We're nearing the most famous section of the Brooklyn
Queens complex. The highway is already double decked at this
point and has been since passing Atlantic Avenue a block or so
back. The northbound lanes are about to pass beneath the Brooklyn
Heights Promenade, where the horror movie "The Sentinel",
one of my favorites, was shot in 1977. The horror that used to
be an average trip through this section of highway, has been
somewhat mitigated by recent repaving and reconstruction. The
promenade and upper deck ceilings used to have embedded cuplights.
By the time they were eradicated little over a year ago, a third
were still incandescent, a third were mercury and a third were
dead. Now, rectangular LPS fixtures, which for lack of better
nicknames I'd call kitchen fixtures, line the ceilings. The shadows to the right, by the first pole, is the dead end of State Street. Dominating the hazy background is the Brooklyn Bridge, which despite its age, is by far the best bridge to drive on, into Manhattan. The famed and fabled piers of Brooklyn are unseen to the left, in the shadows of the lower deck. Shot 1/99. |