Back on the job…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A reminder is offered today to those interested in spending this Saturday in the company of Mr. Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY.com to follow this link. A photographers dream, this journey will begin at an ancient train station…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…move past a gargantuan railhead with sky flung monuments to a prior age of industrial dominance providing a backdrop…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…and conclude in a pastoral setting on the sunny side of a vast hill. All of this in quite a short distance, with expert narration guaranteed and wry and often pithy observations promised. Your humble narrator will be coming along as well…
For more on the trip, visit this Newtown Pentacle link from a couple of days ago- “Things to do“.
Sorry for the short post, tremendously swamped with detail at the moment, but a major announcement is coming tomorrow.
Bernie
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bernard Ente died this morning. Master photographer, historian, community leader, advocate for Newtown Creek and all things maritime, Bernie is survived by his wife and daughter- who for the time being, ask Bernie’s many friends to abstain from attempts at contacting them. They know and appreciate that you want to reach out, but require some private time during which to come to terms with their loss. As does the entire City, for losing Bernie from our collective community is a body blow.
Bernie was one of the guiding lights at Working Harbor Committee, Newtown Creek Alliance, and one of my very favorite people. His knowledge of the history of New York was second to none, and Bernie was the one who encouraged and nurtured an entire generation of bloggers and photographers to step forward and publish (including your humble narrator).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bernie would call me up late in the evening and ask “So, what are you doing tomorrow?”.
No matter what, I’d say “nothing”, and resolve to clear my schedule or call in sick to work because when Bernie called there was an adventure to be had. Whether it was riding on a Fireboat, or taking a group of tourists on a walking tour of some distant and long forgotten locale, or showing off New York Harbor to a class of inner city kids- it was always an adventure. His sense of humor was legendary, and he was one of the most honest people I’ve ever met- possessed of an incontrovertible sense of “right and wrong”.
More on Bernie will be said in the coming days, but I’m a bit overcome by the loss of my friend at the moment.
Things To Do!!!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mr. Kevin Walsh, supreme and unyielding webmaster of the intrepid Forgotten-NY.com will be teaming up with Richard Melnick of the Greater Astoria Historical Society for a walking tour of Skillman Avenue, a street which begins in Long Island City at 49th avenue and ends in Woodside at Roosevelt Avenue. Your humble narrator will be along for the trip, and has been busy producing the snazzy collateral booklet for the trip, and folks- this one is a visual feast.
Photography enthusiasts will find themselves especially pleased, as will the general antiquarian community, as we move through a fast moving and epic landscape crowded with the sky flung monumental relics of an industrial revolution.
Trace the history of Queens from a civil war era rail road station, stagger through the mighty Degnon Terminal, marvel at the titan Sunnyside Yards, and experience the pastoral glories of entering the Sunnyside- all in under 3 miles on Saturday, April 16th at 11:30AM.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The price of this tour, and one just might think of it as tuition, for time spent with Mr. Walsh and Mr. Melnick often leaves one with the sense of having attended a scholarly dissertation- will be $25. This relative pittance, however, includes the price of an informative and handsome BW booklet written by Mr. Walsh and illustrated with photography whose odd style would be familiar to regular readers of this- your Newtown Pentacle.
The intended route is detailed here, or visit Forgotten-NY’s tour page here.
As mentioned, Mr. Melnick of the Greater Astoria Historical Society will be assisting Mr. Walsh, and has vouchsafed a discount of some 20% for the existing members of his esteemed group, bringing the price to a mere $20.
delicate individual
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Less than 2 weeks ago, I was wandering around in Greenpoint, heading for the street address of Continental Iron Works- the ship yard where the USS Monitor was laid down at West St. between Calyer and Quay near the Bushwick inlet. It was on Greenpoint Avenue when the shot above was stumbled across, close to where Newell crosses (or perhaps crossed) it. The big attractions in this neighborhood are the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, of course, but the acquisition of certain geographic knowledge is critical to several of my irksome studies at the moment (and even if the site has been obliterated in modernity), the efficacy of certain… theories of mine… depends on direct observation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While wandering about, the attention of several itinerant laborers became focused upon me, and although their jocular suggestions about destinations for my camera were titillating, my nervous nature took control over my ambitions for the afternoon and an effort was made to remove myself from their company in the fastest manner possible. The step of a coward is a quick one, but this odd truck trailer was spotted and demanded attention. I’m positive that someone else got this before me, likely Ms. Heather, but for a single moment your humble narrator stood tall to bring you its amusing visage.
…Also, I didn’t know the 7 train ran in Greenpoint…
ruthless conquest
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Terrible in its grandeur, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant dominates the landscape around Greenpoint’s border with Long Island City. The Nature Walk which skirts part of its shoreline with Newtown Creek affords rare and untrammeled access to the industrial waterway, and provides an interesting vantage point to the traveling photographer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All sorts of artistic flourishes adorn the Nature Walk, one of which is pictured above that purports to show the primeval Newtown Creek and the vast meanderings of it’s course. The bottom of the frame represents the East River, and the coiling shape to the left is Dutch Kills. Note that the original course of the waterway was far reaching, and extended far beyond the modern bulkheads. In olden times, this area was referred to as “waste lands” while in modern times we call such territory “coastal wet lands”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still under construction, the section of Whale Creek hidden from view is where the sludge handling docks will be. One can expect the enormous sludge tank at the East River on Commercial Street to be demolished when these are done, and opportunities to photograph the City’s fleet of Sludge Boats up close and personal are sure to abound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Without a hint of irony, this section of the Nature Walk is called the Scent Garden, and it is well stocked with (often indigenous) aromatic plantings. It extends back a few hundred yards, and seems to be the spot where workers at the plant go to on breaks as evinced by cigarette butts and garbage pails full of fast food packaging. Interesting spot, but not so much visually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Across the Newtown Creek on the Queens side is the “big show”. The mouth of Dutch Kills is occluded by a non functioning swing bridge and a static truss bridge. I’ve been told that should the swing bridge need to be opened, it is accomplished by using Tow Trucks of the sort used for heavy vehicles which winch stout steel cables temporarily attached to the structure. Your humble narrator hasn’t observed this himself, so it is hearsay- albeit from a quite reliable source.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Newtown Creek Dock, once the Night Soil and Offal Dock and later the LIRR Manure dock, is currently under a century long lease to SimsMetal. A global player in the recycling trade, Sims is contracted by the DSNY to receive several of the materials they collect for processing and disposal. They shred paper and plastic, shatter glass, and sunder metal.
I can sit and watch this operation go for hours at a time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I would be keen to actually visit Sims, but I’ve been told that this is another one of the VERY dangerous places to be on Newtown Creek. That giant pile of metal that is being sorted used to be automobiles, and the tiny toy dump trucks in the background are actually oversized wreckers. Enormous machines moving at industrial speed, with vast tonnages of metal being shredded? Not a place for a civilian, or so I’m told.
Still…
