Posts Tagged ‘sunnyside’
simple minded
Fireworks in Queens, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 4th, my neighbors Mario and Dario and I climbed up the little ladder which leads up to the roof hatch and surmounted our building. Arriving up at tar beach, we discovered that just about everyone else in Astoria had the same idea. Our view of the horizon and the Macy’s Fireworks show on the East River was hopelessly occluded, but who needs Manhattan’s little spectacle?
Queens never disappoints.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Off in the direction of Old Astoria, where the Triboro and Hells Gate Bridges can be found, the neighborhood was oddly quiet. There were the occasional detonations, as pictured above, but by Astoria standards – not too much was going on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was the to southeast where the action was going on, and it seemed that Woodside was competing with Sunnyside and Maspeth from my vantage point.
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to see
If I were taller, I could have been a baller.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, one was contemplating perspective, and I wondered what the City of Greater New York must look like to our current mayor. Striding around in cyclopean fashion, able to cross the East River in two great steps, it must be fantastic to be that tall. Your humble narrator is “low average” in height, so I’ve always wondered what perspectives are enjoyed by a true giant. Don’t get me wrong, I’m only talking about height, not gravitas or other intangible efficacies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I always notice the giants while onboard the subway, not just because they have to stoop when entering the car. They’re the ones who appear to be standing up while actually sitting down, and these are folks who can’t help but look down their nose at everyone else. The only thing people of enormous stature need to fear, other than low ceilings, are the sudden appearance of Jewish pre-teens named “Dov” or “David” who are carrying slings – but that’s kind of a cat and dog natural enemy thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s always been my understanding that driving the massive mountain of flesh and bone along through the world exacts a cost, cardiovascular wise (there are miles of veins and arteries within them), and that the very tall are at a significantly higher risk for certain ailments (like bird and lightning strikes) – so there’s that. Still, it would be great to see things from an Olympian perspective, wouldn’t it?
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There’s a Newtown Creek walking tour, and a Magic Lantern show, coming up.
Wednesday, June 11th, Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show with Brooklyn Brainery.
Click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, June 15th, DUPBO – Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp
A FREE tour, courtesy of Green Shores NYC, click here for rsvp info
by surprise
Cool atmospherics in Sunnyside.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of those periodic blasts of duty has been upon me for the last week or so, a lot to do with little time to do it, and the rain last week didn’t help. Got in the way of one project, delayed two others, and obliterated any semblance of free time when precipitants fell not. Accordingly, rather than walking everywhere, as I just did not have the time, mass transit was utilized.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unlike several of my friends, especially that walking encyclopedia of regional transport options – Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY, I generally don’t familiarize myself with transit lines that I don’t frequent. Limited space available on my internal hard drives, and the needs of the now often crowd out things I don’t need to use often. However, I was quite proud of myself while improvising a bus and train path on the fly, just the other day, which is how I ended up on the 7 train.
Normally, I’d just walk from Greenpoint to Flushing, as it’s only a few miles and carries one across a staggeringly interesting cross section of Brooklyn and Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The good news is that the first walking tour of 2014 is now accomplished, on Saturday I did the “13 Steps around Dutch Kills” tour with Atlas Obscura, which was one of the many things I had to do last week. Next tour with the Obscura Society will be “The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek” on April 26, tickets are available here.
The reason I was heading to Flushing, and lucky enough to catch these cool atmospherics and lighting in Sunnyside, was to get some shots of the Unisphere for my Brownstoner column – check them out here.
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crush and engulf
Late again, sorry. Here’s why.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since the weather broke, your humble narrator has lost nary a minute to the Newtown Pentacle, and much in the way of shoe rubber has been expended in the last few days. Saturday, I walked the so called entire “upper creek” (the area of Newtown Creek found between Maspeth Creek and English Kills, which borders Ridgewood and Bushwick). Sunday, I was in Greenpoint all day, but sadly missed getting a shot of that baby seal which turned up at the Newtown Creek Nature Walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Monday (yesterday), I conducted a tour of the lower Creek for a group of film students from Pratt University, and this afternoon, I’m hoping to find some time to pop over to Hell Gate in the hope of capturing some interesting images of maritime traffic.
Recent efforts of note – which appear on external websites – include a series of posts describing the non profit scene of Red Hook on the Red Hook Water Front site, and my coverage of Sunnyside’s St. Pat’s Day for All parade can be found at Brownstoner Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is magnificent, this throwing off of the shackles of ice and snow, and returning to the streets. Conversely, a humble narrator’s physique has largely transformed into a quivering jelly over this long winter, and every muscle in my legs and back are liberally painted with lactic acids. Hopefully, within a few weeks, I’ll be back in fighting condition and enjoy a fineness of fettle.
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terrible phantasms
Photographing professional photographers while they photograph.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pro photographers, particularly the press folks, are know for… ahem… sharp elbows. When your dinner depends on getting the shot before the hundred other people standing around you can, this is a talent you learn to develop. Your humble narrator, a retiring sort of fellow who always aspires to let someone else have the last piece of cake, stood amongst this corps of elbows yesterday.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The event was the St. Pat’s Day for All parade, an annual event in Sunnyside. It attracts elected officials like flies, so an army descends upon Skillman Avenue assembled from Newspapers, TV Stations, and every “legitimate” news gatherer in New York. None of these people pay the slightest attention to Queens the rest of the time, so its kind of galling watching them take over for the afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Worst of all is when these photographing photographers and reporters “cock block” my shots. The TV people are the worst about this, as depicted above, when Bobby Cuza from NY1 starts interviewing Michael Gianaris right in front of me. I figured I’d get this as my shot instead of just the Senator, and if you hear a shutter flipping about in the NY1 interview footage when it airs, that’ll be me – as the TV camera was inches from my own lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I can only imagine what Paparazzi work is like, what with having to fight off Alec Baldwin and all. That would require very sharp elbows, I think. Also, I need to figure out how to get myself a press pass. When I said “blog” to the NYPD Community Affairs Officer he actually made a “pffft” sound and told me to get behind the barrier. Luckily, I snuck in to the press pen by sticking close to NY1’s Bobby Cuza and his camera operator as they entered. Heh.
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The Newtown Pentacle 