Posts Tagged ‘queens’
songs and dreams
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my pedantic philosophies, oft repeated to European relatives and acquaintances, is “We all know the uncomfortable truth of America, but it’s the myth that we need to believe in”. This sort of sophistry has always been the provence of artists and bohemians, radicals and writers- not the average joe.
Lately, it seems that the myth has been left out of the curriculum, and that it’s the patients who are running the asylum. Everyone I talk to, it seems, is disillusioned- in the literal sense of the word.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As slave masters go, the fellow depicted in the sculpture above- which sits at the foot of a bridge in Brooklyn- seems to been an ok one, at least according to oral tradition and learned opinions.
Can you be a good slave master though?
That’s the truth.
Cannot tell a lie, honor and fealty, liberty and justice for all.
That’s the myth, and I’ll take it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It would be childish to not discuss the state of perpetual and unending war, or the inequity of a system that punishes the weak and wounded. One may not forget about original sin, or betrayed friends, or the vagaries of jingoism. What we may not forget is the myth.
I think it’s really important to try and remember about Superman, and Captain America too.
unutterable and unnatural
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Haunting the bridges which carry pedestrian and vehicular traffic over the Sunnyside yards, as always, your humble narrator is both frustrated and relieved at the presence of the stout steel plating which obscures the track.
Frustrated, because it makes it quite difficult to photograph and bear witness to its wonders- Relieved because the vital infrastructure of the rail yard is protected from casual “sapping”.
I, of course, know where every gap in the fencing exists that is large enough to poke a camera lens through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Yards are used not just by it’s main tenants- Amtrak and the Long Island Railroad- it also serves as temporary housing for the excess capacity of other area rail lines, such as the New Jersey Transit cars on the left hand side of the shot above. The ones on the right are Amtrak.
In the distance is that assemblage of early 20th century industrial splendor known as the Degnon Terminal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The amazing layer cake of Western Queens is manifest in this place, where the drained swamp which became the Sunnyside Yards reveals the natural grade of the land. The tracks of the 7 Subway line hang over a viaduct which exits Queens Plaza and becomes Queens Blvd.
In the distance are the former Ever Ready Battery, American Chicle, and Sunshine Biscuits “Thousand Windows” factories which were the crown jewels of the Degnon Terminal.
pest gulfs
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Not too long ago, I was crossing an intersection in Long Island City, one which is overtly familiar, and I noticed something which has eluded my interests in the past. At Hunters Point Avenue (which is officially 47th avenue in this decadent age) and 27th street, the sewers bear an interesting screed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was recently a sizable road repair in this spot, perhaps in 2008 or 09, one which cut away the street surface. Observation revealed that the waters of Dutch Kills flow beneath a sort of concrete deck, which appears to be the foundations of the surface street, a structure which sits upon wooden piles.
It must have been around the time of this project that these grates showed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Dump no waste, drains to waterways” is the motto embossed on the curb surface. What this means, to me at least, is that snowmelt and rain goes directly (and untreated) into the nearest open water- which would be the Dutch Kills tributary of the fabled Newtown Creek.
Just in case you think that this is not a big deal, this is an enormously well travelled intersection with a UPS depot on the opposite corner and one which provides a “short cut” for trucks employed by the Fresh Direct facility on Borden Avenue (amongst others, of course). That’s two very large fleets of trucks.
Trucks are notoriously “drippy” and their exhaust paints the pavement with diesel petroleum residue, all of which flows into the water.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another drop in the bucket, you might say, as far the Newtown Creek Watershed goes.
Even so, it’s odd that untreated wastewater is allowed to flow directly into this waterway, already a largely anaerobic place where no fish of similar size might survive long.
gangrenous glare
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a short one today, as your humble narrator has recently been laid low by some unknown virus for the last week, and frankly- all I can manage in this state of epidemic weakness and fatigue is another of the “now and then” posts.
Doubt exists in my mind as to the exact location of the shot below, but there were several improvements made to the elevated line on Queens Blvd. over the years, some of which were due to the lengthening of the platforms to accommodate IND as well as IRT to facilitate system wide access to the World’s Fair at what is now Flushing Meadow Corona Park.
– photo courtesy google books, from: Queens Borough, New York City, 1910-1920: The Borough of Homes and Industry
This very well might be the 46th street station in Sunnyside… but I’ll also point out that the Chrysler Building is missing as well.
Project Firebox 27
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On Ninth Street in Ravenswood lurks this minaret of scarlet assurance, a lonely and stalwart island of municipal succor in an dark and industrial sea of factory and warehouses. Curiously noble, it stands astride 35th Avenue.
