Out in the Styx: Visiting the Staten Island Ferry Graveyard

Roar! Earlier this spring I decided to go on an odyssey to the land of the dead... Dead boats that is! It turns out on Staten Island there is a marine salvage yard where a number of old ferries, tugs, and barges from NYC's past have been scuttled. Just check out what this area looks like from space! Crazy!

The marine salvage yard isn't open to the public but the northern edge extends past the docks so it looked like I'd just be able to barge right in! I decided it was time to let Charon ferry me across the NY harbor so I could pay a visit to the land of the dead! Roar!

Turns out that analogy was more accurate than I realized! Right next to the northern part of the salvage yard there is actually an old Huguenot cemetery from 1700's called Blazing Star Burial Ground. It sure is spooky, I hope I don't run into Charley Boos! Roar! 

Here you can see the northern edge of the ferry graveyard beyond the marsh behind the graveyard! 

Here are a few pictures of the Ferry Graveyard across the marsh. Getting there was going to be quite a challenge! I had planned my visit to coincide with low tide, so I put some hefty trash bags around my feet and lightly stomped across the marshland! Roar! 

There are a ton of historic ships interred in the ferry graveyard. There are couple from World War II including one ship that took part in D-Day and the USS Mason, the first submarine to have an all black crew! In the back of this picture you can see one of the fireboats that responded to the General Slocum wreck in 1904! Roar!

After crossing the muddy marsh I emerged into a half sunken barge and climbed up onto the rusty hulks of dead ships. 

Here we have a look at the full salvage yard to the south. I don't want to head down there or the keepers of the dead might get me! Roar! 

Some of the scuttled ships in the salvage yard are so old that they have trees and bushes growing off of them! Talk about crazy! It makes me think of a post-apocalyptic future where all these barges have been turned into farm land once sea waters rise. Some one should make a movie about that... Roar! 

Some graffiti artists have also made it out to the ferry graveyard! Here's a cool piece that must have been done years ago, just look how it's faded with time. Roar! 

Besides all the ferries, tugs, and barges there were a number of life boats and dingys that had been piled up on top of all the other ships! There are so many ships here that are just falling apart. Talk about rest in pieces! Roar! 

Here I am hanging out on one of the old barges. This place sure is crazy. Turns out there used to be another salvage yard on the eastern shore of Staten Island that had old 19th century schooners scuttled along the entrance to the harbor. They were all removed when construction began on the Verrazano Narrows bridge. Next time you drive across the bridge be sure to watch out for ghost-ships! Roar! 

I guess I'm not the only person who has come to check out the Ferry Graveyard! Seems like a great place to take a date? Roar! 

Before heading home I decided to leave my mark on one of the barges. We'll see how this wears with time. The Ferry Graveyard might be a real trek to get to but it's a rare sight in a city that seems obsessed with eradicating its way spaces. I wonder how long the graveyard will remain? Roar!

Some "Instant" Memories of 5 Pointz.

Roar... I had been meaning to post about this for a few months now but wasn't sure what else there was to say about the demise of 5 Pointz. So many different blogs have given great eulogies and detailed the history of this godly graffiti mecca, that there really wasn't anything I could add. Then this went up the other day and reminded me that I do, in fact, have some pictures. While there have been an innumerable number of pictures taken of 5ptz throughout the years, these are mine, and represent my last memories of a place I loved. I shot these with some expired Polaroid film and think the results matched the mood everyone had been feeling. Roar. 

I've lived in NYC for a LONG time and have lived all over the city. When I was living out in Queens, every time I would take the 7 train into Manhattan I would get this fantastic view of 5 Pointz. It was captivating, and I'm sure not only to me. This is one memory I'm sure many New Yorker's share. Roar!

Here I am hanging out with some sweet, street art! Roar!

This may not have been the most interesting man in the world, but it was some of the most interesting art in NYC! Roar! 

I loved this piece, it had an amazing blend of styles! Roar!

I snapped a haunting image of this geisha piece. She looks so sad I wonder if she lost something? Maybe a bonsai? 

Roar! 5 Pointz always kept up with current trends. Here we had Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony in front of my favorite monster, Godzilla! Wow, what a pairing! Friendship really is magic!  

Some more Kaiju goodness as we see King Kong destroying our home town. He was just reminding us to enjoy it while it lasts! 

 Truer words have never been spray painted on the side of a dumpster! Roar!

This could have been the fight of century! Also, I loved that mushroom hanging from that pipe! Roar! 

5 Pointz was near a bunch of active warehouses. There are stacks of pallets and other things right in front of all the art. I think it really adds to the experience of being there, this really was a gallery for "street" art! Roar!

A shot of the back of 5 Pointz. This one came out a little dark. That's the mood we were in all in that day... roar...

 Roar! I'm sure Van Gogt would have loved this place! 

Roar! Another great piece in the back of 5 Pointz! 

Even the sidewalk had some amazing portraits on it! Every inch of this space was covered in art! I'm going to miss it. roar...

Roar! This lovely lady had come all the way from Brooklyn to see the great art at 5 Pointz! Roar!

The use of pointillism for this piece was really quite brilliant. It made for one intense stare. Roar! 

NYC has always been a city of dynamic change. Nothing in it has ever been permanent. This is the very nature of street art and graffiti. 5 Pointz was never going to last forever, and the fact that even for a short time we had a great place to enjoy some fantastic art is something to be cherished. Still, it will be missed. At least we were able to enjoy it while it lasted! Roar! 

Roar! The Shuttle is coming the NYC!

Roar! Tuesday was a seriously space themed day! Not only was it the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's legendary space flight but also the 30th anniversary of the launch of the space shuttle. For the occasion NASA was also making it's announcement on what museums will receive the decommissioned space shuttles! The Intrepid Air and Space Museum over on pier 86 has been vying for a shuttle and Tuesday they were offering free admission to anyone who showed up wearing space themed clothing! I just had to take advantage of their offer and show my support for bringing a shuttle to NYC! So put on a classic space pin and boldly went where no dino has gone before!

Here I am in front of the USS Intrepid. The Intrepid served as an aircraft carrier during WWII and the Vietnam War. She was also responsible for recovering the Mercury and Gemini space program capsules! Clearly she'd make a great home for one of the shuttles! Roar!

Here is a model the museum had set up to help bring a "Shuttle2NYC."Right before I got to the museum NASA made an announcement that the Intrepid would be receiving the prototype shuttle, Enterprise, named after the famous ship from Star Trek! This is the shuttle the US astronauts trained on! I'm pretty excited that it's coming to NYC and I'll get to see it first claw!

Here are a couple of the Mercury and Gemini capsules they have on display! Above you can see what it look like when they retrieved the capsules from the water! It's just like fishing! Roar!

I know what it's like to sit inside one of these babies! Too bad there isn't a mini golf course anywhere around here... Roar!

There were a lot of cool things to see and do in the museum! Here is a reproduction of an Intrepid life boat! Roar! Sit down! Sits Down! You're rocking the boat!

There was also this neat reconnaissance helicopter that you could climb into! I wonder what it would be like to take one of these babies for a spin!

Here is one of the old propellers from the Intrepid! It sure is big! Roar!

Here is a TBN-3 Avenger which served as a bomber during WWII! It sure is an awesome looking plane! Roar!

This is the bell that was used in the decommissioning ceremony for the Intrepid on March 15th 1974. During the ceremony the bell was struck 8 times to signal the end of the last watch. That day when asked for whom the bell tolled, it tolled for INTREPID! ROAR!

Here I am up on the flight deck of the Intrepid! Just get a look at all of those sweet airplanes! Roar!

Here I am in front of just some of the sweet planes on display at Intrepid! To the left is a F3D-2 Skynight used during the Korean War. The Skynight was the United States first jet propelled all weather air-craft! But can it fly in asteroids?! Roar!

Here is a F11F Tiger! This one was part of the Blue Angels squadron! Tigers flew off the intrepid from 1958-1960. It must have been really cool to see a Tiger fly but I wonder if there are any pigs around here... Roar!

This is an A-12 Blackbird. This super sonic aircraft flew reconnaissance missions for the CIA. They were later replaced by the more famous SR-71 model! This is a really awesome looking plan but it sure is big! I doubt many of these would fit into a pie! Roar!

Here I am in front of a MiG 15. This is the same model airplane that Yuri Gagarin flew before he joined the Cosmonaut program! It sure was cool to see it on the 50th anniversary of his flight!

There were too many sweet planes to keep track of! To the right is another MiG! This is a MiG 21 which gained notoriety as a fighter during Vietnam. The MiG 21 has also been flown by over 50 countries, including India and Poland! Roar!

Here are some helicopters that flew during the Vietnam War! The one on the left is even painted the same way it was during the war! Woah, is that a sky shark! Roar!

Here is a fighter plane from the Korean War. It's a pretty neat looking airplane! Roar!

Speaking on neat planes, the Intrepid also has a Concord Jet on loan from British Airways! These super sweet super sonic jets could cross the Atlantic in 3 hours! They flew until 2003 when high costs and lack of ridership forced them into retirement. Now it takes 6 hour to cross the Atlantic! Oh how times have changed! Roar!

Roar! Here I am in the captains chair pulling into pier 86! Hello New York City!

Roar! All Stop!

The Intrepid also had a submarine! This WWII Growler is a grayback class cruise missile submarine! It looks so cool I can't wait to go inside and check it out! Roar!

Woah! Look at this old submarine toilet! I hope nobody clogs this baby!

ROAR! RED ALERT! Someone put paper towels in the toilet! We're going down!

FIRE TORPEDOS! We need to get it unclogged! Roar!

Outside the submarine there was this Rolls Royce engine on display! This type of engine powered all the Russian MiG's that flew throughout the Cold War. The story about how the Russians got their hands on one of these engines is pretty funny. The story goes that when a Soviet engineer toured the Rolls Royce factory he challenged the head of the company to a game of snooker. The Russian engineer hustled the head of Rolls Royce and convinced them to sell Russia an engine. The Soviets quickly reversed engineered it and put the engine in all their MiGs! So the fate of Cold War aviation was decided over a game of snooker! Roar!

After leaving the museum I went over to the Ben and Jerry's at Rockefeller Center for Free Cone Day! I got Half Baked Frozen Yogurt! It was delicious! What a sweet end to such a cool day! Roar!