Author Archive
thumping rattle
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 20th and a humble narrator had just received the most critical bit of equipment needed to enable his “escape from New York.” A car.
All of these years in Queens, I’ve been a dedicated pedestrian and married to mass transit. I’ve always opined that having a car in Astoria is more of a curse than a boon. It was actually cheaper for me to use ride shares or cabs when I needed a ride than it was to own one.
I’m moving to America, and quite literally to “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood,” where you cannot exist on the continent without a vehicle so I had to drop the hammer. Placed the order in July, and got a fresh from the factory new car in late October.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since becoming hyper mobile and independent of the geographic restrictions which are governed by how far my feet can scuttle, as well as the physical constraints of how long I can carry my photo kit, one has been ranging all over the city. Saying that, what is being missed out on now are the little things that you can’t see when driving along as you’re moving too fast.
After getting my driver’s license reinstated earlier this year, I rented a few different vehicles from Avis and Hertz, looking for a good fit for Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself. The Toyota RAV4 Hybrids rose to the top of my list, and we ordered one from one of the new car dealerships on Northern Boulevard. My accountant opined that even if I bought the thing in Alaska, NYS would still bill me for sales tax since my legal address would still here at the time of purchase, so I bit the bullet. Hopefully, this will be my last really large contribution to the black hole that Albany throws our earnings into to finance its dysfunction.
One of the bits of advice I offer is “if you’re thinking about buying a car, rent the model for a week first, and see if you like it.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 21st saw me taking advantage of this new mobility to get a few shots from an area that has always been a little too far off the grid for me to walk around, the coast lines of College Point and Whitestone.
That’s the Bronx Whitestone Bridge pictured above and below.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Funnily enough, I’ve got more shots of this bridge from the Bronx side than I do the Queens one, due to there being a ferry stop on the Soundview NYC Ferry line in the former location.
I tooled around the area, exploiting several points of view which I had previously scouted out on Google maps. The Google Maps app is a great tool as far as finding potential points of view in areas which are either tangentially known or are complete mysteries. I never would have thought to visit the “Whitestone Bridge Observatory” otherwise, or even suspected such a roundabout street end existed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whitestone seems to be a super wealthy community, with expansive homes that border on “mansion” nestled right up against the water. It looks more like a suburb than it does NYC. You don’t see piles of cast off garbage or debased humans lying in the street, for instance.
I had several photo set ups planned for the day, and since I was in a car, didn’t mind carrying all of the heavy kit which would normally create a limit on how far and wide I could range.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There aren’t too many Sandy beaches on the East River. I think it’s about 6 or 7, that I know about at least. That’s one of them, above, at Francis Lewis Park. Nice spot.
One kept on heading eastwards, right up and sometimes over the City/Nassau County line.
More on that tomorrow at your – now – hard driving 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.
disreputably nourished
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 11th saw me conducting a small walking tour for a couple of friends of First Calvary Cemetery.
I haven’t been able to conduct any commercial tours of Calvary for quite a while now, due to a cease and desist letter which the Roman Catholic Church sent me. I actually consider that to be a feather in my cap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 13th was a rainy day, and night, so I lingered at HQ and shot a few portraits of the Bodega across the street from my porch.
I had an invite to a fundraiser party in Williamsburg the next day, and planned on getting to Brooklyn the long way around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 17th, one left HQ and started trekking towards Brooklyn. I didn’t have too much else going on, so a photowalk was on order for the day. The rain was coming and going, but I had an umbrella.
My plan was to walk for three or four subway stops to Court Square, and then use the G line subway to complete the trip.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could have taken the train the whole way from Astoria and just transferred – but where’s the fun in that?
I actually wandered pretty far afield of my intended path, and ended up – as usual – in the neighborhood surrounding Dutch Kills in LIC on my way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Foliage. That’s my excuse. Fall foliage.
The party I was heading to was for the Evergreen outfit, which is one of the groups that Newtown Creek Alliance is allies with. They’re a “BID” or Business Improvement District group which advocates for the industrial zone of North Brooklyn. Nice bunch of people, and it was a good party with lots of friends in attendance. In the end, I just walked to Williamsburg from LIC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At some point after the party, the rain became somewhat intense, so I made my way to the subway and caught the G.
Y’know what? That was probably the last time that I’d ever be riding the G train. After all, my entire world changed a couple of days later.
“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.
noxious heap
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with the sights witnessed along a longish scuttle on October 8th, a humble narrator found himself crossing the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge and heading towards Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section.
That’s my beloved Newtown Creek in the shot above. About 1.3 miles back from the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Kingsland Avenue is in the process of being redesigned in response to the opening of Phase 3 of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk at the sewer plant, which has brought lots and lots of pedestrian and bike traffic to the former entirely industrial street. As always seems to be the case these days, NYC DOT’s traffic engineers has managed to imagine up the worst possible design, and implemented it in a piecemeal and inconsistently thought out fashion.
Somebody else’s problem now. I’m done fighting City Hall.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the Nature Walk, which hugs the water facing side of the Sewer Plant, the Pulaski Bridge opening for a passing tug was observed.
Somebody recognized me, and I was having a conversation with them while climbing on a fence. They were clearly afraid that I was going to fall in the water while doing so, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The next section of my walk involved attaining the Pulaski Bridge’s pedestrian path. Which carried me back out of Brooklyn and into Queens’ Long Island City section.
One briefly considered hopping on the subway, but it was a beautiful day and I just kept on scuttling.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One headed eastwards on Jackson Avenue, heading towards Astoria.
“Every time might be the last time.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Queens Plaza has become absolutely unrecognizable at this point. The few remaining industrial buildings and warehouses which survived the reconstruction of the area have finally been consumed by the real estate frenzy.
Tomorrow – something a bit different, 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.
slate tombstone
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 8th was one of the days in Long Island City that passerby might have noticed a pile of black sackcloth being carried along by the wind. Closer inspection would have revealed a humble narrator clothed in his street cassock, a filthy black raincoat flapping about in the poison breeze. One was enjoying an afternoon constitutional, and occasionally startling the elderly and their dogs if they gazed upon my countenance while passing by. A face for radio, that’s me.
One was feeling particularly invigorated, and it was a beautiful day for a stroll over to a hopelessly polluted industrial zone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Somebody left their shop door open, and I cracked out an exposure or two of the scene within while shambling past. Neat!
In accordance with recent policy shifts here at HQ in Astoria, one had timed the walk for the late afternoon. This was around 5 p.m., give or take. In October, the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself lobs about in the sky at fortuitous angularities relative to the street grid of New York City. Not so much in January, so take advantage when you can.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the torments which my friends endure revolves around me having led them through over hill and dale and onto hell’s favorite streets, baking in the sun the whole way, whereupon I present them with a description of our destination as being “only 2-3 miles more to go” followed by “but, it’s all down hill from here.” To wit: the shot above. Several of you reading this just groaned.
What you’re actually looking at above is the hydrological reservoir and surrounding sloped basin of the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek. The flat lowlands around the waterway were wetlands, or “waste meadows” as they called them in the old days. Behind me, and further up the hill from where I was standing, is Greenpoint Avenue. Greenpoint Avenue connects with, and used to incorporate Roosevelt Avenue, which went all the way to Flushing back in the days of the decadent Dutch in the form of a turnpike. Greenpoint Avenue was set up as a high ground ridge road which connected two isolated waterfront colonies separated by bogs, swamps, and grass land.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
1940 is when the monstrosity pictured above, which largely follows Borden Avenue’s far more ancient path, was opened for traffic. Formerly, the horse or oxen drawn traffic followed Borden or Hunters Point Avenue on its path to the East River, where ferry or boat transport would complete the journey of passengers or cargo to Manhattan from Queens. Back then, there were shops and restaurants and inns along the route. Houses too, a few blocks back.
When the City bound traffic disappeared onto the Long Island Expressway and into the similarly aged Queens Midtown Tunnel, it blighted the area, and an already onerous catalog of industries in this area got worse in terms of character and pollution.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When you’re on the south side of the Long Island Expressway, you’ve entered Blissville. That’s the name of the neighborhood. Really.
This neighborhood, and many of its residents, have a special place in my heart. I like having beers at Bantry Bay on Greenpoint Avenue, and I can point you at a very comfortable socialist bench nearby Review Avenue (it was donated to the Blissville Community by the campaign of Jonathan Bailey, who ran as a Democratic Socialist for City Council in the last cycle, so “socialist bench.”)
I am unaware of any public furniture donations to Blissville from the Republican Candidate for the seat, Marvin Jeffcoat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One such as myself is probably the only person in Brooklyn or Queens happy to see the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge opening at 5:30 p.m. on a weekday, but there you are. I enjoyed the show, and waited patiently, unlike everybody else, for the thing to resume “bridging” after it finished “drawbridging.”
More 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.
amorphous blight
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few somewhat random shots from the end of a longish walk, depicting scenes familiar and loved.
Things I’m likely not going to be witnessing again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The empty corridor in Long Island City, an industrial zone blighted by the presence of the Long Island Expressway, which has suddenly become incredibly busy due to the pandemic influenced explosion of activity by last mile shipping companies like FedEx and UPS.
15 years ago, this empty corridor hosted a series of homeless camps built around shacks and abandoned cars.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was scary here, and particularly so at night. Not because of the homeless population, who are – generally speaking – not a threat to passerby. It was a deserted area, where young men from surrounding residential neighborhoods would gather to plan the nefarious part of their nights.
LIC is one of the photographic wonderlands which I’ve been absolutely honored to record.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Montauk Cutoff, which are abandoned LIRR rail tracks. My friends and I have been trying for years to get MTA to officially open the space to the public, despite the fact that the public uses them regularly as it is.
I was heading for the 7 line stop a few blocks away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Views like the ones found in LIC are just unique. Especially so when the ground is saturated with moisture after a week of rain.
NYC never looks as good as it does when it’s wet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 7 carried me to Queensboro Plaza, where a transfer to the Astoria line W train was enacted and soon I was at 31st street and Broadway.
One scuttled down Broadway towards HQ, lost in a fog of recollections and memories. All the people… all the times good and bad…
“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 