NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave 2

Stacked, clustered, wired, and perched on plaster.  Above, north of Queens Blvd. over the LIRR tracks.  Below l-r: (1) near 2nd Ave. & 28th St., (2) south from Broadway & 51st St., (3) above Lexington & 40th St., (4) near Gramercy Park.



Above l-r (1) a cluster south of 32nd St. between 6th & 7th Aves., (2) looming over a cottage above 17th St., from Irving Pl., (3) a cartoonish lump on the head wrecks a perfectly good building at 5th Ave. & 19th St., (4) a tower west of 3rd Ave. & 22nd St.


Above l-r: (1) above 53rd St. east of 5th Ave., (2) above 53rd St. east of 8th Ave., (3) from Broadway & 43rd St., (4) on 27th St. west of 6th Ave.  Finally, below, all wired up on 19th St. near 9th Ave.

[NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave]

NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave

Pairs, twins and trios.  Above, on 2nd Ave. at 12th St.  Below l-r: (1) near Broadway & 28th St., (2) screened twins at 1st Ave. & 3rd St., (3) 8th Ave. & 47th St., (4) between the Empire State and 11th Ave. in the 30s.


Just below l-r: (1) twin pairs on 40th St. over Bryant Park, (2) Union Square East & 17th St., (3) 8th Ave. & 40th St., (4) 34th St. off 7th Ave.; note nice roof-black shack.



Just above l-r: (1) 29th St. off Broadway, (2) looking south from 6th Ave. & Spring St., (3) 8th Ave. & 40th St., (4) atop the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea, from 10th Ave. & 31st St.  Below, twins at 8th Ave. & 32nd St.

[NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave 2]

Tall Water Tanks

Just plain tall, or raised to pump up the force of gravity.  Above left, on Greene St. off 8th St.; above right, on 37th St. west of 8th Ave.


Above left, from Lafayette & Bond Sts.; above right, at 60th St. & Broadway.


Above left, somewhere down Lafayette; above right, from Madison Ave. & 23rd St.  And finally, below, a new tank east of Union Square, backed by the top of the Con Ed building on 14th St.

Penn Station Salvation

It's getting warmer at Penn Station
I sit down outside the 7th Ave. end of Penn Station, and start drinking my coffee.  A street person surrounded by bags is chattering away, chipper as hell, as if his brain was just sprayed with happy juice.  He asks if I want to join him at Heavenly Burgers, his treat!  He launches into a glowing description of Heavenly Burgers, like a radio ad.  I smile but ignore him.

Then a kid in a red t-shirt walks up, with a plastic-sleeved Metrocard hanging "ID style" from his neck, always a bad sign.  He says his name is Jason and he's come with a group from Texas to pray for New Yorkers (15 more red shirts are working the area).

I ask "Don't you have enough sinners in Texas?"  He says "Yeah, but don't you need a prayer -- for money, a job, for something -- or is life really so great you can't use one?"

I say "No thanks" again, then point at Mr. Heavenly Burgers and say "How 'bout him?"

I try to not eavesdrop as the two go back and forth for the next ten minutes, but I learn that Mr. Heavenly's real name is Bam-Bam and that he's not married to the idea of Heavenly Burgers, as he tries every debate trick he can think of to get Jason to transform the water of prayer to wine, or at least food or cash.  The exchange seems to end in a draw, with both of them moving on to more promising pasture.

"How 'bout him?"... I love it when my brain does exactly what it should, even before the coffee crop-duster has sprayed its dead gray rows of cotton with happy juice!

Meanwhile, a block away on 8th Ave., an old man in a red
striped shirt airs himself out under the water tank crown

Lost World Water Tanks

I like it when I see something new in the distance between the buildings, a little Lost World just revealed and about to disappear back into the mist.  Above, on 54th St., from up 8th Ave.  Below, east on 49th St. from 3rd Ave.

Up from Broadway

A few recent favorites seen from on or near Broadway.  Above and left, the golden dome of the New York Life Building on Madison Square, and some humble water tanks.

And below, something I walked by countless times without noticing, the patient caryatids holding up the roof of 15 West 28th Street.  The building went up in 1896 and used to house the Ubu Repertory Theater.

Water Towers of NYC 1

Gravity is still free, and tall buildings still have water tanks, many enclosed in towers.  Here is an assortment of tanks & towers that caught my eye.  (I'm not sure all the enclosed towers are for tanks; some may house elevator or heating equipment.)


Staid ones first.  A mildly sinister military/industrial complex above left, and a handsome, vaguely religious octagon on the right (both Lower East Side).  Note the vents; I guess the water would boil in summer without them.


Some drama.  Above left, the Empire State Building and a bug-like helicopter line up with a modern water tower.  On the right, a zigzag in Long Island City waits for a tank that will never come.


Reconfigured.  Above left, a Greenpoint tank turned into a cellphone tower (do the microwaves heat the water?).  On the right (off Lexington above 23rd), it looks like a newer, bigger tank is perched on the old one's tower.


Finally, two of my favorites.  On the left, a tank perched dramatically next to the New Museum on Bowery.  And on the right, a small temple seen on a hazy day (on E. 9th just east of Broadway).