Author Archive
Queens Plaza to Sunnyside Yards & LGA
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was zero chance that I’d be waiting for an eastbound 7 train at Queensboro Plaza and not get the shot above. It’s a classic.
I was on my way to Sunnyside for one last visit before heading back to Pittsburgh via LaGuardia. 40th/Lowery stop was my destination.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was also very little chance that I wouldn’t click the shutter for that view above, either. It was positively sultry out, but there you go.
Momentary or even days long discomfort is just something you have to deal with when traveling. Toughen up, I always say. Then I’m told that ‘you’re a monster’ by some Millennial worm, and that one should embrace personal failings and or weaknesses and incorporate them as the core of my identity.
I offer the band Black Flag’s ‘Rise Above’ for an alternative philosophy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After my convivial coffee with an old friend in Sunnsyide, it was back to scuttling for me. I decided to head towards Astoria, and along the way stopped off at ‘Hole Reliable’ at Sunnyside Yards. This is an aperture in the plate steel fencing of the rail yard which I exploited for years and years.
It’s likely a surveyor’s hole, but it’s big enough to fit a camera lens through, and overlooks the Harold Interlocking – which are the busiest rail tracks in the United States… so…
Mainly LIRR and Amtrak, but New Jersey Transit is spotted here every now and then as well.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
MTA finally finished one of their projects here, a holding yard and new siding for the Long Island Railroad. They were working on this for decades, it feels like. Part of the East Side access project, I think.
I headed over to Astoria, and despite swearing up and down I wasn’t going to go to my old bar on Broadway and 42nd, there I was drinking a Guinness and talking shit with random guys at the bar. I only knew a couple of the guys there, but it was early and I had a plane to catch.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A cab carried my carcass over to LaGuardia, and by this point – the ankle was pissed off. A slight limp had crawled back in.
I got through security, and that’s when I found out about the delayed flight. At least it was air conditioned, though. I plugged in my phone, kicked off my shoes, and settled into ‘waiting’ mode.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot was captured using my phone, which is why it looks a bit different than the others. My flight eventually boarded, about four hours late, and I was back in Pittsburgh around one in the morning. Had to wait a good amount of time before a cab was available, and walked in the door at HQ in Dormont around 2:30 in the morning.
Back next week.
“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.
Queensboro Pedestrian Path
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many things that your gumbo narrator was desirous of doing, during his recent return to NYC for a four day trip, was walking the newly opened pedestrian only pathway on the Queensboro Bridge. I met up with an old friend at Queens Plaza, whom I used to wander about South east Brooklyn with back in Junior High and High School, and we leaned into it.
Kind of wish that it hadn’t been ninety degrees at ten in the morning, or that the humidity dew point wasn’t in the 70’s, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was hot, I tell you, on the southern side of Queensboro – HOT.
One needed to take a few rest-break sit downs whenever a shadow appeared, cast by part of the structure. It had been hot all week, since I arrived in NYC, but this one was the ‘whopper’ that would lead to a thunderstorm front blowing into NYC and clearing out all the ozone and bad air. It’s that same front which delayed my flight, so I received no benefit whatsoever.
Due to all of the tumult and weather, I woke up tired on this fourth day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My friend lives in Manhattan, and I was going to head back into Queens, since walking over the Queensboro once on a ninety degree and high humidity day in direct sunlight just isn’t enough for me. He went his way, I went mine.
The first person I met up with here in NYC on this trip was My Pal Val, whom I rode the ferries with. She would not have enjoyed this walk one little bit, I thought to myself.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t enjoying it very much either, but that’s from a purely physical POV. I was lost in a sea of reminiscing.
Gridlock Sam and the Bridge Centennial Committee, the 2009 centennial event… the last time I spoke to my now deceased friend Bernie was also while walking over this bridge (on the ‘then’ shared bike and pedestrian lane found on the north side of the bridge.)
This trip dredged up a lot of memories, which I guess makes it a journey?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I did a lot during my years in Western Queens, beyond the creek and the community board stuff.
The Queens Plaza Mill Stones survive in Dutch Kills Green Park. I rode on Queens Plaza elevators that I advocated for with MTA when I was the Chair of Astoria’s Community Board Transportation Committee. There is no deck over the Sunnyside Yards. I never demanded that my name be attached to anything, instead I always preferred to do things the ‘Queens way,’ in quiet and logical conversation within the offices of Elected Officialdom.
I’m not taking solo credit for any or all of those things, btw, I was never alone in my advocacy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A third friend was on the list for the afternoon, and I would soon be heading over to Sunnyside to have a coffee and catch up with her.
As I neared Queens Plaza, thereby, I shifted my attention to the most visually impressive of all of NYC’s subway lines – the Flushing Line, aka lucky number 7. That’s another caper I worked on, with Access Queens, when we produced an event with the NY Transit Museum to celebrate the expansion of the Flushing Line to its current terminus in 1917.
Seriously, everywhere I went, and it wasn’t entirely on purpose either.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a genuine relief to be swallowed up by the shadows of Queens Plaza after walking back and forth in that blistering sun. On the path, tar was actually bubbling up out of the sidewalk.
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.
And on the fourth day…
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were two more old friends whom I wanted to reconnect with – in person – on my recent NYC visit. The first of these individuals and I had breakfast in Forest Hills at the diner pictured above. Recommended.
The outlandish plan for shedding soiled garments along the way had played out well, and after leaving behind yesterday’s t-short, skivvies, and socks in Hank the Elevator Guy’s kitchen garbage pail in Middle Village, I was now down to just the one camera bag instead of multiple bags.
My host (Hank) was bid ‘adieu,’ and one summoned a cab to carry me to that meet up with my buddy Mike at the diner. Afterwards, he walked me to Queens Boulevard, and the nearest subway stop.
The next meetup was over in Queens Plaza.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The E arrived in minutes, and I was again on my way. This was going to end up being another long, long day. My flight back to Pittsburgh was scheduled for 7 p.m., but would end up getting pushed back due to weather – first to 9, then 10:30, and I finally boarded the plane at 11:41 p.m. Yeah… ‘bah!’
Y’know what – I kind of do miss the subway a bit. Easy Pickens for rail shots, and that air conditioner blast when you get onboard…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Queens Plaza, and I was about a half hour or so early to meet up with my friend. Couldn’t help but talk a short walk while waiting, and it was startling. Another friend of mine coined the term ‘real estate frenzy’ a while ago to describe what’s been happening here for the last ten to fifteen years, but I have to say that ‘the frenzy’ seems to have turned into ‘a real estate riot’ while I’ve been gone. Wow.
It does seem like the paint isn’t dry on one of these new tower buildings before a massive population of people is moved into it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of several weird things now extant: an enormous population of pedestrians. Used to be that people were just scurrying around to get to and from the train stations in Queens Plaza. Now you’ve got young couples with babies, old people with walkers, all sorts milling about on Jackson Avenue. Shoppers. It’s weird.
I cannot imagine somewhere I’d like to live less than Queens Plaza, but you do you, boo. The noise, man…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The screeching of steel on steel is omnipresent. Queensboro Bridge allows the transit of tens of thousands of vehicle trips a day, and the Sunnyside Yards (State Superfund Site, and also one of the contributing ‘PRP’s’ to the nearby Newtown Creek Federal Superfund Site) are in your back yard here. I like (from a visual perspective) and have photographed this area for years, but from a purely existential point of view – this would be a challenging place to live due to all the constant tumult and noise.
Not my problem anymore, as I keep reminding myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I met up with my buddy Paul, one of my oldest friends. We went to Junior High School together, and have stayed in touch with each other during good times and bad. We met up, and then headed for mighty Queensboro.
One of the many things that have changed here in the World’s Borough is that the Queensboro Bridge’s southern outer roadway (which used to be a trolley line’s right of way) has been closed to vehicle and bicycle traffic and is now a designated pedestrian path.
The last time I got to walk this one was when I was a Parade Marshal for the bridge’s centennial back in 2009, and I had Borough President Helen Marshall with me.
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.
DUGABO 2 Canarsie
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A visit to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ on Kingsland Avenue found me waving the camera about in yet another overly familiar spot.
One of the last times that I actually cared, the NYC DEP had changed the name of that sewer plant up there to the ‘Newtown Creek Wastewater treatment and resource recovery plant.’ Can you imagine being the one who answers the phone here? Sheesh. It’s the largest sewer plant in NYC, drains Manhattan below 79th street, and parts of Brooklyn and a sliver of Queens. The stainless steel eggs are bio-digesters which process the poop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the Green Roof at 520 Kingsland, looking north towards Queens, and that’s a new theatrical production mega structure which has risen from the former FreshDirect location along Borden Avenue. Again – no connection to the railroad or to the industrial canal it neighbors.
For a ‘mega massive’ panorama of the scene above, click here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The camera was waved about, at all the familiar places. Allocco Recycling, SimsMetal, everywhere. There was a weird sense of finality for me while doing so, can’t tell you why.
Going to miss this place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was the last Newtown Creek shot for Day 3. I had yet another assignation to accomplish, which would require a bit of a commute.
Luckily, one of my NCA pals has driven to Kingsland Avenue, and offered me a ride to the L train, at Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.
Brrr… stairs…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many food cravings I’ve been having in Pittsburgh has involved Kosher Deli. I mentioned this when talking to one of my cousins, and he suggested that I take the train out to his neck of the woods and we’d go out for a meal. Getting to and from the ‘old neighborhood’ has always been a pain in the butt. Terminal stops at Rockaway Parkway for the L and Brooklyn College for the 2 & 5 are pretty far away from the specific area where I grew up, and where my cousin still dwells.
Luckily, he agreed to pick me up at Rockaway Parkway, terminal stop on the L line subway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cars were nicely air conditioned, and I resisted the urge to debark the train at Broadway Junction to get some photos there.
We arrived in Canarsie, where I observed that in the many, many years since this was ‘home,’ that the old population of Jews and Italians seem to entirely left the ‘zone’ and the population of the area seems to have become entirely Caribbean. Cool! If I wasn’t actually heading to dinner at a Jewish Deli, my cousin would have pulled up and found me eating Jerk Chicken out of a paper bag…
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.
DUKBO 2 DUGABO
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My beloved creek…
After visiting the Maspeth Plank Road and Maspeth Creek as well, my next destination involved a walk through Blissville, and then to the Kosciuszcko Bridge’s bike and pedestrian path. If you haven’t figured it out, that’s the view from ‘up there’ in the photo above.
I was heading over to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ, in Greenpoint, to touch base with a few former colleagues and extant friends. Oddly, I was actually experiencing emotions, of the sort which literature has suggested to me that the normal humans might. Odd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Several mentions at the start of this series of NYC posts have alluded to the fact that this trip was actually a bit of an emotional journey for me.
Possibly the last chapter in the broken ankle story? Hope so.
In many ways, I needed to see what my physical capabilities actually are now, and so I returned to the place where I’ve defined that sort of thing for the last sixteen years – since the last major medical situation I found myself in, when I experienced a heart attack at 39. It was a bad moment for me personally, of course, but the recovery from that incident led to everything I’ve been doing ever since – including this, your Newtown Pentacle.
Needless to say, I was in a heightened emotional state during this four day stint. Remarkable, a couple of times I was actually displaying inner emotions to other people. Normally, my armor is up and other than brief flashes of annoyance or anger, trying to read me is difficult.
Never, ever, let anyone know what you’re actually thinking.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The struggle, during the whole recovery period from the broken ankle, was to ‘remain chipper.’ Getting depressed wouldn’t have helped, at all, and I did the usual great job of suppressing and containerizing my emotional tumult, with the intention of releasing the enclosed pressure at some future point, when expedient.
As I always say: Freak out after the crisis.
A lot of this sort of thinking, I think, is a direct reproach of how my Mom handled the world. She had one reaction to everything, a screaming and sweaty fit of anger aimed at whomsoever caused the agitation. Everything was treated with the same intensity. Russian fighter jet just fell out of the sky, and crushed the family car? Spilling a few coffee grinds on the kitchen counter? Dad has cancer? My hair is wet? Too much salt on her fries at the diner? Same reaction, everytime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was Day 3 of the NYC trip, and by this point the ankle was actually pretty sore. Exercise days have been spaced out, with at least a 72 hour recovery period of low activity following a walk. The joint still swells up on me, a situation which the surgeon tells me could last as long as two years after the reconstruction surgery. It was indeed swollen by Day 3, but I was still able to scuttle around pain free. It was the end of Day 4 when it started giving me some trouble, but I was already slouching roughly towards LaGuardia Airport by that point.
Did I mention how hot it was? That’s the end of my Monday morning moaning and self introspection.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in Pittsburgh, I laugh and laugh when people describe traffic as being heavy. Even in a slow down ‘rush hour’ scenario, traffic in Pittsburgh is still moving at 10-20 mph. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway at the Meeker Avenue exit, however, was moving at the average speed of vehicle traffic in NYC, which – last time I checked – is estimated to be about 3.2 mph. It was lovely, the way that the sunlight filtered through the shimmering engine exhaust.
The Kosciuszcko Bridge was left behind, and your humble narrator reentered the street grid in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. It would be about a 3/4 of a mile scuttle to get to DUGABO (Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp) where NCA HQ is found at 520 Kingsland Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Boy, they just don’t have sewer plants in Pennsylvania like this one, I tell’s ya. We got’s a mammoth series of scary factories out here though, like Brooklyn used to.
After arriving at NCA HQ, I began drinking copious amounts of water, rehydrating after a sweaty few hours on Newtown Creek’s ‘mean streets.’ Several friends actually made a special trip to coincide with my visit, and we had a bit of an NCA reunion going on for a bit. I was faklempt.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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 