Arcade

PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL:  The first time I visited Coal Pier #18 was in early morning. This time we arrived on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and no-man's land had become a people's park.  Men with tackle boxes and poles, whole families, too, with picnic baskets, and little children climbed over the roots of trees to swim in the river. The coal ramp itself had become a pavilion for the ever-evolving art of the people, though it was often hard to distinguish gang art from dilettante dabblers and paintball casualties.  Some men were fishing at the end of the dock, and I asked if I could take their pictures, but they waved me off without a word of English.

In my own mind Coal Pier #18 divides into three sections and a courtyard.  The great public spaces of the previous two images come first where the ramp takes off. They end in 4 arcades that are stopped variously by walls and divisions until they become a bit of a maze, and one forgets the noise of the city.