South Bronx Walk

Last September, I went on a walk along the South Bronx in New York City with the Shorewalkers group. It was a 21-mile walk which started with a walk across the Triborough Bridge to Randall's Island, and ended at Ferry Point Park and the Whitestone Bridge in the Bronx.

Our group met at the corner of Lexington and 125th Street in Manhattan before we made our way towards the Triborough Bridge. From the bridge's pedestrian walkway, I could see three of the bridges that span the southern end of the Harlem River -- Willis Avenue Bridge, Third Avenue Bridge and Park Avenue Bridge. I could also see the iconic History Channel sign, sadly it is not renewing its contract to advertise at that location and the sign has been dismantled.

We walked for a bit at the northern end of Randall's Island, across the East River we could see Riker's Island, and further was our final destination, the Whitestone Bridge. The blue and white box-type structure at the right of the photo is the Vernon C. Bail Floating Prison

The prison boat was constructed in New Orleans to the tune of $161 million and brought to New York shortly after. The price was a steal at the time, and the boat cost much less than building yet another landmass jail. The vessel is named after warden Vernon C. Bain who died in a car accident a few months before the prison opened.

In addition to the holding cells, the prison also contains a law library and a recreational room. It was even used for a short amount of time as a juvenile center, scaring young kids straight inside its dark vessel walls. 

We then made our way back to the Triborough Bridge towards its span leading to the Bronx. Along the way we passed by the bridge approach of the Hell Gate Bridge which runs parallel to the East River section of the Triborough Bridge. Those arches sure look pretty!
 

A glimpse of the Bronx Kill from the pedestrian walkway of the Triborough. It is a narrow strait delineating the southernmost extent of the Bronx and separating it from Randall's Island. Originally, the Bronx Kill was a sizeable waterway but it was later filled in to expand the parkland on the island.
 

Looking back at the pedestrian walkway of the Triborough, along the section leading to the Bronx.

And as we neared the Bronx, I saw this sign.

After getting off the Triborough, we made our way towards Bruckner Boulevard. Along the way, we passed by some street art, mostly artworks of the Tag Public Arts Project. Here's one done by Sexer1.

Then we were walking along the Bruckner Boulevard in the Port Morris section of the South Bronx. The symmetry of the beams supporting the Bruckner Expressway above the boulevard was calling for a shot.

Then we were making our way to the waterfront and had a closer look at the off-limits North Brother Island.

North Brother Island was uninhabited until 1885, when the city purchased the island in order to build Riverside Hospital, a hospital for people suffering from contagious diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis, yellow fever, and smallpox. The island's most famous resident was "Typhoid Mary" Mallon, who was incarcerated there for over twenty years until she died in 1938. The hospital closed shortly afterward.
In 1905, over one thousand people lost their lives when the General Slocum steamship caught fire near the island. Many of the staff assisted in the rescue of some of the 321 survivors. It was the worst loss of life in New York's history until the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The hospital was reopened after the Second World War, first to house war veterans and later as a treatment for heroin addicts. In 1963, it closed its doors for good and has been left to decay ever since. The island is officially off-limits to the public, as it is a bird sanctuary for one of the area's largest nesting colonies of Black-Crowned Night Herons.

We then passed by a Jetro Cash & Carry. This particular branch is home to the largest solar panel installation in New York City. The building’s 4,760 solar panels are expected to generate 1.8 million kilowatt hours of clean energy per year.

Going into the Hunts Point neighborhood, we took a little break and enjoyed the views from Barretto Point Park. It has great views of the Manhattan skyline as well as the Hell Gate Bridge and North Brother Island.

Most of the land area in Hunts Point is dominated by industry. Passed by this store selling steel pipes. The different shapes and colors look so fascinating!

Hunts Point is the location of the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, the largest food distribution center of its kind in the world. It houses the New Fulton Fish Market, second in size worldwide only to Tokyo's Tsukiji wholesale seafood market.

Since 1822 the Fulton Fish Market has been operating on South Street in Manhattan. On November 14, 2005, after 180 years of operation in Downtown Manhattan, the Fulton Fish Market moved into the new state of the art facility in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The 400,000-square-foot facility with modern refrigeration, increased loading space, and executive offices; a  custom-made building the size of the Empire state building in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, to be named the New Fulton Fish Market Cooperative.
New York City built the $86 million state-of-the-art New Fulton Fish Market to retain the region’s valuable wholesale seafood industry. The Fulton Fish Market handles about one-third of the New York’s total seafood demand.  The New Fulton Fish Market, a wholesale seafood marketplace in one of the most modern indoor facility of it kind. The new market opened for business On November 14, 2005. The seafood wholesalers at the New Fulton Fish Market, many owned by the same family for several generations, find that the enhanced climate controlled market and the new, modern facility gives them the competitive advantage in freshness.

We then checked out Hunts Point Landing,a waterfront amenity that will provide the neighborhood with natural habitats for animals and native plants and safe waterfront access with sustainable solutions for water treatment. 

It is one of the first additions to the planned South Bronx Greenway that will inject some much needed open space into a neighborhood home to some of the city’s less glamorous uses. Eventually Hunts Point landing will link up with a series of other parks in the area via bike and walking paths.

The 1.5-acre Hunts Point Landing offers a fishing pier, kayak launch, and tidal pools. While we were there, a fisherman proudly showed me his catch!

We walked further along skirting the Hunts Point Market, the whole complex was enclosed in this concrete fence which was painted in different pastel colors.

Along the way we came across some street art.

Finally we reached the Hunts Point Riverside Park, outside the park is this artistic wall separating, yet joining, the nonprofit Rocking the Boat, and the park.

Hunts Point Riverside Park is the first new riverside park to be built in the area in over sixty years, and is the first of a planned series of parks to be linked by a bike route to create the South Bronx Greenway.

Perhaps the most unsung patch of heaven in New York City is a tiny sliver of riverfront parkland tucked between a metal-recycling yard and a giant wholesale produce market, on the far side of a six-lane highway and a pair of active freight train tracks. Hunts Point Riverside Park, a 1.4-acre speck in the South Bronx, opened a few years ago on what had been a filthy, weedy street end.

Coming out from the park, along Edgewater Road are murals adorning the fence of the scrap yards in the area.

The murals are the second batch to enliven Hunts Point’s industrial streets. They are part of a larger project devised by Carey Clark, the director of arts education at The Point, called “Village of Murals.” The idea is to brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park. - See more at: http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/hpe/2010/10/14/new-murals-will-light-the-way-through-hunts-point/#sthash.grHhYQOP.dpuf

The murals are the second batch to enliven Hunts Point’s industrial streets. They are part of a larger project devised by Carey Clark, the director of arts education at The Point, called “Village of Murals.” The idea is to brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park. - See more at: http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/hpe/2010/10/14/new-murals-will-light-the-way-through-hunts-point/#sthash.grHhYQOP.dpuf

The murals are the second batch to enliven Hunts Point’s industrial streets. They are part of a larger project devised by Carey Clark, the director of arts education at The Point, called “Village of Murals.” The idea is to brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park. - See more at: http://brie.hunter.cuny.edu/hpe/2010/10/14/new-murals-will-light-the-way-through-hunts-point/#sthash.grHhYQOP.dpuf

The murals are the second batch to enliven Hunts Point’s industrial streets. They are part of a larger project devised by Carey Clark, the director of arts education at The Point, called “Village of Murals.” The idea is to brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park.

One of the industrial plants we passed by along Edgewater Road.

We then crossed the Bronx River via Bruckner Boulevard and have this view of people enjoying a canoe ride on the river.

Crossing the river also lead us to the next park, Soundview Park. 

Called the “Gateway to the Bronx River,” Soundview Park is situated where the Bronx River opens into the East River. When the City of New York acquired the original 93 acres of land for this park in 1937, the entire area was composed of marshland.

For a good chunk of its history, Soundview Park was a partially developed park built on a landfill. The southern third was once open water, while the remaining 2/3 of the park was tidal marsh, complete with three streams. Landfill operations began in the 1920s and lasted forty years. The landfill increased the height of the shoreline up to 30 feet above the marsh elevation, decreasing public access to the water. Happily, the park is now revered for its sports fields, fishing, and gorgeous views across Hunts Point to Manhattan.

At a certain point in Soundview Park, you could see the control tower of the La Guardia airport.

At the southern end of Soundview Park is Harding Park.

In the early 1920s Thomas Higgs, who owned about 100 acres (0.40 km²) of beachfront property, began leasing tents to visitors and the area became a summer bungalow colony named for President Harding. After World War II these became permanent year-round residences due to a housing shortage, eventually sheltering over 250 families.

Harding Park survived the attempt of Robert Moses to tear down what he called the "Soundview Slums" but became City property in 1979. Three years later, in 1982, Harding Park Homeowners Association, the first cooperatively owned low and moderate-income community in the city was formed.

The neighborhood has awesome views of Manhattan.

At the southern tip of the neighborhood is Clason Point Park. The park has a great view of the Whitestone Bridge, the final destination of our walk that day.

We rounded out that peninsula where the East River meets the Westchester Creek. Going further inland leads us to Pugsley Creek and the wetlands and marshes of Pugsley Creek Park.

After going round the long creek, we reached Castle Hill Park on the other side of the creek.

Castle Hill Park lies at the tip of Castle Hill Neck, a peninsula named by English settlers for a fortified Indian village located on a hill overlooking the East River. This village, inhabited by Siwanoy Indians, was known as Snakapins and was first discovered by the explorer Adriaen Block during his expedition to North America in the early 1600s. Located between Westchester Creek to the east and Pugsley Creek to west, Castle Hill Neck was first settled in 1685 by John Cromwell, a cousin of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

Across Westchester Creek from Castle Hill Park is Ferry Point Park, our final destination. But we have to skirt the creek and cross the Cross Bronx Expressway before we can reach it. This was my view looking up the expressway.

And nearing Ferry Point Park, I had this view.

If you’re looking for spectacular views, take a stroll in this expansive Bronx park. With one and a half miles of prime waterfront, Ferry Point Park offers unparalleled views of the East River and Long Island Sound, the Manhattan skyline, and of the Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridges. If a great outlook isn’t enough, how about some sports? Ferry Point Park offers visitors playing fields for soccer and football, basketball courts, and will soon offer access to a recently completed, world-class public golf course.

Ferry Point Park is a huge park, nearly half the size of Central Park. Beside its playing fields lies the bridge approach to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. We ended our walk at the tip of the park with this view underneath the bridge.

The Bronx–Whitestone Bridge (colloquially referred to as the Whitestone Bridge or simply the Whitestone) is a suspension bridge in New York City that crosses the East River and connects the boroughs of Queens on Long Island, and the Bronx on the United States mainland via Interstate 678. The bridge was designed by Othmar Ammann and opened to traffic with four lanes on April 29, 1939.

Here's a map of where we walked that day, the circles are the parks we visited.

That was a great walk, we visited so many parks and I got to see what the South Bronx look like. A very interesting and informative walk for me. I hope you've learned something, too!

For the rest of my photos, here's the album on Flickr: South Bronx Walk

Sunset to Sunrise in New York City

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a midnight meet sponsored by the instagram hub NYCprimeshot. The meet was at midnight so before that, my friends and I went to Astoria Park to shoot some sunset scenes.

We took the N train and got off at the Astoria Boulevard stop.

From there it was a few blocks walk to the park, specifically to the river edge. On this stretch of the East River, two bridges connect Astoria and Randall's Island across the river -- the RFK Triborough Bridge and Hell Gate Bridge.

It was nearly sunset time when we arrived at the Shore Boulevard, the stretch of street in Astoria parallel to the river, and I can see the sun peeking in between the columns of one of the towers of the RFK Triborough Bridge.

The Triborough Bridge, known officially as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge since 2008, and sometimes referred to as the RFK Triborough Bridge, is a complex of three separate bridges in New York City, carrying Interstate 278 and New York State Route 900G. Spanning the Harlem River, the Bronx Kill, and the Hell Gate (a strait of the East River), the bridges connect the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx via Randalls and Wards Islands, which are joined by landfill.

We kept on walking, past the underbelly of the Hell Gate Bridge.

The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or The East River Arch Bridge) is a 1,017-foot steel through arch railroad bridge in New York City. The bridge crosses the Hell Gate, a strait of the East River, between Astoria in Queens and Randalls and Wards Islands in Manhattan.

This bridge was the inspiration for the design of Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, which is about 60 percent larger.

The bridge would be the last New York City bridge to collapse if humans disappeared, taking at least a millennium to do so, according to the February 2005 issue of Discover magazine. Most other bridges would fall in about 300 years. 

We finally reached the part of Astoria Park where we have a great view of both bridges. They both looked great with the twilight colors of the sky.

And still looking great at early evening.

A closer shot of the midtown Manhattan buildings from underneath the lights of the Triborough Bridge, which to me looked like a pretty, shiny necklace.

By this time it was nearly 10 pm and we had to pack our things so we can make our way to the meeting place for the midnight meet. One last shot of the Triborough Bridge ..

And the Hell Gate Bridge at the distance. Look at that faint reflection on the water. I hope someday I could take a photo of the bridge and with its full reflection, it must be a wonderful sight to see.

By midnight we were with the group at our meeting place which was the entrance to the pedestrian pathway of the Manhattan Bridge.  We then made our way across the bridge and took some light trails shots of the vehicles along the FDR Drive.

I also took a long exposure shot of the Brooklyn Bridge, its lights reflected on the East River and displayed a kind of pattern.

After getting off the bridge, we proceeded to Dumbo and stopped at Front Street. This is probably the most photographed area in Dumbo, where you could see the Empire State Building perfectly framed by the arches of the Manhattan Bridge. Some of our companions were already setting up their equipment when we arrived.

The midnight meet included some steel-wool spinning, and it caught the Empire State Building inside the fiery circle.

The lights of the Manhattan Bridge were reflected on the water as a ship with purple lights sail past.

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is 1,470 ft (448 m) long, with the suspension cables being 3,224 ft (983 m) long. The bridge's total length is 6,855 ft (2,089 m). This is one of four toll-free bridges spanning the East River; the other three are the Queensboro, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg Bridges.
The bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff, and is noted for its innovative design. As the first suspension bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for the stiffening of its deck, it is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges and this design served as the model for many of the long-span suspension bridges built in the first half of the twentieth century. The Manhattan Bridge was also the first suspension bridge to utilize a Warren truss in its design.

On the other side of that view is Brooklyn Bridge and Jane's Carousel. Built in 1922 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the carousel was lovingly restored and donated to the park by Jane and David Walentas. It opened to the public on September 16, 2011.

There were some crazy spinning that night, there was even a double spin. Each of them have their own styles of spinning, you could see the pattern on the spin by the light trails.

Jane's Carousel is housed in a glass pavilion designed by Pritzker-prize winning architect Jean Nouvel. I also saw one of Jeppe Hein's “Modified Social Benches". It is part of this summer's public art in the park "Please Touch the Art."

Soon, the group were at Tom Fruin's Kolonihavehus, a garden house in colorful salvaged plexiglas and steel. I first came upon the structure last fall when it was installed during Dumbo Arts Fest. You can see some of my pics during that time which were featured by Colossal. 

The glass house is installed by the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest bridges of either type in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. It has a main span of 1,595.5 feet, and was the first steel-wire suspension bridge constructed. It was originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and as the East River Bridge, but it was later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name coming from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an icon of New York City, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.

Pretty soon the rest of the group arrived, and more steel-wool spinning happened. So awesome to see the trails of spinning light over the glass house, amid the backdrop of Manhattan.

When I turned to where the Manhattan Bridge was, a lovely crescent moon was hovering over the bridge.

 

After those steelwool spins, we hurried over to cross the Brooklyn Bridge as dawn was beginning to lighten the dark skies. My only regret was that I didn't stop to take a picture while we were walking across Brooklyn Bridge, but the early morning twilight gave us a spectacular view when we arrived at the Manhattan side of the bridge.

While we were waiting for the sunrise, the creator of the NYCPrimeshot hub, Sammy, was jokingly posing for the group, raising his cap in salute to the city.

By 6 am the sun rose by the edge of the Manhattan Bridge, casting its golden light and taking over the blues and the pinks of twilight. Mother Nature really has the best colors!

That was a very fun adventure, and I didn't feel sleepy at all despite being awake for nearly 24 hours. The adventure started with two bridges and a sunset, and ended with also two bridges but with the sunrise. Walking in this vibrant city, it's so easy to see how wonderfully man-made structures blend with nature. I consider myself lucky that I am able to enjoy New York City and all that it offers, but to be able to see a new day dawn and feel the warmth of the sun at sunrise is such a blessing!