Archive for the ‘Maspeth’ Category
offhand solution
Easter, a great weekend for probable trespassing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ask any of the Urban Explorer types who have encountered your humble narrator over the years, and they’ll recount my lecture about doing things nice and legal. I still adhere to this philosophy, in general, but when I specifically request access to photograph a site – through proper channels – and my request is ignored… over and over and over… well…
What’s a boy to do? You come to Newtown Creek, and you don’t even invite me over for a coffee? Ok, no more Mr. Nice Guy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First off, your Union employees left the gates wide open on Easter weekend. This is kind of disturbing, but not unusual. One Christmas, some dummy left the gates to the Sunnyside Yard open and unguarded. This is the sort of thing that I know, and y’all don’t, because you live in an office and I live in the street. That’s the BQE back there, and I could have had unchallenged access to its foundations. I’m a good guy, but… what if I wasn’t?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Second, the contractor who’s doing the demo work for y’all really needs to train on addressing dust remediation, which is defined as setting up a hose and a lawn sprinkler in this sort of situation. They never do this at Brownfield sites around Newtown Creek, because they think nobody is watching, but one just needs to smell the “Breeze” to know who the demo contractor at work is.
I’ve been watching them for years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Third, It might be smart to secure spots like this one, wherein the structural integrity of a building has been compromised. Don’t worry, I didn’t enter the site, but there was no reason for me not to other than common sense. There were no safety cones, no signs proscribing proper “PPE,” and certainly no security around. I even yelled out “security” at the top of my lungs. Did y’all capture that on camera?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At your front door, I could have easily slipped inside the job site on a sunny Saturday afternoon – unchallenged. The only thing holding me back from doing so was… well… respect. I never cross a fence line, as I’m like a Vampire, and need to be invited in before I can do my work.
So, the question is this… Are you going to allow me and the readers of this – your Newtown Pentacle – a chance to peer in periodically, or are we just going to play cat and mouse for the next decade? Either way, I’ll get my shots. Up to y’all.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
May 3, 2015 –
DUBPO, Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, a free tour offered as part of Janeswalk 2015, click here for tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
nearly total
Humbug.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Everyone’s got a cool ride, it seems. Your humble narrator would particularly like a somewhat militarized version of the DSNY Earth Mover pictured above. Mine would be painted black, with an illustration of a dragon riding sword chick (wearing boob armor like Red Sonja, natch) dueling with a witch in front of an impossibly large full moon on the scoop. A less dated motif for my earth mover would be to entirely cover it in googly eyes that jiggled about as I drove around and… y’know… moved earth.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This goldenrod VW micro bus hasn’t moved from this spot on 43rd street in Maspeth for at least a couple of months now, and I’m beginning to suspect a Dr. Who sort of thing might be going on. Is this Volkswagen bigger on the inside, despite what I remember about the automotive line’s interior dimensions? What’s odd, actually, is the fact that a brightly colored machine can remain in this location for so long without becoming soiled by the ambient airborne particulates and pollutants which distinguishes this part of the ancient village. The BQE is literally on the next corner, and Newtown Creek is just down the hill.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over on Northern Boulevard, this fellow was spotted providing the motive force required to actuate his ride along the busy thoroughfare. One applauds the desire to become energy independent, but cautions against this sort of thing. Northern Boulevard is an automotive death machine, from the pedestrian point of view, and you are far better off being inside of a giant metal box than without.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
worse because
DUKBO, in Queens, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“The truth of our times, as told in graphic narrative” requires a lot of boots on the ground time, and a lot of that is spent wandering through industrial hinterlands like DUKBO.
Down Under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp, Brooklyn side – was described recently in this space.
The NY State DOT contacted a humble narrator regarding my christening of the water body that has appeared on Gardner Avenue and used to be Cherry Street as “Lake Skanska.” It seems that my assertion that the water was the byproduct of their demolition project was incorrect, and they asked me to share with the readers of this – your Newtown Pentacle – that a broken fire hydrant belonging to the NYC DEP was the culprit behind Lake Skanska.
Today, the shots are from the Queens side of DUKBO.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
43rd street will soon be “used to be 43rd street” when the sweeping changes that the Kosciuszko Bridge replacement project will bring begin. The demolition of the factory buildings currently underway on “used to be Cherry Street” will be replicated here.
The State of New York has already purchased the properties and relocated the corporate entities which have existed in this shadowland angle between Maspeth and Blissville which was once known as Berlin, which were found along 43rd street, which itself was once called “The Shell Road.”
My understanding of the Kosciuszko Bridge plan is that the new structure will be taking a small step to the east of the current 1939 vintage span, hence the “used to be” nomenclature I’ve assigned to both Cherry Street in Brooklyn and 43rd Street here in Maspeth. These little street ends at 55th avenue, and 54th drive, avenue, and road are soon to be “kaput.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ll miss the whimsical stuff here in DUKBO, although I imagine the working guys and Calvary Cemetery will still be quite present when the new bridge is finished. Given the City’s current leanings, of course, it would be just like the Manhattan folks to try and site a few homeless shelters out here after the project is done, especially if they could get the State to pay for the construction. Either that or they’ll invite some real estate industrial complex type to build a condo tower, out here in DUKBO.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
henceforward have
Anniversaries, antichrists, and apocalypse.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Something about the centennial mark of the “fin de siécle” made one think about Mt. Zion cemetery, which is pictured in today’s post. The term refers to the end of the 19th century in its literal interpretation, but broader usage of “fin de siécle” is meant to imply the sense of doom which the late 19th century’s artists and academics expressed. They knew it was coming, the end of the age, an apocalypse.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s interpretation and intuition being offered everywhere online today about the century marker for the First World War’s official start. There’s the version of the story which talks about all the war dead, the one where the United States became “America!!!” because of the conflict, and the chestnut about the decline of the European peninsula from its former status as the center of colonial supremacy. The antichrist appeared in Russia, and he raised a godless rogue state from the ashes of the Tsarist form of government.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I’ve always ascribed to the concept of the “Second Thirty Years War” when describing the state of world affairs between 1914 and 1945, but that period is less “fin de siécle” and more “birth pangs of the modern era,” from our perspective. We know how the story comes out.
The First World War was actually a war of industrial bases when you think about it. Vast international death machines require long logistical supply lines, or so I am told, many of which stretched all the back to my beloved Newtown Creek oddly enough. Given my particular love of the industrial sectors of LIC and Greenpoint surrounding the waterway, which were at their height during WW1, I try to only think of cemeteries when considering the conflict. Keeps me even, and helps hint at why Granpa Alex didn’t ever want to talk about the war.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Things to do
Lots of cool fun coming up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On Monday the 21st of July, your humble narrator will be part of a triad reading H.P. Lovecraft’s “Horror at Red Hook” in Greenwood Cemetery – at night. This is an Atlas Obscura Event, one which I’m pretty excited about participating in. We will actually be entering the mausoleum of the Suydams.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also with Atlas Obscura, the Insalubrious Valley walking tour of Newtown Creek is on my schedule for the 26th of July. This is one of my favorite tours, which starts in East Williamsburg (or Bushwick as it used to be called) and crosses the Newtown Creek into Maspeth. We end up at the Goodfellas Diner, and lunch is included in the ticket price. Tix link at the bottom of this post, below.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 27th, a Sunday, I’ll be out with Brooklyn Brainery checking out the East River and Newtown Creek coastlines of Greenpoint (which also, coincidentally, used to be called Bushwick) on the Glittering Realms tour. Come with? Tix link at the bottom of this post, below.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
There are two Newtown Creek walking tours coming up.
Saturday, July 26th, The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek
With Atlas Obscura, lunch included, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, July 27th, Glittering Realms
With Brooklyn Brainery, lunch included, click here for tickets and more info.
The Newtown Pentacle 