Archive for the ‘Dutch Kills’ Category
transparent walls
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Criticism received for the Newtown Pentacle posting “Dim Entity” included the terms “false and misleading” and offered that the post’s assertation that the Federal Express site at Dutch Kills was offered as compensation for the loss of their location in Manhattan to make room for the new construction of luxury housing was abjectly false. Instead, this particular depot has instead been relocated to the Bronx rather than Queens, I have been informed.
As is Newtown Pentacle policy on the subject, and has been since day one, when I’m wrong corrections are eagerly accepted and passed on to you, my Lords and Ladies of Newtown.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In defense, the term “I guess” was used several times in the post, and it doesn’t change my allegation that hundreds if not thousands of truck trips through western Queens will be engendered by the siting of this facility. For those of you who do not live in the immediate locale, a dire and growing problem experienced by the populations of North Brooklyn and Western Queens is the geometric growth of trucks passing through the area.
Natural consequence of geography, being the terminal point of Long Island closest to the shining city of Manhattan, heavy trucks move constantly around us. Exhaust fumes paint the faces of our children with soot, and during humid weather the air is heavy with smoky effluvium.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless of personal feeling about the matter, the fact of the siting of this depot was implied as being a quid pro quo, which offended sources have flatly denied. As such, retraction of that implication is offered.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Doesn’t change the fact that whenever a dirty industrial business needs land, it is found in Queens or Brooklyn or the Bronx or Staten Island. Look at the recent series of announcements of forthcoming municipal projects planned for possible construction within a mile of Newtown Creek as proof of this- whether it be a power plant that runs on sewage emissions, or one that runs on garbage instead.
dim entity
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 24th of February, a Newtown Pentacle posting was offered in which description of an astounding demolition which had occurred along 30th street in Long Island City, and whose purpose was to clear the way for a gargantuan FedEx trucking depot and shipping center. Attempting to describe the sheer scale of this to friends and Our Lady of the Pentacle simply proved that words would be inadequate to convey the scale of it all.
So, a humble narrator went back, and did a little bit of climbing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having once been a child in Brooklyn, you humble narrator learned to climb the urban landscape like a monkey. This skill is something that still comes in handy, especially when something which needs photographing is behind a ten foot tall plywood construction fence. The shot above is a “stitched panorama” which incorporates around 16 individual exposures into a single image- encouragement is offered to click through to the largest incarnation of this shot at flickr (click here) to appreciate the massiveness of the footprint.
Click here to see it on a google map.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the decking of the Borden Avenue Bridge, you can see that the construction site extends all the way to the Dutch Kills tributary of the malign Newtown Creek. FedEx must need an awful lot of space.
Wonder why?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well to begin with, the entirely coincidental condemnation and demolishing of the FedEx World Service Center building in Manhattan (528-556 West 34th Street) to make room for the Hudson Yards residential development has robbed the shipping giant of certain capabilities. My guess, and it’s a guess, is that they were offered Queens instead.
And once again, Manhattan exports its problems to Queens, I guess.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When this site has been mentioned, those who live and work in Queens get a wild look in their eyes. They ask “Wait, where will all those trucks go when heading into Manhattan?”. Sure, they’ll be taking truck routes, but what happens when they bottleneck at Queens Plaza, the Midtown Tunnel, or the Triborough? Care to guess?
What about the tractor trailers leaving from LaGuardia and Kennedy, how will they get to Long Island City?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit of that climbing talent bragged about at the beginning of this posting, and a switch of POV to Hunters Point Avenue brings you this “stitched panorama” of the rubble beyond the fence. Notice the lack of water being sprayed on the shattered masonry, or any attempt at dust abatement, and remember that the factories which stood here for nearly a century adjoin the monstrous pollution of the Dutch Kills tributary.
This is no land that the site stands on either, rather it’s a construct. This area was filled in by Michael Degnon in the early 20th century with rubble from the Belmont Tunnel construction, and that the bulkheads which defined the modern shape of Dutch Kills were only installed in 1914 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. This rubble is coated with a century worth of “the colour”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Around thirty or forty feet down, the waters of the Newtown Creek gurgle about boulder and gravel, and around the wooden piles which the concrete mastabas of modernity stand upon. The Creek is eternal, and water always- inevitably and eternally and patiently- wins.
Like many things around the Newtown Creek, and Queens in particular, you must just accept the decisions of your betters in Manhattan- I guess. They wish to install playgrounds for the idle rich along the Hudson, erect fanciful condominiums for their comfort, and soaring office towers to administer and employ them. Why should those of us in Queens complain, when they export their waste, their trucking facilities, or their garbage to us?
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, I guess?
ALSO:
March 6th, as in tonight
Magic Lantern Show in Ridgewood
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the “Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
waxen mask
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering aimlessly, that agglutination of wounds, phobias, and general wreckage which you might describe as a humble narrator recently found himself on the acclaimed Borden Avenue Bridge. The existential issues of life in the Big City are quite bothersome, and distract from pursuits of finer cast and higher intellectual firmament, but a fellow must eat (or be eaten). “Bucks, burgers, and beer” after all… it’s just the cold has gotten me down.
Problems maintaining biological homeostasis and personal comforts plague one’s patience during the winter months, for my dynamic equilibrium adjustment and regulation mechanisms are all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hand wringing is a necessary pursuit for me during the frosts, as my feeble circulatory system cannot combat the normal vasoconstriction of extremities exposed to freezing temperatures, causing my fingers and hands to grow wan and bloodless. Looking like nothing but the curled and grasping claws of a cadaver, nervous feedback becomes intermittent, and it feels as if an amputation would bring nothing but minor discomfort.
Despite all this horror and ennui, I’m nevertheless compelled to wander the earth, and often find my steps have carried me to that sundering of natural law known as the Newtown Creek- or one its tributaries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The great thing about the Creeklands, and what always draws me back (and causes me to stop my whining self narrative and soliloquy of self pitying sophistry), is that there is always something you haven’t noticed- like the so called Freedom Tower rising over the two LIRR bridges which cross Dutch Kills. Wow.
This is the kind of thing that just keeps on bringing me around this place, despite the ravaged and ruinous condition of my physical incarnation.
broad roofs
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On of the many corporate giants which distinguished Long Island City (at the start of the last century) was known as Waldes Koh-I-Noor. Located at the corner of Anable Avenue and Creek Street (which is the modern day 27th street and Austell Pl.), the firm was a manufacturer of dress fasteners (snaps, zippers and the like) and was known to produce all sorts of metallic devices- including war munitions, apparently.
from google books
Henry Waldes New York has leased the factory of the Klndel Bed Co Anable Avenue and Creek Street Long Island City NY comprising a four story reinforced concrete structure for the establishment of a new plant for the manufacture of small metal specialties The lease is for a term of years and aggregates $350,000
– photo courtesy google books, from: Queens Borough, New York City, 1910-1920: The Borough of Homes and Industry
A large employer, the building they were housed in is actually a complex of structures which had a rail spar leading to it. Not to be confused with the mechanical pencil manufacturers, or the legendary diamond which the company named itself after, this was an international company which had to end its operations in Europe because of the Nazi witch hunt for members of the Jewish faith.
from google books
STATEMENT OF WALDES & CO INC LONG ISLAND CITY NY The undersigned is the largest manufacturer of snap fasteners in the world and since 1918 have been established in the United States our plant being located at Long Island City NY. The original factory is located at Prague Czechoslovakia which employs about 4,000 men while our American plant now employs from 150 to 200 men Both these factories are equipped with up to date machinery and each one produces the same finely finished metal snap fasteners These fasteners are made either bright finish or enameled Our system of manufacturing and the articles themselves are our own inventions protected by patents by nearly every country.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The structure survives, and like many of the gargantuan factories which distinguish the Long Island City landscape, it has been subdivided amongst several smaller tenants in modernity. Part of the building is used an NYPD impounded property facility, another section is used by a doggy day care company.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From what I’ve been able to discern, the company remained in Waldes family tender for most of the 20th century, and seems to have been dissolved sometime in the latter third. There are literally hundreds of extant patents which were established by both the family and its enormous staff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
References in historic records describe a late in the game shift to tool and die manufacture, no doubt to exploit this catalogue of patents. The Sears catalog business carried several of their milliners supplies, and I’m told that they innovated the all plastic zippers which came into vogue during the second world war and beyond, largely due to metals shortages.
from nytimes.com
Harry K. Waldes, chairman of the board of Waldes Kohinoor Inc. in Long Island City, Queens, died Tuesday in North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, L.I., after suffering a stroke. He was 73 years old and a resident of Great Neck, L.I.
Mr. Waldes became executive vice president of the concern, which manufactures fastening devices and tools, in 1950.
He was named board chairman in 1961.
– photo courtesy google books, from: Queens Borough, New York City, 1910-1920: The Borough of Homes and Industry
Local realtors found it a devilish proposition, selling the large structure well after the golden age of American manufacturing had passed, and it was Pinnacle Realty who came up with the notion of subdividing the structure and leasing it piecemeal. Pinnacle is still a familiar name in LIC realty circles today.
from pinnaclereny.com
As the exclusive agent for the 100 year old Waldes Kohinoor Company located in Long Island City; Gary came up with the concept that the parts are worth more than the whole. Early in the marketing campaign Gary focused on selling the 3 buildings totaling 200,000 sq. ft. plus 50,000 sq.ft. of land to a single developer. He was disappointed with the offers being submitted by developers. However, if the property was sold off as 4 separate parcels millions of dollars in additional proceeds for ownership could be generated. The strategy worked extremely well and the Waldes Kohinoor ownership was very satisfied with the results.
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