Archive for the ‘Long Island City’ Category
wildly luminous
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In yesterday’s posting, a object d’art was found along Laurel Hill Blvd. At the foot of that ancient byway lies an intersection with Greenpoint Avenue, and the bridge named for it. The street lamps are often utilized by your humble narrator as “something to hide from oncoming traffic behind” and recently I’ve noticed some odd graffiti popping up on them.
Not your usual “gangsta” braggadocio or “tags” nor “ironic hipster commentary”, these involve the bible.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scrawl I’m referring to on this pole, which is on the western corner, is not the interesting tidbit about people of Korean abstraction which is written on the masking tape holding the pen- instead it’s the “Sin is the Devil” which caught my attention.
In the American King James version, at least, this correlates to 1 John 3:8
“He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Hmm.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maybe I’m just stupid, but Psalms 141.6 doesn’t include the quotation above, which most likely comes from “Romans 5:13- For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
The Psalms quotation would be “Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken“.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
DUGABO (or Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp), it would seem, can now boast of hosting a foe of evil.
Wonder what might happen should they spy the Blissville Banshee as she floats down the Newtown Creek, spy the occultists who make altars in area cemeteries, or wonder at the tales of an antique and quite spectral locomotive passing the Bliss Tower on its way to Deadman’s Curve at Berlin Hill?
Would we see an exorcism in DUGABO?
ALSO, this Friday:
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
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.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
sober and solitary
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The other day, your humble narrator was seeking adventure and illumination amongst the mouldering tombstones and oil soaked sands of Blissville. This is an industrial stretch, closer to DUGABO than it is to DUKBO, with the cyclopean walls of Calvary Cemetery defining the northern side of the street and an unbroken facade of industrial buildings and warehouses on the the south, which is also the direction in which the fabled Newtown Creek might be found by those that seek it out.
This is formerly one of the most loathsome stretches of the Creeklands- home to oil works, distilleries, and fat rendering plants.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the gates of what was once the vast rendering plant of Van Iderstines, a noxious industrial combine which was reviled by its neighbors during the century it squatted squamously upon this spot, this artwork was observed. This was no mere graffiti scrawl, instead this was an affixed installation, one which was obviously prepared elsewhere.
Content and subject matter are curious… and more than curious…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator grew interested upon noticing the presence of the double helix in the design, and the labeling which is meant to indicate the various amino acids which DNA is composed of. The “genetic code” as it is called, is actually represented by just four letters representing the chemical nucleotides which form the “double helix”- G,A,T, and C.
The four bases found in DNA are adenine (abbreviated A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A secondary piece was hung nearby, this one showed greater restraint than the first, but absent the chaotic charisma of the first.
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if the fences and gated properties of the Newtown Creek waterfront became a sort of guerrilla gallery for local artists. Imagine mile after mile of bizarre conceptions and twee fever dreams installed in the dead of night by a virtual and quite fey army of artists. Not “tagging”, of course, just tacking up something on paper whose impermanence was part of its very composition. Do the art on rice paper or something that will just turn to pulp when it rains.
A friend of mine once did an ad agency mailing for some “green” client, and her gimmick was to use paper into which flower seeds were embedded at the paper mill (and it was printed using soy inks, of course), and you were meant to just plant the advertisement in a pot after reading it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Being the sort of damaged individual that you’ve come to expect me to be, Lords and Ladies, an attempt was made to decode this particular painting. It soon became apparent that expertise in organic chemistry would be required to profoundly critique it, something which it would be foolhardy to attempt. A cursory scan of the various formulae revealed that some of these are indeed actual chemical descriptors for amongst other things- restriction enzymes.
The usage of the infinity symbol and the other text is a mystery to me, but overall I liked the art.
ALSO, this Friday:
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
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.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
guarded inquiries
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are lots and lots of Newtown Creek oriented things going on in the next week or two. Tonight is a meeting of the Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee which will be in Greenpoint at the estimable Newtown Creek Wastewater Wastewater Treatment Plant. Details are below.
What: Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee DEP Meeting
When: February 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, 329 Greenpoint Ave. (not in the visitor’s center, ask at the guard box)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More details on the event listed below can be found at the Newtown Creek Alliance website, but this will be a joint DEP/DEC show which is aimed at (and I quote):
As part of development of a water quality improvement plan for Newtown Creek, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are holding a public meeting to present information and obtain public input. NYSDEC and DEP want to consider and, as appropriate, include comments from the public in the Newtown Creek Watershed/Waterbody Facility Plan (WWFP) before it is finalized. A WWFP is the initial step in the process toward achieving water quality goals for Newtown Creek. Following final WWFP approvals, DEP will commence the Long Term Control Plan for Newtown Creek.
What: DEP/DEC meeting on the Newtown Creek Watershed/Waterbody Facility Plan
When: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Where: The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility Visitor Center 329 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222. Enter at the intersection of Greenpoint Avenue and Humboldt Street
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
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.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lastly, the keen intellect of the Newtown Creek Alliance’s leadership will be on display, as they emerge from that hidden base maintained by the group somewhere in the vast watershed- I’m not allowed to say where it is, nor could I- as I’ve been blindfolded every time that I’ve been brought there. This will be a public meeting, wherein the status of ongoing projects will be explored and presented cogently.
What: Newtown Creek Alliance Public Meeting
When: Monday, Feb 27 at 6pm
Where: LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 E500 (E Building) Directions and map
contradictory desire
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The organization which owns this hoary structure, found at 41-05 Newtown Road amidst the trackless sands of Astoria, is a local Democratic club which boasts an influential and famous list of members and associates.
My understanding is that Peter Vallone is associated with the group, which makes it a frequent target for vandals and graffiti artists (Mr. Vallone of the New York City Council is an outspoken critic of graffiti and has legislated heavily to increase fines and legal penalties for “writers”. In doing so, he has become a target and foil for proponents of “street art”. Locales that he is associated with, such as the area around his offices or this building, are frequently “bombed” with graffiti tags).
That’s local politics, of course, and your humble narrator is aloof about such things, as I’m mainly interested in this two story structure which seems “stuck in time”.
from wikipedia
Chief Powhatan (died 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (sometimes spelled Wahunsonacock), was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607. Powhatan, who represented the main political and military power facing the early colonists, was the father of Pocahontas and probably the older brother of Opechancanough, who led attacks against the English in 1622 and 1644.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 2nd story windows look modern- energy efficient vinyl sashes, but everything else about this place harkens back to the early 20th century. I’ve been told by old timers that a lot of the building stock in Astoria and Long Island City on the whole used to look like this except, obviously, for the sign. Information is fairly scarce on the group or structure in the public record, other than the usual “food drives“, “charities”, “voter registration”- political mainstays that all such organizations put on their resume’s.
In the case of this group, however, I’ve found references to them that date back to the days of Mayor Seth Low.
from qgazette.com
Since its founding in 1900, the Powhatan-Pocahontas Regular Democratic Club has served and represented Democrats in Western Queens, promoting the political development and awareness of local residents while fighting for the needs of the voters it serves…
It is one of the oldest political organizations in the nation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Notice the neat herringbone brickwork on the cornices, and those crazy lights meant to illuminate the sign. Wish I could tell you more, or reveal some deeply hidden political secret about the place, but as mentioned earlier- that’s not my bag. Go ask a politician or wannabe aspirant, they can probably hand you a list of sins and accomplishments a mile long.
According to the Department of Buildings (whose records on anything outside of Manhattan are absolute crap, btw.) this structure was either erected in 1909 or 1921. 1921 would make more sense given the age of surrounding building stock (which includes an amazing block of double sided Matthews Model Flats) and the arrival of the subways on nearby Broadway ca. 1922.
Also:
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.
maternal ancestry
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Old world mysteries, primeval prejudices, and certain racial memories which might lead one back to those days before Rome put its torch to the world are extant in Western Queens. Here amongst the seething hills of noble Astoria, one may ask and sometimes receive an answer to questions about certain bizarre conceptions and hear rumors of supernatural forces run amok.
The Cretan might tell you about the Kallikantzaros which followed them here, or the Egyptian might share with you tales about those things which lurk just beyond the village.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Stout Croat and Romani alike shudder at the mention of Strigoi having entered the area, and the Mexican and Ecuadorean communities close ranks when questioned about the power of the Brujas who have followed their people here. The imitative hipster finds sanguine amusement at the notion of hauntings that have plagued certain buildings, apartment houses, and riverside spots for generations- chalking up these stories to quaint superstition and ironic interpretation.
Even the Museum of the Moving Image is meant to host a spectral resident, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Buddhist invocations, Hindu mysticism, Brazilian peasant magicks- the hidden arts of Imam and Priest- these things are never discussed by area wags.
Many fear that such talk might reduce property value and cause new residents to choose other and less ancient locales in which to rent or buy real estate. It is when night comes to the ancient Dutch village that the odd things become obvious, begin to happen, and the later it gets the wilder things might become.
Also:
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 