Archive for the ‘NY 11101’ Category
sights and glories
Not sure if this thing sucks or blows, but I think that it probably just blows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently at the LIRR Hunters Point station, an esoteric bit of kit, which was boldly labeled as the TC 888 and which bore the branding of something called “ESSCO.” Certainty exists that shortly after hitting “publish” on this post, one of my rail fan pals will leave a comment or send an email describing this device in brain dissolving detail, but your humble narrator is focused simply on a single query.
Does it suck, or does it blow?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To me, it looks like something which really blows.
That’s a jet engine at the wide part of the funnel, and the fuel hatch had writing stenciled on it that advised “Kerosene Only.” Also, a lack if any sort of receptacle for the resultant materials which might be produced by an interval of powerful sucking, nor a visible connection to a feeder mechanism designed to interact with other external equipment, suggests that it probably doesn’t suck at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, this pinkish orange Track Cleaner must in fact blow, and there’s no doubt that the jet engine must be able to blow chunks of trash and other debris from the trackbed. One cannot tell you if Hunters Point was getting blown, or just storing the device temporarily.
Either way, it’s clear that it doesn’t suck, and that its job is to blow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
There are two Newtown Creek walking tours coming up.
Saturday, June 28th, The Poison Cauldron
With Atlas Obscura, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, June 29th, The Insalubrious Valley
With Brooklyn Brainery, lunch included, click here for tickets and more info.
admittedly supercilious
Vampire target #1, Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you ask our local elected officials, or the commander of the local NYPD precinct house, they will deny that hordes of stinking Vampires congregate on Vernon blvd. nearby its intersections with with 45th Road and 45th Avenue in LIC, shortly after sunset. It’s part of their responsibilities, to hide such things from the citizenry.
The war torn intersection on Vernon is where the New York Blood Center’s LIC facility is located, and the plague of vampires drawn to it nightly might just be the reason that the “Bloods” gang is so prevalent in the Queensbridge Houses, just a few blocks away. The Bloods have a bad reputation in the neighborhood, but they are amongst the finest Vampire fighters that Queens has ever produced autochthonously.
from nybloodcenter.org
The coordinated leadership of NYBC’s geographic blood services operations ensures some 2,000 units of blood products are collected each day and distributed to more than 20 million people in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Our National Cord Blood Program at the Howard P. Milstein National Cord Blood Center has distributed cord blood units throughout the U.S. and internationally, with more than 4,900 units shipped to 220-plus transplant centers in 38 countries spanning six continents. World-class researchers at NYBC’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute lead the way in pioneering blood research focused on global health issues, from HIV and hepatitis to malaria and thalassemia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in the day, as it were, it was the Italian Gangsters who did battle with the undead around these parts. Mafioso proficiency in battling the undead is the reason why the Vatican has long tolerated the presence of the Black Hand in Italy, after all, but things have changed and the old guard has given way to the new. Rumors are that the night time security personnel employed by the Blood Center in LIC are all ex military, with a preference given toward those who were assigned to duties in the Philippines (due to the huge Aswang problem which plagues the island nation). Word has it that were their exploits and experiences made public, the nation itself would be shaken to the core.
from greinermaltz.com
Long Island City, NY, May 2, 2005 — New York Blood Center (NYBC), one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit, blood distribution and service organizations has just inked a long-term lease for a 76,000 sq. ft. commercial property in Long Island City, NY.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By vampires, I don’t mean some shimmery Hollywood pretty boys, nor the bizarre Goth subculture encountered in certain Manhattan parlor and clubs. I mean stinking ghasts and objectionable revenants cloaked in the pallid soils of the graveyard, who hang about lonely crossroads and stalk isolated travelers or lonely mendicants. Personally, I spend the twilight hours safely ensconced in Astoria, behind hanging mats of garlic and cruciforms. There’s only so far that famous vibrant diversity of Queens can be embraced, after all, and I for one wish to see the bloodsuckers stay in Manhattan, where they belong.
from nypost.com
New York vampire hunter Joel Martin is A-positive that hundreds of bloodsuckers walk among us, often hanging — right-side up, that is — at downtown watering holes.
“It’s not at all like the ‘Twilight’ movies, but they’re right there in the city,” the Long Island occultist asserted. The downtown Draculas can be found in Gothic-themed bars in SoHo, TriBeCa and Greenwich Village, he said.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
obsequious jackanape
A quick one today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted the other day on Vernon Blvd. in Hunters Point’s tower town. I’m a bit ragged from this weekend’s back to back tours with Atlas Obscura and Brooklyn Brainery, so forgive a humble narrator’s inability to supply a meaningful post today. Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
watching eye
Big rigs of Queens in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned earlier in the week, the Newtown Creek Alliance’s Plank Road project has drawn me over to Maspeth few times in recent weeks, which is always fun for me as your humble narrator is an infrastructure geek who loves taking photos of enormous machines. Luckily, for me, Maspeth’s cup doth runneth over in this department.
This ain’t so lucky for the folks who live in Maspeth, of course, but that’s another story.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s some sort of truck mechanic nearby the Plank Road, or 54th road if you insist on using modern terminology, and one routinely sights the sort of heavily armored and freshly washed rigs like the ones in today’s post parked about. Don’t know much about this business, but these are some of the many, many trucks plying area streets that have caused groups like C.O.M.E.T. (in Queens) and OUTRAGE (in Brooklyn) to organize and demand relief.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The folks at OUTRAGE have clocked as many as 300 trucks of this size moving down nearby Metropolitan Avenue during the morning rush, and the toll they take on area streets is well known. Additionally, the MTA’s Grand Avenue facility a block away is an eventual destination for the entire bus fleet of Brooklyn. Add in the nearby LIE and BQE highways… well you get the idea.
There’s a series of studies out there which attempt to tie this truck traffic to higher rates of asthma in the corridors they travel, but the statistical information could (and has been) just as easily interpreted to damn City operated bus lines as well.
Either way, there’s a lot of traffic moving about, and all the while – the possibilities of rail and barge transport are being ignored.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Some of my friends in Queens get after me about supporting the enhanced usage of the rail system, and they make a good point that I don’t live in Ridgewood/Maspeth/Middle Village where all these trains transit through on their way to the rail depot at Fresh Pond. I do live two blocks away from the Sunnyside Yard, which is the busiest rail interchange in New York City, but I’m told that I apparently don’t know what I’m talking about – which seems to be a recurring theme in my life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This packer truck is over in Long Island City, and was posed so provocatively while illegally parked on the median, that I couldn’t resist adding it in to this post.
There are three public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in Queens and one in Brooklyn and two that walk the currently undefended border of the two boroughs.
Poison Cauldron, with Atlas Obscura, on April 26th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
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.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 