bobhowe and I rode out to Fort Tilden, in the Rockaways. I'd never been there before, and I'm rediscovering one of the joys of bicycling -- access to areas of the city you'd never walk to and couldn't drive to. Fort Tilden opened in 1917 and closed in 1974; despite the annoying Geocities promotional crap, this is a good page with history and more photos. |
Early 70s Police Car As we rode down Flatbush Avenue we saw some old police cars in a parking lot. It was apparently part of some police memorial motorcycle ride. This car, the police car I remember as a child, caught my eye, so we rode in to check them out and take pictures. |
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Late 70s Police Car Cops being cops, we had an "Oops, we walked into the wrong bar" moment. I had to take one more picture, this one of what I think was the first blue-and-white NYC police car. |
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Fort Tilden We escaped the police, and rode over the bridge to the Rockaways, and made a right turn to Fort Tilden. It's mostly abandoned now, and quite photogenic. |
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Fort Tilden Much of the area looks like the setting for J.G. Ballard novel. Some portions of it seem to be used for reserve training, but mostly it's just a demonstration of nature's ability to recapture anything you try to take from it. |
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Fort Tilden As with these vines, tearing an old building down in slow motion. |
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Battery Harris East This emplacement used to hold a 16-inch gun that would fire a shell 30 miles. |
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Atop the emplacement Looking out towards Sandy Hook. |
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Fuji Blimp Heading to Sheepshead Bay. |
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Floyd Bennett Field Speaking of J.G. Ballard! Abandoned, weedy runways, the occasional buzz of a radio-controlled plane, but mostly just silence and enormous spaces. |
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Fuji Blimp At Home And then, you turn a corner, and there's the Fuji Blimp! Apparently, this is where it lands. The blimp balances on its one landing wheel as the handlers get it ready to take off. |
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Gondola Closeup as the blimp takes off. Believe it or not, blimps are very loud. Big engines driving big propellers. |
