I have spent much time in Hunters Point, Queens, of late — it’s been adequately covered in FNY and there was a ForgottenTour there in 2011, but I frequently return, since it’s easy to get at for me, with a Long Island Rail Road and #7 train ride. Unfortunately it was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, especially one of my favorite spots, the Watwrfront Crabhouse, which will have to spend much of 2013 rebuilding.
This magnificent manhole cover with an LIRR monogram at Jackson Avenue across from the Pulaski Bridge most likely led down to underground electric wiring for the tunnel that opened in 1910 that brought LIRR trains to the new Penn Station. A few blocks away, the Pennsylvania Railroad Powerhouse on 50th Avenue and its four immense smokestacks dominated the landscape.
Hunters Point and the waterfront has moved away from industry and maufacturing and toward living space and recreational activities. Some of the old infrastructure has been allowed to remain, as in Gantry State Park, but the smokestacks were deemed too risky to maintain when the Powerhouse was converted to condominiums in 2005.
If you search thoroughly enough, though, the old stuff is still around.
12/5/12
1 comment
Funny you mention the Watefront Crab House, as I was just speaking of my memorable meal at its long forgotten pal next door, Prudente’s, which went bye-bye some time ago. Did you ever have an opportunity to mangia with the mafiosi there in days of wine and violin cases? What a great place to have filmed a few episodes of The Sopranos!