Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn’
protecting shade
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Much to the chagrin of Our Lady of the Pentacle, an awful lot of time is devoted to “mah research”, and the recent largesse displayed by the NYC Municipal Records folks in allowing online access to their startling photographic collections has consumed an awful lot of my time.
Of particular interest to me, of course, are the historic shots of Newtown Creek and the surrounding communities at various moments in time. Today’s offering is a comparison of modern conditions with historic ones, which in the shots above and below- portray the venerable Grand Street Bridge in both eras from dissimilar but roughly analogous points of view.
My shot is closer to Queens, with the 1903 one below hugging the Bosserts lumber yard on the Brooklyn side.
Here’s the Grand Street bridge in 1903, when it was brand new courtesy NYC Dept. Of Records
Cool, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Metropolitan Avenue Bridge, formerly known as Masters Bridge, from English Kills looking west in modernity, and the precursor of the modern span being constructed in 1904 below (also looking west).
DUMABO in 1904, courtesy NYC Dept. Of Records
Also cool, no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Meeker Avenue Bridge is what it was called when it opened in 1939, and it was renamed as the Kosciuszko Bridge in 1940. My shot is from the middle of the Newtown Creek, while the historic view below is right next to the Phelps Dodge bulkheads on the Queens side.
Here’s the thing in 1939, courtesy NYC Dept. Of Records
– photo by Arthur J. Foley
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Click for details on Mitch Waxman’s
Upcoming walking and boat tours of Newtown Creek
July 8th, 2012- Atlas Obscura Walking Tour- The Insalubrious Valley
(note: there are just a few tickets left for this one)
for July 8th tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
July 22nd, 2012- Working Harbor Committee Newtown Creek Boat Tour
greater remoteness
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past at this, your Newtown Pentacle, your humble narrator came of age in the sun drenched neighborhoods of south eastern Brooklyn. Our nearest neighbors in Queens were in Howard Beach, Jamaica, and of course the Rockaway Peninsula villages of Rockaway and Breezy Point. A significant portion of my wastrel youth was spent riding an apollo 3 speed bicycle along the coastlines of Jamaica Bay and it’s various inlets, as I’ve always been drawn to the water by some primeval urge.
Much of this coastline is administered as “Gateway National Park”, which sounds a lot better than “Horsehead Bay” I guess.
from wikipedia
Gateway National Recreation Area is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) National Recreation Area in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Scattered over Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, New York and Monmouth County, New Jersey, it provides recreational opportunities that are rare for a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping. Ten million people visit Gateway annually.
Gateway was created by the US Congress in 1972 to preserve and protect scarce and/or unique natural, cultural, and recreational resources with relatively convenient access by a high percentage of the nation’s population. It is owned by the United States government and managed by the National Park Service.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you mention a bridge and Flatbush Avenue together in the same sentence, odds are you mean the East River or Brooklyn Bridge. In the context of those of us who hail from Marine Park, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Flatlands, Sheepshead Bay, or Gerritsen Beach- the bridge on Flatbush Avenue we think of first is the “Marine Parkway- Gil Hodges Bridge”, which we always referred to as the Marine Park Bridge.
Seventy five years ago today- on July 3, 1937- this toll bridge was officially opened for traffic.
from wikipedia
The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in New York City (originally Marine Parkway Bridge) is a vertical lift bridge that crosses Rockaway Inlet and connects the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, with Marine Parkway to Floyd Bennett Field, Flatbush Avenue, and the Marine Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. Opened on July 3, 1937, it carries four motor traffic lanes, and a footpath on the western edge. Cyclepaths along both sides of the Parkway connect to the Shore Parkway Greenway and to Flatbush Avenue. The operation of this bridge includes the maintenance of the Marine Parkway from the toll plaza to Jacob Riis Park. Though a city-owned and operated bridge, it connects two parts of Gateway National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park System: Floyd Bennett Field and Jacob Riis Park. The bridge is designated as New York State Route 901B, an unsigned reference route.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a great fishing spot under the bridge, due to a deep water channel dug out during the second world war designed to allow wounded shipping to limp into Mill Basin or Sheepshead Bay after crossing the war torn Atlantic. The cold water flow, and perhaps the light filtering down from the bridge, encourages bluefish and snappers to congregate beneath the structure.
Deep familiarity with the area is part of my DNA, and although I seldom get out there these days- seeing this bridge always makes me think of “home”.
from mta.info
The Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge was opened by the Marine Parkway Authority in 1937 to provide access to the Rockaway Peninsula, which previously could be reached only by ferry or by a circuitous route around the eastern end of Jamaica Bay. When it was built, the bridge’s vertical lift span was the longest in the world. The tapering, curled tops of its towers added a whimsical aspect to the bridge’s design.
The Marine Parkway Authority also built the Jacob Riis Parking Field and cooperated with the city’s Department of Parks in the reconstruction and expansion of Jacob Riis Park. After a series of mergers, the Marine Parkway Authority became part of the Triborough Bridge Authority in 1940.
Today, the land at both ends of the bridge is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. On the Brooklyn side is Floyd Bennett Field and a direct connection to the Shore Parkway and Flatbush Avenue. The Queens side in the Rockaways has seen considerable residential and recreational development since the bridge’s construction.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to official sources “Aymar Embury II, who was also the architect for MTA’s Triborough and Bronx Whitestone Bridges, was the architect. The Chief Engineers were Madigan-Hyland and Emil H. Praeger, and Robinson & Steinman and Waddell & Hardesty were Consulting Engineers“.
Who knew?
Happy 75th birthday, old friend, and enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks on the western horizon tomorrow night.
from nytimes.com
The morning of July 3, 1937, marked the grand opening of the new Marine Parkway Memorial Bridge. With the sun shining and the N.Y.P.D. Police Band ready to play, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, Robert Moses, head of the Marine Parkway Authority and city Parks Commissioner and other officials, were getting ready to embark in a 500-car motorcade to christen the bridge.
There was excitement in the air as the band tuned up from its designated place on the bridge’s elevated lift span and invited guests got into cars on the Brooklyn side of the bridge along Flatbush Avenue for the inaugural ride across the span.
But the first vehicle to cross the bridge did not belong to the mayor or master builder Robert Moses, who helped make the bridge a reality. About 15 minutes before the ceremonies were scheduled to start, the first vehicles to cross the span were three engine companies from Brooklyn; summoned to help put out a five-alarm fire that destroyed two blocks of wooden concession stands along the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk.
antique bridge
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To be seen by so many diminishes me.
Seeking solace, one such as myself can only find succor and peace in those hinterland angles found between neighborhoods- or boroughs. Neither tick nor tock, Brooklyn nor Queens, the concrete devastations found in these places are nepenthe. Often do I find that my steps have carried me in some inexorable and unconscious fashion to the Grand Street Bridge, spanning the lamentable waters of the Newtown Creek itself.
DUGSBO has been calling to me (Down Under the Grand Street Bridge Onramp) again.
from nyc.gov
The bridge is located between Gardner Avenue in Brooklyn and 47th Street in Queens. The Grand Street Bridge is a 69.2m long swing type bridge with a steel truss superstructure. The general appearance of the bridge remains the same as when it was opened in 1903. The bridge provides a channel with a horizontal clearance of 17.7m and a vertical clearance, in the closed position, of 3.0m at MHW and 4.6m at MLW. The bridge structure carries a two-lane two-way vehicular roadway with sidewalks on either side. The roadway width on the bridge is 6.0m and the sidewalks are 1.8m wide. The height restriction is 4.1m. The approach roadways are wider than the bridge roadway. For example, the width of Grand Avenue at the east approach to the bridge (near 47th Street) is 15.11m.
The first bridge on this site, opened in 1875, quickly became dilapidated due to improper maintenance. Its replacement, opened in 1890, was declared by the War Department in 1898 to be “an obstruction to navigation.” Following a thorough study, a plan was adopted in 1899 to improve the bridge and its approaches. The current bridge was opened on February 5, 1903 at a cost of $174,937.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is close to the cartographic end of the actual “Newtown Creek”, although the English Kills tributary slithers forth into Brooklyn and slouches roughly toward Bushwick from this spot. Truncated wetlands, the canalized bulkheads and present shape of the waterway were established by the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 20th century, eradicating any semblance to what the Mespat, Dutch, or English knew the place to look like.
There used to be a nearby island, called Mussel, which the Federal authorities spent no small amount of effort on eradicating from common memory, for instance.
The East Branch, as the water on the eastern side of the Grand Street Bridge is called, continues a short distance and terminates in a complex of sewage infrastructure which underlies Metropolitan Avenue.
from 1920’s Port of New York Annual, courtesy google books
Newtown Creek is a tidal arm of the East River, and forms the boundary between the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York City. The mouth of the creek is nearly opposite 34th Street, Manhattan, and 4 miles northeast from the Battery. Its length is about 4 miles, with width varying from 125 to 200 feet.
About 2.75 miles above its mouth it divides into two branches, termed the East Branch and English Kills, or West Branch. About 4,000 feet above the mouth a tributary, Dutch Kills, 4,450 feet long, enters the creek from the east, and almost directly opposite another tributary, Whale Creek, 2,000 feet long, enters it from the west. Maspeth Creek, 3,550 feet long, branches off to the southward 2.25 miles below the mouth of the creek. Mussel Island, included in the existing project for removal, is situated just above the junction of Maspeth Creek with the main stream. The drainage area embraces about 7 square miles, for the most part densely built up along the banks of the creek.
Previous projects.—The original project was adopted by the river and harbor act of June 14, 1880, and was modified and extended by the river and harbor acts of July 5, 1884, and June 3, 1886. A total of $527,530.58 had been expended on the modified project prior to the adoption of the existing project on March 2, 1919.
The amount spent for new work and maintenance can not be separately stated with accuracy, the division in the early years being intermediate. An approximate estimate is that $401,260.51 were applied to new work and $126,270.07 to maintenance.
Existing project.—This provides for a channel 20 feet deep at mean low water in Newtown Creek, including Dutch Kills, Maspeth Creek, and English Kills, and of the following widths: 250 feet wide at the entrance to Newtown Creek, narrowing to 150 feet, and continuing with this width to the Grand Street Bridge on the East Branch, and thence 125 feet wide to Metropolitan Avenue on said branch, including the removal of Mussel Island; 150 feet wide in English Kills, or West Branch, to the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge across said branch, including the easing of bonds; 100 feet wide for a distance of 2,000 feet up Maspeth Creek; and 75 to 100 feet wide for a distance of 2,800 feet up Dutch Kills, with a turning basin at the head, and for the collection and removal of drift. The total length of channel included in the project is about 25,000 feet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Traffic, of an automotive sort, courses through and defines this locale. On the Brooklyn side, the neighborhood is called East Williamsburg and on the Queens side it’s an ancient community called Maspeth. There used to a light electric rail running through here and across the bridge, which contemporaneous sources referred to as “a streetcar” (trolley to we moderns), along Grand Street. It allowed for expansion of the great human hive in both directions, which allowed workers to get to and from the dark satanic mills of the industrial age.
Today, there’s a city bus which follows an ancient route of cart and horse, later travelled by streetcar and trolley.
Back during the days of industry, however, the preferred methodology for shipping freight was either rail or barge, not inefficient automotive conveyance.
also from nyc.gov
The highest volume Brooklyn-Queens highway was the Kosciuszko Bridge on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, with two-way daily volume of 190,800 vehicles, 32.0% of all traffic on the monitored thoroughfares and 71.4% of Newtown Creek crossings. Belt Parkway (Shore Parkway) was second with 155,600 vehicles per day, 26.1% of the total recorded screenline traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the great shames about the modern era along the Newtown Creek, often remarked upon at this- your Newtown Pentacle, is that so few of the industries based along the water utilize the bulkheaded shorelines lining their properties for their intended purpose.
Instead, the vast majority of stakeholders in the watershed are truck based businesses.
Soot paints the walls, and a bizarre “colour“- not part of any familiar palette or wholesome hue- but instead like something from outer (or perhaps out of) space- stains the vegetation and building stock with a queer sort of iridescence.
from nyc.gov
During the 47 years from 1963 to 2010, daily traffic crossing Newtown Creek increased 66.5%, to 267,100 from 160,400. Volumes increased on all four facilities: Kosciuszko Bridge up 86.7% to 190,800 from 102,200; J.J. Byrne Memorial Bridge up 51.5% to 26,700 from 17,600; Pulaski Bridge up 29.5% to 37,000 from 28,600; Grand Street Bridge up 5.3% to 12,700 from 12,000.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Overheard murmurs, carelessly spoken in my company by the Manhattan elites, have revealed that -as early as 2004 (see page 75)– plans to replace this centenarian structure were being drawn. Statisticians have compiled numerical data, engineers have produced dire reports, and described the need for a newer, wider, and distinctly static vehicle bridge to be installed on this spot. Heavy trucks, the presence of a nearby MTA bus garage, and an ever increasing number of automobiles are cited as causatives.
Personal experience offers that when a city bus or fully loaded truck speeds across the structure, often far in excess of the posted speed limit, the 1903 vintage swing bridge cavitates, trembles, and vibrates tremendously.
from Mayor Low’s Administration in New York at Google Books.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that which flows, lugubrious and languid, below- the kinetics of the Grand Street Bridge dancing in its casements can be quite disconcerting. It is something which one grows used to, however, despite the sure knowledge that when confronting the water and sediments of this part of the Newtown Creek- a single question crowds out all other thoughts in the minds of vehicle borne transient, pedestrian, or casual visitor alike…
Who can guess, all there is, that might be buried down there?
from Annual report of the State Department of Health of New York. 1896, courtesy google books
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Also:
June 23rd, 2012- Atlas Obscura Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The “Obscura Day” Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills tour proved that the efficacy and charms of the Newtown Creek’s least known tributary, with its myriad points of interest, could cause a large group to overlook my various inadequacies and failings. The folks at Atlas Obscura, which is a fantastic website worthy of your attentions (btw), have asked me to repeat the tour on the 23rd of June- also a Saturday.
for June 23rd tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
June 30th, 2012- Working Harbor Committee Kill Van Kull walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My various interests out on the sixth borough, NY Harbor, have brought me into association with the Working Harbor Committee. A member of the group’s Steering Committee- I also serve as the “official” group photographer, am chairman and principal narrator of their annual Newtown Creek Boat Tour, and occasionally speak on the microphone during other tours (mainly the Brooklyn one). This year, the group has branched out into terrestrial explorations to compliment the intense and extant schedule of boat tours, and I’m going to be leading a Kill Van Kull walking tour that should be a lot of fun.
The Kill Van Kull, or tugboat alley as its known to we harbor rats, is a tidal strait that defines the border of Staten Island and New Jersey. A busy and highly industrialized waterfront, Working Harbor’s popular “Hidden Harbor – Newark Bay” boat tours provide water access to the Kill, but what is it like on the landward side?
Starting at the St. George Staten Island Ferry terminal, join WHC Steering Committee member Mitch Waxman for a walk up the Kill Van Kull via Staten Islands Richmond Terrace. You’ll encounter unrivaled views of the maritime traffic on the Kill itself, as well as the hidden past of the maritime communities which line it’s shores. Surprising and historic neighborhoods, an abandoned railway, and tales of prohibition era bootleggers await.
The tour will start at 11, sharp, and you must be on (at least) the 10:30 AM Staten Island Ferry to meet the group at St. George. Again, plan for transportation changes and unexpected weirdness to be revealed to you at MTA.info.
for June 30th tickets, click here for the Working Harbor Committee ticketing page
July 8th, 2012- Atlas Obscura Walking Tour- The Insalubrious Valley
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Creek Alliance historian Mitch Waxman will be leading a walk through the industrial heartlands of New York City, exploring the insalubrious valley of the Newtown Creek.
The currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, and the place where the Industrial Revolution actually happened, provides a dramatic and picturesque setting for this exploration. We’ll be visiting two movable bridges, the still standing remains of an early 19th century highway, and a forgotten tributary of the larger waterway. As we walk along the Newtown Creek and explore the “wrong side of the tracks” – you’ll hear tales of the early chemical industry, “Dead Animal and Night Soil Wharfs”, colonial era heretics and witches and the coming of the railroad. The tour concludes at the famed Clinton Diner in Maspeth- where scenes from the Martin Scorcese movie “Goodfellas” were shot. Lunch at Clinton Diner is included with the ticket.
Details/special instructions.
Meetup at the corner of Grand Street and Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn at 11 a.m. on July 8, 2012. The L train serves a station at Bushwick Avenue and Grand Street, and the Q54 and Q59 bus lines stop nearby as well. Check MTA.info as ongoing weekend construction often causes delays and interruptions. Drivers, it would be wise to leave your vehicle in the vicinity of the Clinton Diner in Maspeth, Queens or near the start of the walk at Grand St. and Morgan Avenue (you can pick up the bus to Brooklyn nearby the Clinton Diner).
Be prepared: We’ll be encountering broken pavement, sometimes heavy truck traffic as we move through a virtual urban desert. Dress and pack appropriately for hiking, closed-toe shoes are highly recommended.
Clinton Diner Menu:
- Cheese burger deluxe
- Grilled chicken over garden salad
- Turkey BLT triple decker sandwich with fries
- Spaghetti with tomato sauce or butter
- Greek salad medium
- Greek Salad wrap with French fries
- Can of soda or 16oz bottle of Poland Spring
for July 8th tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
July 22nd, 2012- Working Harbor Committee Newtown Creek Boat Tour
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Many people know about the environmental issues facing Newtown Creek, but did you know that the Creek was once the busiest waterway in North America, carrying more industrial tonnage than the entire Mississippi River?
You’ll learn much more when Working Harbor Committee’s maritime historians and harbor experts
put it all in context during a Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek Exploration.
The heart of industrial New York, Newtown Creek was home port to hundreds of tugboats (one of which is the historic WO Decker). It was also an international destination for oceangoing ships and a vast intermodal shipping and manufacturing hub that employed hundreds of thousands of people. Forming the border of Brooklyn and Queens for nearly three miles, five great cities grew rich along the Newtown Creek’s bulkheads — Greenpoint, Willamsburg, Bushwick, Long Island City and Manhattan itself. The waterway is still a vital part of the harbor and the Working Harbor Committee (WHC) is proud to present this tour as part of the celebration of their tenth anniversary year.
Mitch Waxman, a member of WHC’s steering committee and the group’s official photographer, also serves with the Newtown Creek Alliance as its group Historian. In addition to working on WHC’s boat tours of the Creek, Mitch offers a regular lineup of popular walking tours, and presents a series of well-attended slideshows for political, governmental, antiquarian, historical and school groups. His website — newtownpentacle.com — chronicles his adventures along the Newtown Creek and in the greater Working Harbor.
He was recently profiled in the NY Times Metro section, check out the article here.
Upcoming tour: Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek Exploration.
On July 22nd, Mitch shares his unique point of view and deep understanding of the past, present and future conditions of the Newtown Creek as the narrator and expedition leader for this years Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek exploration.
Our NY Water Taxi leaves from South Street Seaport at 11 a.m. (sharp) on a three hour tour of the Newtown Creek. From the East River we’ll move into the Newtown Creek where we’ll explore explore vast amounts of maritime infrastructure, see many movable bridges and discover the very heart of the Hidden Harbor.
Limited seating available, get your tickets today.
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Announcement: Newtown Creek Boat Tour- July 22, 2012
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Many people know about the environmental issues facing Newtown Creek, but did you know that the Creek was once the busiest waterway in North America, carrying more industrial tonnage than the entire Mississippi River?
You’ll learn much more when Working Harbor Committee’s maritime historians and harbor experts
put it all in context during a Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek Exploration.
The heart of industrial New York, Newtown Creek was home port to hundreds of tugboats (one of which is the historic WO Decker). It was also an international destination for oceangoing ships and a vast intermodal shipping and manufacturing hub that employed hundreds of thousands of people. Forming the border of Brooklyn and Queens for nearly three miles, five great cities grew rich along the Newtown Creek’s bulkheads — Greenpoint, Willamsburg, Bushwick, Long Island City and Manhattan itself. The waterway is still a vital part of the harbor and the Working Harbor Committee (WHC) is proud to present this tour as part of the celebration of their tenth anniversary year.
Mitch Waxman, a member of WHC’s steering committee and the group’s official photographer, also serves with the Newtown Creek Alliance as its group Historian. In addition to working on WHC’s boat tours of the Creek, Mitch offers a regular lineup of popular walking tours, and presents a series of well-attended slideshows for political, governmental, antiquarian, historical and school groups. His website — newtownpentacle.com — chronicles his adventures along the Newtown Creek and in the greater Working Harbor.
He was recently profiled in the NY Times Metro section, check out the article here.
Upcoming tour: Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek Exploration.
On July 22nd, Mitch shares his unique point of view and deep understanding of the past, present and future conditions of the Newtown Creek as the narrator and expedition leader for this years Hidden Harbor Tours: Newtown Creek exploration.
Our NY Water Taxi leaves from South Street Seaport at 11 a.m. (sharp) on a three hour tour of the Newtown Creek. From the East River we’ll move into the Newtown Creek where we’ll explore explore vast amounts of maritime infrastructure, see many movable bridges and discover the very heart of the Hidden Harbor.
Limited seating available, get your tickets today.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
Also:
June 23rd, 2012- Atlas Obscura Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The “Obscura Day” Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills tour proved that the efficacy and charms of the Newtown Creek’s least known tributary, with its myriad points of interest, could cause a large group to overlook my various inadequacies and failings. The folks at Atlas Obscura, which is a fantastic website worthy of your attentions (btw), have asked me to repeat the tour on the 23rd of June- also a Saturday.
for June 23rd tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
June 30th, 2012- Working Harbor Committee Kill Van Kull walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My various interests out on the sixth borough, NY Harbor, have brought me into association with the Working Harbor Committee. A member of the group’s Steering Committee- I also serve as the “official” group photographer, am chairman and principal narrator of their annual Newtown Creek Boat Tour, and occasionally speak on the microphone during other tours (mainly the Brooklyn one). This year, the group has branched out into terrestrial explorations to compliment the intense and extant schedule of boat tours, and I’m going to be leading a Kill Van Kull walking tour that should be a lot of fun.
The Kill Van Kull, or tugboat alley as its known to we harbor rats, is a tidal strait that defines the border of Staten Island and New Jersey. A busy and highly industrialized waterfront, Working Harbor’s popular “Hidden Harbor – Newark Bay” boat tours provide water access to the Kill, but what is it like on the landward side?
Starting at the St. George Staten Island Ferry terminal, join WHC Steering Committee member Mitch Waxman for a walk up the Kill Van Kull via Staten Islands Richmond Terrace. You’ll encounter unrivaled views of the maritime traffic on the Kill itself, as well as the hidden past of the maritime communities which line it’s shores. Surprising and historic neighborhoods, an abandoned railway, and tales of prohibition era bootleggers await.
The tour will start at 11, sharp, and you must be on (at least) the 10:30 AM Staten Island Ferry to meet the group at St. George. Again, plan for transportation changes and unexpected weirdness to be revealed to you at MTA.info.
for June 30th tickets, click here for the Working Harbor Committee ticketing page
July 8th, 2012- Atlas Obscura Walking Tour- The Insalubrious Valley
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Creek Alliance historian Mitch Waxman will be leading a walk through the industrial heartlands of New York City, exploring the insalubrious valley of the Newtown Creek.
The currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, and the place where the Industrial Revolution actually happened, provides a dramatic and picturesque setting for this exploration. We’ll be visiting two movable bridges, the still standing remains of an early 19th century highway, and a forgotten tributary of the larger waterway. As we walk along the Newtown Creek and explore the “wrong side of the tracks” – you’ll hear tales of the early chemical industry, “Dead Animal and Night Soil Wharfs”, colonial era heretics and witches and the coming of the railroad. The tour concludes at the famed Clinton Diner in Maspeth- where scenes from the Martin Scorcese movie “Goodfellas” were shot. Lunch at Clinton Diner is included with the ticket.
Details/special instructions.
Meetup at the corner of Grand Street and Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn at 11 a.m. on July 8, 2012. The L train serves a station at Bushwick Avenue and Grand Street, and the Q54 and Q59 bus lines stop nearby as well. Check MTA.info as ongoing weekend construction often causes delays and interruptions. Drivers, it would be wise to leave your vehicle in the vicinity of the Clinton Diner in Maspeth, Queens or near the start of the walk at Grand St. and Morgan Avenue (you can pick up the bus to Brooklyn nearby the Clinton Diner).
Be prepared: We’ll be encountering broken pavement, sometimes heavy truck traffic as we move through a virtual urban desert. Dress and pack appropriately for hiking, closed-toe shoes are highly recommended.
Clinton Diner Menu:
- Cheese burger deluxe
- Grilled chicken over garden salad
- Turkey BLT triple decker sandwich with fries
- Spaghetti with tomato sauce or butter
- Greek salad medium
- Greek Salad wrap with French fries
- Can of soda or 16oz bottle of Poland Spring
for July 8th tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
growing ferocity
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As your humble narrator scuttles in palsied manner across the concrete devastations of the Newtown Creek watershed, observations have revealed that a sizable number of Federal employees are now employed and extant upon the water. Early phases of the process which these EPA contractors and supervisory staff are carrying out, they seek an answer to the burning question long offered at this- your Newtown Pentacle, “Who can guess, all there is, that might be buried down there?”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ignorant, and vulnerable to the pernicious rumormongering of area wags, your humble narrator has been attending and has in fact joined the “Newtown Creek CAG” in order to receive reports and breaking news about the progress of these Federal teams sent by the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the morass, stare into the abyss, and perform the field measurements of conditions upon and indeed within the Newtown Creek.
The CAG is intended to serve as a point of interaction between the agency and present community concerns, reactions, and requests or complaints arising from the community to the agency. Additionally, it will attempt to distribute and disseminate information which the EPA desires the public to know and or consider.
To that end, the EPA has made available these two documents:
US EPA’s presentation at the May 21 CAG meeting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Discussion at recent meetings have discussed the concerns of area businesses who have been experiencing difficulty with bank financing, queries about the methodology of epidemiological and health studies to be conducted in surrounding stakeholder communities, and a timeline was presented for the various phases of their mission. A series of laboratory tests, performed upon samples gathered from literally thousands of individual “sites”, are underway.
All summer, you will see these little workboats on the Creek, whose crews will be collecting, sampling, and recording data about the Newtown Creek.
Also:
June 16th, 2012- Newtown Creek Alliance Dutch Kills walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Newtown Creek Alliance has asked that, in my official capacity as group historian, a tour be conducted on the 16th of June- a Saturday. This walk will follow the Dutch Kills tributary, and will include a couple of guest speakers from the Alliance itself, which will provide welcome relief for tour goers from listening to me rattle on about Michael Degnon, Patrick “Battle Ax” Gleason, and a bunch of bridges that no one has ever heard of.
for June 16th tickets, click here for the Newtown Creek Alliance ticketing page
June 23rd, 2012- Atlas Obscura Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Additionally- the “Obscura Day” Thirteen Steps around Dutch Kills tour proved that the efficacy and charms of the Newtown Creek’s least known tributary, with its myriad points of interest, could cause a large group to overlook my various inadequacies and failings. The folks at Atlas Obscura, which is a fantastic website worthy of your attentions (btw), have asked me to repeat the tour on the 23rd of June- also a Saturday.
for June 23rd tickets, click here for the Atlas Obscura ticketing page
June 30th, 2012- Working Harbor Committee Kill Van Kull walk
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My various interests out on the sixth borough, NY Harbor, have brought me into association with the Working Harbor Committee. A member of the group’s Steering Committee- I also serve as the “official” group photographer, am chairman and principal narrator of their annual Newtown Creek Boat Tour, and occasionally speak on the microphone during other tours (mainly the Brooklyn one). This year, the group has branched out into terrestrial explorations to compliment the intense and extant schedule of boat tours, and I’m going to be leading a Kill Van Kull walking tour that should be a lot of fun.
The Kill Van Kull, or tugboat alley as its known to we harbor rats, is a tidal strait that defines the border of Staten Island and New Jersey. A busy and highly industrialized waterfront, Working Harbor’s popular “Hidden Harbor – Newark Bay” boat tours provide water access to the Kill, but what is it like on the landward side?
Starting at the St. George Staten Island Ferry terminal, join WHC Steering Committee member Mitch Waxman for a walk up the Kill Van Kull via Staten Islands Richmond Terrace. You’ll encounter unrivaled views of the maritime traffic on the Kill itself, as well as the hidden past of the maritime communities which line it’s shores. Surprising and historic neighborhoods, an abandoned railway, and tales of prohibition era bootleggers await.
The tour will start at 11, sharp, and you must be on (at least) the 10:30 AM Staten Island Ferry to meet the group at St. George. Again, plan for transportation changes and unexpected weirdness to be revealed to you at MTA.info.
For June 30th tickets, click here for the Working Harbor Committee ticketing page
The Newtown Pentacle 