Archive for the ‘Brooklyn’ Category
Project Firebox 12
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Following Forgotten-NY’s Kevin Walsh around Bushwick one day, this very old firebox was observed.
It exhibited a couple of unique features, which even the great explorer and expert of these urban climes found puzzling. We shot photos, and moved on in search of certain locations rumored to have survived in the area unscathed by modernity, remnants of the German Brewers which once typified the population of this ancient section of Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Several days later, the normally steady and wholesome measure of Mr. Walsh’s correspondence took on a feverish tone when he reported that the network of antiquarians and recluse scholars with which he maintains communication had delivered to him a detailed description of the enigmatic firebox, with it’s embossed “H.P. TEL” on the crown and dated base.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems that when the fire system, pipe and pump wise, was first laid down in the early 20th century, technological infancy limited the number of streets that could be served by high pressure lines. Reserved for high rises, factories, and high density tenement blocks- the high pressure water common today was only available in certain areas. However, should the need arise, a fire chief carried a key that would access one of these “H.P. TEL” fireboxes which would send a command back to the firehouse to throw open the valves that would pressurize the lines flowing through its district.
The TEL stands for telegraph, apparently, and the whole scheme ceased to be necessary sometime in the 1950’s.
good clean fun
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of June (which you’ll recall as a brutally hot and humid week), your humble narrator found himself in the wilds of Brooklyn, and observed that some New York traditions haven’t gone out of style.
Opining about the seemingly forgotten Bearclaw danish (the absence of which from New York City menus seems to indicate a glitch in the Matrix), the loss of the impact prefix “‘effin” at the beginning of every statement, and the Krishna lunch at Tompkins Square are a few of my regular rants- but until this hot day- I didn’t realize that kids just don’t play in the fire hydrant stream very much these days- a common sight during the first half of my life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
During the 70’s- if a city kid wanted to swim, you went to the beach or a rich relative’s house on Long Island. When you wanted to cool off, you opened a hydrant. The cops and FDNY would always show up and close it with some special wrench, but eventually, sprinkler caps came in and were encouraged for use by the municipality in order to avoid a precipitous system wide drop in pressure across the neighborhood during heat waves- a deadly event in case of a house or building fire. Trusted members of the community would be entrusted with these caps, and the special wrench. Don’t forget, this is before air conditioning became ubiquitous.
On my block, I believe it was a Sheepshead Bay fishing ship’s captain- Joe Manarino (the dad, not Joseph the son or Joey the grandson)– who had the special wrench and sprinkler cap in his garage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In Brooklyn’s less… ahem… savory… neighborhoods, the hydrants would just be thrown open with pure urban muscle to shoot high pressure water all over the kids. My dad always referred to this as “an ‘effin free car wash” and make it a point of driving around on hot days to score a free high pressure wash for the family Plymouth. He’d make a U-turn and get both sides done, much to the chagrin of the local nestlings forced to wait for the encrusted bird poop to loosen from the side windows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The technique involved in shaping the flow of water shooting out of the hydrant nozzle involved using a tomato or coffee can with both the top and bottom cut off, which was placed flush against the nozzle. By torquing and angling the can, obtuse angles were formed, as well as shallow arcs and blasting straight shots. If you’re too close to the source, it feels like you’re being pelted with gravel, and great joy was to be had by we lads when one of the female members of our cohort would find part of her bathing suit coterie carried away by the water.
The tough guys always tried to walk right into it, but were inevitably unable to deny the “hard deck” of physics when the flow struck, below the belt.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wonder if any of the local bakeries have Bearclaws for sale around here, or Grape Nehi, or those weird wax tubes with the sugar water in them?
This is the corner of South 4th and Rodney, just in case you’re curious.
Project Firebox 11
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This soldier of the realm is found along the hoary streets of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, specifically the corner of Leonard and Bayard streets. Having suffered the attentions of local vandals and inopportune traffic collisions for much of its long reign, this watchtower of the FDNY is stalwart in its mission. One wonders if it took up its position in the ancient time when Bayard was known as Sandford Street, and Leonard as Third Street?
ps- postings will be a bit sporadic over the next few days, your humble narrator is a bit burned out again, and requires a little break. There still will be posts coming your way through the Labor Day holiday, but they’ll be shorties- a few more “Project Firebox” and a couple of things I’ve noticed that aren’t earth shattering but interesting nevertheless. A full schedule of damned revelations and hellish probings will resume after said holiday. I’ll be roaming around the neighborhood, however, so if there’s anything crazy going on- you can always contact me here or just leave a comment. All comments are held back from immediate posting for review of course, so if its something you don’t want to disseminate to everyone, mention it at the top of the missive.
Look forward to updates on the St. Michael’s ritual site, which I haven’t mentioned for a while, but which has been monitored after each full moon. There’s also a trip through Greenpoint in the works, and a chance for you- lords and ladies- to get tickets for a boat ride up the Creek in October . More to come, promise.
black seas of infinity
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Conversations with area wags and a wide spread network of personal friends have all pointed to a spate of dream disturbances plaguing the artistic class and those “sensitive” citizens of this Newtown Pentacle (specifically- reports have been made from Astoria, Woodside, Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Dutch Kills, Long Island City, Blissville, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Bushwick, East Williamsburg, Greenpoint).
Perhaps it is just the psychic ripple of the Hiroshima bomb, echoing through time and space, but it is nevertheless observed that a remarkable concurrence of isolated reports of nightmares and bizarre dreaming has reached and- indeed been experienced at Newtown Pentacle HQ in the last two weeks.
Such hive mind events are jungian in nature, and signal a massing of the collective unconscious, an expectation of some dire or portentous event unfolding. Accordingly, this anonymous poll (as best as I can tell it is, anyway) is offered, in an effort to document this curious pattern. If you have a moment, please offer a click to the answer below that best describes your recent experiences.
If you want to go into any detail, please feel free to send a missive here, with instructions as to whether or not it may be shared with your fellow lords and ladies… A common thread and shared imagery has been reported from unrelated sources, but I don’t want to color any possible responses by stating it quite yet.
Ruby M. at Whale Creek
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Someone recently told me that this, your Newtown Pentacle, was a mere paparazzi rag for infrastructure and heavy industry- which made me laugh out loud.
Then, depressed, disturbed, and frightened by even good natured criticism I retreated into a sulking and jealous rage. All ‘effed up, I threw together my little ensemble of camera bag and headphones and set off for the Newtown Creek. When I got to the Pulaski Bridge, it was open and I realized that I had just missed a Tugboat passing through. ARRGHH!!!
What I did see though, was this flatbed truck carrying what appears to be remnants of a Roosevelt Island Tramway tower in the direction of Greenpoint.
“Could this be some sort of super Crow?” thought your humble narrator…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Brutally hot, vast misty shelves of humid air blanketed the terrain when the Pulaski reconstituted itself into its roadway configuration via those electrical engines that operate its double bascule mechanism. Tepid, the fetid air flow’s tortuous languor augmented that remarkable and certain odor which distinguishes the Newtown Creek watershed. At the apex of the arc which spans this part of that storied rivulet, this small boat was spied.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As its markings indicate, this is the Emily Miller. A “Job” or Utility boat, Emily Miller is 31 feet long, 185 HP and based at Pier 7 1/2 in Staten Island at Miller’s Launch.
from millerslaunch.com
Miller’s Launch is a marine service company based on the North Shore of Staten Island, New York. With satellite terminals throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we have provided first-class service to the marine industry since 1977.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing special, really, but since I missed the Tug… I decided to take some shots of it passing anyway. For a waterway that was once the busiest on Earth, the relative scarcity of traffic on Newtown Creek these days makes any vessel plying its poison expanse notable.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My endless wanderings found your humble narrator once more at the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant Nature Walk, always an easy egress point for observing the malefic realities of Newtown Creek and one of the few water level access points open to the general public along the great canal. To my wonder and joy, I found the tugboat that I had missed when the Pulaski (and this post) opened.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tug is the Ruby M. operated by Dann Towing, but once once known as he Texaco Fire Chief when it was built in 1967 at the Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay. Steel hulled, it is 95 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 197. It was sitting astride Whale Creek, and maneuvering a barge into position. Tugboats are seldom observed at work this close, and certainly -in my limited experience- it is a rare thing to see one in such a nearly static position relative to the camera.
Normally, you have to shoot fast to capture one, as it is hurtling past.
The Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant, incidentally, sits on the site of one those insane fires which Greenpoint seems to have been quite prone to and distinguished by during the heady days of the industrial revolution. Check out this NYtimes article from 1900 which describes the horror.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Daring contact with that which might exist in the shallow depths, your humble narrator descended those threatening steps found at the Nature Walk, and was rewarded with this found composition. Unlike most of the photos presented here, its presence is not meant to advance a narrative or illustrate a point- I just think its a neat shot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having little else to do, I hung around for a while to see if the Ruby M. was about to do something interesting. It didn’t, just repositioning itself further up the creek and tying off to a different barge than the one they had just delivered. Emily Miller’s role in the transaction seemed to have been completed as well, as it advanced past the rail bridges spanning the Dutch Kills tributary of the Newtown Creek.
The Newtown Pentacle 