The BQE I-278 elevated expressway wends its wavy way through the Greenpoint, Brooklyn neighborhood way back in February 1999. Generations of older Brooklynites knew this area as Greenpernt, as in traditional Brooklynese the oy sound became er and vise versa. Hence toilet was terlet and coins kerns, while further was foither and certainly was soytainly. Greenpoint's ancient row houses, brownstones, wood frame houses and assorted multifamily dwellings from the late 19th and early 20th century still dominated in 1999 and a glance at Google Earth shows they still dominate today. One of my uncles used to live here and several times he took me up to his roof where he kept a large pigeon coop. I remember that being an incredible experience. Those birds had some thing going there. Just as many of the men in Greenpoint belonged to their little corner social clubs, those pigeons had their club. For those that think pigeons are dirty birds, a coop is an education. It didn't stink at all that I recall. I've been in the vicinity of chicken houses. I know when birds stink and these didn't. In latter days Greenpoint has been best known for it's Polish population, but many Italian families, like that of my uncle, still resided there, at least back then.

Among the main drags in Greenpoint are Humboldt Street and McGuiness Boulevard. Both run into each other roughly just about here, beneath the elevated highway structure. You may be wondering where exit 33 is, since we're headed for 32 after just passing 34. Exit 33 was the McGuiness Boulevard-Humboldt Street exit and like Meeker-Morgan, a frequently mentioned traffic report landmark, albeit for Queens bound traffic. It's southbound ramp disappeared during reconstruction that took place not long before 1999, never to return, but northbound it still exists and southbound still has an entrance ramp coming up from McGuiness. McGuiness Blvd runs right from the BQE back towards Queens to the Long Island City neighborhood hard by the East River. It crosses it's own bridge to get there, the Pulaski Bridge, not to be confused with New Jersey's Pulaski Skyway. Motorists heading into the Midtown Tunnel toll plaza can see the Pulaski Bridge flying over their heads before descending into the tunnel. Humboldt Street heads left towards Bushwick where it intersects with three key routes connecting Brooklyn and Queens; Metropolitan Avenue, Grand Street and Flushing Avenue. It pretty much gives up it's importance as a major street at Grand Street, having lost it's place in the pecking order to it's next street neighbor, Bushwick Avenue, which runs all the way down to the East New York confluence of Jamaica Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue and East New York Avenue and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, formerly known as the Interborough.

Among the several destinations to choose from at upcoming exit 32, is Metropolitan Avenue, which is closing in on us from the left, diagonally and marks the official transition from Greenpoint to Williamsburg. My parents used to take me for holiday suits at some hole in the wall kiddie clothes store, just off of Metropolitan Avenue and the BQE. I mostly remember the old fluorescent lighting and the ornate tin ceiling in the store. I hated being fitted for clothes. In 1967, at age 9, I underwent the torture of having to wear a Nehru jacket. Remember them? At least it wasn't maroon, or was it? Every sports jacket they got me until then was maroon. After the Nehru I graduated to navy blue. I think the store's name was Balls. When these were shot in 1999 it may have still been there and for all I know, living hundreds of miles away now, it may still be there. Visible on the far right is the Manhattan tower of the Williamsburg. Until developing this, I'd never noticed the bridge towers were visible from here. You'll see many church towers and spires throughout this area, although these photos don't show much. This neighborhood may have more churches than any other. Fast forwarding to 2017, views from Google Earth show a rapidly changing landscape building wise, with new apartment houses of varied eclectic design filling many streets darting off from Meeker Avenue below the highway.

Very shortly the Brooklyn Queens Expressway splits in two, not for the last time either. The left version of the BQE will head for the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan, while the right continues the Interstate route I-278, descending into an open cut for the trip through the rest of the Williamsburg neighborhood before rising again to traverse Fort Greene on another elevated stretch. This hasn't changed much in the years since 1999, the switch to LED lighting panels being perhaps the most noticeable. Even the overhead gantry holding the Exit 32A directional sign for the split remains. The BQE undoubtedly rises and falls more often than any other arterial highway in the city. The truck in the center southbound lane stayed with us throughout our trip over the Williamsburg, probably headed to a delivery or pickup in Chinatown. You'll notice it throughout this series of photos and those in the my Williamsburg Bridge section. Visible on the left was a billboard for one of our generation's late 1990s icons; the Apple iMac computer. Try explaining to millennial youngsters in the 2018 era that there were "i" products made by Apple long before iPhones and iPads, let alone bulbous CRT screen displays. By 2018 I've already chucked one flat panel LCD TV in the trash, have another one begging to be let out of its misery and have bought 2 such monitors at garage sales or Goodwill. And I'm a relative Luddite. Can't imagine anyone can even use the internet anymore if running an iMac. Little do millennials realize however that the iMac helped save Apple from bankruptcy. It was one of Steve Job's ingenious moves, soon to be followed by another big hit that was a dinosaur by 2018, the iPod.