Three years ago I posted about New York City’s Staten Island, the borough New Yorkers love to hate. As I said back then, I had lived in the city on and off for four decades – on Manhattan’s Lower and Upper East Sides, the Bowery, the Upper West Side, Brooklyn, the Bronx’s pretty Riverdale neighborhood, and other city locations. In 2008 I worked in Lower Manhattan and commuted from Connecticut – a four hour round trip by car, train, and subway: pure madness. At the time I couldn’t afford Manhattan or Brooklyn rent, so I decided to look on Staten Island. I found a big, rambling apartment on the north end of the island, a pleasant ten minute walk to the ferry to Lower Manhattan. After the ferry ride, I could jump on the subway or walk the last bit to my job, in an office building next to the old World Trade Center site, then under construction.
On weekends I explored my new back yard: the somewhat wild and very weird Staten Island. I found it to be an endlessly fascinating mashup of the sublime and the ridiculous.
I’m grounded this month – I can’t drive, I can’t use my camera. I can pick away at the keyboard with my left hand though, so it’s an opportunity to dredge the archives and see what surfaces.This handful of images from New York’s forgotten borough has waited long enough.
As I said in that last Staten Island post, when I lived there I found plenty to hate – noise, traffic, pollution, rudeness, stupidity – but I also found lots to love, and much to wonder about.
This too, is New York City:
Great egrets stalk prey in a flooded park next to a Staten Island beach, after a September hurricane ripped apart the thin margin separating ocean and lawn. Like New York’s other boroughs – Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx – Staten Island has an abundance of bird life. It offers good habitat variety and sits right on the Atlantic flyway, one of North America’s main avian migration routes.
The beaches also attract island residents, who migrate here from all over the world.
Our favorite stretch of beach for walks was off the beaten track and boasted a series of cairn sculptures that grew into an elaborate installation, transforming a good half mile of coastline into an ingenious wonderland. A dedicated local zookeeper named Doug Schwartz was behind this obsessive labor of love. We ran into him once. A quiet man, he seemed to be a typically eccentric Staten Islander. Every piece of the stone monoliths was found on site, hauled and stacked by hand. Beach walkers, captivated by the impressive effort, would sometimes lend a hand, or add their own touches in typically spontaneous New York fashion.
Powerful storms washed the sturdy cairns away several times, but Doug kept at it. Then, unbelievably, he was ordered by the Department of Environmental Conservation to remove all the sculptures. I thought the sculptures were an intelligent, attractive solution to the problem of debris that continuously washes up on Staten Island’s none-too-pristine beaches. The DEC guys thought otherwise. Here’s a story about that fiasco. It exemplifies the bloated, inhuman, bureaucratic side of New York, which was partially responsible for my leaving the state.
Beach debris is so tempting, isn’t it? The day I took this picture, we were sorely tempted by these rusted artifacts, but the car was too far away – a photo had to suffice. In the background are migrating ducks and Brant geese.
Speaking of debris washing up, while exploring the industrialized north shore one day, we noticed a promising dirt road leading towards the waterfront. OK, it was private property – but no one was around and the gate was open, so I insisted on checking it out. At the end of the narrow, overgrown road we came to a sliver of sand littered with debris. Looking closely, I realized that dozens of small, old potsherds and bits of glass were scattered about, and were still washing up in the gentle tide.
It was an amazing find – everything was quite old and seemed to have originated in the same place – maybe Britain circa 1920, or even earlier. A shipwreck?
I was unable to ferret out any clues as to the origin of this small bonanza. We returned once more that summer to collect more artifacts. The following year we returned again, but a tall fence blocked access to the road and property. A younger, braver member of our group tried to scale it, but he couldn’t. That was the end of that.
I wonder if old fragments of forgotten lives still wash ashore there, and if anyone notices.
Inland on Staten Island, the greenest borough, there are many parks and preserves – over 12,000 acres. Some are still fairly wild, considering you’re in a city of eight million souls.
But wildness attracts the “wrong kind” of New Yorker, too, and Staten Island has plenty of those. This park was beset with rusting car wrecks, tires and garbage.
In another park nearby, a sweet statue survived relatively unscathed at an open air shrine. Perched on a bluff overlooking the water and dating to 1935, the shrine is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. People leaves flowers, crosses, hand written prayers, photos of loved ones, rosaries…and during the four years I lived in the area, the offerings remained undisturbed. An old broom leaned against the wall, ready to tidy the shrine.
You can see the figure take the weather in stride – the second photo was taken a few years before the first one.
Staten Island is a famously Italian borough. Besides the shrine at Mount Loretto and fabulous Italian food, a local cultural center boasts a pretty little Italianate building and reflecting pool, built a few years ago for weddings and receptions.
A few steps away, the center (Snug Harbor) offers a charmingly overgrown botanical garden. It may be a poor cousin to the well known New York Botanical Garden, but I came to love it more, for its simple charms and air of subtly elegant neglect. I must have a thousand pictures of the gardens and flowers at Snug Harbor. It became my go-to place for R & R after long weeks of working for the state department of health, monitoring services for people with brain injuries. My office in a building adjacent to the twin towers site was a stressful place to be during the reconstruction, and Snug Harbor provided respite.
There is a Chinese Scholar’s Garden at Snug Harbor, too. Other than a nominal charge to enter the Scholar’s Garden, the grounds of Snug Harbor are free to all.
Surprises are a dime a dozen on Staten Island – turn down a side street in a residential area, and you may find something like this next to a modest home. Explore back roads in sparsely populated neighborhoods, and you’ll see the occasional rooster scratching in a side yard.
Here’s Superman atop a business that makes awnings. Around the corner in this mixed use neighborhood was a dignified, if dilapidated older home, with interesting curtains on the door.
The island was (and still is, I hope) a rich hunting ground for oddball attractions. One sunny Saturday we ventured warily through an open chain link gate in a post-industrial wasteland just off a highway. Someone had been living in an abandoned trailer on a concrete-covered lot that was quickly reverting to weeds. It was hard to tell how long ago they last used the space, but they certainly left their mark. Behind the trailer, hard by a marsh and winding creek, sculptures constructed from waste dumped at the site dotted the rough landscape.
This is REAL outsider art! Who else ever saw these? Anyone? What impulse moved the artist – you’d have to give them that – to create these?
On the trailer wall, a broken plastic candy cane played visual tag with a series of stencils. I couldn’t decide whether it was creepy or poignant.
I think the latter.
Staten Island offers quotidian delights like magnolia blossom-strewn sidewalks as readily as the strange sights of less traveled roads. This was on the block where I lived.
And sunsets – I remember sitting alone on the sandy beach and watching the sun go down on this beautiful April evening, reveling in that brief, glowing meld of color that settles in once the sun is below the horizon. How about wild deer on an island in New York City? Staten Island has that. Folks say they swam over from New Jersey. (We were in a car, when I took this, exploring back roads again).
The flora of Staten Island is what a botanist would consider degraded, since it is overrun with alien species and invasives. Still, I enjoyed my regular wildflower forays each summer and fall. I explored every back road I could find on that island. Pretty soon I knew exactly where I could go to put together a bouquet.
I drew maps to remember where I’d been – and how to get back.
If the weather didn’t cooperate, there was always the view from my window. Looking west, the old St. Peters clock tower is just visible during a winter ice storm. A neighbor is burning cardboard and trash in his old furnace to get warm – just don’t inhale too much!
To the northwest are the busy ports of Bayonne and Elizabeth, New Jersey, just past the Kill van Kull’s busy shipping lanes. I never tired of watching the ships and tugs. I would google a container ship name to learn where it came from and where it was going. Here, a barge is pushed out the Kill van Kull by a local tug as another tug returns to port. Dramatic skies vie for attention.
There are too many window views to include here – they deserve their own post. Another day.
Parting shot: sunset on the Kill van Kull with the Bayonne Bridge in the distance. A curve of neglected rail track glints and a trio of gulls soars west past the ubiquitous chain link fence – a typical meeting of the mundane and sublime, on Staten Island.
bluebrightly 
Lynn, You may be typing one-handed, but your curated collection of old photos makes a thoughtful blog posting- I always learn new things from your text and photos. I loved the pottery shards that washed up on the shore, and the look of Snug Harbor. Joan
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🙂 – Thanks! It pays to look for the unexpected. Those bits of pottery drove me crazy, trying to figure out what they were doing there, so many years after they were made.
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Brilliant one-handed post, Lynn! What a most amazing, strange and idiosyncratic place….I enjoyed your photographic rambling
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Yes, idiosyncratic fits. You have to work with what you’ve got, and when I lived there, it was a lot easier to explore on the island than off, so that’s what I did.
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😀
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Snug Harbor has been on our to-do list forever! This is a great reminder to move it up. 🙂
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I’m so glad you commented, and that led me to your blog. Yes, do get over there!
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What an extraordinarily fascinating place to live Lynn ! Googling to see the exact location of Staten Island I’m amazed that this haven of diversity hasn’t been exploited to its detriment . Who couldn’t resist exploring around here, from shoreline with dreamy sunsets and abandoned art installations to genteel Botanical gardens . I can definitely imagine those times were very therapeutic considering your career . A lovely insiders view to Staten Island including a peep out of your window ! Do you still have your collection of pottery shards I can’t resist them either and surely the shipping lanes must deserve a story all of their own . More good wishes for that injury of yours to mend soon x
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Well, it hasn’t been exploited in some ways – it’s not a yuppie paradise – but it has in other ways. There’s a landfill there that’s famous… Plenty of people can resist exploring Staen Island, mostly because it’s not easy to get to. The ferry is fun and cheap, but once you’re on the island, you’re without a car, and bus service isn’t exactly luxurious, and not always convenient. Driving there from any other part of NYC is expensive – the bridge toll (if you don’t use it regularly/aren’t a resident) is now $16.00! Then there’s the cool factor – Staten Island is REALLY not cool!
I like your idea about delving into the shipping lanes – don’t know if I’ll have the time, but it’s a great idea. So much passes through there, and I’m sure there’s great history too. I do have those potsherds…somewhere around here!
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What a wonderful explore through this amazing place, and what views from your windows. All beautiful shots and how breathtaking the b&w rooftops are in the snow. Sorry to hear you haven’t been well Lyn and hope better soon!
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Well, I think some of these photos are more snapshot than anything else, but you get the idea – it’s a crazy place. I have to do a post of those rooftops in different weather…thanks for the well wishes, I need that!
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A fascinating journey around a place I know absolutely nothing about. I’m a little more educated now, that’s for sure. Wonderful images as always punctuating your words Lyn. I hope the recuperation is going well! 🙂
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🙂 I wouldn’t expect you to know anything about it! The pain’s getting better but the frustration….hmm….
😉 thanks Adrian!
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I am sorry for you that you are temporarily grounded, but it’s a bonanza for the rest of us. What a fabulous photo essay! I never knew Staten Island was that varied and interesting, and that’s the best haul of beach debris I ever saw. It’s taken me years and years to get a few cool items around Seattle. I hope your other arm heals soon, but in the meanwhile I’ll enjoy the bounty produced by your extra time for posting. 🙂 Best to you, my friend!
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What a nice thing to say, Sherry, thank you. It WAS an amazing bit of beach debris there, and in a very small space. No one went there, it was sort of behind auto repair places or something like that. Thanks again for the good thoughts – much appreciated.
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Wonderful story and photos, Lynn – as in many of your earlier posts of this type, you really make me feel like I’m there too, which is something distinctly interesting for me. Hope your recovery is going well and on track. Adrian
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It’s nice to hear you get the sense of being there – I aim for that, even if not always consciously. Thank you so much for telling me – going well enough, I suppose!
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A really interesting post, Lynn. I’ve never been to Staten Island, so I was fascinated by your photos. Wonderful! 🙂 xx
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It’s far from a tourist attraction! But if you dig beneath the surface, there’s plenty to see…
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Hi, Lyn! What a wonderful post about an under-appreciated borough. We hate to admit it, but we’ve not been farther than the SI Yankees stadium (best ballfield view in the world: the Statue of Liberty!). Thanks for inspiring us to explore. Love your shots of those snowy smoky roofs and the pottery shards, especially. Big hugs to you!J&A
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Great to hear from you! It does take some digging to find the interesting spots, and as you well know, they can be found in every borough. Be well!
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A fascinating post both in the selection of images and the descriptive commentary. I hope you will soon be restored to your former self, but clearly, in the meantime, your creativity will not be stifled!
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Thank you, Louis, it’s a long haul, and it’s so strange, not being bale to use the camera. I’m getting closer to being able to raise my right arm though….and you’re right, I’m trying to make use of the down time. Obstacles engender creativity.
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You’ve got that NY attitude ~ pecking away at the keyboard with your left hand and still able to produce such a quality post. You’re amazing 🙂 The images are something to see, admire and give a view of Staten Island I had never imagined before. My experience of Staten Island is just riding the ferry ~ but it deserves a good stay next time I am in the city. You paint the diversity there so well, it’d be an adventure to explore this area in more detail. Wishing you well ~
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That NY attitude – I’ll take that as a compliment, Randall, thanks. 🙂 I think any NYC borough will yield up many surprises, if you take the time to get to the out of the way places. Living on SI meant lots of inconveniences, but I was intrigued by how many odd goings-on there were, so close to Manhattan. But then eccentricity is also part of the NY attitude, I think.
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Nothing better than the NYC attitude, it is hidden in us all 🙂
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I’ve been to Staten Island exactly once. I went there to the home of a psychologist who’d been engaged to administer various tests as part of a job interview. What I remember is a large, two-story brick home, a pleasant man, and the look he gave me when I interpreted one of the Rorschach inkblots as a butterfly that had been caught in a lawn mower.
Your post is wonderful, and quite a testament to the value of taking a look — a good, close look — at our home turf. Every place has its surprises, its characters, its unexpected beauty. While your post makes me want to head off to Staten Island right now, it’s also a reminder that no tourist can weave this sort of rich tapestry.
Living on the edge of the Houston Ship Channel, I’ve always enjoyed the ships: sailing among them, watching them enter and leave port, and of course watching the dolphins bow surf in front of them. You’re probably a little short on dolphins up there, but there’s just as much to see. There are two maritime-related sites you might enjoy. One is Shipfinder, a wonderful tracking site for commercial shipping. I just looked at your area, and nearly went down the rabbit hole. You can get a lot of information: ship name, status (loading, unloading, etc.) and even more.
Another site you might enjoy for the photography is maintained by a Houston ship pilot I know named Louis Vest. He’s on Flickr, and does the most extraordinary work. I’ll link this group of views from his “office” window, but a stroll around all of his sections is well worth it. I just happen to love the port and ship photos.
It was great to see your post, even though I was a little late getting here. It was fun to follow you through such an interesting bit of territory.
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What a great story! There are quite a few pleasant, middle class, suburban type streets there, and quite a few not so pleasant neighborhoods. It’s quite the crazy mix. You’re right about the time it takes to find the oddities and gain the insights – more time than a traveler has, but still, we hope to find a bit of this when we travel, too, right?
Yes, I enjoyed the shops from afar for the most part, except for the ferry. I DID go down the rabbit hole with shipfinder – I found it back in the day, and I was so excited – I could track the ships right outside my window – very cool! No dolphins. A seal once in a while, on a beach, but there are too many people for that to happen much.
Love the Flickr site! Both his ship photos and the rest, but the ship photos are just great. Thanks for that! Never apologize for lateness…it’s great to read about your reaction any time.
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Loved this post Lynn. Bravo.
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Really! Good to hear, John, thanks!
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Great view of another part of NYC. I visited NYC last back in the 90’s. Sadly I didn’t have enough time to catch the ferry to Staten Island. I suppose the fare has gone up since. 🙂 It seems a world away from Metropolis.
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The odd thing is, the fare doesn’t go up – it’s free. But it certainly costs some pocket change ot get to the city, and then to stay for a few days! Yes, it’s a very different feeling from Manhattan.
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A wonderful post, Lynn. And it’s so good to see your followers really appreciating what you offer here—as I do. The banning of the beach sculpture is sad. What a shame that some people, especially people in power positions, just don’t get it. I hope the other sculpture is faring better. How I would love to ramble Staten Island with my camera.
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Wonderful now I’d love to see these spaces….beautiful porcelains….
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🙂 I don’t know what made you look at this one! Staten Island is a strange place, and not one anyone visiting NYC is likely to go to, unless they have relatives living there!
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Sometimes at the bottom of newer posts they say related…so I clicked as I do love NYC…I’d love to visit there again sometime…wonderful post Lynn! 🤓☀️
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Got it – I have no idea how they determine those “related” posts – whatever! 🙂
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