Archive for the ‘Astoria’ Category
shrank away
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the posting “perfect service” a few days ago, the tableau of a Con Ed street repair was described. The gentlemen who performed this repair left behind a safety cone sitting on top of the manhole cover to their street pit. Two days later, the cone was moved for a time by a group of gentlemen with a giant masonry saw powerful enough to cut street.
It was all very exciting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After packing their saw back up onto a truck, they replaced the cone.
One is beside himself waiting for the next pulse pounding installment. Will someone come with a drill, punching holes in the asphalt? Will the entire block drop through the subway below? Lasers, perhaps? I will keep you posted.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Happy place… happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place…
eternal day
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last weekend, a social engagement found Our Lady and myself breaking bread with another couple at an Indian place here in Astoria. One of our quartet is a Federal Employee, who was describing the practical effects of the so called “sequestration” upon the mechanics of the Government. Simple transactions, such as getting a tax return check or obtaining a new passport, will be delayed. She continued that in her case, she would simply not be able to go to work for a period, despite the urgency of her task.
The paroled child molesters whom she normally polices will simply have no one looking after them.
What could go wrong?
All the way up the food chain, however, chaos will ensue as Federal functionaries are furloughed, and the Defense Department has to start laying off soldiers. Medical research will also be hard hit.
Remember that a motto of the far right wing, when referring to the Federal Government, is to “starve the beast.”
Remember that when the Cubans invade Texas next winter.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Visions of the Roman Senate and Pompey Magnus danced in my head, and the sound of galloping horses approaching the Rubicon clouded my hearing. I tuned out my friend entirely, as I just couldn’t discuss the subject without blowing my cool. All I could taste was fire, but after all, I had just eaten an entrée at an Indian restaurant.
After dinner, a new policy was decided and is announced today.
As of now, whenever a subject upsets or annoys me, I am going to block it out and go to my happy place.
In my case, that happy place is a bakery, and I shall blot out the reality of my situation and just think about cake. No more parables, politicians nor portents for me, not anymore, just pastry.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Intercession with the human hive is a good thing, allowing one to form opinions and offer new questions for expert answering. As many of the answers which have been offered in recent years have often forced one to retreat back into his “happy place” and resort to living in nothing more than a world of his own imagining- anticipation of visiting this inner paradise of baked goods often in the coming year nearly overwhelms.
Also, I make this sewer cover as 1910’s-20’s. How about y’all?
unthinkable gardens
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Here’s a little slice of life, from Astoria…
The public litter baskets are regularly emptied around these parts, DSNY does its thing well. The thing is, DOB does its thing pretty good too. Hence- they spend a lot of time looking for illegal sublets and apartments. One of the methods they use to determine the address from which a particular violation might emanate from are reports submitted by the DSNY and DOH inspectors who enforce the recycling rules. If a two family house is putting out more than a certain amount of garbage, for instance, it triggers further interest from these inspectors.
The inspectors are good at their job too, by the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, what officialdom doesn’t reckon is whom they are dealing with, here amongst the blessed hills of raven haired Astoria. A significant proportion of the population hereabouts was born overseas, and will relate tales of civil disobedience and outright partisan warfare against varied regimes- those of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Tito are mentioned by older inhabitants. Younger residents will relate their antagonistic relationships with governments, and having stood tall before the dictatorial policies of (amongst others) Mubarak, Thatcher, and several South American military “Juntas.” They do not fear Michael Bloomberg.
Resistance to bureaucracy is baked into their bones, and it is impossible to make them do something which they don’t want to.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Accordingly, local custom has developed wherein the residents of these illegal apartment conversions are simply using the corner litter basket for household trash in order to not reveal the location where they are living.
Subsequently, the corner litter baskets are no longer usable for their intended purpose. Consequently, trash and litter are wind blown and gather wherever nature decides to deposit them, which is more often than not the sidewalks and fence lines of legal abodes. Said legal abodes are then ticketed for not cleaning the pavement, according to statute. Also, since the pavement is already covered in trash, there are no societal cues offered to discourage the populace from just dropping additional trash wherever they can.
The litter baskets are full up anyway.
vainly requested
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My bet is that this is mid 1960’s, quite possibly a 1965, Buick LeSabre Custom Convertible which I spotted on Northern Blvd. a few months ago, here in Queens. For more on the storied history of the redoubtable LeSabre automobile line- check wikipedia.
The car was painted black, which magnified how bad ass it looked.
Gangster, in fact.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the businesses which one can expect to find along a busy thoroughfare called Northern Blvd., here in Queens, are used car dealers. Aside from high volume sellers like Major Auto World, there exist a loquacious group of classic car dealers and mechanics. There is also a large operation near Astoria Blvd. that offers older and more esoteric vehicles, whose inventory is a wonder for both area wag and young enthusiast alike.
By “classic,” we are generally referring to pre 1972 era vehicles. Essentially, cars were built heavy and fast back then, and burned through gasoline in a manner that did not anticipate the rise of OPEC.
from wikipedia
Americans are divided on the exact era in which a “classic car” can be identified.
Many Americans divide automobiles by separate eras:
horseless carriages (19th century experimental automobiles such as the Daimler Motor Carriage), antique cars (brass era cars such as the Ford Model T), and classic cars (typically 1930s cars such as the Cord 812 through the end of the muscle car period in the 1970s – a majority use the 1972 model year as the cutoff).
The late seventies are disputed as being “classics”, as the oil crisis of 1973 brought several now-infamous cars such as the Ford Pinto and AMC Gremlin.
The 1980s are often viewed as the early modern period due to the rise of Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Nissan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One should like to mention that there seems to be an inconsistency in the grill of this LeSabre with at least one other photo I’ve viewed, the sort revealed by google images, but am unsure as to its meaning- which one is “cherry” with the OEM grill?
Lords and ladies, if any of you are “car people,” please elucidate and educate using the “comments.”
I can tell you, however, that this was not the factory paint. Yeesh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I was a young but already humble narrator, and became cognizant of those glories which were automobiles, these veritable land yachts had already begun to disappear due to the rising cost of gasoline and the concordant efforts of the Federal Government to encourage and command fuel efficiency standards for manufacturers. Modern cars are a wonder to behold and are far easier to drive safely while consuming a fraction of what this thirsty LeSabre would.
Still… just look at that…
Gangster.
Project Firebox 60
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Perennial shadow is what it has dwelt in, surrounded on three sides by mammoth Astorian apartment blocks on 34th avenue at 45th street, for more than a half century. Regardless of the darkness, it stands eternal vigil, connecting a vulnerable corner to the grid via a tenuous sarabande of copper wire. Shine on, noble firebox, shine on.
The Newtown Pentacle 