Posts Tagged ‘Long Island Expressway’
sardonic actuality
Holy shmegoalie, its Wednesday again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scuttling about in the dark, as I do, there’s a lot of time for thinking. Recent musings found me thanking an earlier version of myself for getting interested in night and low light photography, as this particular passion of mine has been the only creative outlet available through the pandemic. My habit has been to wait until 8 o’clock or so, when the streets are becoming relatively unpopulated and free of humans, and then set out. My paths have become so well chosen that once I get out of residential Astoria and into the “IBZ” or “Industrial Business Zone” section, I’m finding myself completely and utterly alone for hours at a pop. It’s an odd sensation, moving through one of the most densely populated sections of the entire planet in solitude.
Generally speaking, when I’m back there and all by myself, I unmask. My habit is to slavishly wear the thing when moving about during the day, or in populated places. When I get to an area where the only other humans present are driving past in vehicles, or I can see empty sidewalks stretching out in every direction…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The mask is annoying, and fairly uncomfortable, I’ve found. Factor in the fact that I wear eyeglasses, and I’ve got to deal with them fogging up and occluding vision as I’m trying not to get squished by trucks while crossing streets. Additionally, I have a beard, which – since they weather has turned cold – collects the breath condensation contained by the mask and my chin coiff becomes quite moist. Whatcha gonna do?
One of my super powers revolves around being able to prophesy the near future based on current circumstance, which is something I do using branch logic methodologies. Back at the beginning of this I told my friends in the political world that “food and housing security, riots, structural fires, and a vast underreporting of domestic violence” were on the horizon. I told them about race cars and fireworks back at the beginning of April.
What’s next, then, Ezekiel? We’re wearing masks, even with a vaccine, for a minimum of the next two years. Also, based on recent tectonic activity all over and all around North America, I think 2020 might have one last big surprise in store for us.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has just a few more Zoom meetings to get through in the next couple of weeks and then we’re done for the year on both Creek and Community Board. Tonight, the Transportation Committee is meeting, and we’re going to be talking about the absolute mess which is Astoria Blvd. Parking rules vary block to block, sidewalks are inconsistently sized, signage and street lighting is either on functional or missing… There’s lots of fixing to do there, which I’m hoping that the Governmental Agencies which oversee this street will agree with me about.
That’s not Astoria Blvd. pictured above, as a note, it’s Laurel Hill Blvd. in the Blissville section of Long Island City.
Back tomorrow, Lords and Ladies.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, December 7th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
doubted greatly
Hey ho, what d’ya know, it’s Monday again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lonely, that’s how I like things. Deserted industrial zone streets, at night, are perfect when you want to be alone with your thoughts.
For many years, semi ironically, I’ve stated that what this City needs is a good plague. We’ve got that now. Turns out I was right that it would force people to reassess what’s truly important to them, but unfortunately this particular plague has really been a bit of a buzz kill. I recently watched the George Romero classic “Day of the Dead.” I always thought it was a bit cartoonish and unrealistic – “people don’t act like this during a biological pathogen spawned emergency” I used to say. Turns out Romero was right, and if anything, deliberately understated things.
I now accept that if the living dead were walking up the street, there would be people saying “it’s not real” or “I don’t believe what the bureaucracy wants me to believe” or “I haven’t been bitten, so I’m not worried.” There’s no such thing as zombies, or at least there wasn’t until Nancy Pelosi…
Hear the pipers, hear the drummers…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
According to a startling set of statistics encountered over the weekend, there are now 3,000 COVID related deaths a day in these United States. That’s a daily 9/11. Good work everybody. Before you start in with “those people were already sick anyway with…” – yeah – they were. But they weren’t on their death beds yet. If you have cancer and get squished by a falling safe – it was the safe that killed you, not the cancer.
I’ve been consuming right wing propaganda recently, quite on purpose. Adherents to that fascinating philosophical bent – reminiscent of the “Lord of the Flies” – are very worried about gay amphibians, AOC and socialism, and also having somebody – especially some member of a Mexican Drug Cartel – steal their personal information. You have to work George Soros, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates, and of course Hillary Clinton into your storyline or postulate for it to be credible.
Also, people on the right seem to believe that whereas a Democrat can’t open their mouth without lying… sigh… why would you offer any politician your full trust? Presume they’re lying as it’s part of their job, or at least not telling the whole truth, whatever party they’re from. We used to be a lot better at processing all of this political stuff for what it is just a few years back.
I don’t want to hand blame off solely to the right for current circumstance, by the way, but the current group of charlatans and clowns offered from that side of the aisle really need to learn how to read a room – or listen to doctors. Airplanes work, as do computers and nuclear bombs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I find the ultra lefties to be just as hamstrung by ideology and virtue signaling as the ultra righties are. That’s probably because my political odometer is set more or less one notch left of center. I have no problems whatsoever sitting down and dealing with either side, as getting tangible things done is far more important to me than scoring points with bike riding hippies or suv driving corporatists.
All I can really do right now is avoid others, try not to get sick, keep my head above water and my butt housed. Winter is here. Discontent along with it.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, December 7th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
furry blasphemy
Friday, it’s Shabbos to some, a nightmare for others.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My initial reaction to the new camera system (the Canon R6) has been pretty positive so far, can recommend. Last night at three in the morning, I finally figured out how to use about half of my lens collection with the thing as well, so there’s that.
Also, the Montauk Cutoff should be open to the public, I can recommend that too. As promised, I did get up there last night, and I did a whole photographic walkthrough at night which you’ll see sometime in the near future.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve often referred to the series of streets – 50th and 51st avenues in particular – shadowed by the steel truss carrying the Long Island Expressway’s “Queens Midtown Expressway” section as “the empty corridor.” In the shot above, you can see why.
Personally speaking, I’m kind of digging the reappearance of epic street graffiti in LIC. The old white washed “Giuliani time” streetscape has needed to reintroduce a bit of chaos and color, in my mind.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So… I’m all geared up and ready to rock. Where do I go next? When leaving the house, after all these months of pandemic isolation, my feet are basically on autopilot and they turn the toes towards LIC and the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek. Either that or industrial Maspeth, and sometimes Greenpoint.
Just saw an ad on Facebook from the Empire State Building people, claiming that I can spend a bit of time on their observation deck in return for a fairly affordable and pandemic era discounted admission price, so I might just venture into the City at some point in the near future. Who can say?
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, November 30th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
demoniac dexterity
Thursday, which meant hope for the weekend once.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yup, Montauk Cutoff, Long Island City. This particular area has been referred to many times, here at Newtown Pentacle, as the “Empty Corridor.” Boy, oh boy was it empty on the night I was shooting these images. Weirdly enough, I had multiple encounters with people on the street on this particular evening. There were two young blokes who were likely considering jumping me at one point, and then a few minutes later a super expensive looking sports car with black tinted windows pulled up next to me. The window rolled down a few inches and a deep basso voice from inside began querying me about whether or not a nearby strip club was open or not.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate strip clubs? Not the idea of them, mind you, but I mark some of the most uncomfortable moments of my life as being ones where social obligation carried me into “the club.” Guys go ga gah over strippers, but in my experience they’re the female equivalent of those guys you see in a 711 parking lot with their shirts off at three in the morning in Nassau County. Hey, different strokes for different folks, who am I to judge?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless of perceived vulnerability and paranoid wonderings, I continued doing my thing. The Montauk Cutoff was my particular mission on this particular evening, as it will be tonight. There’s a growing awareness of this set of abandoned railroad tracks in the body politic of Queens, and the opportunity they represent for creating a bit of public space where you can socially distance to your heart’s content.
In fact, if my plans work out, I’ll be up on the tracks tonight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sorry for the late post today, there’s been a bit of HQ tumult today that I had to deal with. All good, everything positive, but tumult. Back tomorrow.
Also, sorry strippers, not judging on you or what you do to feed the kids. I don’t enjoy watching professional Basketball, or Football, either.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, November 30th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
each description
Empty Corridor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Were it not for political maneuvering and the inertia for which a certain NYS authority whose mandate involves metropolitan transit is famous for, you’d have some open space in Long Island City to visit during this interminable quarantine, namely the Montauk Cutoff. The cyclopean wall on the left hand side of the shot above supports a set of abandoned railroad tracks which several of my chums and I have been trying to turn into a public space for years at this point. Ennui abounds.
One found his way down here last week, to an area of LIC which I often refer to as “the empty corridor.” When the Long Island Expressway and the Queens Midtown Tunnel were installed here, eight decades of blight began. Devil’s advocate, though, says that the chemical and pharmaceutical factories, as well as the lead foundry and varnish plant which the LIE displaced weren’t exactly “not blight” but at least there were a lot of people with jobs hereabouts as opposed to a lot of people driving back and forth to office jobs in Manhattan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Empty Corridor is pure and utilitarian. Not a single thought was given to anything natural or “normal.” Anything green growing here is due to shrinking maintenance budgets on behalf of City and State authorities. It’s been decades since they sprayed herbicide, or sent in teams of arborists to clear cut the self seeded trees. Rodents walk around freely here, much to the joy of the residents of a nearby feral cat colony.
Illegal dumping is art. The streets are broken pavement, shattered automotive glass collects along the crushed curbs like rainwater, the air smells of burning wire insulation and automotive exhaust. The buzzing sound of failing electrical transformers echoes out from the manholes, infrequent local traffic rockets past at incredible speed, and half of the street lights are burned out.
I love it so.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When this whole “social distancing” thing started up, I thought of this particular scene and place.
The immense street level loneliness of places like the Empty Corridor belie their actuality. Whereas in my mind, I was totally alone with my personal biome, in reality I was surrounded by crowds of people. The Long Island Expressway is descending into the Queens Midtown Tunnel at the left of the shot, and just beyond the tunnel is the population center of Long Island City at Hunters Point. On the right is the New York City Housing Authority Warehouse, and most of the street parking is occupied by their fleet of trucks. Biome wise, therefore, there’s probably a couple million people’s worth of cooties floating around in the air down here, or they’re stuck to some greasy smear.
I’m going to get the Montauk Cutoff done, as we need some more open space. Or, at least I’m going to reduce the number of streets in Western Queens without sidewalks. There’s no sidewalk on the left side of the street in the shot above, for instance.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, May 25th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates as we move into April and beyond, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 