Archive for the ‘NY 11222’ Category
southern slope
Scenes from a short trip up a long Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you may have heard, a body of water called the Newtown Creek provides a visual indicator of the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens for several miles leading back from the East River. An industrial waterway with a troubled past and increasingly bright future, there are several bridges which span its polluted depths, and one of them is the JJ Byrne or Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. It connects the Blissville section of Long Island City in Queens with the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A draw bridge, it is currently receiving a bit of spit and polish.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Great enjoyment is experienced in presenting and narrating the story of Newtown Creek to the curious, most recently while onboard a NY Water Taxi whose use was donated for the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s “City of Water Day” festival, but it really gets in the way of taking photos, which is my one regret.
We see a LOT of cool stuff from the water.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, Lisa Garrison of the Hudson River Fund agreed to come on board as a speaker, and handing her the microphone allowed me to skulk away and grab my camera for an interval. When she started describing several of the cool projects she’s been curating around Newtown Creek (including some of NCA’s tour programming last year, in the name of disclosure), your humble narrator veritably flung himself forward in contemplation of shooting these bridge painting guys at work.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bridge maintenance is another one of those hidden occupations most people don’t know exists, and you seldom get to see what’s going on except from the water. My pals at the North Brooklyn Boat Club see this sort of thing all the time, as they intrepidly ply the troubled waterway in kayak and canoe.
Me, I like boats with motors that stand up and away from the water, but that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to documentation found here and there on the vast interwebs, this project is meant to conclude in September. The bridge is administered by the NYC DOT, was built in 1987, and is 1.3 miles from Newtown Creek’s junction with the East River. This also explains why the bridge has smelled like spray paint lately.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Glittering Realms– Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Project Firebox 77
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a busy corner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that this alarm box offers coverage to. During the era in which the modern City was formed, and these alarm boxes installed, telephones were a luxury item enjoyed only by the rich. Common folk would hand out the phone number of a church, bar, or shop to friends and associates. The phone would ring and one of the throngs of kids playing in the gutter would be dispatched to find the intended party and draw them to the phone. Fire service was deemed too important to rely on such a complicated and third party laden scheme, and the alarm boxes were installed by the FDNY. The modern government of the City would like to see this system uprooted, claiming that since “everyone” has a cell phone with access to 911, why shoulder the expense?
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– TODAY, Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
decreasing confidence
Today’s post is about enormous things hidden in the mist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering around during a recent spate of gray skies, your humble narrator found himself staring at the familiar geometries of Whale Creek at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Still, rainy days lend a surreal quality to the Newtown Creek and its tributaries. Alongside the futurist architecture and ongoing construction of the great sewer mill, it is impossible for one such as myself not to record such otherworldly scenery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is a strange compulsion, recording everything one might see. Some tell me that I hide behind the camera, comfortably isolated from interaction with others- which is always a painful and embarrassing experience fraught with unknown possibility and consequence. Thing is, look at the things which I see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Deep regret exists in me that so many experiences over the years were not recorded in the manner that I employ these days. Places, people, experiences relegated to hazy memory and the dimness of time. Without a photo of some thing or event as evidence, how can you honestly say it happened?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Project Firebox 72
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Found nearby McCarren Park in benighted Greenpoint, this scarlet centurion has been reduced to life as a medium for neighborhood advertisements and is laden with missives. No matter the indignity, it stands its post, awaiting the moment.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
slowly onward
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently in the wilds of Greenpoint, a Checker Cab. For those of you who came to NYC late in the game, these taxis were as iconic as the Empire State Building or Tugboats “back in the day.” There’s always a few Checkers in Greenpoint, repurposed as hotel limousines by the Box Hotel in DUPBO (Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp). This model appears clad in stickers and vehicle wrap that seems authentic, and the color is spot on. Only thing missing is the smell of vomit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It has been mentioned in the past that this “future” of ours, life lived in the 21st century, is kind of a let down for me. As a child, I was sold on lots of conceptual technologies (I will admit that we’ve gotten the pocket sized personal computer network consoles) which have never materialized. Moving sidewalks, domed cities, jet packs- that sort of stuff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Instead, we just seem to have a lot more cars zipping around, carrying people back and forth to a lot of unimaginatively shiny buildings, and a single orange can cost you as much as a dollar in Manhattan. Necessary evil, I suppose, these automobiles of ours. People to see, places to go and all that. One wonders, however…
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 