Archive for the ‘Project Firebox’ Category
Project Firebox 18
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Badder than you, this urban survivor owns the corner of Vernon Vlvd. and Queens Plaza South. Scarlet, its backdrop is mighty Queensboro itself, and the mysterious doorway into its tower. Rumored by area wags and historical enthusiasts alike to have once led to elevators and stairways which carried potential passengers to a trolley platform high above on the bridge itself, local legends abound as to the true purpose of the entrance. Who can say?
Project Firebox 17
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hinterlands found along Kingsland Avenue in Brooklyn, as it slouches roughly toward the Kosciuszko Bridge, are a concrete fascination. The locale is typified by guardian canines and hurtling security fences, whose extant borders reveal heavy industry and streets literally collapsing from the concomitant truck traffic they have endured for over a century. This shot dates back to 2007, when I first learned that the FDNY and its masters in the City government consider these alarm boxes a nuisance and I began a dedicated effort to record as many of them as still stand.
Project Firebox 16
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Too seldom consulted and seldom admired, this notable exception to municipal prejudice on Review Avenue provides succor and aid to the long strip of industrial and warehouse buildings which typify the severe declination that leads one to the Newtown Creek, and acts as a watchman over the titan walls of Calvary Cemetery.
note: apologies for missing yesterday and for the non tangential nature of this post, but I’m a little busy with something at the moment. I’ll be back on the stick within a day or so.
Project Firebox 15
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The seldom trammeled but often traversed intersection of Skillman Avenue, 43rd Avenue, and 32nd Place alongside the titan Sunnyside Yard is home to this wounded veteran. Here’s a google maps “street view” shot of it in happier times.
A cursory examination of the nycfire.net forums has at last revealed a discussion of the prevailing logic governing the odd numbering system which codifies the alarm boxes, and discusses why you’ll often see the base and stump of an alarm box left in place years after the actual alarm has been removed. Check it out here.
Project Firebox 14
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This specimen is found at the corner of North 10th and Union Avenue, on the edge of a construction site. Interestingly enough, the recent vogue enjoyed by the construction contracting community for the usage of shiny metal fencing offers many ill lit spots around the old town a perspicuous reflectivity.
walkinginbrooklyn.blogspot.com has a fairly in depth survey of the immediate environs, which can be accessed here.
The Newtown Pentacle 