During our stroll along the waterfront of Greenpoint on 6/7/10, we noticed a set of cargo containers, piled neatly, one atop of the other. It was clear they were no longer being used according to their creator's intention. Having read Levinson's The Box, we speculated about this device's possible new purpose. Clearly these were retired containers. Were they hiding something or buffering against noise? Someone suspected they might be used for storage. It wasn't until we passed this site on the river side in a boat headed toward Newtown Creek that we discovered the containers were concealing a Hollywood-style backlot set of the Atlantic City boardwalk, circa 1920. One member of our party informed us it was an exterior set associated with Boardwalk Empire, a new series being shot for HBO by famed director Martin Scorsese. This strikes me as a clean and useful purpose for this otherwise declining waterfront, and it's great to see the old cargo containers being recycled. 

At the intersection of Commercial and Franklin Streets in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, NY