Here at the SSG Michael Ollis VFW post, a LoBaido flag surrounds a plaque memorializing the Staten Islanders killed by Hurricane Sandy: 24 individuals plus "all unidentified victims".
This LoBaido-painted trailer is (or at least was) the main center of operations of Guyon Rescue, a grassroots relief organization that grew out of two people showing up here in Oakwood Beach after Hurricane Sandy to distribute donated items to the community. The group became a neighborhood fixture in the months following the storm, but some neighbors have now grown tired of the trailer still being parked here after all this time. Two women who live across the street were complaining to me about this "eyesore" quite bitterly — but I guess it's a good sign of the neighborhood's recovery that people's lives are stable and settled enough for something like an ugly trailer sitting across the street to be worth worrying about.
Take a look at the grounds (post-Sandy Street View).
This sign is the only remaining trace of St. John's Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, which was swept off its foundation by Hurricane Sandy and later demolished.
In light of the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, the state offered to buy out homeowners (at higher than pre-storm prices) in three hard-hit, low-lying Staten Island neighborhoods, with the idea that the houses would then be torn down and the flood-prone areas ultimately depopulated and returned to nature. As is the case with the other neighborhoods, the vast majority of homeowners here in Fox Beach, a section of Oakwood Beach, have decided to take the buyout and head to higher ground. Most of the houses still standing here are vacant, boarded up, and awaiting their date with the wrecking ball (or perhaps the Caterpillar 320B L hydraulic excavator).
Built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2000 (along with the 730-foot-long levee that it cuts through), this floodgate (or tide gate) is designed to be open during normal conditions to allow the east branch of Oakwood Creek to flow out of Fox Beach/Oakwood Beach toward Lower New York Bay, and closed during storm conditions to prevent rising seawater from entering and inundating the low-lying neighborhood. But the gate proved no match for Hurricane Sandy's 14-foot storm tide, which both overtopped it and caused significant damage to it. Here's an aerial view of the gate. Zoom out and pan around to get a sense of how the area is laid out.
A boarded-up house in Fox Beach overlooks the east branch of Oakwood Creek.
This walled channel at the mouth of Oakwood Creek, along with a tide gate and the wooden seawall visible in the background at left (bird's-eye view), once protected Oakwood Beach from seawater flooding. A 1992 nor'easter caused substantial damage to the already aging seawall, leaving the low-lying neighborhood vulnerable to flooding and leading the Army Corps of Engineers to construct the newer levee and tide gate we saw two posts ago.
It seems like just about everyone in the Oakwood Beach buyout zone is taking the money and running. Rows of houses are boarded up and vacant, and the only people I saw who weren't in a car were loading up a moving truck.
over the Staten Island Railway at the Oakwood Heights station
This excellent work of art can be found atop a refrigerator case at Guyon Market. I asked the guy at the counter who painted it, and he pointed to the old-timer (let's call him OT) standing next to me. OT told me he didn't paint it, but he acquired it when a friend of his, who had found it in the garbage, had to get rid of it because his wife didn't like it. But then OT's wife made him get rid of it as well, because she was worried that their grandkids would be negatively influenced by seeing the monkey owner's middle finger. OT thought it was a great painting though, so he brought it here to the deli, where he seems to spend a good amount of time hanging out and socializing.
A sea of the pervasive, invasive reed (pronounced frag-MY-tees) at Great Kills Park in Gateway National Recreation Area
The Silk Exchange Buildling
(EAT YOUR VEGGIES.)
Built in 1856-57 for E. V. Haughwout & Company ("the greatest china and porcelain house in the city"), this "richly sculpted Venetian palace" is, according to the late critic Peter Blake, "the best cast-iron structure in the country". You can see some photos of the building's details here.
In April 1857, the store made history as the home of the first commercial passenger elevator. The original elevator is long gone, but a later one, installed in 1892 by the alphabetically consecutive and notoriously misogynistic A. B. See, was described by the NY Times's Christopher Gray in 1995 as "a beautiful work in its own right, with a paneled cab and elaborately cased shaft, no doubt one of the oldest operating elevators in the city — a ride in it is as memorable as one in a hansom cab." Sadly, that elevator apparently only survived for a few more years, until 2001 — just long enough for it to have seen parts of three different centuries.
at the north campus of Staten Island University Hospital
A TRIBUTE TO STATEN ISLANDERS WHO WERE TAKEN AWAY FROM US ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
This is part of a little memorial park area at the north campus of Staten Island University Hospital.
The north campus of Staten Island University Hospital, adjacent to the South Beach Psychiatric Center, is a favorite hangout for the famous Staten Island turkeys.
See all the whitish stuff on the ground? That's turkey poop. Must be great for the hospital's image.
The original portion of this house (the steep-roofed section at center), built around 1662-63, is said to be the oldest remaining structure on Staten Island.
This robot sculpture and two others can be found outside the Steam Powered Art Factory, a.k.a. the home of Chris Spollen, their creator. Take a look inside the factory!
(Mr. Spollen can apparently also be seen riding around town on occasion in one of the funky streamliner bike shells that he and his brother have built.)
Note how far forward the driver's side mirror is mounted.
This storefront has been mysteriously cloaked in plaid since at least October 2007. I only know three other things about the place:
1) It is owned by "The Gam Gee Lau Irrevocable Trust".
2) According to the sticker on the door, the property is protected by the Flatbush Detective Agency, which will pay a "liberal reward" for any information "leading to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons committing larceny on these premises."
3) According to the Department of Sanitation sticker to the left of the door, "This establishment's sidewalk and gutter will be inspected for cleanliness every day between the following hours: 11:00am to 12:00pm and 4:00pm to 5:00pm".
