Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn’
An unexpected birthday
This is a reblog from exactly one year ago, commemorating both the Birthday of the Kosciuszko Bridge and the Night of the Living Dead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh, the old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
Ain’t what she used to be, ain’t what she used to be.
The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be, Many long years ago.
Seventy Four years ago today, the Little Flower cut the ribbon and officially opened the “New Meeker Avenue Bridge” to traffic. The following April in 1940, it was renamed as the Kosciuszko Bridge.
It’s the Night of the Living Dead, by the way. Also, it’s Vulcanalia…
August 23, 1939, image New York City Municipal Archives at nycma.lunaimaging.com
– photo by Arthur J. Foley
According to the Long Island City Star-Journal of August 24th, 1939– the lineup of folks in the shot and action above are described as:
Mayor LaGuardia snips the ribbon which admitted the first autos lo use the lofty new Meeker Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek in Laurel Hill, at the dedication held yesterday at Laurel Hill Plaza. To the right of the mayor is Acting Borough President John J. Halloran of Queens. To his left is Borough President Raymond V. Ingersoll of Brooklyn. Left of Ingersoll is Frederick J. H. Kracke, who was commissioner of Plant and Structures when that department originated plans for the bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
American Bridge Company and Bethlehem Steel worked on her, along with dozens of other contractors. The Big K was part of what was known as “the Regional Plan”, which also provied the pretext for the erection of the Triborough, Whitestone, Marine Parkway and a slew of other bridges across the archipelago.
July 14, 1939, image New York City Municipal Archives at nycma.lunaimaging.com,
– photo by Arthur J. Foley
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Odds are very good that this is her last birthday (wrong again, Mitch), as the “Fast Track” program announced by the Governor will be kick starting the construction of a “Newer Meeker Avenue Bridge”- or perhaps the “Kosciuszko Two”- by the late spring of 2013. She will be gone by 2017, if one were to believe the schedule currently touted by State officials.
June 29, 1939, image New York City Municipal Archives at nycma.lunaimaging.com,
– photo by Joseph Shelderfer
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The historic shots included in this post all link out to the New York City Municipal Archives site, which has famously begun releasing thousands of historic images of the City online. One of the tricks to using the system, I’ve discovered, is knowing what things used to be called. It’s a “streetcar” versus “trolley” kind of thing. We call the former light rail system by the latter name, while those who dwelled in the past used the former.
June 29, 1939, image New York City Municipal Archives at nycma.lunaimaging.com,
– photo by Joseph Shelderfer
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Very little information is available about the construction and planning of the Kosciuszko, but there’s plenty about the New Meeker Avenue Bridge. The Big K was built for two official reasons- first, to provide a link between the multitudes of infinite Brooklyn and the World Fair Grounds in Flushing (Flushing Meadow Corona Park), and secondly to replace the aging swing bridge that spanned Newtown Creek between Meeker Avenue in Brooklyn and Laurel Hill Blvd. in Queens. Unofficially, Robert Moses really wanted to get the Brooklyn Queens Expressway built and this was as good a place as any to start.
August 14, 1939, image New York City Municipal Archives at nycma.lunaimaging.com,
– photo by Arthur J. Foley
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One does look forward to that day in the latter half of this decade, which I seriously doubt will be anything even close to 2017, when the pedestrian lane of the new bridge will be open for inspection. One of the most frustrating parts of the current bridge is that it once sported such a lane for perambulation, but it has long been closed off- thwarting photographic exploitation of the surreal vantage point that it offers.
How I would love to set up a tripod on the Kosciuszko Bridge…
from nydailynews.com
Construction on a new bridge is now expected to begin in spring 2013 — a year ahead of schedule, thanks to $460 million made available for the job by Gov. Cuomo’s New York Work initiative.
The 73-year-old bridge, which carries the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway over the Newtown Creek, qualified for the money in part because it is on the state’s “deficient bridge” list.
The initial phase of construction will build an eastbound lane next to the existing bridge, according to the state Department of Transportation, the agency overseeing the project. The 1.1-mile bridge is expected to be done in 2017 and will cost about $800 million.
When completed, two new spans with a total of nine vehicle lanes and paths for pedestrians and bikes will replace the original structure.
Here’s a rare historic shot- in color- of the mighty span, from the year it was opened, also courtesy New York Municipal Archives
– photo by New York City Municipal Archives
– photo by Mitch Waxman
And just as a reminder, in the name of public good and an abundance of caution- don’t forget about the whole Night of the Living Dead thing- this could be trouble.
from youtube–
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek – Saturday, August 24, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
probable escape
Golly gosh gee!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Greenpointers rejoice on August 19th, for the date brings an important anniversary to the ancient community. For most of its history, the old Dutch village relied on vehicular connections to nearby Williamsburg- or on ferries and other water borne craft- when happenstance demanded they leave its borders. Not so after August 19th, 1933.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Today is the anniversary, the 80th in fact, of the day that the G train was opened- specifically the stretch of the line which connected to Queens and headed up Manhattan Avenue toward Williamsburg and beyond (the beyond was staggered out over the course of the following year). Back then it was called the “GG IND Crosstown Line” and it remains an anachronism as the only subway line that doesn’t service Manhattan (along with a couple of shuttles and the Staten Island Railroad, but they don’t really count).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given the chaotic and contentious situation wrought by damages from Hurricane Sandy and the concurrent schedule of repairs which have shut the line down on the weekends, it might be hard for Greenpointers to greet the line with happy salutation. Nevertheless, an appreciation of the old girl must nevertheless be offered at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
enlarged expeditions
Today’s post wonders what it is that may eternal lie.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maritime Sunday is a time for reflection and appreciation of the working harbor of New York and New Jersey and all the ships at sea, but nagging suspicions that there may be something lurking beneath the surface torment.
Down in the weed choked mud, can there be some form of alien consciousness whose revelation would engender the start of a new dark age? In some subaqueous sepulchre, does some phosphorescent madness wait which may not be dead, but actually lies dreaming instead? The question reduces a humble narrator into a horrible jelly of panic and paranoid fanaticism, frozen with hysterical paralysis at the implications of a dire future suggested by the very idea.
Can anyone perceive that which lies beneath the ocean waves and discern all there is, that might be hidden in the icy darkness?
If there is – trust me, the United States Government is on top of it- and they’ve got the gear.
from wikipedia
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island (including the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn) from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland. In reference to its connection to Long Island Sound, it was once also known as the Sound River. The tidal strait usually reverses flow four times a day.
The strait was formed approximately 11,000 years ago at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation. The distinct change in the shape of the strait between the lower and upper portions is evidence of this glacial activity. The upper portion (from Long Island Sound to Hell Gate), running largely perpendicular to the glacial motion, is wide, meandering, and has deep narrow bays on both banks, scoured out by the glacier’s movement. The lower portion (from Hell Gate to New York Bay) runs north-south, parallel to the glacial motion. It is much narrower, with straight banks. The bays that exist (or existed before being filled in by human activity), are largely wide and shallow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An American Palantír – gaze in wonder upon – the Ship.
It can be said that the ship you see was once a Navy vessel, the USNS Capable. Capable was a Stalwart Class Ocean Surveillance vessel, originally tasked with the collection of acoustic data as part of the anti submarine force. It launched in 1988, had 1,600 HP engines, and was 224 feet long with a 43 foot beam. It left the service in 2004, whereupon it was transferred to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA launched the refitted vessel in 2008, christening it the Okeanos Explorer.
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, “America’s Ship for Ocean Exploration,” is the only federally funded U.S. ship assigned to systematically explore our largely unknown ocean for the purpose of discovery and the advancement of knowledge. Telepresence, using real-time broadband satellite communications, connects the ship and its discoveries live with audiences ashore. Visit the NOAA Marine Operations Center Okeanos Explorer page for operations and crew information.
Since the ship was commissioned on August 13, 2008, the Okeanos Explorer has traveled the globe, exploring the Indonesian ‘Coral Triangle Region;’ benthic environments in the Galápagos; the geology, marine life, and hydrothermal systems of the Mid-Cayman Rise within the Caribbean Sea; and deep-sea habitats and marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Mapping activities along the West and Mid-Atlantic Coasts have furthered our knowledge of these previously unexplored areas, setting the stage for future in-depth exploration activities.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Images and video captured by the Okeanos Explorer suggest vast versimilitude to certain blasphemous paintings of dream landscapes, which were last displayed in the salons of Paris shortly before the second World War, which were said to cause viewers to note strange parallelisms and draw mystified conclusions. Perhaps the ship has already visited that nightmare corpse city (spoken of only in hushed whisper by cultists and madmen alike) in the southern Pacific, found at S. Latitude 47°9′, W. Longitude 126°43′, and have decided to keep their findings private due to an abundance of caution and the desire to protect the world from knowledge of the thing. Who can say?
At any rate, a squamously squirming and loathsomely redolent Maritime Sunday greeting is fearfully offered to the crew of the Okeanos Explorer at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
also from oceanexplorer.noaa.gov
From July to August 2013, a team of scientists and technicians both at-sea and on shore will conduct exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life along the Northeast U.S. Canyons and at Mytilus Seamount, located within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. The 36-day expedition is composed of two cruise ‘legs.’
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
southern slope
Scenes from a short trip up a long Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you may have heard, a body of water called the Newtown Creek provides a visual indicator of the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens for several miles leading back from the East River. An industrial waterway with a troubled past and increasingly bright future, there are several bridges which span its polluted depths, and one of them is the JJ Byrne or Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. It connects the Blissville section of Long Island City in Queens with the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A draw bridge, it is currently receiving a bit of spit and polish.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Great enjoyment is experienced in presenting and narrating the story of Newtown Creek to the curious, most recently while onboard a NY Water Taxi whose use was donated for the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s “City of Water Day” festival, but it really gets in the way of taking photos, which is my one regret.
We see a LOT of cool stuff from the water.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, Lisa Garrison of the Hudson River Fund agreed to come on board as a speaker, and handing her the microphone allowed me to skulk away and grab my camera for an interval. When she started describing several of the cool projects she’s been curating around Newtown Creek (including some of NCA’s tour programming last year, in the name of disclosure), your humble narrator veritably flung himself forward in contemplation of shooting these bridge painting guys at work.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bridge maintenance is another one of those hidden occupations most people don’t know exists, and you seldom get to see what’s going on except from the water. My pals at the North Brooklyn Boat Club see this sort of thing all the time, as they intrepidly ply the troubled waterway in kayak and canoe.
Me, I like boats with motors that stand up and away from the water, but that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to documentation found here and there on the vast interwebs, this project is meant to conclude in September. The bridge is administered by the NYC DOT, was built in 1987, and is 1.3 miles from Newtown Creek’s junction with the East River. This also explains why the bridge has smelled like spray paint lately.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Glittering Realms– Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
peculiar erudition
Neither Tea nor Tiger…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After Richard Croker and the Tammany crew in Manhattan managed to beg, borrow, and steal enough support and patronage in Albany and around the independent municipalities which they successfully consolidated into the City of Greater New York in 1898, they had bills to pay. Tammany paid its way by handing out open ended municipal contracts, and in 1903, one them was called the Grand Street Bridge. The slogans bandied about by the local politicians who were not playing ball with the Manhattan crowd was “Keep the Tiger out of Queens,” or “Neither Tea nor Tiger.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the run up to the consolidation, which was decided by a special election, a banner hung nearby this spot which admonished that were the Tammany crowd to gain control of Queens and Brooklyn they would create a wasteland of noxious industries, cemeteries, and trash heaps here. Back then, it was called Whites Dock, and the swampy wetlands were described as being thick with fish and mussels as late as the 1880’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first bridge here, a wooden drawbridge was erected in 1875, followed by a second wood bridge erected in 1890. The modern day Grand Street Bridge over Newtown Creek was opened in 1903, was built by the King Bridge Co. and is a swing bridge. A swing bridge is s structure that pivots 90 degrees on a mechanical turntable, allowing maritime traffic egress by opening an aperture. Grand Street Bridge is the frontline, the DMZ, of the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 