Archive for the ‘Gowanus Canal’ Category
on toward
The Hamilton Avenue Bridge, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“The truth of our times, as told in graphic narrative” requires a lot of “boots on the ground” time.
To wit, last weekend, a rare Sunday afternoon with no obligations presented a humble narrator with an opportunity to visit the hellish expanses of the Gowanus Canal onboard a tour boat chartered by the Open House NY group.
from nyc.gov
The Hamilton Avenue Bridge is a bascule bridge with two parallel leafs, one carrying the northbound roadway and the other carrying the southbound roadway. Most of the length of Hamilton Avenue runs below the elevated portion of the Gowanus Expressway, including the bridge. The bridge connects Smith Street and Second Avenue over the Gowanus Canal and is the first canal crossing north of the Gowanus Bay.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tour utilized a NY Waterways Ferry, leaving from Manhattan’s World Financial Center Ferry Terminal on the Hudson River, nearby Vesey Street. After transiting through Gowanus Bay, which is a whole other story, the vessel arrived at the somewhat unique Hamilton Avenue Bridge – a skew bascule type drawbridge.
a fascinating discussion of this “knee-girder bascule bridge,” and its recent reconstruction, by the actual engineers that performed the rehabilitation, can be found at heavymovablestructures.org
The rarely seen Hanover skew bascule, also known as a knee-girder bascule bridge is a unique and complex movable structure in terms of both design and construction. The replacement of a movable bridge during an accelerated construction period is also an incredibly difficult task to engineer and construct. Either one of these constraints would make a project difficult to execute. For the Hamilton Avenue Bridge project in New York City, however, these two levels of complexity combined to create a one-of-a-kind project that would challenge the owner, designers and constructor to achieve a near impossible goal: to replace a skewed bascule bridge with a new, fully operational span in sixty-four days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bridge’s horns sounded, and its traffic gates were deployed, and employees of the NYC DOT thereupon activated the electrical systems that drew the roadway up and away from its piers. An obtuse angle was achieved, relative to the waters level, which opened an aperture and allowed navigation.
from 1863, ay nytimes.com
THE RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT HAMILTON-AVENUE BRIDGE — CONCLUSION OF THE CORONER’s INVESTIGATION, AND VERDICT OF THE JURY. — The investigation relating to the circumstances connected with the deplorable accident on Wednesday night, upon which occasion car No. 119 of the Greenwood and Fulton Ferry line was precipitated into Gowanus Creek, in consequence of the opening of the draw of Hamilton-avenue Bridge, was concluded before Coroner BENNETT and a jury, yesterday afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, the Smith 9th street elevated Subway station and the Ninth Street lift bridge glitter.
from 1892’s United States Congressional serial set, Issue 2914, courtesy google books
– photo by Mitch Waxman
SuperfunD. That’s how people refer to both Gowanus Canal and my beloved Newtown Creek. That’s superfun with a capital D following it. The more you learn about these places, however, the less fun they are.
from epa.gov
The Gowanus Canal is a 100-foot wide,1.8-mile long canal located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Connected to Gowanus Bay in Upper New York Bay, the canal borders several residential neighborhoods including Gowanus, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Red Hook. The adjacent waterfront is primarily commercial and industrial, currently consisting of concrete plants, warehouses, and parking lots. There are five east-west bridge crossings over the canal, located at Union Street, Carroll Street, Third Street, Ninth Street, and Hamilton Avenue. The Gowanus Expressway and the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway, an aboveground section of the original Independent Subway System, pass overhead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A winter time shot of the bridge’s roadway, which is overflown by the hurtling viridian of the Gowanus Expressway, high overhead. I’m told it’s close to a 300 feet drop from top to bottom.
from nycroads.com
Beginning in 1939, Robert Moses oversaw construction of the Gowanus Parkway, an elevated highway placed on top of the pillars of the old 3rd Avenue BMT Elevated Line through the Sunset Park and Gowanus sections of Brooklyn. It would eventually become part of a limited-access parkway loop encircling four of the five boroughs. Since the Gowanus Parkway was to be constructed atop a pre-existing elevated facility, Moses had little trouble getting his project approved by the New York City Council.
However, the Gowanus Parkway would require more land for a wide roadway and entrance-exit ramps. This required the demolition of many homes and businesses along Third Avenue, a tightly knit block of Northern and Western European immigrants. In his 1974 biography The Power Broker, Robert A. Caro argued that Moses’ highway created a “Chinese wall” that accelerated the process of deterioration that began two blocks west, along the waterfront terminals. He also points out that residents fought to have the highway placed closer to the waterfront to protect the neighborhood.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another wintertime shot, this one from the Ninth Street Bridge looking back at the entrance – the front door, if you would – of the Gowanus Canal.
from nyc.gov
The construction of the Canal began in 1849 and was accomplished by deepening and widening the Gowanus Creek and creating bulkheads along the waterfront. The Canal was fully built out by 1869.
Even before it was complete, the Canal was attracting foundries, shipyards, gas manufacturing plants, coal yards and paint and ink factories to the waterfront and adjacent lots. By 1870, the surrounding area, with its natural marshlands and freshwater streams, had been fully urbanized and industrialized.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back to last Sunday, and the approach to the Hamilton Avenue Bridge on the NY Waterways Ferry’s return trip. The closest analogy I can use to describe the Gowanus experience, for those of us who live along the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, is visiting one of the tributaries of Newtown Creek – specifically Dutch Kills. (tour this weekend! scroll down for details)
also from nyc.gov
The Canal was the one of the prime catalysts in shaping the industrial nature of the area, as foundries, gas manufacturing plants, coal yards, paint and ink factories and other businesses flocked to the waterfront and adjacent lots.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We’ve got the LIE on Dutch Kills, multiple drawbridges, and a similar historical tale.
Both waterways began the industrial age as the home of tidal mill ponds, but Dutch Kills was spared a lot of the early and quite dirty industries which called the Gowanus home as early as the 1860’s. What happened to Dutch Kills largely occurred in the late 19th and especially early 20th centuries (the bad stuff was happening further up the Creek in those days, in Blissville, along English Kills, and especially on Furmans Island).
from riverkeeper.org
After almost 150 years of industrial use and decades of raw sewage discharges from New York City’s sewers, the Gowanus Canal has become one of the nation’s most contaminated bodies of water. The putrid sediments at the bottom of the canal contain PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, sewage solids and coal tar wastes. Adding to this toxic legacy, the manufactured gas plants (MGP), cement factories, oil refineries, tanneries, chemical plants and other industries that have called the canal home also have left behind underground plumes of pollution and contaminated the land and the groundwater, which continues to leach toxins into the canal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Hamilton Avenue Bridge, gateway to the notorious Gowanus Canal, lords and ladies.
from wikisource.org
That same June evening, without having heard a word from the sea, Malone was desperately busy among the alleys of Red Hook. A sudden stir seemed to permeate the place, and as if apprised by ‘grapevine telegraph’ of something singular, the denizens clustered expectantly around the dance-hall church and the houses in Parker Place. Three children had just disappeared—blue-eyed Norwegians from the streets toward Gowanus—and there were rumours of a mob forming among the sturdy Vikings of that section.
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There’s a Newtown Creek walking tour, and a Magic Lantern show, coming up.
Saturday, June 7th, 13 Steps around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura.
Click here for tickets and more info.
Wednesday, June 11th, Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show with Brooklyn Brainery.
Click here for tickets and more info.
old native
The Carroll Street Bridge, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve said it so many times on the Newtown Creek “Dutch Kills” tours that I’ve conducted – “The Borden Street Bridge is one of just two retractable bridges in NYC, the other is on Carroll Street over the Gowanus.” Then I go on to talk about Chicago and what a retractable bridge does and why its special, but it occurred to me that I’ve never done a post on the Carroll Street span. Today, the remedy.
Also, just as a note, I’ll be repeating the above quotation on this coming Saturday’s tour, see the link at the bottom of this post for details.
from nyc.gov
The Carroll Street Bridge is a retractile bridge crossing the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The bridge, which was opened to traffic in 1889, supports a 17 foot wide roadway and two 4.5 foot sidewalks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What’s super cool about the Carroll Street span is the wooden road surfacing that allows vehicular egress over this section of the Gowanus Canal. There’s still one more bridge before the Gowanus reaches its inevitable conclusion, Union Street Bridge, but Carroll is where the industrial canal seems to shallow out and is one of the places where its entire “raison d’être” seems to have been forgotten.
from wikipedia
Retractable bridges date back to medieval times. Due to the large dedicated area required for this type of bridge, this design is not common. A retractable design may be considered when the maximum horizontal clearance is required (for example over a canal).
Two remaining examples exist in New York City (the Carroll Street Bridge (built 1889) in Brooklyn and the Borden Avenue Bridge in Queens).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above are the pulleys and gears which provide locomotive force to the structure, and the aperture into which the roadway actually retracts to allow theoretical maritime egress. The Gowanus Dredgers boat club is nearby, and I suspect that they can tell you everything you’d want to know about the mores and habits exhibited by the NYC DOT engineers who care for and maintain the structure. Business has called me to South Brooklyn all year, and one of the more interesting “Gowanus People” I’ve met is a fellow named Joseph Alexiou, who provides a satisfying historical narrative for the Gowanus.
from tedxgowanus.com
A journalist and history buff, Joseph Alexiou is writing a book about the Gowanus Canal. He is the author of Paris for Dummies and contributing author to Frommer’s Paris 2012 and has written for New York, the New York Press, New York Observer, Gothamist and Paper Magazine. He is a former associate editor at Out magazine and has a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Somebody else from the Gowanus crew that has impressed the heck out of me is Eymund Diegel. His knowledge of the Gowanus and its hydrology, history, and personality is staggering. Be forewarned and forearmed though, for if you seek his wisdom, bring a notepad or recording device with you – as the cascade of information he offers can be a bit overwhelming.
also from tedxgowanus.com
Eymund Diegel is the chair of Public Laboratory, a citizen science group partnered with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s Grassroots Aerial Photography program, where local citizen’s insights help improve Google Earth and City mapping of the neighborhood. As a Gowanus resident, he also helps out at the Hall of the Gowanus, a community historic research resource. Trained as an urban planner with a focus on watershed and environmental planning, he works with other local residents who have been tying digital cameras to kites and balloons to map and reconstruct the Gowanus Canal’s “ghost stream” network.
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There’s a Newtown Creek walking tour, and a Magic Lantern show, coming up.
Saturday, June 7th, 13 Steps around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura.
Click here for tickets and more info.
Wednesday, June 11th, Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show with Brooklyn Brainery.
Click here for tickets and more info.
blind alley
It’s nice just to be amongst people.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tour schedule is underway again, which has been going pretty well. So far, it’s been a full house on every excursion. Accordingly, your humble narrator has found himself all over the City of Greater New York (avoiding Manhattan whenever possible) and one has been waving the camera around at a vast variety of subjects. As you’re reading this, I’m likely in historic Newtown (aka Elmhurst) searching for certain signs and portents left behind by earlier generations.
I was in South Brooklyn recently, for an opening reception of the “Combined Overflow” show at Proteus Gowanus, which I was invited to hang a few prints in.
from wikipedia
The English loanword “wanderlust” was already extant in the German language dating as far back as Middle High German. The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering that may be traced back to German Romanticism and the German system of apprenticeship (the journeyman), as well as the adolescent custom of the ‘Wanderbird’ seeking unity with Nature.
The term originates from the German words wandern (to hike) and Lust (desire). The term wandern, frequently misused as a false friend, does in fact not mean “to wander”, but “to hike.” Placing the two words together, translated: “enjoyment of hiking”, although it is commonly described as an enjoyment of strolling, roaming about or wandering.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While at Proteus Gowanus, I decided to snap a couple of exposures of the lamentable Gowanus Canal as witnessed from the Union Street Bridge. Call me a “size queen,” but seriously – compared to Newtown Creek – Gowanus seems pretty compact. Attempts to get to know this waterway are being undertaken, as business carries me to South Brooklyn at least once a month these days.
from nyc.gov
The Union Street Bridge is a double leaf Scherzer rolling lift bascule supporting Union Street over the Gowanus Canal in the borough of Brooklyn. The bridge has two vehicular traffic lanes, each approximately 17 feet wide, and two sidewalks, each 6 feet wide. Both traffic lanes carry eastbound traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These two views are from either side of the Union Street bridge, and depict a landscape unfamiliar. On Newtown Creek, I can see through time and tell you about the outlines of long demolished chimneys and mills, whereas here at the Gowanus – I’m just a visiting tourist seeking the vicarious. That’s nice, I tell you. Something to learn about, new rocks to turn over, and a world which I do not know.
from wikipedia
The Gowanus Canal, also known as the Gowanus Creek Canal, is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, geographically on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Connected to Gowanus Bay in Upper New York Bay, the canal borders the neighborhoods of Red Hook and South Brooklyn to the west, Park Slope to the east, and Sunset Park to the south. It is 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long. There are seven bridges over the canal, carrying Union Street, Carroll Street (a landmark), Third Street, Ninth Street, Hamilton Avenue, the Gowanus Expressway and the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in LIC, Queens and one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Glittering Realms, with Atlas Obscura, on Saturday May 17th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on Sunday May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
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hastily blocked
As Johnny Cash said “I been everywhere, man.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over the last few weeks, your humble narrator has found himself wandering through every borough, except the Bronx, and many marvels have been witnessed. Let’s face it, if your eyes are open, NYC is in fact a place of wonders. Just have to learn how to see, and remember not to get jaded by it all. An annoying trait shared by all members of the human infestation hereabouts is to render the familiar as ordinary, and to accept the built environment as pedestrian or ordinary.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is Hamilton Avenue, down by the Gowanus, which is one of the many spots in NYC which strike one such as myself dumb. The aggregate hours of human activity required to create a spot like this, just producing the steel and concrete which form the high flying Gowanus Expressway above or the draw bridge below, leaves me aghast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My beloved Newtown Creek, seen at night from the Pulaski Bridge, reveals trillions of hours of planning and work. The shield wall of Manhattan notwithstanding, this tableau visualizes the complete reshaping of a waterway to suit the needs of men, and for one such as myself – the absence of historic bridges and the unseen presence of an entire subway line are keenly felt. Wow.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in Queens and one that walks the currently undefended border of the two boroughs.
DUPBO, with Newtown Creek Alliance and MAS Janeswalk, on May 3rd.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
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mentality and resource
A humble narrator will be live in meatspace at Brooklyn Brainery tonight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is the view from the Smith 9th street station in South Brooklyn, looking down upon the fabulous Gowanus. Business has been calling me down this way all through the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014. For the moment, at least, it appears that I’m going to be a regular visitor, so a bit of curiosity about the locale has been blooming in that withered carbuncle which beats within my chest. In no way do I plan on developing the intimacy with this superfund site that one enjoys with Newtown Creek, but there are things to see down here, I tell you. A point of listening to H.P. Lovecraft’s “Horror at Red Hook” is made, and a preference will be stated for the Audiorealms produced (and Wayne June narrated) reading of the unabridged text.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I think that this is the Hamilton Avenue Bridge in an open position which we’re seeing here, but I might be wrong. Most of my experience with this part of Brooklyn involved driving over it, via the Gowanus Expressway, on my way from the Flatlands Canarsie area to either the Battery Tunnel or one of the East River bridges. I’m not looking for one of you, lords and ladies, to fill me in. It is a curse knowing too much, and the joy of discovering something new – at least to me – has become something of a rarity these days. I’m saving the entire Bronx for future usage, for instance. I did wait around for awhile to see what sort of maritime traffic had called for the opening, but nothing appeared.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my back burner projects, the kind that never really gets started and is seldom finished, has been to track down “Lovecraft in Brooklyn.” The fellow lived here for an interval, which by all reports he did not enjoy.
The building which “Cool Air” was set in still stands on 14th street in Manhattan, and was observed in the appropriately named post “Cool Air.”
The Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church, which Mr. Lovecraft reportedly vandalized, was visited in the post “frightful pull.” I’ve even located the Suydam family tomb in Greenwood Cemetery, burial place of an antagonist from “The Horror at Red Hook itself.”
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The Newtown Pentacle 