Posts Tagged ‘New York City’
Homeboy
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It all started at one in the morning on a Tuesday.
I had a 6 a.m. flight, leaving Pittsburgh International AirPort and bound for LaGuardia. Had to bathe, eat breakfast, and double check my packed bags. An Uber picked me up at 3:30 a.m. and I was at the airport by 4:05.
Got through security, which is a bit of a ‘thing’ when you’ve got a camera bag with you, and was soon cooling my heels at the gate drinking an expensive cup of coffee, purchased at the terminal. The plane landed on time, and my Pal Val picked me up in her car. The plan was to park her auto nearby the ferry stop in Astoria, and then board a boat for a NY Harbor Photo Safari.
I needed to smell salt water again, Y’see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I will admit to getting a bit emotional at times during the four days I was back home. It had more to do with the broken ankle situation, and reclaiming the walking physicality I’ve been working so assiduously to regain, than any sort of homesickness. Really felt like the end of the ankle story had finally arrived. Seeing my friends and colleagues again was just icing on the cake.
Physically speaking, I was running on adrenaline and caffeine. Back in Pittsburgh, I’m sleeping a solid eight hours a night. Get up early, go to bed early. It’s not like NYC back in Pittsburgh, as they roll up the sidewalks by nine or ten even on a weekend in the Paris of Appalachia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An interesting wrinkle discovered during this visit was that my environmental adaptations have faded away. As the folk wisdom states ‘if you live by the sea, you don’t smell the salt or hear the waves,’ meaning that your brain ‘tunes out’ environmental background stimuli which it deems unimportant.
What that means is that I could smell it, all of it. I could hear it, I could feel it. Everything stunk, the entire city with its standing wave of 15-20 decibels noise, and the mixed aroma of garbage, deep fat fryers, and human shit.
The East River smelled like an unflushed toilet to me, although it wasn’t ‘in a state’ or anything. Nothing’s changed on the waterway, my perceptions of it have.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cops appeared, as they always do in NYC, while the ferry navigated first to Roosevelt Island and then to Long Island City.
That’s another thing which is quite different in Pennsylvania – far fewer cops. One of my neighbors suggested we start up a bonfire in his back yard. I said no, claiming that NYPD would show up and hand out tickets and the. conduct warrant checks. My neighbor reminded me that we were in Pittsburgh. I laughed and said ‘you’ve never met the NYPD, have you?’
The ferry continued down the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the last things I’d do before heading back to Pittsburgh would involve the Queensboro Bridge’s newly opened pedestrian walkway, as a note, but you’re not going to see those photos for a while. During the four days I was in NYC, I walked close to thirty miles and shot close to 2,200 exposures – with much of that distance was expressed around a certain waterway which provides the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, as you’d imagine.
One of the goals for this trip was to test out my newly reconstructed ankle, and determine exactly how screwed I am moving forward. I brought the joint back to my testing environment, for a shake down cruise, basically.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a not insignificant amount of swelling going on after returning back to Pittsburgh 96 hours later, but it’s also the first time that I’ve asked the assembly and meat and metal which my ankle has become to ‘push’ for multiple consecutive days in a row without any sort of rest period.
The past couple of months have seen ‘exercise days’ and ‘photo walks’ separated from each other by at least 72 hours of recovery time, post facto. All in all, the joint held up to my abuse and I didn’t find myself walking like the Batman villain Penguin again.
Back tomorrow with more from NYC.
“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.
Archives #052
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On February 21 of 2013, Newtown Pentacle subscribers saw ‘somehow impelled’ arrive in their inboxes, which described part of a walk down Northern Boulevard, and explored my fascination with photographing car washes. Before I left Queens, the gas station which this car wash was a part of had been shuttered, the buildings were awaiting demolition and environmental remediation for the tanks, and is likely ‘affordable housing’ by now. Corner of 39th and Northern… can it still be there?
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September, and I’m not screwing around with ice and snow if I don’t absolutely have to. Pittsburgh has been regularly coated with the white stuff for the last few weeks, which has really crimped into my ability to be out and about. #1 priority is the ankle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This 2019 post, dubbed ‘radical profundity’ visited Flashing Creek. I used to really get around, huh?
‘What does it have to do with Newtown Creek’ is a question I often asked myself, in pursuit of avoiding ‘mission drift’ and not getting sucked into the hot passions and political seasons of the day. Focus is difficult in a feature rich environment, and especially so when negotiating the endless sea of political frenzy. It often annoyed people, me refusing to pick up their flag and run with whatever madness they happened to be pushing that day, week, or month. Everybody forgets their movement a year later, as they’ve usually moved on to new ecstasies, scandals, and outrages.
People who identify as ‘leftists’ have a real hard time staying on one topic for long, in my experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In 2022, ‘rumour ran’ brought y’all to the Sunnyside Yards at night. That is the Harold Interlocking pictured above, which is one of the most important bits of infrastructure in the entire country. There are surveyors holes in the fences of the yards, and I had all of them inventoried. My walks to Newtown Creek from Astoria always crossed some section of the Sunnyside Yards, and I never missed an opportunity to get in a few shots of the place.
Back next week, hopefully with fresh photos and views of the Paris of Appalachia, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
Archives post #051
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As threatened, today brings you an ‘archives’ post, as a continuing spate of winter weather has absolutely grounded all of my ambitions and I’ve got nothing new to present today.
On February 20th in 2014, a similar climatological situation saw me offering a post on a few of my favorite NYC bridges. Check out ‘approaching triumph’ if you’re interested in such matters.
As established during the hermitage which saw me recovering from the busted ankle, the conceit underlying exactly which posts I’m pulling out of backup for a second look is entirely calendrical in nature. Everything presented as a part of these archives posts were published on this date, in their respective years, sometime between 2009 and 2025.
Yes, I’ve been doing this blog for a pretty long time now.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On this date in 2018, ‘scarcely be’ described the scene, as observed in the dead of night, at the fabulous Newtown Creek’s Grand Street Bridge where the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens can be both experienced and surmounted. Miss those nights, wandering around the concrete devastations all by myself. This was when I still was using headphones when scuttling about, a habit I had to drop during COVID when things starting getting weird out there.
There were just a few times that I thought I was in trouble during that interval, and I either got lucky or the other guy decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble to jump me. There was one interaction with a creature of the streets that was extremely disturbing, one I’ve mentioned only to a few close friends and my old bartender in Astoria. Weird shit, yo.
Don’t ask, won’t talk about it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In 2020, ‘those miniscules’ was published here, which confessed to a bout of trespassing around Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary. The focus for these shots was the DB Cabin rail bridge. What you don’t see in these shots is who I was trespassing with, an elected official who represented this section of LIC whom I was attempting to ‘sell’ the concept of converting the Montauk Cutoff into public space. Didn’t happen, and now the cutoff is basically a homeless camp. Good show, NYC.
Back tomorrow, likely with another archives post. Good news is that the weather is meant to cure up around Pittsburgh over the next week, meaning I get to resume my happiness.
“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.
From ChristmAstoria’s past
Merry Christmas
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Due to recent events, I haven’t got a 2024 Santa shot to use today, so I reached back to my Astoria archives for the one above.
Merry, merry. Back tomorrow with something else.
“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.
Archives #050
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If everything is going to plan as this post is being written, on Friday the 6th of December, this should be the last of the archives postings.
Presuming that the weather was on my side this week, as the forecast suggests it will be – and that my ankle problems weren’t too severe when I started revving up again – there should be new material appearing here next week. Can’t wait to see whatever it is that Pittsburgh wants to show me, but one remains a bit hobbled. There’s still an entire month of PT in front of me, after all.
2013’s ‘moist verdure’ joined in with the railfanning cultists at MTA’s annual nostalgia train subway ride.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Queens used to enjoy taunting me to photograph her pains, and would often serve up interesting ‘amuse bouche’ appetizers at my doorstep, something which – so far – which Pittsburgh doesn’t do that often. Here, I’ve got to go and find it, but there you are. Can’t have everything served on a silver platter.
2016’s ‘loathsome tittering’ offered yet another hullabaloo breaking out on my old corner in Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally…
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. This practice will continue until I’m back on both feet full time, and new photos and stories can be gathered. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September.
2021’s ‘almost illegible’ is right about when I had decided to move out of NYC. It also contains an excellent recipe for lemonade, a favorite joke, and a recommendation for listening to the Who. Rough year, 2021.
“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 