while Drunken Sombrero Man downs another beer.
The black sign in the window displays the permit number for a well on the property.
In this shot from Francis Lewis Park (named for a local signer of the Declaration of Independence), we get a better view of the stay cables* that, as we learned last time we saw the bridge, were installed to help keep it from going the way of the Tacoma Narrows.
* Four stay cables (not to be confused with the main suspension cables) run diagonally from the top of each tower down to the roadway. You can see them more clearly if you zoom in.
A cryptic message written on, and in, the sand at Francis Lewis Park
I asked Ciro how long it took him to make this Christmas display. He laughed and said "Fuhgeddaboudit!"
(It's worth taking a closer look.)
Mounted higher up on this light pole is an honorary street sign: Firefighter Michael Carlo Avenue.
Two days in a row! Perhaps the time has come for me to make a solar death ray.
From a 2002 Queens Historical Society newsletter:
The beautiful bronze statue was dedicated on Armistice Day, November 11, 1924. It is dedicated by the citizens of Whitestone in grateful tribute to the memory of all who served in the wars of our country. The sculptor was Karl Illava, and he was striving to do a peace memorial rather than a war memorial. The work should stress the sadness, in fact, the insanity of war. His words were, "In the Whitestone Memorial, I have tried to portray a grief-stricken America, mourning her dead sons, of which the broken sword is a symbol. America, to me, represents our Womanhood and with love and reverence to those mothers who lost their most priceless possessions, their sons." Listed on the guest list for the dedication was President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge.
This is the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone. A church elder who happened to be sitting in a nearby car told me that the chapel on the left is the original church building, constructed in 1871 when the area was still all farmland. The congregants, short on cash, dug out the basement themselves after the chapel had already been erected.
I wonder if the newer-looking wood is from a Sandy-downed tree.
That was my first (excited) thought when I saw this construction going on at the Whitestone Bridge. There were originally pedestrian walkways on the bridge, but they were removed after a few years to accommodate more vehicular traffic. Could they be making a comeback?
No, sadly. This project is just going to widen and add shoulders to the approach roadway. On the plus side, however, the MTA has posted some cool shots of the new concrete piers being built.
Last year's edition of this post was quite tame in comparison. Almost all the lawns on this side of the block were equally full of party popper entrails, and, with the help of the wind, some of the confetti had migrated into yards as far as two blocks away. It was unclear if the papery explosion was the work of a single rogue party animal or if several neighboring revelers had joined in the fracas.
of another krazy Kristmas display. The guy who built this one said he's been doing it for 17 years now, and the spectacle gets a little bigger each time. In fact, he's already got new stuff waiting in the wings for next year.
Check out this video to see the house at night in all its blinding brilliance.
of Clearview Park and Golf Club (originally the Clearview Golf and Yacht Club)
The woman who lives on this property said her husband planted this tree decades ago, and it's always had a freak-show appearance. You can see the whole tree in Street View.
