Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
New York Shitty Day Ender: Zoo York
5th Avenue
Washington Avenue
St. Mark’s Avenue
Bedford Avenue
Metropolitan Avenue
North 1 Street
Nassau Avenue
Manhattan Avenue
Miss Heather
Dog Doo Signs Du Jour: For The Love Of Big Brother
This winsome trio hails from none other than Maujer Street in East Williamsburg. Granted, the latter most does not purport to be “watching you” but it has a certain menacing quality I found noteworthy. Whoever crafted this sign not only took a great deal of time to scallop the edges (nice touch) but he (or she) also appears to be unaware that driving six nails and screws into a tree is probably as unhealthy— if not more s0— than getting showers of the golden variety from the local canines.
Speaking of unhealthy, I am going to close this post with one of the most hardcore dog doo deterrents I have ever beheld. It hails from Washington Avenue, 11238.
They raise ’em tough in Prospect Heights.
Damn.
Miss Heather
A Girl And Her Blog
It would appear that politicians (and the developers to whom they are beholden) have done a smashing job of removing “urban blight” (READ: the working class/poor) from north Brooklyn. Who needs nuclear bombs when re-zoning, complicity and bureaucratic incompetence/apathy will do the job? Nonetheless the end product is more or less the same: a community whose quality of life has been compromised.
Follows is a revue of developer-induced blight in north Brooklyn I captured yesterday, April 5. I have entitled it After The Gold Rush.
The sad reality is re-zoning, tax bennies, and easy credit have done little to benefit my neighborhood. There were once businesses that gave people decent, well paying jobs. Affordable rental property was once in abundance in Greenpoint as well. No more. Thanks to our city’s leadership much of my wonderful neighborhood has become a wasteland peppered by vacant lots, failed condominiums cum overpriced rental property, illegal hostels and super-sized tourist destinations operated by and for the affluent.
The time is long overdue for north Brooklyn to be developed in a manner sensitive to the needs of the people who constitute this community, not the ones Mayor Bloomberg’s rich cronies envision living here.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Miss Heather
P.S.: This one’s for you, Bob.
Reader Contribution Du Jour: Awwwww Fook!
Although both I and my good friend down at Bed Stuy Banana have already featured this delightful establishment I’m going to do it again. Some things just don’t get old. Jason Lombard (of Dog Habitat) who sent me this photo writes:
I know you venture to Bed Stuy once in a while – I was there last week and came across this joint. The Fook Hing Chinese Restaurant on Nostrand Ave. Close to the fook hing G stop. The sign says it’s fook hing delicious. I’ll take their word for it – I didn’t try the fook hing chicken. But that’s a good thing because they got shut down for fook hing rats!
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Miss Heather
Reader Contribution Du Jour: A Magnificent Waterfront Specimen!
Filed under: Brooklyn
This well-appointed al fresco living room suite (found either Columbia Street or Van Brunt in Red Hook) comes from Gothamist‘s very own Jake Dobkin who writes:
i feel sad that bob didn’t live to witness my discover of the holy grail of street couches– the dockside three piece sectional!
Agreed. On that note I have contributed a number of north Brooklyn street couches for Robert Guskind’s upcoming memorial service including a real beauty I found in front of Radiac on Grand Street last summer. Anyone have an extra Geiger counter laying around?
Miss Heather
Coming Up: Craft On Draught
I’ve been doing a lot of spring cleaning of late. You know, getting rid of stuff you told yourself— REPEATEDLY— that you would do something with. But never did. Here’s your opportunity to dump, drink and make. Leslie writes:
Bring out your busted sewing projects, tired T-shirts, hideous hand-me-downs—basically all the crappy clothes from your closet that you don’t want anymore, or the stuff you’ve been meaning to make awesome—for the ultimate happy hour of destruction, reconstruction, and social mixing!
You provide the scrap, we’ll provide the beer, inspiration, crafting tools, and help from author-crafters Heather Ross and Kayte Terry—plus special projects for purchase: Scrappliqué undies, totebags, cards, jewelry boxes, picture frames, onesies and T-shirts (with that new T-shirt smell)!
WHAT: Craft in Draught Debut
WHEN: April 2, 2009.
WHERE: Spacecraft Brooklyn
355 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211
(718) 599-2718
WHY: Because it is fun and your $15.00 admission fee (or two for $10) “gets you free beer, and a raffle ticket to win a copy of WEEKEND SEWING by Heather Ross, COMPLETE EMBELISHING by Kayte Terry, grab bags of goodies from Etsy and STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books, cute fabric bundles from Heather Ross’s Mendocino line, a gift certificate to Housing Works Bookstore Café , and other assorted surprises!”
HOW: JMZ at Marcy, Bedford Avenue stop of the L or the B61, baby!
To RSVP for this event you need to shoot an email to:Â rsvp (at) spacecraftbrooklyn (dot) com
Otherwise it should be noted that Craft in Draught will alternate between Spacecraft and 3rd Ward the first Thursday of every month. “East Williamsburg” will get your turn in May!*
3rd Ward
195 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11237
Miss Heather
*Bonus points if you also haul in your wool sweaters and socks, to be felted in preparation for the Felt Up for Spring!
Bi-Borough Photos Du Jour: People In My Neighborhood
Filed under: Brooklyn, Crosstown Local, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, Queens, Williamsburg
Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg
Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg
Vandervoort Avenue, Greenpoint
Anthony Street, Greenpoint
Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint
Crosstown Local, Queens
5th Street, Long Island City
44th Drive, Long Island City.
Miss Heather
Brooklyn Photo Du Jour: The Laundry Store
Filed under: Brooklyn
From 4th Avenue.
Miss Heather
Calling All Shittites: Contributors & Tips Wanted
Filed under: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, Bushwick, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, New York City, Sunnyside, Williamsburg
Now that my life has resumed some sense of normalcy (or at least as close as it gets with yours truly) I can finally get around to doing a few things I’ve been meaing to do but have gotten lost in the shuffle. Soliciting tips and contributors is foremost among these things.
Over the last few months I have increasingly come to the opinion that New York Shitty would be augmented with the addition of some other, new “voices”. Recent events (such as the untimely passing of Bob Guskind and the impending demise of the Greenpoint Courier) and my growing acceptance of the fact that I am only one person have made me realize that expanding the content on this site and providing a large forum are much more important than I had previously thought.
So here’s the deal: if you are interested in being a contributor to this site please email me at missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com. But before closing this post I would like to make my criteria/preferences/”plan” known:
1. I do not consider New York Shitty to be exclusively a “place blog”. However, there are some geographical areas I tend to focus on more than others: Greenpoint (obviously), Williamsburg, East Williamsburg, Bushwick, southwestern Queens and to a more limited extent: Bedford Stuyvesant and the East Village. Here’s a map to give you a general idea of what/where I am talking about.
The previous having been written I want to make it clear that I am open to material from outside this area. I simply do not want it to override the north Brooklyn-centric nature of this site.
2. What kind of content am I looking for? I’m pretty open to suggestions. One thing I would really like to have happen is feature an adoptable pet once a week. If this sounds like something you are interested in doing, let me know. Otherwise I want to make it clear what I do not want: schmaltz. If you are going to write about your children it better be fucking good. Family Circus (and its ilk) put me in a blind rage. It also goes without saying that racist, sexist, classist, anti-Semitic, homophobic material, etc.— in other words hate speech— will not be published.
3. What’s in it for me? New York Shitty is not a for profit site, therefore I cannot afford to pay you. However, plans to convert this site (along with a redesign!) are in the works. So perhaps some day compensation will be involved. For the time being, however, a little publicity and/or link love is all I can offer.
4. Please be literate.
5. Unless you have sustained a serious brain injury or have multiple personalities please refer to yourself in the first person. Which brings me to my final point…
6. Please do not be insane. The world wide web has enough crazy people posting crazed missives on it already. I have no intention of adding to this problem.
This is pretty much all I can think of. I want to leave the possibilities for this site as open as possible.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Miss Heather
Map Image Credit: Google Maps
NYS Flickr Pool
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