Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
uncanny light
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Disillusioned, desolate, and diseased– the endless byways of the Newtown Pentacle beckon- calling out to me- the barren, the confused, the discarded.
Always, it seems, an Outsider must keep to the shadows. This is best.
Paranoid, absent minded, and an unreliable physical coward– the feckless quisling who serves as your humble narrator once more offers devotions and attention to a great pattern etched beneath the cement, marching across its sunlit reality like some obsequious pilgrim. Certain realities have been made abundantly clear over the vernal months, confirming specific fears and betraying closely held beliefs. A stalking horse walks my lands.
While lost in the above soliloquy one afternoon, I was walking from Astoria to South Street Seaport‘s Pier 17, when I found this scene in Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another crew of workmen were observed standing in a similar pit on the other side of the street- 23rd street, if you’re curious. My assumption was that they were feeding this copper tubing from one side of the street to the other, for some purpose of which I cannot hazard a guess. Perhaps the acolytes of that which does not think, or breathe, yet hungers; that thing which is rumored to exist in the crown of the nearby Citibank Megalith– desired to have a constant connection to the Court Square diner’s coffee station.
Who can guess, all there is… that might be down there?
hollow phantoms
Empire State Building 2010 from the oiled shadows of Borden Avenue, Queens – photo by Mitch Waxman
They want to build a competitor to the Empire State Building? The mayor says it’s good for the City?
Forgive my french, but this is one mighty fucking ugly building the oligarchs are going to build, imho. I’d rather see a 20 story fire breathing statue of Mike Bloomberg that proclaims “Remember Me” erected. Well, its finally starting to happen to Manhattan, this odd experience that has been felt by those of us in the lesser boroughs for the last few years.
I wonder where the money to build this monster will be coming from, and how much of the public dime will go into its construction.
from blog.archpaper.com
We know hackers and preservationists are staunchly opposed to Vornado’s 15 Penn Plaza, because the 1,216-foot Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed tower would replace McKim Mead & White’s notable-if-not-renowned Hotel Pennsylvania. Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, is also not a fan for the simple reason that Malkin Holdings is holding the Empire State Building. And its views would most likely be compromised by 15 Penn Plaza. Malkin is now speaking out against the project, under the aegis of a group calling itself Friends of the New York City Skyline, a posse which also includes MAS, the Historic Districts Council, and the Landmarks Conservancy. It may be too little, too late.
St. Raphael’s
Click here for the Flickr Slideshow, which I’ve just become aware, hasn’t been displaying in the usual fashion here at NP.com.
– photos by Mitch Waxman
I just happened to be passing St. Raphael’s on Greenpoint Avenue on Saturday the 14th of August, and found this splash of color illuminating the fossilized heart of this- your Newtown Pentacle.
Why I hate Ms. Heather
– photo by Mitch Waxman
God damn that genius monkey in Greenpoint, she got here before me. The brilliant, prolific, and blazing Ms. Heather of NY Shitty beat me to this location, AND, she worked the same “angle” on it that I was going to use, months before I even found the place.
If you aren’t familiar with nyshitty’s world of North Brooklyn, the incisive sartorial “eye”, that unique sense of humor- you must live in Manhattan or something.
I found this place in on Vandam Street in Blissville, while on my way to the haunting elevations of First Calvary one fine afternoon, and started shooting.
My, what a wonderful posting this will make, muttered your humble narrator to himself. He forgot about the way that Ms. Heather kicks ass, every day.
from newyorkshitty.com
If you disagree with anything I have posted, wish to correct something I might have overlooked and/or fudged; or simply want to chime in I’m all for it. In fact, I encourage this. I want this site to be a public forum where north Brooklynites and New York Shittites (if not in locality, at heart) can talk shop. Respectfully.
Terse and even downright angry is acceptable. What I will not tolerate is abuse. Be it directed at me or other commenters. In other words, if what you have in mind has an “ism” to describe it don’t bother. I won’t approve it.
The more surly and self-righteous among you might decry this as a denial of your “free speech”. It isn’t. This web site is powered by free speech. My free speech. If you have something you want to say so badly that is circumscribed by my (albeit vague) terms of use, start your own blog. It’s your right too. Go for it.
Otherwise, I look forward to hearing from you!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Brooklyn Vault Light Co., with an address?
Easy post, and it will make the lords and ladies believe my personal mythology of “omniscient and timeless wisdom” when I reveal a forgotten industrial corridor to them. Oh, how wise will I seem.
Then… I get back to Newtown Pentacle HQ here in fuligin haired Astoria and begin my researches, and discover that the thrice damned Ms. Heather presented this location- and its associated history- in a concise and attractive post well before I had even found the site.
How does she do it? Relentless, she is like an ocean- tidal, ever present, timeless.
from villagevoice.com
The accounts of Greenpoint life that make up most of New York Shitty aren’t all as negative as the name implies. “It was initially premised on the dog-shit problem in my community,” Miss Heather tells us. “I reached my breaking point one day when I was coming home from the Franklin Corner Store laden with bags of groceries. I was literally dodging dog bombs every two or three feet.”
Her first public service when she started New York Shitty in 2006 was a series of “Crap Maps” of the Brooklyn neighborhood where she’s lived for 10 years. Then, she says, “something happened I could never have anticipated: People started paying attention.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All I can tell you, gentle readers, is that to learn the tale of this iron lid and the meaning of its enigmatic typography- you must visit her and know her wisdom- click here.
I would also mention that I’m kind of a gigantic fan of Chez Shitty, in case you haven’t put that together yet. If you’re not- you should be.
Project Firebox 10
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Woe to the FDNY Firebox which finds itself on the surly triangular corners that swirl about Northern Blvd. This elegantly destroyed specimen languishes perilously close to Steinway Street’s transmogrification into 39th street near the Standard Motor Products Building, specifically 36th avenue and 41st street.
As a point of interest, this is the eastern extant of 36th avenue, with its western terminus obviated by the Roosevelt Island Bridge at the East River.
The Newtown Pentacle 