Well, well, well...

I was planning to go shoot a new video on Governors Island ( the free ferry ride is fantastic but a little daunting in these temperatures and winds )-- well, I will put the idea on hold until it warms up a little.

Building 333 of the massive Georgian brick Training Center is still there, where myself and a Mr. Sean Dillon used to be the only civilians ( besides a training psychologist in the main bldg.) --
I was not that much older than a lot of the sailors of the big Permanent Duty crew and I went bowling at lunch time for something like 50 cents a game and had a dollar can of Schlitz; and then there were the Volleyball games in the big gym built over the huge archway. And beer and ping pong matches right after we knocked off at four o'clock. I could have gone to the Officers Club because of my GS rating and should have in retrospect, but I left that to Sean...

Women were brand new to the Coast Guard then, and a sensation was created by a blond California girl named Sally Fox ( or Foxy Sally as she was known); she married a Damage Controlman student and then ( living up to the criticisms of people who were against women in the service) eventually became pregnant.

The Coast Guard people who lived on the Island were an extremely earthy lot, and the mixed bowling teams of Coasties and their wives had names like "Poles and Holes," and others like that..

Of the Peyton Place aspects back then, I leave it to your imagination...I don't see why I should make a big deal about that except for the wife abusing Lieutenant whose long suffering spouse ran off with the young TRACEN enlisted postman..

Ah me, those were the days. And I wonder what happened to some of those great people I met, like Lt. Harvey Langholtz from Aids to Navigation School-- on my advice he and his wife went to see foreign movies in Manhattan and to my surprise they LOVED Luis Bunuel's "Obscure Object of Desire,"-- another officer got cast in a small role in a Met production of "Madame Butterfly" and there was for a while an "Officers' Wives Consciousness Raising Group," which disbanded when its fallout went too much against the grain of the prevailing Military culture ( or "Military Madness" as one young sailor I knew put it, after a day of drilling with a group with rifles, which of course, they never fired. --that reminds me of the joke Stars and Stripes headline of one of their April First issues I believe it was "Coast Guard actually shoots something.")

Have to note here there WERE Coasties in Vietnam, including my pal ET Earl Gallager, who had been sent on semi-suicide missions on VC infested back waterways.

But enough of my nostalgia, here is the great Curbed NY story

Behold, 13 of the Tiniest NYC Studios for Sale Right Now

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CAMERA OBSCURA

A 24-Hour Stay on the Rapidly Changing Governors Island

Thursday, July 17, 2014, by Nathan Kensinger

Welcome back to Camera Obscura, Curbed's series of photo essays by Nathan Kensinger. This week—happy Outdoors Week—Kensinger spends a night on Governors Island.

[The historic structures and new parks on Governors Island see a stream of visitors over the course of 24 hours. All photos by Nathan Kensinger.]

Piece by piece, the ghost town of Governors Island is being reclaimed. Every day, boatloads of visitors temporarily repopulate this former military base, undeterred by a new $2 ferry fee. The island is now open seven days a week, with picnickers, bicyclists, farmers, students, and club-goers exploring its changing landscape. This past weekend, an annual overnight camping trip for City of Water Day provided a unique opportunity to view the ebb and flow of the island's daily life over the course of 24 hours.

Empty buildings still dominate Governors Island, including abandoned churches and homes with their front doors wide open. With each passing year, though, new uses are found for the dozens of structures left behind in 1996, when the Coast Guard shut down their operations here. This summer, the island has seen several new developments, including a second building for the New York Harbor School, an urban farm for GrowNYC, and a new location for Earth Matter's Compost Learning Center, where you can walk a baby goat through the ruins of old apartments. The most dramatic recent addition is a 30-acre park created by West 8 that opened in May. It is Phase 1 of a $250 million master plan to remake the island's public spaces.

In the early morning, vendors and food trucks quietly arrive to Phase 1, setting up stands for dairy-free ice cream and artisanal coffee in a new public plaza filled by low hedges. The first visitors begin to stream in shortly after, staking their turf in the novelty of Hammock Grove, and by the afternoon, the pristine ballfields have been populated by sunbathers. Built on the rubble of several destroyed apartment towers, this new park is still in its infancy, with gleaming surfaces, fresh asphalt, and perfect lawns. In the years to come, as its young trees grow in stature and the man-made hills in Phase 2are completed, this outdoor space should evolve into a diverting day trip for intrepid visitors. But its design has little connection or relevancy to the real heart of Governors Island, which will always be its historic structures, many of which have been left to decay. Viewed in solitude at 2am, after the last party guests have sailed home, these impressive structures grow in stature, though seen only by the crying seagulls circling endlessly overhead.

The New York Harbor School recently expanded to a second building on Governors Island, taking over this waterfront location on the northern section of the island.

The school's Billion Oyster Project is being launched from nearby docks, next to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel air vent, which was designed by McKim Meade and White in 1941.

The Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion, consecrated in 1906, has been used for art installations and day camps during the past few years.

It is currently empty and unused, with paint peeling from the walls and its organ gathering dust. Visitors to the island wandered freely into its decaying rooms and chapels.

One room was full of abandoned bibles and hymnals. No plans have been announced for refurbishing this historic space.

The new 30-acre park in Phase 1 includes a terrace and food court near Liggett Hall, another McKim Meade and White design, which was built in 1929. The building appears to be largely empty.

The park includes a series of divergent paths on gentle man-made slopes. Several apartment towers were demolished to make way for this new development.

In Hammock Grove, visitors can relax on 50 hammocks and enjoy a view of lower Manhattan, although few of the structures on Governor's Island are visible from this area.

An enormous playground made of timbers lures in adults and children alike.

In the southern section of the island, Phase 2 is underway. A series of seemingly arbitrary hills will be constructed here, the tallest rising 80 feet. They are built from the rubble of "non-historic buildings" demolished in this same area.

As the sun sets on the northern half of the island, most visitors begin to leave for home, leaving the island to club-goers and other special guests.

Alone at night, the historic buildings of the island take on even more gravity. The only sound, after the DJ shuts down a dance party on the island at midnight, is from seagulls and passing boats.

For City of Water Day, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance allows the city's canoe clubs to camp together on Governors Island for one night only. Tents are set up on Colonel's Row, amongst homes built in the 1800s.

In the morning, the aftermath of last night's dance party at the Governors Beach Club is diligently cleaned by workers who arrive before the next wave of visitors.

The club's 20,000 square feet of event space includes a bar and lounge set up in the courtyard of several older residential buildings, which may become a day spa in the near future.

In the houses of Nolan Park, some of which date back to 1810, a variety of small galleries and art spaces have taken up temporary residency for the summer.

At least one of these historic buildings was empty, its front door left wide open in the morning, its interior walls peeling and unrestored.

Original cabinets still intact in the kitchen. The back rooms had been used by a day camp, which left its mark on the walls.

At noon, the Earth Matter's Compost Learning Center opens to visitors. Chickens, rabbits, and goats are raised among the ruins of multiple residential apartment buildings.

Visitors can walk one of the two goats kept here, Cocoa or Butter, while learning about the compost systems set up on the island.

This overgrown, abandoned area is slated for an unknown development project, and is no longer included on the official map of The Trust For Governors Island.

Inside a residential building in the compost zone. The ruins of Governors Island have many stories of their own, but may soon be demolished.
· Nathan Kensinger [Official]
· Governors Island coverage [Curbed]
· Camera Obscura archive [Curbed]

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COMMENTS (7 EXTANT)

MHeinz 2674

So much beautiful architecture on Governor's Island. Hope they don't fu*k it up.

#1. 07/18/14 05:51 PM

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Ginas13 33

I'm glad they are saving some of the historic buildings. The fact that those beautiful homes there and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard were left to rot is a sin. Especially with the lack of housing and people who could use the work fixing them up.

#2. 07/19/14 11:50 AM

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AnthonyKiedis 63

So many cool old buildings. Hopefully they will remain in perpetuity!

#3. 07/19/14 02:36 PM

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joek 1

The writer, obviously, doesn't know much about the history of the island, or the current status of the buildings, or how anything works there, in fact. The slant of the article is clearly biased against things as there are currently being handled. I would recommend the writer return to the island and this time ask a few questions of staff and, perhaps go on a few of the NPS neighborhood tours. For example, the so called "abandoned" church is property of Trinity Church so, frankly, I was surprised you even able to get inside it as it is usually closed, but Trinity is well aware of what they have and they use the chapel on occasion. Not sure which "abandoned" homes were sitting with their doors wide open. If the doors were open, its because some organization is using the structure for a program this season, which means the structure was restored and made usable. The article makes it sound like the island is full of vagrants and all the so called abandoned buildings are occupied by bands of squatters. You also managed to write an entire article about the island without mentioning the National Park on the island. You should probably go back and talk to somebody who works there everyday, someone involved in maintaining and restoring that historic island, and while you're at it try going to govisland.com and read about the construction on the island and get a sense of just how "arbitrary" those hills are.

#4. 07/21/14 09:47 AM

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Edith Minturn 1

Maybe next time Curbed will be able to find a writer who knows how to properly spell William Rutherford Mead's last name.

#5. 07/22/14 06:58 PM

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CLM 1

My children were brought up On GI and we always thought of it as home. We were heart broken when the Coast Guard left it in 1996. It is wonderful to see the positive changes that are happening. Living there for 11 years was a privilege. The Statue of Liberty Centennial, the conference of President Reagan, Gorbachev, and President Elect George H Bush, The Tall Ships, the firework shows, the front row seats to Manhattan. It was an old fashion safe childhood of walking to school, the movies, the bowling alley, standing in silence at attention while the flag was raised and lowered everyday and then being exposed to all the culture just a ferry ride away. The military families were just a small part of the history on Governors Island but we filled those run down buildings with pride, laughter, tears. Now we can look forward to a return trip to show our grandchild where their family started. Thanks to the people who have made this happen.

#6. 07/24/14 10:09 AM

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brooklyn native 1

The island should be given to the UN so they can get off Manhattan island and keep our street open when head of states come in.

#7. 09/24/14 10:40 AM

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