Archive for the ‘Greenpoint’ Category
Historic Tug at Newtown Creek
Vintage Tugboat at Newtown Creek – photo by Mitch Waxman
A rare opportunity to ride up the Newtown Creek was recently enjoyed by your humble narrator, and on my journey up that maligned cataract I spotted an artifact of New York Harbor’s glorious past sneaking past Hunters Point.
from epa.gov
Blue-claw crabs, bluefish, weakfish, striped bass, and other species inhabit the creek, and fishing and crabbing for human consumption occurs [Ref. 7, pp. 2, 5; 8, p. 11; 21, p. 13; 22, pp. 1-2; 24, p. 143; 52, p. 93; 68, p. 3; 69, p. 1]. Subsistence fishing has been observed in Newtown Creek at Dutch Kills, and crabbing for consumption has been observed at the end of Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn [Ref. 7, p. 5; 21, p. 13; 22, pp. 1-2; 68, p. 3; 69, p. 1]. These locations are both within the zone of contamination for the Newtown Creek site [Figure 2 of this HRS documentation record]. Therefore, Actual Contamination is documented, and the target fishery is evaluated for Actual Human Food Chain Contamination.
the W O Decker at Newtown Creek – photo by Mitch Waxman
Wooden hulled, its spitting steam boilers have long been replaced by modern diesel engines, this little (52 feet long) tugboat is the W O Decker.
also from epa.gov
Beginning in the late 1800s and continuing into the 1930s, Newtown Creek was widened, deepened, and lined with bulkheads to accommodate the growing traffic, leading to the destruction of all its freshwater sources [Ref. 8, p. 10; 12,
p. 52]. During World War II, the government commandeered factories along the creek to make military equipment, such as a factory that made aluminum for fighter planes [Ref. 11, p. 14]. At that time, Newtown Creek was the busiest industrial port in the Northeast, with tanker traffic lining its length [Ref. 7, p. 1; 11, p. 13]. The national highway system built after the war took business away from the nation’s waterways, leading to a rapid decline in the level of industry along Newtown Creek [Ref. 7, pp. 1-2].
the W O Decker passing by the “Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center” – photo by Mitch Waxman
A “historic place” the Decker was originally called the Russell 1 when it was built in 1930 for the Newtown Creek Towing Company, who were specialists in berthing and towing heavy cargo along the crowded and narrow waterway.
from gmdconline.org
The Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC) started in the late 1980s as an innovative intersection of two interests: reclaiming derelict factories in North Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood and sustaining industry and manufacturing in New York City. The organization formally incorporated in 1992.
From its initial purchase and redevelopment of a large facility at 1155 Manhattan Avenue for use by light manufacturers and artisans, GMDC has since expanded and today is the only nonprofit industrial developer in New York City. The organization acquires, develops, and manages industrial real estate that provides small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises with affordable, flexible production space.
In the shot above, The Decker is passing the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – photo by Mitch Waxman
The Decker is currently a high end tour vessel, operated by and out of the South Street Seaport in Manhattan.
from seany.org
The wooden tugboat W.O. Decker was built in Long Island City, Queens in 1930 for the Newtown Creek Towing Company, a firm specializing in berthing ships and barges in the creek that separates Brooklyn and Queens. Originally called the Russell I for the towing company’s owners, she was renamed the W.O. Decker in 1946 after being sold to the Decker family’s Staten Island tugboat firm.
The shield wall of the Shining City, framed by Long Island City on the right and industrial Brooklyn on the left with the Pulaski Bridge just at Horizon – photo by Mitch Waxman
The vessel I was aboard continued on toward the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, but the Decker turned in the narrow part of the Newtown Creek near the confluence of its tributaries Whale Creek and Dutch Kills.
Check out this 1896 article at the NYTimes, which actually interviews the manager of Newtown Creek Towing Company, John Russell, for whom the Decker was originally named.
Our friends at the Working Harbor Committee are actually doing a few tours this summer on the Decker- click here for more
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.
Greenpoint Parade
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Memorial Day weekend was a busy couple of days. In addition to certain bacchanal gatherings here in Astoria, where the flesh of lower animals would be roasted over open flame whilst inebriating beverages were consumed by revelers, your humble narrator was meant to meet up with the redoubtable Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY fame in Brooklyn. Both Mr. Walsh and myself are associates of the Newtown Historical Society, and we have recently produced certain booklets detailing sites and scenes discussed during two tours of the Newtown area- specifically Elmhurst and Woodside.
Keen on the notion of providing such printed collateral to his own venture, I volunteered to meet him in Bushwick and get some photos for an upcoming June 27th tour of the area. I was a bit early, and decided to walk from Astoria to Bushwick, wandering through and about storied Greenpoint for a awhile.
I found a parade, with soldiers, sailors, and several historic vehicles.
from ironandsteelnyctofortbenning.org/
Engine 343 is a 1951 Mack Fire Truck and is engraved with the names of the 343 Firefighters who gave their lives at the World Trade Center on September 11 2001.
and from firefamilytransport.org
THE FDNY FIRE FAMILY TRANSPORT FOUNDATION s a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the well-being of the fire department family; for recognition of the unique sacrifices that firefighters and their families selflessly make for the sake of all; and to honor those sacrifices. The central focus of the Foundation is assisting the families of firefighters in their times of greatest need, in transporting firefighters, family members and department personnel to and from medical institutions both for care and family support. We also are dedicated to the comfort and support of the families of firefighters in their times of bereavement. Our immediate aim is to minimize the negative impact of injuries and fatalities that members of the fire family endure, by providing vehicles and transportation assistance, in conjunction with the Fire Department of the City of New York. On a broader scale, we are dedicated to the good of the community in building awareness of the often-overlooked needs of the fire department family.
The Foundation is all-volunteer, entirely non-profit, and depends on donations of equipment, funds and service to carry out its mission. The Foundation has, through donations, acquired a fleet of vehicles that are commissioned to the Fire Department and are available around the clock to provide transportation services throughout the City of New York and environs. The Foundation also assists fire families in funeral details, tributes and memorials, to preserve the honor of their sacrifices. The Foundation also joins to support other organizations and endeavors in the broader community, in honor of all who serve in the same spirit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The usual military honorifics were in effect, color guard and ROTC, a bagpipe brigade, and several on duty soldiers. There was also a few politicians wandering around, which I of course didn’t realize until I closely examined the images later that night. All in all, it was a pretty festive affair, although the troops looked like they were suffering from standing in formation forced to endure the extreme heat and direct sunlight experienced by New Yorkers that weekend.
There isn’t a whole lot of linkage I can direct you towards to explain the green and black “colorway” of the vintage NYPD patrol car (a Plymouth Fury 2) pictured above. Suffice to say that in 1972, it was decided to drop the traditional green, white, and black scheme and adopt the “white on blue” colors that precede the modern “blue on white” so familiar to us. The whole transition is actually best described by scale model enthusiasts, click here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Everywhere you looked, incidentally, were examples of Brooklyn “characters”. It’s one of the great things about Greenpoint, to me, that its still old Brooklyn- a neighborhood full of wise asses and jokers. On the faces of many a lifetime resident, one can see a map of the world, drawn in over the course of decades.
from wikipedia
Greenpoint was originally inhabited by Keskachauge (Keshaechqueren) Indians, a sub-tribe of the Lenape. Contemporary accounts describe it as remarkably verdant and beautiful, with Jack pine and oak forest, meadows, fresh water creeks and briny marshes. Water fowl and fish were abundant. The name originally referred to a small bluff of land jutting into the East River at what is now the westernmost end of Freeman Street, but eventually came to describe the whole peninsula.
In 1638 the Dutch West India Company negotiated the right to settle Brooklyn from the Lenape. The first recorded European settler of what is now Greenpoint was Dirck Volckertsen (Dutchified from Holgerssøn), a Norwegian immigrant who in 1645 built a one-and-a-half story farmhouse there with the help of two Dutch carpenters. In was in the contemporary Dutch style just west of what is now the intersection of Calyer St. and Franklin Street. There he planted orchards and raised crops, sheep and cattle. He was called Dirck de Noorman by the Dutch colonists of the region, Noorman being the Dutch word for “Norseman” or “Northman.” The creek which ran by his farmhouse became known as Norman Kill (Creek); it ran into a large salt marsh and was later filled in. Volckertsen received title to the land after prevailing in court the year before over a Jan De Pree, who had a rival claim. He initially commuted to his farm by boat and may not have moved into the house full time until after 1655, when the small nearby settlement of Boswyck was established, on the charter of which Volckertsen was listed along with twenty-two other families. Volckertsen’s wife, Christine Vigne, was a Walloon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The enigmatic couple in the shot above are strangers to me, and I apologize for violating this moment between them, but they just seemed to sum up the general mood of the crowd. I’m led to believe that Trashed MC is a motorcycle club which was founded by DSNY sanitation workers.
from flagshipnews.com
Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen supporting Fleet Week New York 2010 gathered in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn to participate in a Memorial Day Veterans Parade hosted by the American Legion St. Stanislaus Post 1771, May 30.
More than 50 Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen marched in the parade.
“It’s an overwhelming feeling of patriotism as a Navy veteran,” said Jim Feith, co-founder of the Greenpoint Memorial Day Veterans Parade. “For us older veterans, who are now 40 – 50 years removed from our time of service, it has never left us.”
The parade was held in honor of the men and women who have made countless sacrifices in defense of our nation.
“It is a great honor,” said Pat Sparano, a World War II Army veteran and the parade’s Grand Marshal. “I thank everybody that arranged this for me, it’s an honor to have been chosen as today’s Grand Marshal.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was on Driggs and Leonard, by the way, and the whole do was taking place on Leonard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Leaving the parade behind and continuing toward Bushwick, I happened across this vintage bus stalled out in the middle of the street around a mile away. The driver of the bus, sitting on an empty bucket nearby, informed me that he had broken down on the way to some parade in Greenpoint, and did I know where the corner of Driggs and Leonard was. He also said that this bus was but one of many relict models that the MTA has hidden away.
this next link takes you to the arcane world of the “foamers” at subchat. A group of railfans, transit workers, and enthusiasts. EVERYTHING- every historical fact, model number, and arcane regulation about nyc transit can be found in their collective hive mind…
this bus is a 1961 GMC 5301 model Fishbowl bus. #1059
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bushwick, and its curious mix of atavist housing and modern possibility awaited, and I had to go meet up with Kevin Walsh in front of some statue. I learned quite a bit, and visited a few places I hadn’t seen since the hot summers of the 1970’s.
You can too, incidentally, on June 27th.
Check out this page at forgotten-ny.com for info on tour pricing and availability– don’t wait too long, FNY keeps their walking tours down to an intimate number, and space fills up fast with rabid forgotten-fans. There is a photographic wonderland in Brooklyn, let Mr. Walsh guide you through a few of your first steps in this forgotten place.
Project Firebox 5
Project Firebox, 1314 – photo by Mitch Waxman
Storied and replete with historical allegories and cautionary tales, Greenpoint in Brooklyn hosts some of New York’s most ancient street furniture. This survivor of the 20th century, I am told by certain reputable experts, would have had a lit globe at its summit when new. Said globe would light to indicate to arriving firefighters where the fire alarm was raised. This is on Provost street, near the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
As it turns out, Provost street is named for one of the original European settlers of Greenpoint:
from nyc-architecture.com
The Praa’s and Volchertsen’s, together, with the Mesorole’s, Calyer’s, Provoost’s, and Bennet’s formed the core of settler farmer families that lived and flourished on the land consisting of Green Point. They and their ancestors would do so for almost 200 years. The fertile land provided enough to supply the needs of the families that toiled on the land, and an abundant excess to trade at nearby markets. Each family kept a large row boat on the river to transport their harvest to the markets downstream in the emerging cities of Williamsburg and Brooklyn, and across the river in New York. Thus, Green Point became a major agricultural center and breadbasket for the area. It’s grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables and livestock made it possible for others to take up other trades in the New World, and contributed to the overall success of the pioneer efforts of that era.
Happy Earth Day
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My heart is calloused, blackened from a lifetime of disappointment and broken promises, one of which is the so called “Earth Day”. Like many of the utopian ideologies which emerged into the body politic during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the disestablishmentarian ethos of “saving the earth” have become corporatized, profitable, and serve as convenient talking points for a political and business class which still dumps battery acid and raw sewage into rivers. They’re working on it, they say.
from wikipedia
On April 22 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, Freeway and expressway revolts, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Feel good programs like municipal recycling and so called organic farming fall apart when you visit Newtown Creek, where reality is impossible to ignore, and is a location that the conversations of former hippies seldom mention. It is psychologically easier to attend a rally in the Shining City of Manhattan’s Central Park, or some concert and street fair plastered with corporate logos which present a vision of zero sacrifice coupled with affluent plenty. The hard realities of pollution, endemic and omnipresent, don’t sound good at cocktail parties.
from earthday.net
Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.
Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The “Establishment” won the war, you see, and oddly enough the great hero of the environmental movement is the last person you’d ever think it is. It’s not Edmund Muskie, Gaylord Nelson, or Ralph Nader who should be celebrated on Earth Day- instead it should be the man who oversaw and implemented the widest and most powerful set of environmental regulations ever implemented in the United States.
The creations of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, and the omnibus National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) were accomplished, funded, and implemented by the very face of the hated “Establishment”- Richard M. Nixon.
from earthdayny.org
Recognizing the importance of reaching youth and engaging them to be effective advocates for their future, we have decided to return to one of the original strategies of Earth Day 1970 – the environmental teach-in.
We are working together with the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers Green Schools Committee and the Green Schools Alliance to create a dynamic and powerful Earth Week for New York City’s next generation of young environmental leaders and innovators.
In order to assist in making the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day special and memorable, we have developed and/or gathered a variety of resources for your use including an environmental speaker’s bureau, films and videos and lesson plans and activities. Many of these resources will also be appropriate for higher education, corporate or non-profit organizations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Don’t get me wrong, things have improved somewhat since 1970- however, 40 years later- the Newtown Creek still pulses with unknown compounds and raw sewage, Big Allis still pumps millions of pounds of carbon into the atmosphere, and the toxic leftovers of the industrial revolution still gurgle through rusting and deeply buried pipelines just below the surface.
Just forget about that though, as you sort your trash and worry about impossible and poorly understood issues like climate change. Don’t mention anything that might disrupt the party line, as the hippies are now elderly and we wouldn’t want to upset them as they drink their fine wines and satisfy their “sense of themselves”. Don’t remind them that they elected Reagan.
Environmentalism is a marketing strategy now, so just enjoy those free trade, sustainable, and organic products you all love- secure in the knowledge that corporate america always has your best interests in mind and is focused on long term solutions.
from nytimes.com
So strong was the antibusiness sentiment for the first Earth Day in 1970 that organizers took no money from corporations and held teach-ins “to challenge corporate and government leaders.”
Forty years later, the day has turned into a premier marketing platform for selling a variety of goods and services, like office products, Greek yogurt and eco-dentistry.
The Newtown Pentacle 