The inaugural Gowanus Art Parade crosses the Union Street Bridge on June 1, 2024, with a changing landscape along the shores of the canal.
Leonard Thomas operates the Union Street Drawbridge from within the historic Bridgetenders House at the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY, in 1996. Thomas was famous as “The Chicken Man of the Gowanus” after publishing a cookbook. His tenure on the canal was a quiet one with hardly any residents in the neighborhood. The changes along the canal since I began photographing it in 1989 are apocalyptic. GOWANUSCANAL.US presents Mark D Phillips’ 35-year photojournalism documentary project on the Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn’s Superfund site.
As hundreds of revelers cross the Union Street bridge, the old and the new Gowanus are in sharp contrast.
All eyes are on the Gowanus Canal and its environs as it undergoes an upgrade from the 19th century to the 22nd century.
This is the new Gowanus with multiplex high rises where a graffiti covered warehouse stated “Welcome to Venice.” The neighborhood was once known for its elaborate graffiti with almost all of it gone. My story, Graffiti Gone, and GowanusCanal.us, showcase many of these lost treasures.
The old Gowanus is lost to the new construction, creating a totally different neighborhood.
