Archive for September 2022
forty alleys
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 12th of August, my pal Val had arranged an event up in Yonkers, wherein an abandoned NY Central railroad power plant would be opened up for the inspection of a group of photographers by its new owners. These new owners have some pretty ambitious plans for the site, but more on that next week. In the meantime, I had to get from Astoria to Yonkers.
Luckily, this is accomplished fairly easily. The M60 Select Bus service runs down Astoria Boulevard, and has a stop at Steinway Street. Out of the house early, thereby, with a ham egg and cheese sandwich in hand, went a humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had padded an extra half an hour of “shit happens” time into my schedule, and spent that interval photographing the Metro North and Connecticut Rail commuter rail trains which travel along the old NY Central Railroad’s right of way.
125/Lex is a pretty busy station, I tell you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above looks south along Park Avenue towards Midtown Manhattan and Grand Central Terminal. It’s called a “terminal” because its always been the “end of the line.” The 7 train Subway enters a part of the facility called “Grand Central Station,” which is called that because it’s not the last stop of that service. Station = passing through. Terminal = last stop.
As far as the whole Pennsylvania Railroad and NY Central thing – man… it’s complicated and I don’t want to even get into that whole story. Suffice to say that the MTA is one of the many orphaned love children which fell out of their contests, courtships, troubled marriage, and bankrupted divorce.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I hung around the 125/Lex platform for about a half hour, and never ran out of trains coming and going to take photos of. My destination was in Yonkers, but one stop past the “big” Yonkers stop. Glenwood, that’s the one I’d need to get to.
I’ve got a buddy who grew up in Yonkers, and he’s always pronounced the place’s name as “AhYonkahs.” This is the same guy who always kept a series of loaner gorilla suits in the trunk of his car, in addition to his personal gorilla suit, in case he had the sudden urge for company when it was time to go “aping.” I’ve aped with him, which would take the form of us climbing on things, invading bars and fancy restaurants while wearing gorilla suits, and clowning around with pretty girls. I can confirm the idea that you can get away with literally anything while wearing a gorilla suit. Even Cops will find your antics entirely humorous, because of the gorilla suit.
AhYonkahs, that’s where I was heading. No Gorilla suit though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My chariot arrived, and away did I go.
I was hoping to get a few “out the window” train shots while crossing the Harlem River, but Metro-North’s windows seem to be composed of thousands of small fractures and the sun was not on my side. C’est la vie.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Annoyingly, whereas my destination was literally next to the train station, I had to walk about a half mile, up and down hills, and over dales (actually a baseball field) to get to it.
More next week, with a detailed look at a long abandoned NY Central Railroad Glenwood Power Plant, found along the Hudson River in AhYonkahs.
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“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.
commencing to
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One can never resist grabbing shots of the high steel of the Long Island Expressway when I’m moving through the “empty corridor.”
“Blighting Long Island City since 1939” – they should put that on a sign.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a reason I call this area the “empty corridor.”
Who cares anymore? I keep on saying that to myself these days. I’m in the process of “checking out” right now. Severing ties seems to be the order of the day, as I prepare to separate from NYC. I see fire shooting out of a manhole cover, I do nothing and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, unfortunately, I’m still me and I’m still here.
On the day that this post was written in mid August, for instance, a downed signal light on Northern Blvd. and a looming sewer backup issue were reported to relevant local authorities. I have a sense, however, that beginning in 2023 – Western Queens is going to be consumed by a series of easily fixable problems without me being able to reach out into agency land to get them to notice things spotted “in the field.” If Astoria ends up falling into the river, you’ll say “man, wish Mitch was still here.”
Saying that, I really don’t care anymore. Somebody else’s problem.
Hey, look at that – an Amtrak train set heading into Manhattan from LIC’s Sunnyside Yards! Neato.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
During the entire walk on August 10th, which started out quite comfortable, the atmospheric humidity was rising at a precipitous rate. Having arrived at the Hunters Point Avenue station, one nevertheless masked up and headed down into the sweating concrete bunker below.
My habit in recent months has been to use the 7 Line to go from subterranean to elevated and land on high at Queensboro Plaza. A transfer over to the N or W Astoria Line keeps me elevated and up high all the way to Astoria’s Broadway, and then I scuttle about ten blocks back to HQ. Yeah, I could transfer at Court Square for the M…
Part of my “Doctor Nerdlington” persona is extremely satisfied by executing a series of transfers when using the subways.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 7 service is pretty good these days, in my experience. Every ten minutes or so, you’ve got one arriving.
I was planning on hanging around Queensboro Plaza for a spell, given the relative infrequency of the Astoria line trains, but the MTA’s ways are wild, and many,
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Arriving at the platform, an Astoria bound train was sitting there, so that funny train rapid dash that we New Yorkers execute occurred, the one followed by the realization that the train would going nowhere for a few minutes and you standing there feeling foolish for having rushed.
Off to Broadway went I, heading eastwards back to HQ and the sweet embrace of Our Lady of the Pentacle.
“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.
especially after
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After capturing images of a super saturated sunset in Long Island City, one converted the camera back into its handheld mode and began scuttling towards the train at Hunters Point Avenue. Along the way, something caught my eye at the bridge house for the Borden Avenue Bridge.
There’s graffiti everywhere, but most of the extant paintings are “tags” left behind by “punks.” Every now and then, it’s something different.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular monologue seemed to written in either chalk or grease pencil, and asked several pointed questions. This messaging stood out, and was intriguing.
I did a bit of looking around in response to the curious screed, which led to an internet rabbit hole.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a small population of people out there who claim that they are being stalked by organized groups, and believe that the group has some sort of connection to shadowy intelligence world entities. Sometimes these groups are governmental, or part of a “globalist cabal,” or they’re connected to some corrupted local branch of law enforcement.
There’s more than one subreddit for “gangstalking” and it’s a “thing.” I watched a couple of videos offered by psychologists who have studied and attempted to treat what they described as a paranoid delusion, and the Docs reported problems with getting these patients to accept help because “the shrink is in on it, and working with the persecutors.” Gang Stalking is described by these medical professionals as a paranoid delusion which is built on top of other psychological pathologies. The bit about “the light” can refer to two things in this world view – one is the weaponry used by the cabal to torture the victim of the gang stalking (said “light” has a variety of effects, from burning the skin to triggering programmed behaviors to somehow surveilling the subject), to the “light of god” as offered by lay priests leading suspect storefront church organizations that offer protection and comfort to the “targeted.”
Disturbingly, several mass shooters (notably the fellow who shot up a Navy Base in Virginia a few years ago) have left behind manifestos that discussed gang stalking as being part of why they did why they did. Most of the people who describe themselves as being “targeted” seem to have a host of other intractable problems – drug addiction, homelessness, mental illnesses. Like I said, “Internet Rabbit Hole.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted a cool car as well, while changing the subject.
A late model Ford F-150 pickup.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking north, along Dutch Kills, from the Borden Avenue Bridge towards the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge with the 106 feet over the water Long Island Expressway’s Queens Midtown Expressway Truss framing the shot.
My trick left foot was starting to sing it’s song again, so I started limping towards the train station and a ride back to Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More tomorrow – at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
harrow up
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After confirming that Dutch Kills was indeed still bubbling, one accomplished his usual shot list at the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge. All these years, one of my self appointed obligations has been to take the same photo from the same spot over and over and over again. Pedantic, yes, but I can show you the evolution of this area over the last 15 years. The skyline has changed, but somehow Dutch Kills never benefits.
What can I tell you? This entire section of my life is ending soon, and I’m deeply – deeply – caught up in sentiment and reflection at this moment. Every time I do something, it’s theoretically the last time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Tree of Heaven is thriving right now, is in full bloom, and remains an eidolon to me.
After accomplishing the usual shot list, I decided to walk with the camera mounted on the tripod and continue doing deep focus and longish exposure shots.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you can see, the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself was descending behind Manhattan and into whatever fiery pit it spends its nights in, over in New Jersey.
There was quite a light show on this particular evening.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was making his way over to Borden Avenue for this particular sunset. The overhanging clouds of humidity rising from the City were causing all sorts of lovely color to manifest up in the vault.
I kept on keeping on to the south.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Up on Borden Avenue, I couldn’t resist this shot, with the Empire State Building framed by a series of illegally parked moving trucks.
Well, they were “technically” legally parked as it was prior to 9 p.m., but you just know for a fact that they would still be there the next morning. Nothing matters, nobody cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the one I was hoping to get, above. I also shot a few hundred individual exposures which I’m planning on turning into a time lapse, but that’s on the back burner right now. I’m still working out the production/capture/delivery system for time lapse videos.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
always frightened
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More shots from an August 10th walk greet you this morning. One was heading for Dutch Kills, ultimately, but a desire to approach “the zone” from a different angle guided my steps. Specific to my intentions was the need to confirm the latest degradation of the Dutch Kills waterway due to municipal indifference was ongoing.
Streams of forced air bubbles are occurring now. Here’s a brief video of the phenomena. This is alongside the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge, nearby the southwest pier of the structure. Relevant authorities have been informed about the condition, including City and State level agencies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Part of the reason I chose this particular path involved the avoidance of walking in direct sunlight and growing overheated. Additionally, I didn’t fancy having the sun bobbing around directly in front of me and blowing out my eyesight. I stick to shadows when I can.
Shadows are where I belong.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a fairly serious change in altitude you’ll encounter on Hunters Point Avenue as it leads to Dutch Kills. East of Van Dam Street and leading back up to Greenpoint Avenue is built onto a hill, versus the relatively flat flood plain surrounding the water. There’s an industrial zoned series of buildings in this corridor, which includes a fantastic FDNY Fleet Services building. You’ve also got a bunch of fairly intriguing truck based businesses like Wanrong Trading Corp. – pictured above.
Traffic intensifies as you near Van Dam, which is a primary corridor between Queens Plaza/Queens Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway/Borden Avenue or the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge’s crossing into Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once you cross Van Dam Street, you’re in the Degnon Terminal. A focal point for private investment capital at the start of the 20th century, the Degnon Terminal used to be full of blue chip national level corporations until the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. In recent years, the industrial park has been rebounding.
You can still see the sky there, which has become something of a rarity in Western Queens over the last 20 years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Were I not moving out of NYC at the end of this year, I would have received my twenty year award for living in Astoria in the spring of 2023. I can tell tales of blackouts and exploding transformers, and the various waves of bad actors who suddenly appear and disappear on the streets. The homeless guys who come and go – Johnny Rottenfoot, “The Hat,” Raggedy Andy, the self replenishing corps of “Los Burrachos,” Pineapple Face, Big Head, Junkie Johnny, Homeless Melissa and her boyfriend Juan who lived in the bank’s ATM room – there have been so many who suddenly appear and then are just gone. Many have died on the street, which just sucks.
One stands out to me, an older devotee of drink, who died during the winter and was frozen to the sidewalk and wall he was sleeping on. The FDNY had to defrost him so that the morgue could remove the body.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve seen Deliverista justice administered, learned that I can sleep through an old west style shootout that occurred directly beneath my bedroom window, and learned that Astoria is one loose screw away from sliding into the East River at any given moment. We had a Cop who thought it would be a good idea to drive to work in a facsimile of the “Dukes of Hazard” General Lee car – with a confederate flag on the roof. We also had “Rape Cop” for a while, a fellow whose penalty for sexually assaulting an inebriated woman was to wear an aviation unit jumpsuit on duty. When he got out of the car, all the neighborhood kids would start chattering “yo, it’s rape cop.”
Sigh. Astoria, Queens. Long Island City, Queens. Home sweet hell.
“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 