Posts Tagged ‘New York City’
betwixt spaces
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent posting- vaguely articulate– detailed a close call with a speeding bicycle in Queens Plaza’s dangerous weaving of pedestrian and vehicle pathways. A couple of folks emailed me, questioning my perceptions of where the bike path was located in physical space. Today’s post expands on the topic.
On my way to some meeting, somewhere, a humble narrator was moving through Queens Plaza. Remembering to photograph the pedestrian curb cut this time, with its icon indicating that the bike path is designed to flow right through it…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Proof of my point for the inefficacy of this situation then came whizzing across the street…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The fellow on the bicycle wasn’t doing anything illegal, as is evident in the shot above, the bike paths leading out from the Queensboro Bridge lead directly into the pedestrian crosswalk and up onto the sidewalk…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They continue past the narrow section of the pavement alongside a subway stairwell…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Where they continue along, vehicles (bicycles) mixing freely with pedestrian traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Coincidentally, that’s when two European tourists got off the Subway, having a heated discussion in some alien tongue. They didn’t seem to know which way to go, having just seen a bicycle roll through their apparent path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d imagine they were headed for one of the many new hotels located in the Dutch Kills neighborhood, one hopes they made it to their lodging without incident…
Also, on this day in 1945, the world changed– forever.
scratching restlessly
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently observed, the Gage Paul Thornton moving a fuel barge past Pier 16 in Manhattan, providing some focal point for this week’s “Maritime Sunday”. Picturesque, the spot that the boat is moving through is just loaded with NY iconography, recognizable instantly and impossible to confuse with anywhere else.
from marinesteel.com
Thornton Towing & Transportation is owned by Gerard and Richard Thornton, and Ed Carr; all of whom have spent their entire professional careers working on and around the waters of New York Harbor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s an odd thing, that when pointing a lens at Manhattan these days, it’s hard to find a place to “pin” the location as identifiably “New York City”. Without the Brooklyn Bridge or Empire State Building in the shot, it’s hard to recognize the formerly iconic skyline anymore. Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx still look like NY, but Manhattan has had so much reconstructive and cosmetic surgery that it’s hard to recognize.
another Thornton tug was featured not that long ago at this, your Newtown Pentacle- The Thornton Brothers was seen in the posting “middle stature“
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Similar rhinoplasty and silicon injections are in the works for the other boroughs of course, Williamsburg has had a boob job in recent years, and Long Island City has had a facelift and tummy tuck. One hopes that the process will fizzle out before it goes too far and the Bronx starts to look like Bruce Jenner.
Anyway, a hearty Maritime Sunday shout out is sent to the Gage Paul Thornton and her crew.
from dailymail.co.uk
He was a star athlete and American hero when he brought home the gold medal after the 1976 Olympic Games.
But Bruce Jenner today appears to have chiselled away at the masculine features that graced Wheaties boxes decades ago.
The reality star, better known now as Kim Kardashian’s step-father, was barely recognisable from the retro image as he stepped out for a promotional event this weekend, his face looking distinctly tighter than usual.
slow decadence
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I seem to walk past this structure at least once a week, have done so for several years now, and until recently was completely ignorant about one of the largest employers of 20th century Greenpoint. The Leviton family built this commercial empire by the sweat of their brows- stories of part time employees encountering old Isidor working on the factory floor are rampant in Greenpoint, verging on Pop culture amongst garden spotters of a certain age.
from wikipedia
Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc. is a manufacturer of electrical wiring devices, data center connectivity apparatus and lighting energy management systems. The company was founded in 1906 by Evser and his son Isidor Leviton. They began by manufacturing brass mantle tips for the natural gas lighting infrastructure in Manhattan. They sold their mantle tips on a pushcart on the Bowery on the Lower East side of Manhattan. Isidor Leviton designed a screw in lampholder for Thomas Edison’s Electric Lamp in 1910 and within ten years the lampholders were being used in every apartment in New York. In 1936 Leviton built a two square block 4 story factory and warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn which still stands today. Leviton products include over 25,000 devices and systems, used in homes and businesses.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another bit of reputation that the family gathered unto itself was a certain liberalism regarding class, religion, and creed in their hiring practices- eschewing the segregation and selective hiring practiced by other corporations- particularly those in the electronics sector. The father of a close friend once told me that, in the years following the second world war, he was denied an opportunity to use his ivy league engineering degree because of a last name that sounded “too Italian”. Not an issue at Leviton, I am told.
from heresgreenpoint.com
By 1910 Leviton was designing and manufacturing pull-chain lamp holders for Thomas Edison’s newly developed light bulb, and in 1922 the company was moved to Greenpoint to better facilitate its rapid ascention. The massive factory took up two city blocks between Newel and Jewel Streets and produced over 600 electrical items, from fuses to socket covers to outlets and switches. Leviton would remain in Greenpoint until 1975, when the company again relocated, this time to Little Neck, NY.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newspaper reports describe the company as resistant to unionization, and even Eleanor Roosevelt found herself standing in solidarity with a picket line on Greenpoint Avenue in the 1940’s. In August of 1940, a large group of laborers “went out”, despite Leviton paying “benefits”- a rare and coveted perk of employment in that era. “Benefits” are what health insurance and a retirement plan were once known as, and were not an automatic or legislated requirement before the 1970’s- for those of you reading this under the age of 30, understand that these “insurance benefits” were something won by the labor movement of the early 20th century.
This was the scene of a long and contentious labor strike in 1940,
as detailed in this preview of the George Ruffini book– “Harry Van Arsdale, Jr: Labor’s Champion”, courtesy google books.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Today, the structure is called the “Greenpoint Industrial Center” and seems to host a series of industrial, artisanal, and warehousing operations who make use of its cavernous interior spaces. The Leviton company left Greenpoint in the 1970’s, migrating to literal greener pastures in eastern Queens and ultimately Melville, Long Island.
from nationmaster.com
The Leviton Manufacturing Company was founded in New York by Isidor Leviton, at the dawn of the electrical era in 1906. Originally engaged in the fabrication of mantle tips for gas lighting, the Company soon afterwards in 1910, converted to production of a single electrical product — a pull-chain lampholder (designed for Edison’s new light bulbs).
- 1922: Leviton relocated to Greenpoint, Brooklyn after acquiring the TECCO plant, and now offered 568 products.
- 1929: Acquires Meteor Electric Company, a leading manufacturer of wiring devices.
- 1932: Leviton devices are used in the Empire State Building.
- 1937: Acquires American Insulated Wire and becomes the industry leader in wire, cable and cord products.
- 1939: Leviton devices featured at World’s Fair.
- 1950: Purchases the Deal Electric Company.
- 1953: Acquires Hale Brothers Companies, now known as Leviton Canada.
- 1960: Leviton is among the first manufactures to institute an employee pension plan.
- 1961: Leviton devices are installed in the White House.
- 1965: Harold Leviton becomes President and CEO.
- 1972: Introduces the first GFCI, the first touch dimmer, and a selection of home automation powerline carrier components.
- 1973: Introduces Decora® designer-style devices.
- 1975: Moves corporate headquarters to current location in Little Neck, NY.
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August 5th, 2012- Newtown Creek Alliance Walking Tour- The Insalubrious Valley- This Sunday
– 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 August 5, 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 August 5th tickets, click here for the Newtown Creek Alliance ticketing page
lower edge
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking down Greenpoint Avenue recently, specifically that section of the ancient lane which overpasses the massive Long Island Expressway, this “Ghost Bike” caught my attention. Reckless, the political calculations which have caused the Manhattan elites to embrace and encourage cycling as an alternative form of transportation has created several spots where high speed traffic interacts directly with human powered vehicles, and tragedy has ensued. Cycling enthusiasts place these white painted bicycles at the spot where someone has died, as a memorial and a reminder to passerby.
It’s kind of a somber thing, these white bikes.
This is an “unnamed” ghost bike, according to ghostbikes.org
A livery cab driver struck and killed a cyclist in Long Island City early this morning, as first reported by DNAinfo. The motorist was not charged with any crime, said an NYPD spokesperson.
According to police, the cyclist, a man in his 30s, was riding south on Greenpoint Avenue at the time of the crash, while the livery driver, 25, was heading east on Borden Avenue, along the side of the Long Island Expressway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This post won’t be debating the efficacy of such alternative transportation, the wisdom of allowing vehicles to operate on the streets of New York City (motorized or human powered) without insurance or tags or operator training or licensing, or comment on the tremendous amount of traffic focused on and through Western Queens.
Instead, my attention was drawn to the slip of notepaper which was inserted into the spokes.
from wikipedia
A ghost bike or ghostcycle is a bicycle set up as a roadside memorial in a place where a cyclist has been killed or severely injured (usually by a motor vehicle) Apart from being a memorial, it is usually intended as a reminder to passing motorists to share the road. Ghost bikes are usually junk bicycles painted white, sometimes with a placard attached, and locked to a suitable object close to the scene of the accident.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“You have a beautiful bike. Have a nice day- homeless Cassie” is what it reads. Hipster “twee” notwithstanding, this is simply in bad taste, and the writer might as well have left a note of the gates of nearby Calvary saying “nice landscaping.”
Seriously?
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August 5th, 2012- Newtown Creek Alliance 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 August 5, 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 August 5th tickets, click here for the Newtown Creek Alliance ticketing page
vast reaches
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured today are the operations of A.R.C. scrap metal division of a corporation called Alloco found at 540 Kingsland avenue in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, pictured from a vantage point on the loquacious Newtown Creek.
Another former Standard Oil property converted over to modern usage, A.R.C. scrap metal is involved in the recycling trade.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of the folks who work here, and you couldn’t ask to encounter a nicer bunch of guys. Their yard always displays a frenzy of activity, with heavy equipment sorting through the flow of waste materials and what seems like dozens of safety vested and hard hatted workers laboring away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You may have seen one of these shots before, and apologies are offered for repetition. One is still sorting out problems and playing catch up after the interruption to work flow offered by the lightning strike which disabled much of my equipment.
It has been a very, very busy period of time with many unexpected and unscheduled obstacles.
_______________________________________________________________
August 5th, 2012- Newtown Creek Alliance 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 August 5, 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 August 5th tickets, click here for the Newtown Creek Alliance ticketing page
The Newtown Pentacle 