B/Q (1986-2013)

Garbage Barge, Oil Tanks, Greenpoint Incinerator & Newtown Creek

The old Greenpoint Incinerator, in the background was closed as a polluter, and even more trash was transferred to barges which were used to take trash out to Fresh Kills.

Dutch Kills, Shredded Cars, Waste Transfer Station & Greenpoint Incinerator, Long Island City, Queens

The car shredder and Greenpoint Sewage plant in the 1980s, didn't have all the stringent environmental rules that have been put into effect along the Creek.
The sewage plant is completely redone, the incinerator is gone. Nue Schnitzer still runs a metals recycling operation, but under strict environmental rules, even using netting to cover the barges.

Dutch Kills, Nue Schnitzer Metals, 2009

Through strigent environmental rules, the car shredding continues, the Incinerator has been demolished, trash is taken by barge to Fresh Kills.

Maspeth Creek & Newtown Creek Junction, Sunken Boat &Phelps Dodge Plant

This is where Maspeth Creek joins Newton Creek. It's high, slack tide so it appears as one, but at low tide the two creeks are clearly visible.

This would be where Furman's Island was, and this is the sunset view west that he loved. Seeing the sooty writing on the wall, Mr. Furman sold his island to industrial concers, and left for higher ground, still in Queens.

Newtown Creek, Greenpoint Tanks, WTC and Downtown Manhattan along Newtown Creek.

The summer of 2001 were a time of change for many. Both the Tanks and the Towers fell during a time of prosperity in the city.

Calvaary Cemetery, Kocsiosko Bridhge, Greenpoint Tanks, BQE

In June, the setting sun illuminates the Tanks and BQE, both of which are gone. The Koscisako Bridge has been replaced by a cable-stayed structure, but the Tanks, the Greenpoint Holders, symbols of indiustrial north Brooklyn and south Queens, are gone.

G & G Diner, Queens, night, rain

Across from Dutch Kills and under the Long Island Expressway, it was torn down and is simply a fenced-in lot today.

Homes, 54th Ave., Laurel Hill, Queens - Gone

Homes, Locust Street, Queens, snow and dramatic aky.

The home on the right is now gone, the one on the left lasted .the longest and was This is the Laurel Hill sub-neighborhood where homes are dwarfed by industry, cemeteries and infrastructure.

Home-made sign warning dumpers to stya out of Blissville, a small Queens neighborhood along Newtown Creek

In the eighties, whatever residents there were, would try their best to protect their homes.

Razor Wire in English Kills at Low Tide

Razor wire at low tide in English Kills, off Newtown Creek

Dutch Kills at Borden Ave. Retractable Bridge, Long Island City, Queens

Trash, pollution and waste in Dutch Kills next to the Dutch Kills swing bridge

Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens

Zion Cemetery, Queens

210,000 people have been buried here since 1893 and the Maspeth neighborhood grew around it. Behind me is the massive New Calvalry Cemetery across the street on 58th Street.

Snowman, 37th St., Blissville, Queens

Across the strret from Calvary Cemetery, a snowman made of toxic waste and rubbish across from Calvary Cemetery.

Sunken Car, English Kills

It was a common paractice - disposing of cars in the Kills. And they got in there under all sorts of circumstances, The area was perfect for racing, particularly along Review Street beween the cemetery and factories that line the Creek. People have launched their cars into the Creek while racing, then there is the glee of pure vandalism and stealing cars. Then there's the guy who, got off work, was partying in the lot next to English Kills, and, when he went to drive out, his car was not in reverse and he landed in the Kills.
This is the eighties and all the vehicles have been scrapped by 2002.

Duck on Garbage, English Kills

Taken in 1998, there were, of course, the occasional waterfowl, but not exactly a nature preserve, for good reason.

Barrel & Assorted Waste, East Branch Terminus, Newtown Creek

Waste Container, East Branch Terminus, Newtown Creek

The Terminus dead-ended at the Western Beef facility and a number of produce plants and markets.

Bag, East Branch, Newtown Creek

It's becoming more difficult to find that sort of sentiment along the Creek these days.

English Kills at Its Terminus, Raft of Human Waste & Garbage

Montauk Swing Bridge Over Dutch Kills, Greenpoint Incinerator, Long Island City, Queens

Hunter Ave. Bridge & LIE Bridge Over Dutch Kills

Kosciosko Bridge & Phelps Dodge Plant, Newtown Creek

The bridge carries a huge load of traffic and is often clogged. Even in the eighties, although the seventies were even worse when rendering of animas still took place under the bridge, the smell from rendering plants, copper smelting and chemicals enevelped the bridge, and if you were stuck in traffic, it's windows up.

Underneath the Kosciosko Bridge

Phelps Dodge Plant - Built 1911, Closed, 1985, Demolished, 2001

A copper refinery in New York City? In my lifetime, yes.

Calvary Cemetery, BQE & Kosciosko Bridge

On October 29, 1845 Old St. Patrick's Cathedral trustees had purchased 71 acres of land from John McMenoy and John McNolte in Maspeth and this land was used to develop Calvary Cemetery. 

Home & New York Crane Yard, 43rd St., Laurel Hill, Queens

Zion Cemetery, Maspeth Queens

The shot was taken in a one hour exposure on film. The incinerator, like the one in Greenpoint, was closed in the eighties but never demolished.

It's the area that was favored, they say, by the tribes who inhabited the area because of its elevation and distance from the Creek. At 210,00 burials it's a small Queens cemetery by acreage, but they do pack them in, beginning in 1893.