Archive for the ‘Manhattan’ Category
granite portal
One step forward, two steps back.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once upon a time, this charming section of Manhattan was home to cattle yards, rendering plants, and an enormous industrial sector which ran on coal. It was described as smokey, stinky, and not very pleasant by the Knickerbockracy. By the time of the Civil War, that had all changed, and this area which came to be called Union Square had begun to gentrify. Shedding itself of dirty or noisome industry is something the folks over in the City have absolutely excelled at over the years. These days, the place drowns in sentiment, seems fairly underutilized, and would benefit from some of the thinking and urban planning which guides the burgeoning shorelines of the East River in Brooklyn and Queens. Have you noticed that there are few buildings around Union Square which are under 20 stories?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Obligation carried one to the Shining City again just last week, for a lunch meeting this time, and I spied this crew of fellows tearing up a substantial chunk of 18th street. They seemed to be having a great time, using esoteric equipment and enjoying a ribald orgy of demolition. When I was a younger and less humble narrator, around the age of 5, my ambition was to drive a bull dozer. It is good to see that, for some, the dreams of childhood did not suffer the brutal euthanasia which mine have. The City people did not seem to notice the crew, presumptively this scene was just another obstacle for them which impeded rushing about and spending. It’s enough to drive one into the arms of a mixologist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Profoundly unpopular, physically repulsive and societally unacceptable, one such as myself desires nothing more than to be included in things. How one wishes that parties such as the one witnessed in today’s post were the sort of thing for which an invitation might be offered. This looks like so much fun, tearing into the concretized firmament with powerful engines of modern design. Long have I been curious about what might lie below, but such obsessions are denied me, and one can only photograph that which occurs in a brightly lit world illumined by the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself, here in the Shining City.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
paternal way
Everybody gets better reception than me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent obligation called for one to leave the blessed hillocks of Astoria and enter the concrete bunkers which underlie the ancient village in order to participate in the “mass transportation” craze onboard an electrical apparatus maintained by the municipality solely for the express purpose of shuttling the human infestation to and from the Shining City of Manhattan. Ghastly chance demanded that one would be forced into transferring between lines, an abhorrent but clearly foreseen happenstance. One such as myself loathes these intervals of transit, and wonders. What else may there be, lurking about in darkened tunnel and subterranean vault, down there?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My business in the Shining City was plain and predictable, taking place onboard a boat full of the scientifically minded who desired a close look at the battered shorelines of New York City. Your humble narrator spent some time humbly narrating, and the rest photographing. The event concluded, and the blaring cacophony of Times Square presented itself. Choked with phantoms and other tourists who have come here hoping to see something happen, this has always been the section of New York City which one such as myself likes to avoid.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back on an aluminum and plastic box, which carries an unknown annual tonnage of primate meat to and from the Shining City, everybody around me was busily interacting with their personal tracking devices. In the name of the black goat of the woods, I never though the day would come that cellular radio frequencies would emanate through the powderized rat feces and clouds of fungal spores down here. This is not a good thing.
- Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
city noises
The tribute in lights, from the harbor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Started off this week with a Working Harbor Committee trip on September the tenth, whereupon we observed the so called Tribute in Lights rising alongside the Freedom Tower (aka one World Trade) from the place of national remembrance and mourning. Here’s what I saw.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
unpeopled and illimitable
A visit to the center of the universe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Times Square, I believe, is likely not just the former physical location of the Garden of Eden but is possibly the exact location where the Big Bang happened (might have been herald square- too close to call). All of reality unfolded out from this spot, when a super massive particle achieved its potential, birthing stars and galaxies and the night sky. Then the area laid relatively fallow for a few billion decades until NYC came along. I have no scientific proof to back this statement up, but it feels kind of right, and in 21st century America belief or a hunch is all you need to claim a belief or statement as a scientific fact.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Magical thinking- “god is on our side” or “don’t worry, it’ll all work out in the end”- is something we are all guilty of at one time or another. It is important, as Americans, that we don’t imagine ourselves as having limitations or being ready to acknowledge any sort of harsh reality. Times Square is, and always has been, all about harsh reality. For generations, it represented the failures of NYC with its open air drug dealing, prostitutes, and unpoliceable violent activity. Today it represents the takeover of the American city by international entertainment franchisees.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What I can describe to you however, is that the underbelly is still present in Times Square- lurking around the service entrances and alleys and sleeping on nearby piers. You don’t see it during the cacophony of the day and evening, lit harshly by neon and led signage, but shamble about the place during the off hours and you’ll soon discover that the old Times Square never went away. Its still here, in this spot where a female Australopithecine bit into an apple and damned us all.
Happy Labor Day
It took a whole lot of labor to build this thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Don’t get sunburned, eat too much, or too drunk today. I got all those things out of the way yesterday, during and after the Tugboat Race on the Hudson.
The Newtown Pentacle 