Archive for the ‘Long Island City’ Category
antediluvian plateau
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Passing through Long Island City’s “Tower Town” on the way to the East River Ferry, your humble narrator made a point of shooting some “in progress” shots of ongoing construction. The building at the right of the shot above is going to be a school, and construction on the Hunters Point South project seems to be moving along as well.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last that I heard, there is still an awful lot of plumbing going on. Part of the project, an enormous residential development, will demand the presence of gas mains and water (sanitary, potable supply, and waste water retention and management) infrastructure. From what I’ve been able to observe, this seems to be most of what’s going on here at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One cannot help but feel remorse at the loss of the rail to barge infrastructure and facilities that once operated here, and the loss of such amenities in this more environmentally sensitive modern age.
Of course, now that the East River coastline of Manhattan has been fully converted to residential and recreational usage- where would the rail and barge driven agricultural and manufactured products of Long Island have to go?
bronze lions
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently on the veritable bleeding edge of Astoria and Sunnyside, a humble narrator could barely withstand the amount of reflected light this “cool car” was bathed in. A sunny morning, this Viper GTS and its spectacular detailing nevertheless seemed aglow as if with some otherworldly light.
from wikipedia
The Dodge Viper (renamed ‘SRT Viper’ as of MY 2013) is a V10-powered sports car, manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. Production of the two seat sports car began at New Mack Assembly in 1991 and moved to its current home at Conner Avenue Assembly in October 1995.
Although Chrysler considered ending production because of financial problems, chief executive Sergio Marchionne announced and showed on September 14, 2010 a new model of the Viper for 2012. All Vipers are V10 powered with a manual transmission.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gray, wrinkled, and definitely worse for wear- this sort of car would be a ridiculous thing for one such as myself to be seen in- this is a young mans automobile. It would be ridiculous to see an older person climb out from behind the wheel, although it would require one to afford it.
from caranddriver.com
The Viper GTS/R is a street legal concept race car. Like the non-concept GTS-R race car that was introduced in 1996, the GTS/R concept’s 8.0-liter V-10 engine is dry-sumped and delivers 500 horsepower, 50 more than the standard motor. This concept car is also just over three inches lower than the current GTS coupe, the rear wheels were moved three inches backwards, and the A-pillar was positioned three inches forward. The interior is all-new and constructed largely of clear-coated carbon fiber.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It reminded me for all the world of the sort of plastic model kits which were slaved over in childhood.
Luckily, the folks over at revell.com have a viper model kit on sale for those of us with lesser means and lowered expectations.
bland face
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A lot of this Newtown Creek thing involves going to meetings in Greenpoint- this monitoring committee or that alliance or just some gathering at which an unelected official or designated regulator will speak at. This consumes quite a bit of time, which is amplified in my case, as I walk to the place from Astoria. Not a long walk by any stretch, roughly 3 miles, but sometimes it feels as if I spend all my time walking to and from the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Long have I been intrigued by this little fix a flat building which sits at the cross roads of Greenpoint Avenue, Van Dam St., and Review avenue on the Queens side in Blissville. Run down, it seems to be held together with tape and tacks, but there has always been something about the structure which has caught my eye. “Something” seems significant about it, given its location. Despite efforts at finding that something, it has always remained an enigma. Until now, thanks to the NYC Municipal Archives LUNA website.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot, of the Sobol Brothers SOCONY station at the intersection of Greenpoint and Van Dam, is from August 20, 1930- roughly 82 years ago. SOCONY, of course, stands for Standard Oil Company of New York. Standard used to franchise out filling stations, in the same manner as its modern day incarnation ExxonMobil does. The name SOCONY indicates that the signage went up after 1911 when the Standard Trust was broken up, incidentally.
click here for the giant sharp version of the NYCMA image.
Also, at the ever reliable fultonhistory.com, I found this ad for the company, which seems to have had several locations in Queens.
still quite submerged
This is a reblog of “quite submerged“, originally posted just over a year ago. The whole illness thing is just about conquered, working on catching up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Today, I’m going to be uncharacteristically quiet, it’s all about the pictures. I was dreaming about flying again, in the manner of a super hero, and pulled these shots (some of which you’ve seen in other posts) together.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whenever I can attain some altitude, an attempt is made to record it, especially in the low lying areas of western Queens and North Brooklyn. In this shot, it was the Roosevelt Island Tram which elevated my point of view.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Attempts and entreaties have been made- but so far- nobody in Long Island City has offered me roof or high floor access to shoot from one of the tower buildings. Haven’t asked anyone on Roosevelt Island yet, but the views of Queensboro and the East River must be glorious at night from there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have been to the Ravell Hotel roof, which is in the lower right hand corner of the shot, which offers amazing views of the bridge and whose vantage lines up with the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself for “Manhattanhenge“.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In Long Island City, the industrial zones are typically low lying in character, with few buildings exceeding 4 stories. Extreme reticence has been exhibited by property owners, when approached with requests of photographic access to their roofs or grounds. Insurance liability is the usual reply.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ultimate viewing platform, of course, would be from the Citibank Megalith. Like Odin on his hildskalf, one might observe the entire world from up there, seeing the in the perspective of that thing in its summit which cannot possibly exist and does not think or breathe, yet hungers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From up there, the entire soup bowl of New York Harbor is available for viewing. The megalith is visible from many faraway points in the harbor, and if you can see it- it can see you. On a clear day, the thing in its summit (were it to exist) can see the Narrows and Long Island Sound and Jamaica Bay and the Hudson.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Terrestrial and aquatic vantages have been my only succor in recent months, but an urge to look down from above is upon me, and scry the ancient patterns of life which invisibly govern the present City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Probably why I’m dreaming of flying…
Long Island Zen (reblog)
Reblogged from June of 2009,
Know this spot?
Long Island City -photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a backroad, by LIC standards.
It’s 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street, and it smells heavily from the garbage bins of a commercial fish butcher just up the block on the corner of 23rd street. During the festering heat of the late summer in New York, crossing the street- if not avoiding the block all together- is advisable. Across the street are fallow lots of illegally dumped industrial garbage and the Crows picking it over.
Crows are metal collectors, usually immigrants who have a tradition of “ship-breaking” or “shanty towns” in their country of origin. They see value in what others see as trash.
Metal buyers in Long Island City and especially Greenpoint and East Williamsburg pay, by the pound, for the collected materials. If copper wire is found, the collector is expected to burn off the insulation, despite the toxicity of doing so. Its not the buyers problem, he just wants the commodity. Want to see it in action- hang out on the corner of Greenpoint avenue and Moultrie St. in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This is recycling.
Pretty darn close to 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street- It’s the Circus Train!!! -photo by Mitch Waxman
In 1908, a fire at the nearby Blanchard Building- which housed the works of J.F. Blanchard, makers of fireproof doors and shutters- was started by an inferno at the Pratt & Lambert varnish works next door. The fire soon began to spread and a great crowd watched as groups of firemen tried to battle the out of control blaze. The great fear was that the nearby Columbia Paper Bag company would be set alight, which would provide ample fuel for an inferno that might spread beyond Borden Avenue and to the shores of the Newtown Creek.
There is a Blanchard Building on the site today, and it does seem quite fireproof, although Blanchard is long gone. J.F. Blanchard eventually merged with the John W. Rapp company and became the United States Metal Products Company.
View the Blanchard Building in a google map, clicking streetview- from the LIE- its the large structure with the two billboards.
Blanchard manufactured hollow, sheet-metal, fireproof doors. Their Type A and Type B were endorsed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters in Chicago. Installation of thee doors would reduce fire insurance costs by a significant margin. A major influence on the bottom line here in the dense agglutination of industry here on the Newtown Creek.
Down under the Long Island Expressway- DULIE -photo by Mitch Waxman
51st avenue dead ends at the Long Island Railroad tracks, and what would be 21st street is a pedestrian rail bridge (which Forgotten-Ny once christened “the 21st street Bridge“) that goes over the train tracks and under the Highway, which channels the constant stream of vehicular traffic (some 83,900 cars and trucks a day) flowing east out of the toll plaza at the Midtown Tunnel to the highways threading out through Queens and ultimately to Long Island.
note- this bridge has a lamppost which was one of the ones tagged with “occult” grafiti, as discussed in an earlier post.
LIRR crosses Borden Avenue -photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearby, the 800 pound gorilla crosses Borden Avenue at grade (street level). One of the few places in New York City that the Long Island Rail Road still does so.
These tracks lead between the Hunters Point Avenue station and the Long Island City station, and up until the 1950′s such grade crossings were a constant nuisance and mortal threat to the citizens of Long Island City- here in the Newtown Pentacle.
The Newtown Pentacle 