A firehouse protest sign

The Pitkin Yard, decked over

as viewed from a Linden Plaza parking deck

1,527 apartments built atop the Transit Authority's Pitkin Yard

Split into 75th Street (Queens) on the left and Ruby Street (Brooklyn) on the right, this strip of pavement serves, for several blocks, as the dividing line between the two boroughs. This particular stretch is one of the Hole's perpetually flooded areas.

Sitting well below the level of the surrounding areas, this rundown, sewerless hinterland straddling the Brooklyn-Queens border is known as "the Hole" to its residents. A 2004 NY Times article said it has "all the characteristics of a frontier town in the Old West." That's something of an overstatement, although, to be fair, there were still some horses stabled here at the time. Personally, I think the area has more of a swampy, Southern feel to it.

There were once plans for a gated community named Cobblestone Estates to rise on the lot at left. But the project ran out of money, and for the past several years the development has consisted of little more than three dozen concrete foundations and mounds (mountains?) of rubble like the one you see above. The site was sold in 2011, and the current owner expects to build retail space and a car dealership.

If you're so inclined, you can take a nice photographic tour of the neighborhood here, and check out some great video footage here.

at Cypress Hills Playground

I'm serious!