Thursday, September 27, 2007

Having fun finding your way home

Read what happens when Manhattan children of privilege decide to spend the day slumming it in Long Island City and "Masbeth".

Looking east from the Hunters Point Bridge

They didn't even notice what is across the street from the Clinton Diner.

Photo from BlueJake

82 comments:

Anonymous said...

You see, this is what makes me nuts and extremely violent.

Another example of this "exploring" are all the yuppies riding around Queensbridge on their Gary Fisher bikes.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the crackheads.

Yuppies, please stay out from my neighborhood. You're embarrassing.

God, we need a crime wave.

Anonymous said...

God, we need a crime wave
I couldn't agree more, the truth is that these immature elitists and the developers who are corraling them here will not be stopped unless the city starts going down hill, hopefully this will happen with all the immigrants. This will scare them off and leave us to take control of our city once again, remember WE outnumber THEM by millions.

Anonymous said...

the yuppie makes his Maspeth travelogue sound like Dante's Inferno.

Anonymous said...

once the middle class is gone, the city will go downhill faster than you can say "Dios Mio!"

Unknown said...

http://www.bluejake.com/archives/2007/09/27/st_saviours.php

Anonymous said...

Maybe he tripped over something in the railyard and hit his head. He was trying to take the E train to Brooklyn. He also claims Masbeth was a typo, when the B and the P on the keyboard are nowhere near each other...

Great shot of the church, though, I must say.

Anonymous said...

Do you think he threw out his shoes because they touched Queens soil?

sam said...

haha you fuckers...way to miss the whole point and make a bunch of assumptions about people you don't even know, yet for whatever reason feel compelled to blog about

Anonymous said...

Notice on his new post, he calls this blog "Queen's Crap". Which Queen? Catherine?

Anonymous said...

About Jake

Anonymous said...

The point was that he should have walked with his friend to the L train (which also goes to Manhattan) instead of splitting up. That's dangerous, especially in a gritty area that you are unfamiliar with.

Queens Crapper said...

I stand corrected. You did notice the church. You just didn't post it until I wrote about you not noticing. Great shot.

Anonymous said...

I am supposed to feel sorry for these guys getting themselves "stranded" when there is a bus stop in the photo where they ended their little tour? Taking the bus back to the train apparently wasn't an option, even though thousands of people from Queens do it daily.

Anonymous said...

Yuppies and pseudo-hipsters would never be caught dead on a bus, unless it's from the Port Authority on its way to Hoboken.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like one of the guys who thinks taking photos of graffiti is cool, but would scream bloody hell if they found it on their building.

Anonymous said...

"Jake is a bon vivant living in lower Manhattan."

I think I am going to vomit.

Anonymous said...

Classic photo. Jake is THE Poster Boy for all yuppy hipster nancy-boys. They're all so cool and unique yet they all LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME.

Go back to Ohio. Or Michigan. Or Illinois.

Anonymous said...

It's Queen Mary 'cause that's what he is.

My only wish is that the next time is in that area he meet up with the Mole People (the homeless people that live by the railroad–when we were kids we used to call them Mole-acks or something like that–does anyone else remember them?). He'll never venture into LIC again.

Anonymous said...

bon vi·vant:(noun) a person who lives luxuriously and enjoys good food and drink.

Anonymous said...

What exactly did this person do that you are all criticizing? He got caught walking around an area of Queens where he had never been, in a rainstorm. He didn't disparage Queens in his post. Also, the Jake link shown above is not the writer of the post. If you read it, it says they are brothers.

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with poking fun at Manhattanites? They love putting down Queens, calling us Archie Bunker land and such. And if you read the site again, it says he has a twin brother and a blog called BlueJake which makes sense, because his name is freakin' Jake.

Anonymous said...

"What exactly did this person do that you are all criticizing?"

He trespassed on active railroad tracks, for one. In fact, he regularly goes where he does not belong because darn it - he's a photographer and an artist and an urban explorer!

Anonymous said...

yeah, very familiar with the story of st. saviours, just too smug to mention it anywhere until called out on it. Cuz you know, it's in, *gasp* queens.

Honestly, who the fuck goes wandering around areas they don't know without a map? Or maybe checking the weather...

We really do need a crime wave.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said: "God, we need a crime wave."

Actually, you've got one: Gallagher and his premeditated destruction of nearly 200 trees (with nests). And we all know his other crime, don't we, Pinkie?

Plead guilty, elf.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone actually believe that Mr. Urban Explorer doesn't have one of those gadgets that has a GPS, tells you the time and weather and sends you constant e-mails about everything going on in the world? I mean, come on.

Anonymous said...

Now he changed Queen's Crap to Queens' Crap. Maybe it's Queens Elizabeth I & II.

Anonymous said...

Wow, and he went to Stuyvesant?

Anonymous said...

Haha, if people in Queens blow up and overreact to a photoblog post like this (BlueJake's), perhaps they deserve to be the brunt of the anti-Queens jokes that often paint Queens as being on the same level of desirability as crime-ridden Newark.

Anonymous said...

Haha, if people in Queens blow up and overreact to a photoblog post like this (BlueJake's), perhaps they deserve to be the brunt of the anti-Queens jokes that often paint Queens as being on the same level of desirability as crime-ridden Newark.
Perhaps if the "bon vivants" did not trivialize our communities and look down upon us, we would not harbor such hatred towards them. How dare these people disrespect our neigborhoods as if they were nothing more than an amusement park. Furthermore, Amtrak has a shoot on sight policy, I learned this when I attempted to do some exploring, how dare these fools trespass on federal property for their crappy atistic endeavors.
We may not be "hip" but the middle class and the blue collar workers are the backbone of this country, it is through our labor that you people are able to live as you do.

Anonymous said...

In fairness, anonymous, there's nuthin' wrong with being a photographer and an urban explorer.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Anonymous said...

1. This guy Jake is from Brooklyn (he apparently lives in Manhattan now) but he's still a Brooklyn kid (yeah I read Gothamist).

2. Nothing wrong with urban exploration. I grew up in The Queensbridge Houses, had a bike, and explored other neighborhoods all the time.

3. Anyway you look at it, Dutch Kills is a shithole.

4. Don't see how a guy taking pictures is "trivializing" our community.

Unknown said...

Guy got caught in the rain, and took a photograph. You are a bunch of assholes.

Anonymous said...

Urban exploration is for the most part, illegal. That's why people with too much money and time on their hands do it. "Oooh...we might get chased by the cops, what an adrenaline rush."

Anonymous said...

What is it about disgusting landscapes that attracts hipster wannabe photographers? They never take a photo of anything pretty. I am so glad I am not one of them.

Anonymous said...

Benny: 1) He apparently lives in Manhattan now, that makes him a Manhattanite.

2) Urban exploration, where people trespass on private or government property to "take photos" is illegal. Riding a bike on public streets constitutes a bike ride, not urban exploration.

3) That photo is of Hunters Point, not Dutch Kills. But I wouldn't expect you to know that, having grown up in a nearby neighborhood.

4) Taking photos of graffiti and urban ruins has been done. Over and over. When you showcase only shots of only crap areas, people tend to think that is what entire neighborhood is like. That's trivializing it.

Anonymous said...

Wow...he actually blogs about himself all day!

verdi said...

Just like a pompous Victorian era big game hunter
out on his own in the midst of the wilds
of the "Dark Continent" without a guide
and native beaters and bearers......
a photographer might likely be eaten by cannibals
and his trusty Nikon and accessories
redeemed for cash at the nearest pawnbroker !

Anonymous said...

The last time I stepped back just a few feet
onto an unused railroad spur at Hunters Point
trying to get a full image of an industrial building
in my camera's viewfinder .....
the Amtrak police were on my ass in a heartbeat.

After I showed them my ID
and they were convinced that I wasn't a terrorist
they politely let me go with a warning.

"This is federal property".

(There was no fence or warning posted.....
otherwise I wouldn't have trespassed to begin with).

Anonymous said...

today he trespasses on government property, tomorrow he and his cohorts trespass on our communities by buying homes and replacing them with crappy McMansions that extend beyond property lines. To prevent this the bon vivants must be sent a clear message: Stay the f___ out of our communities!

Anonymous said...

i love how this became a debate about 'exploring' and trespassing.

a) most 'explorers' know how to poke fun at themselves. It's a pretty lame endeavor really. trespassing is so not hardcore. Max jail term is 15 days, and no one ever gets arrested for that unless it's quota time.

b) this jake guy is a clown riding around and wandering around (most likely on one of those hipster mini bikes). I'd call him an explorer about as much as I would call Pinky a representative of the people.

c) the photo isn't even that good...

d) maybe a nice apology towards us queens people would be you know, some more actually press on st. saviours. a story on it in gothamist really wouldn't hurt. stories about fucked up politicians like pinkie wouldn't hurt either. Enough with reading the news and 'reblogging'. I can read the ny times all by myself you know...

Anonymous said...

I think many of you are overreacting to this. What does it matter to you if someone you don't even know is trespassing on private property that you don't own? What, are they distracting the Amtrak Police from protecting us from TEH TERRISTS? Please calm down.

How is it demeaning to take photographs of industrial areas? If these buildings are in Maspeth, then it's Maspeth. It's not *all* of Maspeth. I happen to like photos of industrial stuff. You don't. Eye of the beholder, etc.

Here's a thought: Create your own blogspot blog and post photos of the nice areas of Maspeth. It's free, you know.

Incidentally, lest you accuse me of being a friend of Jake Dobkin, a "yuppie hipster" (which is an oxymoron) who's all IN UR "MASBETH," GENTRIFYIN UR BLOCK, I'd like to say that I think he's a sociopathic tool. It's not that I'm defending him; I just think you should save your pitchforks and torches for more important interlopers.

Anonymous said...

Actually, we're not overreacting in the slightest. We're just fuckin' with him.

Anonymous said...

Actually, it wasn't the photos that was annoying. It was his commentary. Again, why should I feel sorry for you because you a) are too dumb to take a map with you, b) were too dumb to check the weather, c) were too dumb to take the bus back.

Anonymous said...

It's not Amtrak, it's LIRR property. And those police don't play around.

Anonymous said...

jeez, you guys are pretty cool..
queens sucks, get over it.
and hoping for a crime wave? what the hell? if thats not ass backwards i don't know what is

Anonymous said...

This whole long list of comments is hilarious and so mis-informed it makes me laugh. As one of the other photographers on this trip, I have to say, you people got too much free time on your hands. Spending all day commenting on Jake Dobkin's trip to Queens is pretty ridiculous. Instead, why don't you go outside and get lost? You should try it, it can be fun. Better still, don't come back.

Anonymous said...

One could argue that spending all day accompanying Jake Dobkin on his trip to Queens, to hang out on rusty railroad tracks that run alongside deserted industrial buildings is pretty ridiculous.

If you don't like our comments, why don't you go outside and get lost like you did this weekend? You tried it, and found it can be fun. Keep hanging out in those areas and we won't have to follow that up with "don't come back", some derelict will take care of that for you.

Anonymous said...

Even the people who defend this guy say he's a sociopath. Doesn't say much for him, does it?

Anonymous said...

Yuppies pretending to be hipsters are very sensitive.

Anonymous said...

grasp hold of that camera strap about your nape, Nate, and give it a tug.

Anonymous said...

For a site which gives the appearance of being about positive community building - such as supporting the excellent film "City of Water" - I'd say this blog is populated by a lot of douchebags.

Should no one visit Queens? Is it only for local queenies? Should we all operate on a rigid burough structure and fear outsiders? You people are so empty headed its funny. Thanks for posting an entertainingly provincial but otherwise pointless blog.

And now I will go walking to whatever neighborhood I like to take pictures of whatever I want. If you want to try and kill me for doing that, fine. Bring it on, suckas!

Anonymous said...

"I'd say this blog is populated by a lot of douchebags."

I know, I wish the hipster assholes sent here by Jake would go away already.

Anonymous said...

Gee, Brooklyn, why so defensive? I mean Jake's site, Gothamist, is full of douchebag commenters and some posts by their moderators which are frankly, just inane. So why do you care what goes on here? If you don't like it, don't visit. That goes for the blog or Queens in general.

Anonymous said...

Well the moral of this story is that Manhattanites and Brooklynites are free to do whatever they want. And we are free to criticize and make fun of whatever it is they choose to do. Or even tell them we would like them to leave. Of course they don't have to. Go ahead and hang out on railroad tracks on Saturday. I'll be taking photos at the park.

Anonymous said...

"I have to say, you people got too much free time on your hands."

I think that could be said about people who walk in the rain taking photos of dumpy parts of Queens on the weekend as well.

Anonymous said...

I, for the first time in months am really disgusted by this site. Some dude got caught in the rain, and the crapper him/herself said sorry, as their main beef was them not noticing St. Saviours. Now, you all care about upholding the law, and not having people trespass? Since were only people who grew up in the borough welcome? People from BK that now live in the city aren't? Might others being here expose and bring light to the crap construction that "us" as queensites have not been able to stop on our own?
Most of the comments left are embarrassing. They are why people DO make fun of queens, you all sounds like a bunch of updated Archie bunkers. This insular xenophobic additude will not help "our" cause. Stop taking out your anger on people who take pictures, and focus it on the real enemies, the politicans and developers that ignore us.

Anonymous said...

camera cuckoos begone.

Anonymous said...

The defensive rhetoric on this board is hilarious.

You're worried about your hood? Making fun of some photographer on a blog has to be the laziest reaction I could think of.

The same shit is happening to neighborhoods in every city I've lived in. Here's a hint: hipsters aren't your problem. They won't even be able to afford this place in a few years.

You see any end to the amount of people moving to NYC? They're just gonna keep coming....

Anonymous said...

You people hating on visitors give queens a bad name! Everyone should visit Queens. Its awesome!

Anonymous said...

Hey you think this one will make it to 100?

Anonymous said...

"Now, you all care about upholding the law, and not having people trespass?"

Yeah, that's something I consider important. If you don't then so be it.

Anonymous said...

"Might others being here expose and bring light to the crap construction that "us" as queensites have not been able to stop on our own?"

What a pompous and asinine statement. As if Manhattan urban explorers have any intention of doing that.

Anonymous said...

Keep coming here and defending the sociopath and you'll evoke more responses that you can't stand. "ignore it and it will go away"

Anonymous said...

Jackson Heights rules, eh? That's the latest hipster hood. From what I saw on this blog yesterday, they go for animal carcasses in the backs of dirty trucks. But they have great restaurants! Yeah, JH rules!

Anonymous said...

I agree there are a lot of silly comments here, but you "visitors" are just provoking more.

Anonymous said...

"Might others being here expose and bring light to the crap construction that "us" as queensites have not been able to stop on our own?"

I think this blog is doing a really good job of exposing the garbage that goes on here. Do you really think that the types that "visit" here care what the architecture looks like? Even if they did, what would they do, have roundtable discussions or discuss crap in Queens over cocktails?

Anonymous said...

What you fail to understand is that unlike you displaced hipster drifters we respect our borough and have strong community roots. So when somebody comes here on a make believe safari and insults the neighborhoods we inhabit we get pissed. Now enough of this squabbling. Issue us an apology and be on your way.

Anonymous said...

p.s. I make Safari expeditions into the Bronx and Brooklyn all the time. One man's exotic local is another guy's neighborhood. It's all about perspective. It's not like Queens is regular tourist attraction or anything. Imagine how the poor slobs who live around Ground Zero feel about the people with cameras in their neighborhood. Now they have something legit to complain about.

Anonymous said...

Actually some LIRR property
falls under Amtrak's right of way and jurasdiction!
The Sunnyside Yards, for example.

I used to ride around with the Amtrak
cop who patrolled this area......he told me so.

Anonymous said...

Lewis and Clark with cameras.....
mapping the western territories of Queens !

Funny!

Did they get their immunization shots
and their passports stamped at Queens Plaza?

Anonymous said...

"What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
There is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said,
'See, this is new'?
It has already been
in the ages before us" - Ecclesiastes

When the Museum of Modern Art had its temporary home in our fair borough, I remember viewing an excellent photographic exhibit by the Swiss-born artist Rudy Burckhardt, entitled:

"Rudy Burckhardt
An Afternoon in Astoria"

Burckhardt crossed the river from
Manhattan in the 1940's and went "slumming" (just as our site's "hero" did) and put together an exquisite little book of black and white photos of Queens dilapidation.

And, wonder of wonders, dear readers, you too can still see this wonderful oeuvre on the Museum's web site:

MOMA

Burckhardt's photos were on exhibit from June 29 to November 4, 2002.

I dunno, friends, but there seems to be something artistic wandering around Queens industrial areas.

Queens Crapper said...

That looks like Hunters Point to me, at least the last one, which is my favorite. Thanks, George.

georgetheatheist said...

No, no, thank you!

Anonymous said...

burckhardt the retard.

georgetheatheist said...

I think Burckhardt wandered a bit north of Hunters Point as well.

Take a look at the 7th photo from the beginning. He's pretty close to the Triborough & Hellgate Bridges seen in the background.

My guess is that in the 8th, 9th, and 10th photos, he's somewhere near 21st Street north of the Queensborough Bridge (which is noticeably absent in all the views). Indeed photo #9 has a partial view of the Hellgate Bridge at the bottom left.


Note on photos 11 & 12: the signs say that "batteries could be rented". Why rent a battery then?

My guess that the page with the four photos of the cars is somewhere in the vicinity of the Sunnyside yards. What is that massive brick building with the windows and the water tower on top? (bottom left car photo)

The kids playing adds a nice human touch. What are they digging for?
Some boys are wearing ties and the girls are all gussied up. A Sunday afternoon perhaps after being in church? (BTW , can you imagine a guy today walking around with a camera taking pictures of kids? Vallone would have him locked-up pronto.)

The last photo shows the present-day location of Gantry State Park. Note the absence of the United Nations Building. I'm sure if this photo could be enlarged, to the left of the smoke by the locomotive, you would see the slaughterhouses that the UN replaced.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Jakey is whining about being picked on, on one of his many blogs. Who sends text massages to the internet logging their mundane daily activities? Someone who's full of himself.

Anonymous said...

I visited the post and noticed this comment:

"As a huge generality, I find people move to queens to protect what they have"

And some of us were even born and raised here!

"Some of the most Closed minded people I have ever met have been from Queens."

Ooh ooh here it comes... the Archie Bunker reference. I am tired of that one myself and am not even white.

"On the other hand they have the most diverse place in the world."

Yes, thanks for reminding us. Somehow we all get along most of the time, which means your previous statement doesn't hold much water.

"Those people are not posting comments."

I, for one, am a member of a minority community, which for some reason makes me automatically open-minded and cool. Despite that, the Manhattan upper class types, also so open-minded, segragate themselves in lily-white communities and use our communities as a sideshow to their vanilla existence. I'd take a lifelong white Queens resident who is a little rough around the edges over a pretend-to-be accepting Manhattan yuppie any day of the week. The former also has a tendency to keep the neighborhood affordable, and reaches out a helping hand when they see someone suffering, regardless of race, because they were raised that way. But thanks for revealing your own prejudices.

Anonymous said...

Let me 'splain something to those being directed here by outside sources to show them how barbaric we are here in Queens. This website has over 300,000 hits. It certainly does not have 300,000 comments. So everyone who is visiting here is not commenting. Most people visit blogs, browse for a few minutes, and that's it. A very small minority of people comment. Anonymous commenting allows you to blow off steam. People write incendiary things, and so what? Go to any message board, including Gothamist, Curbed, AOL, you name it, and see the same thing. The comments here do not "prove" anything about Queens. It proves nothing at all, actually, other than that for good or bad, this post touched a nerve with a few people.

Anonymous said...

huh?

Anonymous said...

Jake Dobkin is a real big asshole. Let that be the final comment.

Anonymous said...

New final comment - Queens is a lovely place and everyone should visit it and feel free to take photos, Jake Dobkin included.

Anonymous said...

All this fuss about some photos....
a dumb ass photographer (and his "groupies")
who can't seem to find their way out of a paper bag
back to "civilization".

Just give 'em a runnin' start......warm up the tar.....
and shake the feathers from your pillows!

After the deed is done hock their photo equipment
and donate the money to a worthy cause!