Posts Tagged ‘Woodside’
draped bales
The native art form of Queens, illegal dumping, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Often has a humble narrator commented on the panache and style in which the neighbors hereabout dispose of unwanted items. Sure, you’ve got illegal dumping in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and on the islands of Staten and Manhattan, but nowhere else in the City of Greater New York will you find the compositional flare and post modern sensibility of the Queensican who is trying to dispose of an unwanted item in a clandestine manner.
In Queens, people still care about how their middens look – so go ahead and call us old fashioned!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a few items which the redoubtable Department of Sanitation either won’t take due to regulatory rules, or due to improper packaging of the refuse for collection. None of the items in the shot above are proscribed, to my knowledge, but that doesn’t mean a thing to the Woodside artisan who arranged them on a sidewalk beneath the NY Connecting Railroad tracks recently. Here in Queens, freedom of expression is sacrosanct.
Disingenuously, or casually, arranged sidewalk litter?
Not in my back yard, thank you.
Just the other night, as I watched a lady empty her vehicle of what must have been a full case of empty beverage bottles into the street in front of my own domicile, and the utter joy of her explorative compositional process nearly overwhelmed me. Calling down to her – I assured her that we local residents would be happy to take care of her installation, post facto, and thanked her for choosing my block for her canvas.
It’s important to acknowledge the artist as they pursue their work rather than after they’re gone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There is a syncopated flair, a level of deep improvisational thought – a rythmic irony that’s at work in the expression of the native born art form of Queens, as encountered here and there. You don’t just open the door of a contractors van and push debris out in the same manner you would in Brooklyn. I’m Queens… we hold a higher standard, and our illegal dumping was “artisanal” long before Brooklyn appropriated the word.
In many ways, illegal dumping in Queens is reminiscent of 1950’s era Jazz. Think Mingo, and Monk.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
little polyhedron
Street photography, literally, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every little facet of Western Queens is endlessly fascinating to one such as myself. The section of Jackson Avenue which was refashioned into Northern Blvd. in the early 20th century (a puzzling nomenclature, as it runs east/west, and both Ditmars and Astoria Blvd. are further north), which I’ve long referred to as the “Carridor” has a distinctive look and feel. On the western end of it, the Real Estate Industrial Complex has finally broken through the barrier presented by the southern end of 31st street and large scale tower production is under way. It won’t be long before the Manhattan skyline views which Western Queens is known for will be completely obfuscated by the glass boxes being hurled at the sky.
Let’s face it, a used car lot has a huge footprint, and the Real Estate shit flies are rapacious when the subject of Sasquatch property lots arises. Thing is, this used car lot strains the Municipal infrastructure a whole let less than a block of apartments.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over on 43rd street, a longish roadway that leads from Newtown Creek to the south to a northern terminus at Bowery Bay and which transverses Astoria, Sunnyside, and Blissville that used to be called Laurel Hill Blvd., there’s a window on the world of tomorrow which can be observed by looking over the Sunnyside Yards at the western horizon. In Tolkien’s epics, it’s the west that the elves disappeared into. Coincidentally, the same mythology is presented as relating to the Decadent Dutch colonials who fled the “English” through Western New York and New Jersey by the literature of Washington Irving, H.P. Lovecraft, and many others. In Western Queens, the Real Estate Industrial Complex has stolen the western sky, as evinced by the shield wall of luxury apartment buildings rising from the filled in swamps of Long Island City pictured above.
Legend has it that the Dutch will return someday, when we need them most, but we won’t see them coming anymore.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The same shield wall of construction is visible from the eastern side of Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, which rises from the elluvial flood plains of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary nearby Skillman’s intersection with Thomson Avenue. The intersection of two communities is nearby, on a sloping hill which hosts both a “Woodside” and a “Sunnyside.” The Woodside, my reading suggests, was heavily forested with deciduous speciation in its aboriginal state, and the Sunnyside was more of grassland interspersed with coniferous trees that graduated into what would best described as an environment resembling the Louisiana Bayous.
The Sunnyside of the hill sloped down to the swampy lowlands of what’s now Queens Plaza, Dutch Kills (neighborhood), and the Degnon terminal area. This condition, which bred what was contemporaneously described as a “pestilential number of cholera and typhus carrying mosquitoes,” largely persisted in Queens until the early 20th century when the Sunnyside Yards, Degnon Terminal, and Queensboro Bridge construction projects included a fair bit of land reclamation and swamp drainage.
Upcoming tours and events:
“Brooklyn Waterfront – Past & Present” boat tour
with Working Harbor Committee, Thursday, September 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Click here for tickets.
“13 Steps around Dutch Kills” walking tour
with Atlas Obscura, Sunday, September 18th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Click here for tickets.
“First Calvary Cemetery” walking tour
with Brooklyn Brainery, Saturday, October 8th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Click here for tickets.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
swoopingly through
Cool cars, Astoria/Woodside edition.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gangster! Spotted this late model parked along Newtown Road near its intersection with Northern Blvd. recently. It’s registration sticker says it’s a 1960 Buick Four Door Sedan, and I do believe that it’s actually a 1960 LeSabre.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I dig the way the body styling above the head lamps makes it look angry. When you’re talking about a 1960 Buick, you should be using slang like “dig,” by the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The car wasn’t exactly “cherry,” as it had some body issues and was missing its proper wheel covers and more than a little bit of its chrome, but there’s a body shop on the corner of Northern which often has “cool cars” flowing through its lot so I suspect that this was one of theirs and that it was going to be receiving some love and attention.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a giant 8 cylinder engine under the hood of this auto, incidentally. If you’ve never driven a 1960’s Buick, I feel sorry for you, as you have no idea what real acceleration feels like.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This “cool car,” lords and ladies, caused a humble narrator to say out loud “me want.”
Of course, you’d be dropping half a tank of gas to get from one corner to the next, due to that giant 8 cylinder engine. It’s also from the “unsafe at any speed” era, so it’s likely that bumping into another car while parking might decapitate you, but…
Upcoming Events and Tours
Thursday, June 30, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. –
Port Elizabeth Newark Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee. Click here for more details.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
abnormal horrors
Salutations and Happy Wednesday, from here in the dimly lit Newtown Pentacle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found one wandering about in the early evening, along the border betwixt Sunnyside, Woodside, and Astoria. Pictured above, a gas station found at the corner of Northern Blvd. and Woodside Avenue. It’s a Mobil station, as the corporate branding would imply, which historically means that it’s a SOCONY or Standard Oil Company of New York filling station.
SOCONY was based, of course, along my beloved Newtown Creek in Brooklyn. The modern world may be dross, but if you know what you’re looking at, history is writ large across it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above was shot from a spot solidly within Astoria, and depicts the iconic credo of the LIC Turn Verein. The Turners were a Duetche organization, who are actually still around but based further east of Queens than formerly, who promulgated the idea that physical and spiritual exercise were inextricably linked. This rather esoteric idea is what’s behind their iconic combination of a dollar sign and a crucifix, as seen above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Woodside Avenue, one is happy to report, is still there. I will check in on and confirm the continuing presence of the ancient lane once the week long rain event that has begun today has reached its conclusion.
On the subject of Tropical Storm, or possibly Hurricane, Joaquin – this weekend’s walking tour of Calvary Cemetery with Atlas Obscura has been rescheduled for the following weekend, specifically for Saturday the tenth of October. It just ain’t going to be too safe to walk around on the saturated ground there, as my long experience with the property informs that the turf will be syrupy and difficult for perambulation. Last thing I ever want to happen on one of my tours is for someone to get hurt, and a slip and fall at Calvary could easily result in a serious injury, what with the vertical slabs of stone sticking up all over the place.
Also, lightning and open fields really aren’t a good combination.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Road’s terminus at Northern Blvd. is where you’ll find the NYCHA Woodside Houses, depicted in the shot above. Hopefully, Mayor Vain de Glorioso isn’t planning on instituting his asinine plan to build condos on the green space and playgrounds of this public housing development, but you never know. He is so tall that his head is literally lost in the clouds, and he walks upon the earth with gigantic feet that progressively crush all that are regressive enough to not get out of his way. When Ragnarok arrives in November of 2017, the Jotun (storm giant) is likely to experience some stormy weather and lightning. Hopefully, an electoral hammer will be thrown and find its mark, which will drive him and his ludicrous ideology back to the frosty shores of Park Slope.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
October 10th, 2015
Calvary Cemetery Walking Tour
with Atlas Obscura, click here for details and tickets
impelled forward
I want one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Caterpillar AP 1055f Track Asphalt Paver you see in the shot above, which was adorned with stickers indicating its owner (or lessee) was the NYC DOT. One was scuttling around on Broadway on a recent afternoon, heading towards Jackson Heights via Woodside, and this baby was just sitting there waiting to be recorded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My instincts tell me that with just a few modifications, this would be an efficacious device to have in case of a zombie outbreak, but the pedants at the DOT was predictably using it for the purpose that it was actually engineered for – road grading and repair.
Combine this gizmo with a couple of those street trenchers I showed you last winter, you’ve got yourself a pretty formidable defense against the undead hordes – imho.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The manufacturer of this wonderfully complex bit of kit is the Caterpillar company, who build all sorts of giant machines. Their site hosts this page which describes the capabilities, mechanical qualities, and advantages which the device offers – which includes a heated seat for the operator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I could not stop myself from thinking about the Cat in the Hat’s “moss-covered three-handled family gradunza” from the Dr. Seuss cartoons when I saw this puppy.
I’m all ‘effed up, of course.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours –
September 20th, 2015
Glittering Realms Walking Tour
with Brooklyn Brainery, click here for details and tickets
The Newtown Pentacle 