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Montauk Steel: L.I.C.
Montauk steel is but one of many steel operations in western queens
that have quit in the last 20-30 years. (Elsewhere in L.I.C. one can
find the closed warehouses of hunters point steel, and the scaled
back location of thypin steel, which once had an operation along the
east river in astoria (the location of which has since become a Costco
store)).
You can tell this warehouse is ancient as soon as you approach it.
The gate into it's lot off of borden av consists of rotting wood with
large holes one can easily climb through.
(UPDATE: 5/2001 - Iron gating has been put in place, sealing the location
from the front side... it is still accessable, however, to those who
can figure out how...)
Once inside the lot you'll encounter an array of rusting steel, cranes
and trucks which have likely been sitting motionless for at least
20 years, awaiting a call to duty that will never come.
Just inside the gate are the 2 odd looking, steel-hauling trucks photoed
to the left. The registration stickers in their windows date back
to the late 70's, early 80's - which is likely the time when this
operation was closed up. Curiously, these trucks lay square in the
middle of a train track, which runs out of the warehouse (behind the
photographer), under the trucks, and straight into the wall of the
factory next door. Searching through ancient maps of this area you'll
find that the entire strip of land was once a Long Island Rail Road
yard. This yard may have been used up until the turn of the century
(1900) to store trains which brought people from Long Island up to
the edge of the east river where they boarded ferries to Manhattan
(before the tunnels to Penn station itself were built.)(Though this
is just a guess)
Further back are 2 cranes. One has a healthy dose of graffiti, while
the other, rather humorously, has 2 eyes painted on it's front in
a late 70's style graffiti which are barely visible through the rust.
The wall along the neighboring factory is coated with some very artistic
graffiti.
Behind the warehouses you'll find all manner of rusting steel items,
as well as a lightly used LIRR/NYA railroad branch (which during the
last few summers has been pretty active as trackwork has been done
on the mainline - thus like any other track you should expect a train
from any direction, at any time.).
The only windows into the warehouse are high above the ground, and
there appears to be no easy way inside. One door has a fairly recent
"ADT Security" sticker on it, thus it may have an alarm
set on it. There are also signs for a realtor attempting to get the
space rented out, though who would want to rent such a shabby, contaminated,
neglected location out is beyond our knowledge.
This is just ripe for them 'take the kids out on an education yet
fun tour' type deals. The nearby Phun Phactory, PS 1 art museums,
and 'gantry park' (just beyond the nearby 'mobbed
up contractors') overlooking Manhattan could make for quite the
day trip. |
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