Archive for the ‘newtown creek’ Category
sleeping quarters
Hitting the shutter button in Blissville.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having attended a community meeting at Point B (Blissville) the other night, regarding the homeless shelter situation, one decided to scuttle back to Point A (Astoria) and take advantage of the warming climatological conditions photographically. Pictured above is a line in the sand known as the Fairfield Inn, whose owners decided to answer an RFP – Request for Proposal – from the City’s Department of Homeless Services and convert their hotel to a 154 room homeless shelter. The shot is from Van Dam Street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is the inviting street scene here along Van Dam, with its ever present traffic.
Were the City actually serious about its responsibility towards helping the unhoused, officialdom might be looking into finding ways to create, sustain, and expand blue collar employment but that’s not how our Mayor thinks. His current plan is to expand and extend the usage of Homeless Hotels in pursuance of ending their use, which is the same logic that addicts offer when going on a binge the night before entering rehab.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just two blocks away is where Van Dam feeds into the Long Island Expressway. Three blocks in the other direction is the Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Blissville is largely an M1, or heavy manufacturing area, according to City Planning. The shot above was captured directly across the street from the Fairfield Inn.
Inviting, ain’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the enigmatic “Blissville Flatiron” pictured above, an apartment house on Van Dam Street.
One has looked into the history of the flatiron in the past, but never too deeply. I like not knowing something about the Creeklands, and would prefer to preserve the mystery. The only clue to its past is on a concrete panel which reads “S.M. 1916.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My path home to Point A carried me, as always, to Newtown Creek. The shot above looks northwards along the Dutch Kills tributary towards the Hunetrs Point Avenue Bridge.
Upcoming Tours and Events
April 29 – Bushwick-Ridgewood borderline Walking Tour – with Newtown Historical Society.
Join Kevin Walsh and Mitch Waxman as they take us along the border of Brooklyn and Queens, Bushwick and Ridgewood, with stops at English Kills, an historic colonial Dutch home, and all kinds of fun and quirky locations. End with an optional dinner on Myrtle Avenue before heading back to the Myrtle-Wyckoff subway station. Tix are only $5 so reserve your space today!
Tickets and more details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
metal substance
Crispy around the edges, me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last few days have been busy ones, and accordingly, here’s a few shots without too much accompanying folderol or explanations. This last weekend saw me do two tours, a late afternoon walk in LIC on Saturday and the all day 100% Toxic Newtown Creekathon on Sunday. Having walked something close to 18 miles during the last 48 hours, whilst shouting out narration, I’m plain old pooped today.
Pictured above, the Sunnyside Yards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, my colleague from Newtown Creek Alliance – Will Elkins – and I managed to bring the Creekathon to a close yesterday well before it started raining, so there’s that. Unluckily, I haven’t been too busy with the camera this last week due to the cold and wind and rain, so that side of my psyche is quite unfulfilled.
Pictured above, a Thornton Tug on Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking forward to the middle of this week, a humble narrator is. The weather should be on my side, and I’m making a few plans to get out at night with the tripod and night kit.
Pictured above, the instersection of Van Dam Street and 49th avenue in LIC.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
dominar specie
I like a good gizmo, me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A single shot today, of some gizmo spotted along Greenpoint Avenue while I was walking from one thing to another thing. It was installed on the flatbed of a truck trailer, so one presumes that it’s some sort of hydraulic controller, but what do I know about such things?
Tomorrow promises to be the spring day we’ve all been waiting for, why not come on a walking tour of LIC with me and New York Adventure Club? Ticketing link is below.
Upcoming Tours and Events
April 14 – Exploring Long Island City – with NY Adventure Club.
Long Island City is a tale of two cities; one filled with glittering water-front skyscrapers and manicured parks, and the other, a highly active ground transportation & distribution zone vital to the New York economy — which will prevail?
Tickets and more details here.
April 15- Newtown Creekathon – with Newtown Creek Alliance.
That grueling 13 and change mile death march through the bowels of New York City known as the “Newtown Creekathon” will be held on that day, and I’ll be leading the charge as we hit every little corner and section of the waterway. This will be quite an undertaking, last year half the crowd tagged out before we hit the half way point. Have you got what it takes the walk the enitre Newtown Creek?
Click here to reserve a spot on the Creekathon.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
weird cadence
The night time is the Creek time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, one had a City based event to photograph last week and an event in Greenpoint the same evening. At the start of the Greenpoint leg of my day, I apologized to the filmmaker whose work Newtown Creek Alliance was screening that night (as well as my colleagues) as I’d be disappearing for a few minutes while the projector was running.
I’d already seen the film, at a screening held at the Greater Astoria Historic Society last year, and I had permission from the owner of the property where we were doing the event to get down to his bulkheads – which face out on the fabulous Newtown Creek – and crack out a few shots.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A former petrochemical based lubricant mill, found next door to a modern day biofuel depot, the site I was at is in the section of the Newtown Creek which one refers to as “DUGABO” or Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp. That crazy nor’easter had blown through the day before, leaving behind a layer of now rotting snow and slush.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door at the biofuel company, specifically Metro Oil, an articulated tug and fuel barge were tied up and pumping material from the on shore storage tanks into the barge. On the horizon, in the shot above, is Calvary Cemetery in Blissville on the Queens side of Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking roughly northwards, that’s the Long Island Expressway behind Railroad Avenue, with the Sapphire megalith of Long Island City and all the new residential towers surrounding it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Northwest, and the Sims Metal Management facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
West towards the Shining City of Manhattan, past the Allocco Recycling company bulkheads.
Upcoming Tours and Events
Newtown Creekathon – hold the date for me on April 15th.
That grueling 13 and change mile death march through the bowels of New York City known as the “Newtown Creekathon” will be held on that day, and I’ll be leading the charge as we hit every little corner and section of the waterway. This will be quite an undertaking, last year half the crowd tagged out before we hit the half way point. Have you got what it takes the walk the enitre Newtown Creek?
Keep an eye on the NCA events page for more information.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
strange hills
Shots from high over Greenpoint today, and a few things to do!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of last week, which was a doozy incidentally (I actually had to wear a suit and tie one night), one had a chance to head over to Greenpoint and get high. High above the ground, that is. The shot above looks east over some oil industry infrastructure towards the new Kosciuszcko Bridge from the rooftop at 520 Kingsland Avenue. Newtown Creek Alliance, the Audubon Society, and Broadway Stages have created a green roof there that these shots were captured from.
We need a lot of green roofs around the Newtown Creek, lords and ladies. That’s one of the points made over and over in the recently released visioning plan which NCA and Riverkeeper have just released.
Check out the Riverkeeper/Newtown Creek Alliance Visioning Plan,
which can be accessed at this link.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, your Newtown Pentacle focused in on the Blissville section of LIC, but I’m hardly the only person to have fallen in love with the people and place. A fellow named a Hank Linhart has been bitten by the Blissville bug too, and produced a fantastic short film documentary about the place. I met Hank at a screening he did for the movie at the Greater Astoria Historic Society last autumn, and promised him that I’d find a spot to showcase it along the Creek.
So, what are you doing this Thursday on the 22nd of March? Want to come see a movie for free?
Film Screening: Blissville Stories
Thursday, March 22nd, 7:30pm – 520 Kingsland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Please join NCA as we host a screening of “Blissville Stories,” a documentary film about the Queens neighborhood bounded by the Newtown Creek, the Long Island Expressway, and Calvary Cemetery. We will be joined by filmmaker Hank Linhart. More info about the Blissville Stories can be found here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot looks southwest, over the sewer plant towards Manhattan. The middle section of the shot isn’t out of focus, rather you’re looking through jets of methane which are produced by the plant which the NYC DEP burns off. I’ve called it Brooklyn’s invisible flame in the past.
Finally – hold the date for me on April 15th.
That grueling 13 and change mile death march through the bowels of New York City known as the “Newtown Creekathon” will be underway on that day, and I’ll be leading the charge as we hit every little corner and section of the waterway. Keep an eye on the NCA events page for more information.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
