The Edge of New York: Waterfront Photographs

Now showing at the Museum of the City of New York
(www.mcny.org)

Len Jenshel, Pepsi Cola Sign, Queens West Development, Long Island City, Queens, 2005

The Edge of New York: Waterfront Photographs
Sep 5 through Nov 29

"Since its founding, New York City’s waterfront has been essential to the life of the city. The harbor’s protected bay became the site for lucrative trade, first with Native Americans and later with the rest of the world, and provided the economic engine for the city’s growth for the next three centuries. The 20th century, however, witnessed a revolution on the waterfront. As new methods of trade emerged by mid century, containerized shipping replaced the old labor-intensive methods and dramatically transformed New York’s waterfront; part of the transition of the industrial city to a post-industrial metropolis.

The Edge of New York: Waterfront Photographs highlights that transition revealing the industrial waterfront of the 20th century and what it became. The historic photographs in the exhibition, drawn from the magnificent collection of the Museum of the City of New York, feature the working port as a site for manufacturing and commercial activity in the 1930s and 1940s, when it was at its peak but on the cusp of profound change. This selection includes photographs by Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), Andreas Feininger (1906-1999), and David Robbins (1912-1981) of the piers and shipping facilities that comprised the port of New York and the longshoremen who worked there. These photographs demonstrate the vitality of the waterfront and its complete integration into the urban infrastructure of the city.

The historic photographs are complemented by recent work by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, which both documents the remnants of the industrial waterfront (such as warehouses, train tracks, and gantries) and demonstrates the current renewal of the shoreline. Offering a new image of the working waterfront now replete with baseball fields, parks and playgrounds, and piers that are reconstructed for pedestrian use, Cook and Jenshel’s photographs demonstrate the waterfront’s dramatic transformation from a working, commercial, and industrial center to their current recreational use, supporting the entertainment and tourist industries that are crucial to the post-industrial city."

fireworks over lake okoboji

better late then never


that's the moon in the upper right hand side

swimming cities

SWOON has created these "junk rafts"- crafted from construction site cast-offs and recycled scraps. their manifesto is “bits of land broken off and headed to sea.” they're a part of a project called swimming cities. this is their third installment, one on the hudson, and one on the mississippi. this time their headed off to the adriatic sea, where their going from slovenia to venice.

Thomas Paul Nautical Jute Throw Pillows

It is no secret that we here at Aphasia Design are a little bit obsessed with Nautical themes. I have always wanted to name my design line “ Scaphandrier,” which is French for Scuba Diver, and we are in the process of designing a tattoo similar to the image used in our logo.

Thus, you can imagine my heart stopping at these gorgeous Thomas Paul Jute throw pillows over at Design Public. I love the earthy color of the jute combined with the rich navy print. I think these would look especially fabulous with the canvas L couch in your loft Dj.