Posts Tagged ‘Hunters Point’
dromedary men
A ladder to heaven in Hunters Point.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past, the East River ferry is a boon to one such as myself, as it allows for the preclusion of entering the subway system. As much as I enjoy entering a sweltering concrete bunker and being painted with pneumatically driven clouds of dried sewage and powderized rodent dung, a humble narrator will literally find any other possible way of getting around than the using the underground.
Seriously, who can guess- all there is- that might be buried down there?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Arriving in ancient Hunters Point one recent day, I was greeted with the tableau depicted in today’s shots. It would seem that yet another bit of construction equipment is being prepared for duty, this time in front of the LIC Crab House on Borden Avenue at the corner of 2nd street. The new school, which is the gray wall you’ll notice in some of these shots, is nearly complete. The Hunters Point South project, on the other hand, is just getting started, as evinced by the looming construct being assembled.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I’ve always preferred deeply buried bunkers for their stolidity and dank charm, but it seems to be a deeply ingrained desire of city dwellers to achieve some sort of altitude over the hive. Taken to extremes, this results in twenty and thirty story residential buildings which house hundreds. One is reminded of the dystopia depicted in the “Judge Dredd” comics wherein whole neighborhoods are housed beneath one roof in a building 2-300 stories tall, one of millions of such structures found in “Mega City One.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The crane constructing the crane was enormous, incidentally, towering over the former Miller Hotel (nowadays the LIC Crab House) where Battle Axe Gleason would sit in a barber chair and greet those who debarked from the LIRR ferry. Gleason was the last mayor of Long Island City, a reputed scoundrel, and his private offices were just around the corner.
Just for the sake of pedantry, the self propelled yellow crane is of the “telescopic” variety and the unit being assembled is a tower crane.
“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.
Modern Corridor
Want to see something cool? Bring a camera, and follow me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I decided to start doing walking tours of the Newtown Creek watershed a few years ago, I found myself presented with a significant organizational issue. There’s a different story to be told about Maspeth than there is about Greenpoint (also, there are arguably two Greenpoints), yet… the two communities are inextricably linked up. Same thing with Bushwick and Ridgewood, or the residential centers at the Creek’s intersection with the East River. 3.8 miles long by around a mile wide, the Creeklands are vast when on foot. There is also SO much information to pass along, not just about the Creek’s past, but about all the stuff that’s going on right now- EPA, Superfund, the cool things my pals in NCA are doing with Green Infrastructure and Citizen Science…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My solution was to simply to connect the stories of these places up along the ancient roads or paths along which they grew, and follow the water from one borough to another. “Poison Cauldron” does the Greenpoint to Bushwick route, “Insalubrious Valley” follows a colonial era turnpike path, “Glittering Realms” moves from residential East River Greenpoint back to the industrial zone along another colonial pathway, and “13 Steps around Dutch Kills” traces the Queens tributary back to the Creek and ends at its smaller counterpart Whale Creek in Brooklyn.
The new one- “Modern Corridor”- is all about Hunters Point, one of the least known sections of New York City, which sits directly opposite the Shining City of midtown Manhattan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This “Modern Corridor” walking tour starts at the old city center, nearby Jackson Avenue and Court Square, and explores the brave new world rising from the ashes of a 19th century industrial titan- the independent municipality of Long Island City. Writ large, the growing community of the titan real estate development which has reshaped the colonial vintage section of Queens called Hunters Point will be encountered, and one of the finest parks in the entire city visited. This park is built upon a significant piece of rail infrastructure which once allowed train cars to be loaded onto barges for maritime transport to Manhattan and points west.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Then we walk through to the proverbial wrong side of the tracks, and to the industrial machine surrounding the infamous Newtown Creek. Former home to sugar refineries and cargo docks, rail yards and powerhouses, this will be the future home of thousands who will live in the forthcoming Hunters Point South development which has already begun construction. See it as it is, before the towers rise and the land is reshaped to modern wants and desires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skirting along the Creek, you’ll see vast infrastructure, visit DUPBO (Down under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp), and walk over railroad tracks as we head back to the modern incarnation of Long Island City. Bring your cameras, as your friends won’t believe you when you try to describe the places you’ve witnessed. Closed toe shoes are also highly recommended, as is a hat or parasol as there will be little to no shelter from the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself. The walk will be approximately 2 hours in length and will cross all sorts of ground. There will be one flight of stairs involved.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We’ll be passing from the 21st century all the way back to the 1600’s with particular emphasis on the late 19th century, when the fellow pictured above- the notorious Patrick “Battle-Ax” Gleason, served as the last Mayor of Long Island City. Gleason was personally responsible for the construction of the exquisite PS1 schoolhouse pictured in the second shot above, which nearly bankrupted LIC- amongst other imbroglios. Dogged by claims and accusations (and at least one conviction) of corruption- Gleason used to sit in a barber chair outside the Miller Hotel- which is today the LIC Crab House- and hold court with constituent and passerby alike. This was his favorite spot, directly across the street from the LIRR train and ferry terminal. He told those he met to avoid addressing him as “Mayor”, instructing them instead to “Just call me Paddy.”
Hope you can come along, this Saturday at 10- meetup at Court Square Station on Jackson Avenue.
illusion brought
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cloudy days and colorless nights are all that one such as myself can look forward to, and it is only within the wasted devastations of the Newtown Creek where memories of succor and happiness might be found.
In such a spot, and for several months in fact, these trailers of automotive tires have been sitting. Seemingly abandoned, one knows not the purpose of their corporeal presence at the Vernon Street End here in Long Island City, but given the long history of dumping in the area- one presumes their status as circumspect. It should be mentioned that the trailers have license plates and identifying marks, which is unusual for such scenarios.
from wikipedia
Tire stockpiles create a great health and safety risk. Tire fires can occur easily, burning for months, creating substantial pollution in the air and ground. Recycling helps to reduce the number of tires in storage. An additional health risk, tire piles provide harborage for vermin and a breeding ground for mosquitoes that may carry diseases. Illegal dumping of scrap tires pollutes ravines, woods, deserts, and empty lots; which has led many states to pass scrap tire regulations requiring proper management. Tire amnesty day events, in which community members can deposit a limited number of waste tires free of charge, can be funded by state scrap tire programs, helping decrease illegal dumping and improper storage of scrap tires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Four of these trailers have been here since at least late January. You can see them in the background of this shot from the 22nd day of 2013.
At various intervals, the doors of more than one of these trailers have hung open before me, and they are all full of tires. Mayhaps there is some legitimate and wholesome purpose for their presence, which is beyond my reckoning.
It’s not as if 4 seemingly abandoned trailers, parked in proximity to the Buckeye Pipeline and directly over the G train tunnel (and within throwing distance of a rail yard and the Midtown Tunnel) would be noticed or investigated by the same security and law enforcement personnel who will regularly inquire “what are you taking pictures of” of me from their squad cars. This is Queens.
What could happen?
from wikipedia
Security theater is the practice of investing in countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually achieve it. The term was coined by computer security specialist and writer Bruce Schneier for his book Beyond Fear, but has gained currency in security circles, particularly for describing airport security measures.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For those of you used to the Brooklyn point of view, these are the slabs of cement that the boat people are tied off to on the Queens side of the Newtown Creek, around a block from the LIRR yard. Nothing to worry about, go back about your business.
I’m told that the group of boats nesting along the shore here has taken to calling itself the “Hunters Point Boat Sanctuary.”
This was once the home of the Newtown Creek Towing Company, incidentally, right alongside the Vernon Avenue Bridge.
1908 image from “Illustrated History of the Borough of Queens, New York City By Georg von Skal, Flushing Journal, Flushing, N.Y” – courtesy google books. That’s Brooklyn on the right, Queens to the left.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The situation here continues to scare the hell out of me, but no one seems particularly concerned about it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To my admittedly age ravaged eyes, this doesn’t look so safe. The heavy concrete blocks which support the ad hoc moorings of these boats is clearly and inexorably being pulled toward the Creek. Never mind the fact that they are docking in the direct outfall of a combined sewer pipe.
from nyc.gov
Sometimes, during heavy rain and snow storms, combined sewers receive higher than normal flows. Treatment plants are unable to handle flows that are more than twice design capacity and when this occurs, a mix of excess stormwater and untreated wastewater discharges directly into the City’s waterways at certain outfalls. This is called a combined sewer overflow (CSO). We are concerned about CSOs because of their effect on water quality and recreational uses.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Anyway, that’s the scene at the ragged border of Queens known as Newtown Creek and the Vernon Avenue Street End in the early spring of 2013.
It has been decided to do an occasional series of posts which are strictly “here’s what is there” in nature, simply to document the place as it begins a season of tremendous change. Hunters Point South has begun, and the Kosciuszko reconstruction will be starting up this fall, Greenpoint Landing is not far away either.
This is the penultimate year for the Newtown Creek’s 20th century incarnation, which will be utterly altered, upgraded, and updated in the next decade.
from nyc.gov
Newtown Creek is a 3.8-mile long tidal water body located in the City of New York, having five main tributaries (Dutch Creek, Whale Creek, Maspeth Creek, East Branch and English Kills) and is itself a tributary of the East River. The creek is a part of the New York – New Jersey Harbor Estuary that forms the north-south border between the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
The Newtown Creek area has a history of widespread industrial development dating back to the 1800s. In the mid-1800s, the area adjacent to Newtown Creek was one of the busiest hubs of industrial activity in New York City. More than 50 refineries were located along its banks, including oil refineries, petrochemical plants, fertilizer and glue factories, sawmills, and lumber and coal yards. Newtown Creek was brimming with commercial vessels. During World War II, the creek was one of the busiest ports in the nation. This historic development has resulted in changes in the nature of the Creek from a natural drainage condition to one that is largely governed by engineered and institutional systems.
humanless region
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As one might have observed in recent media reports, the Mayor of New York City and certain hand picked lieutenants and allies deployed the “golden shovels” and officially “broke ground” at the so called Hunters Point South project in Long Island City. Funny, as construction has been going on around here for a while, mainly on improving the archaic sewer and water system.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On second street, there is a long ditch currently extant which reveals part of this work. Much of what is happening around here, I am led to believe, is closer to the East River. This assertion is easily proven if one is a customer of the East River Ferry, as the fence line one follows to the dock winds its way along the early phases of the construction site where this grandiose plumbing is being installed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spongy, the soil at Hunters Point has seen a lot of industrial tenants come and go over the centuries. At the penultimate southern terminus of the street is the notorious Newtown Creek, to the west is the squamous East River- which was known as the River of Sound to ancient mariners. Interestingly enough- the ground water, or at least the bits of it which have percolated into this pit, is not dissimilar in color or appearance to the very end of the Newtown Creek’s distant tributary English Kills in Bushwick.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Surprisingly, the “layer cake” normally observed in Long Island City street repairs was not visible. Like lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, the streets are several centuries deep, and one will often see several layers of different pavement technologies on display. If one is very lucky and the street is very old- a layer of compacted and oiled earth, capped by a white chalky substance surmounted by a layer or two of gravel which lies under Belgian Blocks then cement and tar and then concrete and asphalt might be observed.
I’ve got a shot or two from Queens Plaza in which this layer cake is obviously encountered, for instance.
boisterous company
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All ‘effed up. Only way to describe it. Often, a feeling will come over me, a sensation that my shirt is too tight or an odd itch will manifest deep in my ear- far beyond the reach of common probes. Annoyance sets in, with every mundane happenstance somehow confirming that “this is not my day”. In these moments of pique, I reach for the camera and head out the door, much to the puzzlement of my little dog who worries that it might have been she that upset me. It’s the psychological equivalent of hay fever, not unlike the sensational annoyance of a nose which drips uncontrollably. Luckily, I live within walking distance of more than one interesting place.
from wikipedia
Mucophagy is feeding on mucus of fishes or invertebrates. It may also refer to consumption of mucus or dried mucus in primates.
There are mucophagous parasites, such as some sea lice that attach themselves to gill segments of fish.
Mucophages may serve as cleaners of other animals.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The headphones are in before the portal to the human hive is crossed, and when angered or annoyed, the tunes are as well. Normally, one enjoys the company of an audiobook or the extensive list of podcasts to which I am subscribed, but on days like the foggy one on which these shots were captured – it’s Husker Du. For those of you unfamiliar, the seminal hardcore trio from Minneapolis produced some of the finest punk albums of the 1980’s, and their masterpiece is something called Zen Arcade. The double album, which is meaningless term in the age of digital music, reminds me of those days when a young narrator was capable of a dizzying number of emotions rather than the three or four I’ve been reduced to in my increasing dotage.
from wikipedia
Common features of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) include excessive, often persistent anger, frequent temper tantrums or angry outbursts, as well as disregard for authority. Children and adolescents with ODD often purposely annoy others, blame others for their own mistakes, and are easily disturbed. Parents often observe more rigid and irritable behaviors than in siblings. In addition, these young people may appear resentful of others and when someone does something they don’t like they prefer taking revenge more than sensitive solutions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Joking to myself that there might be things moving about in the fog, a reference to another bit of 1980’s pop culture, my plodding steps led me- as always down toward Newtown Creek and in the direction of the LIRR station. Can’t tell you why, but this spot is thrilling to me. Something about the trains moving along at grade level, so close you can touch them, and feeling (rather than hearing) the titan engines of these locomotives go by just electrifies- it feels as if a strong cup of coffee has just been injected intravenously.
from wikipedia
Caffeine overdose can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication (DSM-IV 305.90), or colloquially the “caffeine jitters”. The symptoms of caffeine intoxication are comparable to the symptoms of overdoses of other stimulants: they may include restlessness, fidgeting, anxiety, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular or rapid heart beat, and psychomotor agitation. In cases of much larger overdoses, mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, or psychosis may occur, and rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue) can be provoked.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, the conspirators who plot against Queens in their Manhattan offices would like to see this solace taken away from me, and would love nothing more than to deck over these tracks and install bland real estate. The masters they serve, and that thing which cannot possibly exist in the cupola of the sapphire Megalith is one of them, know that my joy is something to be crushed and will do whatever they can to see me cry. Next, they’ll take away my right to listen to loud thirty year old punk and take photos of stuff. Bastards!
I’m all ‘effed up.
from wikipedia
Grandiose delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur is principally a subtype of delusional disorder that occurs in patients suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses, including two-thirds of patients in manic state of bipolar disorder, half of those with schizophrenia and a substantial portion of those with substance abuse disorders. GD are characterized by fantastical beliefs that one is famous, omnipotent, wealthy, or otherwise very powerful. The delusions are generally fantastic and typically have a supernatural, science-fictional, or religious theme. There is a relative lack of research into GD, in comparison to persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations. About 10% of healthy people experience grandiose thoughts but do not meet full criteria for a diagnosis of GD.
Also- Upcoming Newtown Creek tours and events:
for more information on the October 27th Newtown Creek Boat Tour, click here
for more information on the November 9th Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show, click here
for an expanded description of the November 11th Newtown Creek tour, please click here
The Newtown Pentacle 