Posts Tagged ‘queens’
Project Firebox 92
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Found amongst the blessed hills of Astoria, this scarlet soldier of the realm enjoys long tenancy along 31st avenue nearby Steinway Street. Its been in Astoria for a long, long time and remembers a mythological day when “things were different” and “people cared” unlike today. Dross neighbors notwithstanding, it serves its vigil endlessly.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Project Firebox 91
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A member of the jet set, this crimson watchman stands proudly at the corner of 82nd street and Astoria Blvd. It is the last firebox one encounters when entering the airport, is proud to act as a signpost for a bereaved family searching for a small dog named Negrita, and vouchsafes the busy intersection where it has been stationed for so very long. Shine on firebox, shine on.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
ravished sight
Destruction in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently, on one of my interminably numerous walks to and from Greenpoint to attend another well meaning meeting designed to discuss the infamous Newtown Creek and the nuances of its environmental and legal standing, was this ripped to shreds traffic barrier on 43rd street alongside the titan Sunnyside Yard. The wooden traffic barrier pictured above has been in place for years now, vouchsafing a pedestrian walkway which has long substituted for the sidewalk alongside a construction fence.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The substance of the the thing, a stout and squared off log which was held fast by steel rebar to the pavement, was shredded. This is the sort of damage one witnesses on wooden docks, a manifestation of the physics of weight, inertia, and velocity. This damage would require quite a bit of all three. Likely, a truck or large automobile was hurtling along 43rd when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The physics of the scene were off putting. The amount of energy required to lift the wood and rebar out of the cement had to be enormous, and the shredding of the woods edge says to me that the vehicle uncontrollably rode along it for a bit. Hopeful wonderings that no humans or dogs were injured in this accidental are embraced, as this is a busy pedestrian pathway connecting Sunnyside with Astoria.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
known gods
It certainly has been quite an interesting life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
No man is a failure who’s got friends, or so they told George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Homespun aphorism and Capraesque cliche notwithstanding, I would argue that having the wrong friends is a wholly different sort of failure which far outweighs the dollars and cents of conventional success. A loner, malcontent, and altogether difficult and argumentative know it all- your humble narrator’s few acquaintances tolerate my presence, but only in small doses.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You’ve got to use it or lose it, but what if you never had “it” in the first place? One such as myself, bereft of natural advantages such as speed, grace, strength, or athletic prowess on any level knows full well the shame of fumbling, stumbling, and or striking out. The only advantage possessed by me is a rat like cunning, although given my standing amongst the humans it would be logical to presume that I would make a poor specimen of Rattus rattus.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Like some ancient mariner lost upon the storm tossed waves go I, lashed to the frozen deck of a broken life. My wants and desires are nonexistent beyond the purely existential issues of food and shelter, as I have long ago given up pursuit of material success. There is no plan, things just happen, and the daily round is just a series of dull events. Your humble narrator is not at all driven by avarice, vainglory, or ambition in the ways that most are. Just think of me solely as the battered, the disabused, the disenfranchised, and always an outsider- if you feel the strong urge to categorize or quantize me.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
seven lands
Come on Queensicans, we can do better.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Illegal dumping is the native art form of Queens. One has presented ample evidence to back up this bold assertion, over the years at this, your Newtown Pentacle. Saying that, what I recently witnessed along Northern Blvd. was simply a degenerate bastardization of this Queensylvanian mode of self expression. C’mon, no broken cabinetry or busted 1999 vintage computer monitors? Where are the piles of tires? What kind of “Long Island City Art Installation” was this?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This pavement midden was encountered nearby the 36th street R/M station, and I would prefer to think of it as art. The work was composed of a heterogenous collection of paper and plastic simulacra. It looked a great deal like litter, which might have been the intent of the artist. If so, the illusion was achieved and my disbelief was positively suspended. The composition left me flat, however, with its banal and well rehearsed commentary on the post industrial urban milieu.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I was a young narrator, not yet humble but instead filled with the vainglories of youthful ambition, an enormous act of social engineering was perpetrated upon my peer group by the government. Woodsie the Owl always reminded one to “give a hoot and don’t pollute” and use proper receptacles for trash, with an impression made that disobeyance of said missive would end all life upon the Earth. This sort of environmentally friendly messaging has been absent for quite some time, and is a curricula which has not been offered to subsequent generations, as evinced by the bold compositions offered by these street artists in Queens.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
