Posts Tagged ‘ny harbor’
Apotheosis Urbis
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Summing up what ended up being a solid month’s worth of posts describing a four day trip, at the start of June, wherein your humble narrator returned back to ‘the old neighborhood’ in New York City – so, today’s post seeks to gather it all together in one place.
Links to the published posts of this series will be offered inline below. You may have seen some of the embedded shots in today’s post before, although I did attempt to not repeat.
Long story short: flew out from Pittsburgh on an early morning flight, hung out with my Pal Val on the harbor and then headed upstate.
Returned from upstate on Day 2, went to Long Island City and Newtown Creek and eventually Woodside and Middle Village.
Back to the creek for Day 3, and after riding the L to Canarsie, dinner at a kosher deli with my cousins and then back to Middle Village.
Day 4 was LIC again, and a walk over the Queensboro Bridge before riding the 7, and visiting ‘hole reliable’ at Sunnyside Yards and then heading over to LaGuardia Airport, and then back to Pittsburgh.
Whirlwind!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I didn’t get a window seat on the plane to NYC, or on the one back to Pittsburgh, which was disappointing. Managed to get Newtown Creek in the bottom right of the shot above, but it’s blurry and weird looking due to the distortion of shooting through the plastic window at an angle.
Next time around, have to ensure that I’m at a window. If there is a next time, that is. I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean, visited the Alamo, gone to Yellowstone… there’s other stuff, too, that I’d like to take a picture of.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Day one in NYC produced a lot of photos, as is always the case when I’m out on the waters of New York Harbor with the camera.
Chronicles of June 3rd’s adventures started with ‘Homeboy,’ followed by ‘Puddle People,’ ‘Working the Harbor,’ ‘Surf and Turf,’ and ‘Next stop, Willoughby.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
June 4th saw NYC’s climate go sultry hot, and your humble narrator suffered through the heat while pushing himself forward. Plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead, I always say.
June 4th also saw me returning to the ‘zone’ from upstate NY via Metro North in ‘Omphalos,’ returning to LIC and Newtown Creek in ‘Like every other bit of wind blown trash,’ plunging toward Blissville in ‘DUPBO 2025,’ heading towards the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge in ‘DUGABO awaits,’ and visiting the Borden Avenue street end along Dutch Kills in ‘DULIE 2025.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
June 5th, from a climatological point of view, was a difficult day to wake up in NYC. Hot, humid, swamp ass weather. Doesn’t matter, a humble narrator is fairly able to ignore and overcome environmental hazards, especially so at Newtown Creek. Lots of practice.
‘Estate Reality, Dutch Kills,’ ‘Old Friends,’ ‘DUGSBO and the plank road gooses,’ ‘The happy place,’ and ‘First DUKBO’ explore a longish walk that started at the Grand Street Bridge, then proceeded over the Kosciuszcko Bridge on my way to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ in Greenpoint.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘DUKBO 2 DUGABO,’ and ‘DUGABO 2 Canarsie’ finished out the cavalcade of horror and fear that I had seen and experienced on the 5th of June in NYC. My cousin drove me back to Middle Village, and the home of Hank the Elevator Guy, where I’d be staying the night.
My plan of ditching worn clothing into the trash along the way paid off mightily by this point, and after bidding my buddy Hank ‘adieu’ and offering my thanks for his hospitality, I set out on my way with just the camera bag to manage.
On the 6th, experiences and photos for ‘And on the fourth day,’ ‘Queensboro Pedestrian Path,’ and ‘Queens Plaza to Sunnyside Yards & LGA’ were gathered.
This was a heck of a trip, back to the old neighborhood.
Tomorrow – the Paris of Appalachia – at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
Surf and turf
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My Pal Val and I met up, after I flew in from Pittsburgh. She picked me up at LaGuardia airport, and we rode on the NYC Ferry from Astoria to Manhattan’s Pier 11. We then marched over to the Staten Island Ferry and were soon on… Staten Island… now you’re caught up.
I was absolutely famished, with the last caloric installation having occurred some 400 miles west of NYC, in Pittsburgh at about two in the morning. There’s only so far that a homemade egg sandwich is going to carry you, so we decided to grab some eats while in St. George.
That’s the predicate of how I ended up ordering a $20 Wagyu Beef burger at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. It was a good burger, but no burger is worth $20 except to a weary traveler in need of a hot shot of fat and protein to fill his empty fuel tank.
Good news about this spot were the views, which were spectacular.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was nice seeing the familiar ‘color way’ heraldries of NYC’s tug fleets again. Val and I finished our luncheon, and headed back into the terminal to catch a big orange boat back to Manhattan. Along the way, we spotted multiple tugs waiting their turn at dock.
My day was at roughly at the median point, and after landing in Manhattan, Val and I would be splitting up. She needed to catch a ferry back to Astoria to fetch her car, and I would be plunging right up the middle of Manhattan Island on the subway towards Midtown.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A couple of last shots of the maritime world were gathered, and I adjusted the intricate web of straps arranged about the torso. I was carrying a week’s worth of clothes in addition to my camera bag, and the camera itself was in my hand. My usual formula for this sort of ‘heavy carry’ looks like an old timey soldier’s setup – the camera and the clothes bag straps arranged in an X shape across my chest, with the knapsack/camera bag shoulder straps locking the two other straps into place while I was moving about.
We arrived back on Manhattan Island, and Val and I bid each other adieu.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I didn’t necessarily miss the subway all these months, and my only thoughts about the subject while sitting in that wheelchair were ‘glad I don’t have to deal with the subway right now.’
One decided to get off the Subway at Herald Square, and walk from 34th to 42nd in order to get to Grand Central Terminal. At least it used to be a terminal, before the LIRR opened up down below.
Does that reclassify the place as a station/terminal now? The terms are specific. For most of its existence, the last stop on Metro North (a public passenger service, nationalized from private rail companies by the noted Liberal and Socialist President Richard Nixon) was here, hence terminal.
Saying that, 7 train subway service has been passing through here for quite a long stretch, but that didn’t make it a ‘station.’ It’s all very confusing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Leaving ‘the system,’ I stepped back into the sunlight after riding the R to the 34th street hellmont, which is just a slight bit better experience than the one at 42nd street. I had swapped lenses while on the subway, and reentered the street level milieu with a 16mm wide angle prime on the camera. I wanted to ‘take it all in.’
The plan from this point involved getting to Grand Central and catching a Metro North train up to my buddy’s house in Cold Spring, upstate. That’s where I’d be spending the night, and given that I’d been awake for something like fourteen hours at this point, I was growing pretty fatigued.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My toes were pointed in the correct direction, and thereby I followed them. Grand Central was a 15-20 minute walk away (I’m moving a LOT slower than I used to, although the ankle was not at all getting in my way, my legs are still somewhat atrophied from the long recovery period) and I was intent on getting upstate and out of the City as quickly as possible.
More tomorrow.
“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 #034
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself lived in Astoria for about nineteen years and I think that I walked over the Pulaski Bridge between LIC and Greenpoint at least once a week for about fifteen of those years. I christened the surrounding area as DUPBO – Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp. It seems many of the mouth breathers from Maspeth take umbrage at this, but I really don’t care.
Over the years, the Maspeth crowd always disappointed me, regarding Newtown Creek. The general sentiment there is to pave it over.
2018’s ‘professional duty’ wandered around ‘DUPBO’ in Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The part of Brooklyn I grew up in is practically not in the same Borough as Williamsburg/Greenpoint. My Dad went to Automotive for high school, I’d mention, and back when I was a teenager – if the subject of either neighborhood came up – he’d say ‘Stay outah Nort Brooklyn.’
Long story short, I was a Good Humor Man for most of a summer at the end of high school, and my ice cream selling partner and I ended up getting into a high speed (30mph, as these trucks are not quick) ice cream truck chase with Mister Softee on the Belt Parkway (starting all the way out by Kings Plaza), which ended in Williamsburg when our truck’s engine conked out. Softee escaped the wrath for poaching our territory.
Needing a ride back home from Williamsburg, I called the old man, waking him up. I told him the tale and when I mentioned where we were, he slammed the phone receiver down. Back then, you could hear the phone’s bell chime ring just before the signal went out. A half hour later, the old man shows up in the 1963 Buick Skylark, and me and my partner get in the car. I turn to thank the old man, and then get popped on the side of my head as he said ‘I toldja to stay outah Nort Brooklyn.’
Other than an Italian bakery on Grand street, which made particularly lovely cookies, he avoided the area like the plague. He would have really been pissed off if he was alive when I was doing the whole Newtown Creek thing.
2019’s ‘thing depicted’ focused in on the Verrazano Bridge. This was about the halfway point in the ice cream truck chase.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m not sure what my ‘long walk’ possibilities are going to be, for a while. I might have to buy a bike or something. All of these trails I’ve been walking here in Pittsburgh are bikes too, so… I guess it would be nice to have some range as well – distance here in Pittsburgh is very, very different than it is in New York with its feature rich environment.
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.
In 2023, ‘low to high’ was published, which discusses a section of a somewhat long walk in Pittsburgh. I got to see a train!
Back tomorrow.
“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 #031
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Things are improving around HQ, exponentially at this point, as my broken ankle’s physical therapy routine is tangibly addressing the pain and swelling of early recovery. They’ve even had me walking in ordinary shoes at the ‘PT’ sessions. I’m recovering some of my confidence in the stride as well, in terms of trusting my affected limb.
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are randomly 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.
2010’s ‘narcotic flowers’ was published on this date, which discussed public health measures that were introduced in NYC, during the late 19th century, to combat epidemics and pandemics arriving daily at the port with the floods of immigrants from peasant lands in Europe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My pal Will from NCA recently sent a photo of my beloved Dutch Kills tree to me, and the thing has turned into a real whopper over the last couple of years. Next time that I’m back home, I plan on getting a few shots of this survivor. Spring, likely.
During the pandemic, your humble narrator was walking around in the dead of night at Newtown Creek for want of any other purpose. 2020 gave me a chance to get ‘technical’ with the photos, and really slow things down, as seen in the post ‘livid marks’ which visits the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m thinking that I might actually be able to get back to my normal pursuits by mid-December at this point, but I’m taking things slowly and following the program as laid out by the professionals. Their first name is ‘Doctor,’ after all, and I’m just a schmuck with a camera.
November 18, in 2022, was smack in the middle of an intensely busy period as Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself were deep in preparation for our move to Pittsburgh and your humble narrator was attempting to ‘see everything one last time.’ Luckily, by this point, I had taken possession of the car, and was able to zip about Queens freely.
“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 #021
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The situation continues to improve here at HQ, after the surgeon who restored my broken ankle removed the hard cast and replaced it with a walking boot/brace. I’ve still got a lot of pain occurring from the aftereffects of the surgery, which is more of a dermatological problem rather than an orthopedic one, but there we are. At any rate, another archives post greets you today, with all posts having originally been published on this date in their respective years.
2012’s offering on the 4th of November was ‘Sinister Swamp,’ which continued the post Hurricane Sandy survey of Newtown Creek which I was conducting with Hank the Elevator Guy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been asked, multiple times, over the years about the odd titles I’d assign to these posts. Literally, I had a book of Lovecraft short stories on my desk and I’d just flip it open. Whatever two word phrase my eyes randomly landed on would become the title of that days post. If you know what Lovecraft named his cat, you’ll understand why I had to be a bit more careful in title selection than just randomly grabbing lingo from the old boy. There’s a vast amount of ugly embedded in Lovecraft’s writing.
2015’s ‘abetted by’ discussed a few things observed during a Working Harbor Committee excursion, and laid out what the difference between a ship and a boat is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m managing to get up and down the very stairs which felled me, drive the car for short intervals, and do basic tasks like making a sandwich. This walking boot is a ‘get out of jail’ card. I’ll be able to vote tomorrow, which I’m very much looking forward to. Nice thing about living in a swing state is that your vote actually matters.
2020’s ‘stolen fearfully’ showed part of a night time pandemic walk which I undertook in Astoria. Man, I miss those deserted streets.
“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 