Nathan Kensinger Photography: Queens

Showing posts with label Queens. Show all posts

After The Storm

Breezy Point, 11//16/12

December 12, 2012 -

On October 29th, New York City's waterfront was permanently transformed by Hurricane Sandy. During its enormous storm surge, neighborhoods throughout the city were flooded and destroyed. Houses were flattened, floated from their foundations, or pushed into the middle of streets and marshes. Since the storm, I've documented the damage done to many of the areas affected by the hurricane, talking with residents and publishing a series of photo essays at the website Curbed. No matter what type of neighborhood the storm visited, the damage was severe, from the mansions of Belle Harbor and Manhattan Beach, to the gated communities of Breezy Point and Sea Gate, to working class neighborhoods in Staten Island like New Dorp Beach, Fox Beach and Midland Beach, and marginalized neighborhoods like Edgemere and Far Rockaway.

Many of the unique neighborhoods documented on this website over the past 5 years were devastated by the storm. In Brooklyn, Coney Island was entirely submerged, creating enormous damage to homes and property. Alongside the damage in Sea Gate and Manhattan Beach, the hidden world beneath the boardwalk (Coney Island - Under the Boardwalk, March 2009) was largely filled with sand and debris, while the bungalows of Brighton Beach (Brighton Beach Bungalows, March 2010) were flooded, jeopardizing the future of an already endangered community. Businesses and studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Brooklyn Navy Yard photo essays, 2007-2010) were destroyed, while the Superfunded waters of the Gowanus Canal (Gowanus Canal: Toxic Playground, October 2011) and the Newtown Creek (Newtown Creek: Brooklyn Shores, February 2011) overflowed their banks and filled bordering neighborhoods with toxic pollution. Floyd Bennett Field (Camping at Floyd Bennett Field, July 2012), was transformed from a quiet campsite and recreation area into a full scale military operation, with hundreds of trucks, ambulances, tents and humvees positioned to move into the Rockaways.

South Edgemere, 11/1/12

Like Coney Island, the Rockaways were also completely submerged, with water coming in from both the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. At the eastern end of the peninsula, in the seaside sections of Far Rockaway (Far Rockaway: Abandoned Bungalows, June 2009) and on the shoreline in northern Edgemere (The North Edgemere Shore, October 2010), nearly every house was flooded, putting an enormous strain on two neighborhoods which had already been struggling to survive. In southern Edgemere (The South Edgemere Wasteland, September 2010), the iconic wooden boardwalk was lifted by the storm surge and pushed far inland. At the 59th street marina, home of The Boatel (Sleeping in the Sommerville Basin, July 2011), dozens of boats were left in a crushed jumble onshore, leaving the marina's future uncertain. In Hammels (Hammels Wye, December 2010), many more boats were destroyed. The western section of the Rockaways fared the worst, however, with fires and floods destroying many homes in Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor and Breezy Point.

Staten Island's entire east coast was decimated by a storm surge that rushed inland through marshy areas that border many of its coastal neighborhoods. Blocks from the ocean, homes were pushed off their boundaries, crumbling and submerging into the reeds. Parts of Midland Beach and Fox Beach were wiped off the map, while the bungalows in New Dorp Beach (New Dorp Bungalows, February 2011) were hard hit and the century-old bungalow community of Cedar Grove Beach was left with only two structures remaining. Further south, the freshwater pond at Wolfes Pond Park (Urban Camping in Staten Island, June 2011) was breached by the sea, which crushed several nearby landmarks.

The following 35 photographs are presented chronologically, beginning on the morning after the storm. They were selected from approximately 3,900 photographs which were taken over the past six weeks. These photographs provide only a small glimpse into some of the neighborhoods damaged by the storm. Publishing every one of the millions of photographs that have been taken since the storm passed would not begin to tell the whole story of how New York City's waterfront has been transformed. The cleanup is ongoing and will continue for many months, but has largely moved indoors and out of sight, like an invisible internal hemorrhage that leaves only a few bruises on the skin. In the months to come, the larger toll of the storm will begin to emerge, as homes are demolished or abandoned and businesses go bankrupt. Throughout the city, the same refrain has been repeated by many residents: the waterfront will never be the same.

Gowanus Canal, 10/30/12

Red Hook, 10/30/12

Williamsburg, 10/31/12

South Edgemere, 11/1/12

North Edgemere, 11/1/12

Hammels, 11/1/12

Rockaway Park, 11/1/12

Belle Harbor, 11/1/12

Stapleton, 11/03/12

Midland Beach, 11/03/12

New Dorp Beach, 11/03/12

Cedar Grove Beach, 11/03/12

Great Kills, 11/03/12

Sea Gate, 11/11/12

Manhattan Beach, 11/11/12

Fort Tilden, 11/16/12

Breezy Point, 11/16/12

Jacob Riis Park, 11/16/12

Wolfes Pond, 12/3/12

Fox Beach, 12/3/12

The Newtown Creek Armada Update

February 29th, 2012 -

The Newtown Creek Armada is currently being built in a studio overlooking the Newtown Creek. Several prototype boats have been created and tested in the toxic waters of this Superfund Site. Initial voyages are embarking at various points along the creek, including the difficult-to-access waters of the Dutch Kills, English Kills, and Maspeth Creek. A variety of waterproof camera systems have been tested, and exploratory footage has been captured. To date, no boats have been lost.

The Newtown Creek Armada is an interactive installation in which a model boat pond will be created on the Newtown Creek, one of America's most polluted waterways. The installation will take place in Spring 2012, when visitors will be invited to pilot a fleet of artist-created, miniature, radio-controlled boats along the Newtown Creek's surface. The Armada is a collaboration between Nathan Kensinger, Laura Chipley and Sarah Nelson Wright and is presented in partnership with The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (nbART), which announced the project in November 2011.

Since the project was announced, it has been featured in the New York Daily News, L Magazine, DNA Info, and the Brooklyn Paper. In January 2012, it received a grant from FEAST, and in March, it will receive a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council in a ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

The following images are of prototype boats from The Armada, on their initial exploratory voyages. For more information on The Armada, please visit the project's webpage at www.newtowncreekarmada.org

Sleeping in the Sommerville Basin

July 31, 2011 -

The Sommerville Basin is a small Jamaica Bay inlet in The Rockaways, located on the border between the Queens neighborhoods of Arverne and Edgemere. Fishermen and crabbers ply its waters from all sides, despite being downshore from the Edgemere Landfill, an abandoned toxic dump which is leeching trash into the bay nearby. A warning sign posted by the NY Department of Health reads "no more than one meal per week of Bluefish, American Eels, or Striped Bass from Jamaica Bay shall be eaten," but that does not seem to deter the fishermen of the basin, who proudly describe catching and grilling fish over three feet long.

They cast their lines in the shadow of the Ocean Bay Apartments, which are more commonly known as the Edgemere Houses, one of New York City's most notorious housing projects. "Cops at one time called [it] "Edgefear" because it was the worst public housing in the city by any indicator you care to choose," according to The Wave. The neighborhood of northern Edgemere, on the eastern side of the Sommerville Basin, is plagued by gang warfare, with abandoned waterfront buildings and marinas covered in gang graffiti. A pack of wild dogs lives in the park behind the Edgemere Houses, near city-owned fishing piers that jut out above the Sommerville Basin.

Sommerville Fisherman and Edgemere Houses

Sommerville Crabber and JFK

The main feature of the Sommerville Basin is Marina 59, a small three pier marina primarily used to store fishing vessels. Home to a surplus of abandoned boats, the marina is patrolled by a herd of goats which trim the weeds underneath vessels with names like "Parking Lot Pimp," "Beeracuda," "Like It Wet III," and "Wasting Away - Margarittaville." The marina rents kayaks and motorboats, has a bait shop selling hot coffee and worms, and is surrounded by a razor wire topped fence. With its remote location, "Marina 59 is a money-losing venture," according to the NY Times.

This summer, however, an improbably popular resort has sprung up inside the marina. Named the Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater, it is a small collection of refurbished abandoned boats clustered around a floating platform at the end of a pier. For a donation of $50 to $100 a night, visitors can stay onboard a private vessel, be entertained by either a movie or lecture, and can paddle out into the basin. Created by artist Constance Hockaday, The Boatel has been described as "New York City’s newest and perhaps loopiest tourist outpost," by the NY Times, and is entirely booked for the summer.

Spending a night at The Boatel is surprisingly peaceful. The sounds of the city - jets taking off from JFK, elevated subway trains, traffic from the Edgemere Houses - tend to fade away into the background as gentle waves rock The Boatel platform. Despite its urban setting, the Sommerville Basin is a pleasant and quiet refuge. Several fishermen stay late into the night with their boats.

Abandoned Boat

Goats and Boats

One hundred years ago, The Rockaways were the main summer escape for New York City, with grand hotels, amusement parks, tent cities and thousands of seasonal bungalows. At its peak, the peninsula was known as "The Playground of New York," according to The Wave, but by the 1960's most of the eastern section of The Rockaways had become blighted by failed development schemes, arson, abandoned bungalows, and "one of the city's highest concentrations of public housing," according to the NY Times. The neighborhoods of Arverne, Edgemere and Far Rockaway - located at the farthest eastern end of the peninsula - were hit the hardest.

These neighborhoods are still struggling to recover today. In recent years, however, redevelopment and gentrification have slowly reached out to transform the The Rockaways. In Far Rockaway, artists have been buying and refurbishing some of the few remaining bungalows. In Arverne, empty blocks are being transformed into Arverne By The Sea - "New York City’s newest and most improbable neighborhood," according to New York Magazine. "Over the last few summers, this sandy and pockmarked peninsula has become an unlikely hangout for young, artsy types," according to the NY Times. It remains to be seen whether the new-found popularity of The Rockways will create permanent change, or whether the artists will all float away when this latest season of summers is over.

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For more photo essays from The Rockaways, please visit The North Edgemere Shore (2010) The South Edgemere Wasteland (2010), The Edgemere Landfill (2010), Hammels Wye (2010) and Far Rockaway: Abandoned Bungalows (2009).