Archive for the ‘Long Island City’ Category
Archives #017
Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Archives, archives… luckily, I’m fairly prolific and Newtown Pentacle has been updated almost daily since 2009. All of these posts were published on this date in their respective years. As you’re receiving this, my broken ankle has theoretically just been X-rayed, and I’m talking to the Doc about what’s going to happen to me next. Road to recovery, all that…
Back in 2010, this post discussed encountering the tomb of ‘The man who could dodge bullets’ at First Calvary Cemetery.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot of Newtown Creek was gathered with a telephoto lens, from the Empire State Building observation deck – if you’re curious. It’s contextually found in the post linked to just below.
Hurricane Sandy was on its way to NYC in 2012 when this October 29th post was published.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hopefully, the Doc has improved my situation somewhat by the time you’re reading this post.
2018’s October 29th saw this post published, which explores the fact that there are some calendrical dates in the historical record on which profound things just seem to randomly occur throughout the centuries.
Back tomorrow.
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Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Archives #015
Friday

– photo by Mitch Waxman
I miss walking, mainly. This broken ankle business is absolutely no fun at all. Today’s archive posts are plucked from previously published stuff, all of which was made public on this date in their respective years.
This October 25 post was published in 2013, and scuttles about in a section of LIC defined by Skillman Avenue.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
I am not a huge fan of the showrunners at South Street Seaport, but I’ve got a lot of respect for the people who maintain and operate their small fleet of historic vessels.
Back in 2017, this post discussed a Working Harbor Committee get together onboard South Street Seaport’s Wavertree.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every single hole in the fence at Sunnyside Yards which you could fit a camera lens through was catalogued and regularly visited, pretty much for the entirety of the time I lived in Astoria. This was along my walking route back and forth to the creek, after all.
Talking about one of the apertures – which I called ‘hole reliable’ – at Sunnyside Yards is what this 2022 post discusses.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Archives #014
Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with the archives posts today, as a humble narrator ‘keeps on keeping on’ in terms of recovering from a severely broken left ankle. This experience is just no fun whatsoever, I’d mention. The three posts offered today were all published on this date in their respective years.
This post from 2009 delves deeply into a visit to Manhattan’s Grand Lodge of the Freemasons, and was the first of multiple posts describing the experience.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really doubled down on night time photos in 2018 and 2019, and I’d often be observed wandering around Newtown Creek’s concrete devastations in the dark. Miss those times, and my splendid isolation.
This 2018 post sees me ‘freelance philosophifizing’ about the state of the world, which is a string of narrative and reasoning that led ultimately to my final motto in NYC – nothing matters and nobody cares.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
I think that I was attending a Working Harbor Committee meeting before shooting the photos in this post, but that’s a guess. Can’t imagine why I would have been in the theater district otherwise.
In this 2019 post, I reveal the fact that the Times Square subway station sits on top of a subterrene Hellmont to the general citizenry, which accounts for why it’s always so hot down there.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Archive #011
Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Progress continues here in Pittsburgh, as far the recovery from the broken left ankle injury goes. To wit, this is the first of these archive posts that I didn’t have to throw together in a panic on the morning it was meant to publish. What that also means that is that my thought processes are recovering, and the sensory ‘noise’ introduced by the pain transmitting up from the ankle and foot is beginning to fall off a bit. This is being written on Saturday the 19th, btw.
Back in 2009, I was walking over the Pulaski Bridge – spanning the fabulous Newtown Creek – when the bridge opened for maritime traffic, as described in this posting from October 21 of that year. I find this sort of thing exciting.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m hoping to be able to drive again fairly soon. What’s been holding me back is the physical reality of getting down the same flight of stairs that I broke my ankle on, then out the door to the driveway, and finally getting into the car without killing myself or incurring any new injuries. It’s a palaver, every little thing is. Taking a dump requires ten minutes of planning and careful execution just to get into position on the porcelain.
October 21 in 2012 is when this post was published, which discussed a random tugboat that I encountered while out on NY Harbor.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last time I experienced the lack of purpose I do now was during COVID, but at least then I was able to go out at night and walk the deserted sidewalks of the concrete devastations in LIC. No walkie for me for a long while, with long walks not being possible on an even longer timeline. I might have to switch over to bike riding!
This 2020 post ruminated upon getting what you want and not having to act like some boring and ideological ass to achieve it.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Archives #009
Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another broken ankle archive post today. Good news is that I’m sleeping through the night, or at least I have been for the last week or so. It’s still difficult finding a comfortable position for the affected leg, but there we are. I’m just glad not to be on painkillers, to be honest. Nasty stuff.
Back in 2012, which was the year that the Mayan Apocalypse took the form of Hurricane Sandy, this post was offered which offered a description of my visit to the historic Onderdonk House, in Ridgewood on the Brooklyn/Queens border.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wish I could say that I’ve made some good use of all of this time, but agony keeps getting in the way. The skin of my left foot received a great deal of damage during the surgery, which has been the causal agent of a lot of the pain I’m experiencing. Feels like a burn.
I normally like to experiment with the camera, when at home and under controlled conditions, and I suspect that when this post arrived in your inboxes back in 2016 there was likely a weather related reason that I was doing a series of ‘macro tabletop shots’ of oil and water.

– photo by Mitch Waxman
Annoyingly, I had planned on being in NYC and at Newtown Creek as you’re reading this. I had plane tickets and everything. Disappointed, me. I was actually looking forward to standing on Brooklyn again, whereas right now I’m just looking forward to being able to stand on anything again.
Finally, here’s this archive post in from 2018, which laments that LIC is no longer the deserted post industrial wasteland that it used to be.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.




