Archive for the ‘Pickman’ Category
continuous scheme
A thing, encountered, in Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Innocently, one decided to take advantage of the recently favorable atmospherics and engage in a relaxed perambulation of the greater neighborhood here in Western Queens. Measured gait carried a humble narrator in a generally eastern direction, from almond eyed Astoria toward the spicy elevations of Jackson Heights, and soon one found himself on Northern Blvd. and the “carridor.”
That’s where I witnessed the unexpected, the unwelcome, the inconceivable.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Monstrous, this flapping giant was lurking observed on Northern Blvd. in front of one of the many used automobile dealers, for whom the name “Carridor” has been assigned to the section, found along the great road. It was at least two stories tall and animated by an unknown motive force. Malevolent in appearance, the entity filled me with some nameless dread.
Vast physical cowardice, coupled with an uneven constitution, caused ones blood to run icy cold at the mere sight of it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Its movements were a staccato of jerking movements, a sort of rising and falling dance which betrayed a jellyfish like quality. Clearly – this creature bore no endoskeleton, nor external carapace, and it flopped about in the steady breeze – and would occasionally lunge toward pedestrians and passerby.
All reserve cracked, and I soon found myself descending into “one of my spells.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Worried that knowledge of this entity, this untrammeled and unknown thing, might consume my already fragile sanity – a hasty retreat back to Astoria was enacted. Why, oh why, must I leave the safety of my home so often? There are things… squamous, flopping, unnatural things… inhabiting the streets and alleys out there.
Who can guess, all there is, which there might be lurking out there?
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in LIC, Queens and one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Glittering Realms, with Atlas Obscura, on Saturday May 17th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on Sunday May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
blind alley
It’s nice just to be amongst people.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tour schedule is underway again, which has been going pretty well. So far, it’s been a full house on every excursion. Accordingly, your humble narrator has found himself all over the City of Greater New York (avoiding Manhattan whenever possible) and one has been waving the camera around at a vast variety of subjects. As you’re reading this, I’m likely in historic Newtown (aka Elmhurst) searching for certain signs and portents left behind by earlier generations.
I was in South Brooklyn recently, for an opening reception of the “Combined Overflow” show at Proteus Gowanus, which I was invited to hang a few prints in.
from wikipedia
The English loanword “wanderlust” was already extant in the German language dating as far back as Middle High German. The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering that may be traced back to German Romanticism and the German system of apprenticeship (the journeyman), as well as the adolescent custom of the ‘Wanderbird’ seeking unity with Nature.
The term originates from the German words wandern (to hike) and Lust (desire). The term wandern, frequently misused as a false friend, does in fact not mean “to wander”, but “to hike.” Placing the two words together, translated: “enjoyment of hiking”, although it is commonly described as an enjoyment of strolling, roaming about or wandering.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While at Proteus Gowanus, I decided to snap a couple of exposures of the lamentable Gowanus Canal as witnessed from the Union Street Bridge. Call me a “size queen,” but seriously – compared to Newtown Creek – Gowanus seems pretty compact. Attempts to get to know this waterway are being undertaken, as business carries me to South Brooklyn at least once a month these days.
from nyc.gov
The Union Street Bridge is a double leaf Scherzer rolling lift bascule supporting Union Street over the Gowanus Canal in the borough of Brooklyn. The bridge has two vehicular traffic lanes, each approximately 17 feet wide, and two sidewalks, each 6 feet wide. Both traffic lanes carry eastbound traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These two views are from either side of the Union Street bridge, and depict a landscape unfamiliar. On Newtown Creek, I can see through time and tell you about the outlines of long demolished chimneys and mills, whereas here at the Gowanus – I’m just a visiting tourist seeking the vicarious. That’s nice, I tell you. Something to learn about, new rocks to turn over, and a world which I do not know.
from wikipedia
The Gowanus Canal, also known as the Gowanus Creek Canal, is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, geographically on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Connected to Gowanus Bay in Upper New York Bay, the canal borders the neighborhoods of Red Hook and South Brooklyn to the west, Park Slope to the east, and Sunset Park to the south. It is 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long. There are seven bridges over the canal, carrying Union Street, Carroll Street (a landmark), Third Street, Ninth Street, Hamilton Avenue, the Gowanus Expressway and the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in LIC, Queens and one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Glittering Realms, with Atlas Obscura, on Saturday May 17th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on Sunday May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
organic norm
Tug Ireland in DUGABO.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Tug Ireland on Newtown Creek, at the Lukoil Getty bulkhead, nearby the fabulous Tidewater building, alongside the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, in a spot that one refers to as DUGABO. Ireland has been mentioned before at this, your Newtown Pentacle, in the posts “sizable rift” and “thither shouldst.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot is noteworthy simply for the fact that Newtown Creek ain’t what she used to be, maritime traffic wise, and the fact that one seldom sees a Tug tied up anywhere in the harbor. Normally, tugs are like police cars or taxi cabs – existing in a state of perpetual motion while in pursuit of their duties, and any time which a working vessel spends inert and at dock is costing the owner a pile of cash and its crew lost wages.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Can’t tell you what Ireland was up to, tied off in Blissville to the Tidewater building bulkheads. I can tell you that it looked real pretty, bathed in the late afternoon radiance offered by the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself, while bobbing around on the malign surface of a waterway demarcating the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens that is called Newtown Creek.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in LIC, Queens and one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Glittering Realms, with Atlas Obscura, on Saturday May 17th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on Sunday May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
amidst marshes
Now & Then on Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above depicts the scene on Newtown Creek, as witnessed from the site of the Brooklyn side landing of the long dismantled Meeker Avenue or Penny Bridge, as it appeared in March of 2014. This is the very edge of the borough, where Meeker ends its long northward trek across the infinity of Brooklyn at Newtown Creek. Its kind of a forgotten spot, with Blissville in Queens occupying most of the image.
– photo by Percy Loomis Sperr
This shot, found in the collections of the New York Public Library, depicts the same scene back in 1939 from nearly the same spot. The well ensconced oil industry is quite active, as evinced by the abundance of chimneys. Notice that you can’t see Manhattan’s skyline in this one. Could be weather, or the choices made by the photographer, Percy Loomis Sperr. It’s probably because of the pall of smoke, smog, and industrial emissions in which Newtown Creek was famously cloaked during its heyday.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in Queens and one that walks the currently undefended border of the two boroughs.
DUPBO, with Newtown Creek Alliance and MAS Janeswalk, on May 3rd.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
nervous element
Cutting up Queens Blvd. in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bigger and quite a bit badder than the masonry saw witnessed in last week’s posting “dusk comes,” your humble narrator recently spotted a crew on Queens Blvd. creating a street trench using a 155 HP Vermeer CC155 Concrete Cutter. The gizmo uses a giant (84 inches in diameter) wheel, one that sports carbide tipped teeth, to chew into the asphalt and underlying cement of the so called “Boulevard of Death.”
from vermeer.com
Cutting streets for utility installation or pothole repair is no problem for the Vermeer CC155. With the sustained torque output of its Tier II 155 hp/115.6 kW Cummins engine and a microprocessor to manage load control, the CC155 is a smart choice for interstate and highway repair, airport lighting projects, and demolition work.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Quoting my union laborer buddy who lives upstairs, whom I casually mentioned encountering this device to – “Bro, y’know how much time ya save with a trencher? Pssshhhht. (he demonstratively lit a Marlboro Red at this point) Bro, I friggin hate jackhammers, screws up my back every time I use one bro, gotta have a trencher Bro, ya gotta.” One couldn’t help but notice that the signage adorning the traffic bollard which the crew had set about indicated that they were working on a Verizon project, which is presumptively the roll out of FIOS in Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Let’s face it, everything sucks, but nothing outside of government sucks more than Time Warner Cable. That organization represents such a high level of suck that they should be sent to Albany and turned into a branch of State government whose singular mission is “to suck,” and become the official state agency in charge of obfuscation and incompetent management – the OIM. Your humble narrator welcomes anyone who will provide competition to those clowns, even if its “Ma Bell,” and if it means attacking the boulevard of death with a giant saw then so be it.
There are two public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in Queens and one that walks the currently undefended border of the two boroughs.
DUPBO, with Newtown Creek Alliance and MAS Janeswalk, on May 3rd.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on May 18th.
Click here for more info and ticketing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 