for passing photography enthusiasts to marvel at.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the last few years, there’s been a real dearth of “cool cars” encountered on my scuttles. There was a period, I’d say 2012-2015, when I couldn’t help but encounter one every time I left the house.
This 1965 Mercury was positively gangster.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The auto shop it was parked in front of, as I’ve recently learned, is sited on a property with quite a tragic history. In 1962, there was a soap factory here. A fire broke out and the soap company’s supplies of fat and other constituent chemicals caught fire. Six FDNY Firefighters died battling the blaze when a roof collapsed on them.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 17th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
cryptic designs
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last evening, I walked right through a conversation that two guys I know were having wherein one of them laid down his assertion that the world is indeed flat. NASA and the moon landings were actually a grandiose deception that allowed a group of pedophiles to siphon away billions of dollars in tax money to line their own pockets, and the Russians fell for the deception because of Hollywood. Upon hearing this particular narrative, I just folded my arms and smiled, wanting to hear the entire thing. The flat earth guy is a particular favorite of mine, as I’ve never known him to react positively to anything, even the time he won the bar’s Super Bowl pool.
For those of you on the fence, the planet is a slightly flattened at the poles spheroid. I have flown in a plane, and ridden within a ship on the ocean, and can confirm. As a point of NYC trivia, the Verazzano Bridge’s towers are far enough away from each other that calculations as to the curvature of the earth needed to factored into their design so as to have them square up to each other. You don’t go to those sort of lengths to uphold a conspiracy, bro.
That’s not the Verazzano pictured above, of course, it’s the Kosciuszcko Bridge over Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You got your right to think whatever you like, freedoms wise. You’ve also got the right to look like a dumb ass when you’re embracing concepts like the flat earth. It doesn’t matter what you believe, things are true or not. Fire is hot, water is wet. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but now we’re splitting hairs.
Other chestnuts from the good old days I’m waiting to hear include that animals cannot feel pain, tomatoes are poisonous, and that if a horse scares a pregnant woman her baby will be born deformed. Me? I’m going to stop bathing and go live in a barrel at the market square. I plan on freelance philosophizing for coins.
If you don’t get that reference, you should read more, and in particular about the Greek philosophers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I tend to read a lot and can tell you that the depths of my ignorance about most things is near total, which is why I tend to read a lot.
Pictured above and throughout today’s post are the former bulkheads of the Phelps Dodge (formerly Nichols or General Chemical) Company, found along the fabulous Newtown Creek, here in the Maspeth section of the borough of Queens. “Scientific Manufacturing” is what they used to call what the operation here did. The Nichols people manufactured primarily acid here, and when the Phelps people took over the mill they incorporated copper refining into the schedule.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 17th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
The Newtown Pentacle 