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391 Concurrently + literaturely—gold-rushing our autobio-psychoge(ne)ography

billboard in Hell's Kitchen

Dear I.,

... continuing our archival geo-geneography (or ge(ne)ography)—cuz what this ever becomes becomes literally our autobiographical psychoge(ne)ography (still minus «to be» in loo of becoming)... at the moment rooted in ornigraphic pilgrimage (in lite of thanksgiving witch we ate already).

'tween 1608-1858 our genes became all U.S.-based (or debased), mostly landing our incestors in Massachusetts + Virginia ... but by 1850 or so, wanderlust set in anew (w/ most all of these 167 1st-generation gn-parents we have born in America) ... or discontent, or greed ... + continued them to xpand into the westward expanse as became their manifest destiny.

on father's side they hit the Oregon Trail ... not sure what they look for. as mentioned, dont know much bout our paternal lineage. we do know our great-great-grandfather (John Wilson—who skipped the Oregon Trail, sailing straight from Ireland to California in 1848) collected a lot of books ... in fact his collection (1 of the largest in the west) seeded the Portland Library ... so perhaps we got our love of books from him. his granddaughter (our grandmother) became Virginia Wilson.

our grandmother Ginny w/ our dad + his brother

... not that we member much bout grandma Ginny xcept visiting her in sum hospital/hospice facility that we dreaded the smell of. dont know what she died of but sposedly alcohol had sumthin to do w/ it.

our grandfather Leicester White died before her (in Honolulu) ... not sure we even met him IRL. all we know bout him—people called him Doc, he always wore bow-ties + loved dogs.

Leicester "Doc" White

know us a lot more bout our maternal lineage ... in fact have us a 200 page book that 1 of our relatives on that side put together. came them all to California circa 1849 ... gold-rush peeps searching for fortune. tho once in California they seemed to settle more into agriculture. our paternal g-g-g-gfather (James Collins), came born in Virginia 1765 + died in Kentucky 1822 ... a hunter/trapper famous for discovering sum massive salt spring. his wife (our g-g-g-gmother Eliza Gaines) came from Missouri. their son (also James), our g-g-gfather, born 1821 (a year before his father died) in Kentucky, joined the gold rush west in 1848-49 + died 1891 in Auburn, California.

1 of his sons became George Pendleton Collins, our great-grandfather. if u know us IRL might u recognize the stare?

George Penleton Collins

 

George Pendleton Collins (left) on his farm in Auburn, CA in 1910

on our mom's maternal side they mostly mormons coming by way of Utah ... til this guy Horace Peery made the move from Utah to California to become an orange farmer.

Horace Eldredge Peery in 1892

he the 1 who's g-g-g-g-grandparents migrated by way of the West Indies ... u tell us what ethnicity he perhaps represses a bit of. he died of malaria at age 40.

... which brings us to our grandparents—Virgina Peery + Calvin Collins. Virginia (yes, both our grandmothers = Ginny) dont know us much about ... she died when our mom entered her teens.

Virginia Peery in 1921

 

thems childrearing hips

... ok to say our grandmother she a looker, or taboo? Our grandfather we knew well, talked about him before here ... he a track star at Stanford ... maybe where Chaulky White got our running genes.

Calvin Collins

... + here he chills on Lake Oswego w/ his brother-in-law David Peery (our great uncle) who also we've talked bout before here on 5¢ense.

Calvin Collins + David Peery

wont dig further back than this as muster us not to show living people here in image. [though we continue in the 1960–70s in post #457]

IRL, in real-time, continue us our own psychogeographical mappings of our current environs ... yesterday (30.11) took advantage of the warmer weather + chalked off a dozen streets, from 39 to 28:

Maphattan route for 30.11

... sum 22 miles or so ... tho our better-½'s fancy iPhone app claims over a marathon of distance ...

... still not out of the trenches of mid-town hell ... specially navigating around Macy's in the wake of Black Friday. in the last post said us (via John Oliver) that Port Authority = worst place on planet earth ... but even worse—the neighboring Penn Station. let us 1st pause + reflect on the grandeur of the old Penn stn (via NewYorkologist) ... before they tore it down to build the atrocity currently occupying this space:

Penn station back in the day

... + while we reminisce, how bout 3rd ave (looking south from 55th) back when the trains ran elevated stead of underground?

... quite a different world now ... even in the past 10 years we've witnessed the change. on this Maphattan walk we passed the newest section of the High Line they just opened.

Highline around 30th street + 11th ave looking west towards the Hudson river

sum 10 years ago we used to sneak up onto the high line before they named it The High Line ... u could climb over a fence + up the side of it round 34th street where it 1st went rose out of the trainyard. u had to walk crouched away from the edge so the MTA police didnt see u. check out what it looked like then (essentially the same section as shown above) ... perhaps us go back to capture the exact angle.

the same scene (Highline around 30th st + 11th ave looking west circa 2004
(our better-½ checking out the smokestack)

 

up on the highline around 30th looking east

 

the same scene back in 2004 ... up on the highline around 30th looking east

... back then had us the habit of including our red Sambas in photos for reference ... not that ever did we do anything w/ them, but thawed it funny to perhaps 1 day have a book w/ photos of this red shoe in various situations. we've since retired those red Sambas, tho we've had a few pair since ... our current 1s (the grandsons of the above) of red suede.

current red Sambas we use for Maphatting

... tho w/ the holes forming in the soles, this pair not so useful when it rains or snows so likely they'll kick bucket after complete us the Maphattan Project ... anyway, the rest of this week's Maphattan photos in no particular order...

yet another new gross development ... this 1 (10 Hudson Yards) above the highline

 

sumwhere on the westside (after passing thru Hell's Kitchen flea market)

 

also way west in Hell's Kitchen

 

 

 

wigshop in garment district

... sunday, so most of the garment dist shops closed. walked past where worked us for a year or 2 at Heavy, on 38th street near 9th ave ... + also where worked us for a while as information architect in 1 Penn Plaza + also on 28th + Park, so well familiar w/ these streets + what to eat in them. for our representative meal seemed only fitting we get Korean ... stopped at Mandoo Bar for dumplings + bibimbop.

Empire State (another unpleasant axis of touristic madness to navigate)

 

 

Sniffen Court (horse-stables turned xclusive enclave) off 36th near Lex

sposedly Warhol yet again lived on 44th + Lex, but seems the building has since been torn down. the only other notable landmark (not pictured)—the Morgan Library (founded by the uncle of Harry Crosby). we just there in recent years otherwise we might've stopped in for a looksee.

back on the westside (side of Billymark's West)

 

Ended on 28th street, past Tin Pan Alley .. not pictured as becoming dark + not much to see now anyway ... no longer the infamous row of music publishing houses, but punjabi bodegas + phone shops like anywhere else. 28th street also the plant street ... tho not in full jungled glory since Sunday.

[chronologically next: 1958–1965 home movies of mom + dad before they had us]


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