Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
TODAY: Empty Cages Collective At NYC Pet Supply
Today starting at noon some of the comely cats of Empty Cages Collective will be accepting human callers at NYC Pet Supply on Bedford Avenue. Even if you are not in a position to adopt a cat swing by, say “Hi” and give a few well-deserved head scratches and tummy rubs to some of the finest felines in the County of Kings!
Empty Cages Collective Cat Adoption Event
May 16, 2009; Noon – 5:00 p.m.
NYC Pet Supply
241 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211
You can also lend a hand by donating your time, money or purchasing items on their Amazon wishlist! For more details check out Empty Cages Collective’s web site.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Is For Art Lovers
Every world class city has an art museum. Paris has the Louvre. London has The Victoria & Albert Museum, Moscow has the Pushkin. Our own fair city has the Guggenheim, MOMA, the Whitney and numerous others. I imagine all the previous are nice enough (not that I would know from personal experience: I have not been overseas since I was nine years old), but there’s something about the white walls and museum guards that make me feel less than welcome.
For this reason and many more (as you will see) I am very proud to announce that Greenpoint— yes, the Garden Spot of the Universe— too has its own museum and the co-proprietors will make you feel right at home! Where is this hitherto unknown oasis of culture, you ask?
This Pompidou for the people is located at 61 Greenpoint Avenue (AKA: our very beloved Pencil Factory)! Let’s take a peek inside, shall we?
This installation is what first caught my eye. Immediately after I took the above photograph the co-docents eagerly rushed in to explain to me the purpose/provenance of their collection: it is all stuff they found on the street. Noting my interest on the mummified doll second from the right one of the guys offered to let me have it. I declined, as I felt its absence would diminish the overall je nais sais quoi of this installation.
To my educated eye what these guys have going is a lot more than mere chock a block collection of urban detritus. The real genius lies in how our co-curators (who I presume to be co-managers of the freight elevator) put this show together.
L’il Jon juxtaposed with a mass-produced print of a lion to which someone has added the inscription:
I love animals.
Babes: deconstructed.
After I took the above photograph one of the gentleman pointed out to me that the women in the bottom left hand photograph are drunk. I joked to him that if these lasses weren’t at the time this picture was taken they probably were shortly thereafter. He found this very amusing.
Landscapes, still lives, paint by numbers, abstracts and of course…
another scantily clad woman.
This Paul Richard hangs in the elevator across from…
a woman wearing a head brace and yet more scantily clad women. I imagine at this point the more humorless feminists reading this are getting into a tizzy. No worries, these guys have something for everyone.
These lights were rather nice.
This chicken was hands-down one of my faves. Note the artful placement of two red feathers!
And who in their right mind could object to this portrait of the virgin Mary?
Especially when juxtaposed with the King of Pop, Jesus Juice and Bubbles the Chimp!
They have Piglet, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh too!
I give this collection— which hails from the freight entrance of the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory and which I have christened the Greenpoint Museum of Art— two enthusiastic thumbs up! Bravo, guys!
Miss Heather
SCADGate: Post Script
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
The last twenty four hours I have been plagued with what either has to be a cold or one of the nastiest allergy attacks I have experienced in recent years. (We’re talking the variety where you feel like your entire head is going to explode.) Needless to say I have not been in the most chipper mood. That is, until I received the following email from the Ombudsman of the Savannah College of Art & Design, our good friend Trey. He writes:
Heather,
I have seen the latest posting about the Lumet award. It was nice to have a hand in this cooperative effort to return Mr. Lumet’s award. The missing piece is now an address where we can send you some “SCAD booty” as it was noted in the article.
We greatly appreciate the efforts of you and Rebecca in this strange endeavor.
Thanks again
If the thought of free swag was not enough to perk me up I also received word from Rebecca11222 that this rather bizarre series of events has been memorialized for all posterity by having a song written about it. But it’s a lot more than that, as you will see.
Fuck Cats. I’d like to see Andrew Lloyd Webber top this!
Miss Heather
From The New York Shitty Inbox: The Fun Keeps On Coming At 184 Eagle Street…
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
or would that be the Luxe Guesthouse?
Anonymous writes:
Greetings… I noticed that you covered the “shadiness” that is the development at 184 Eagle St. I am sad to say, I am a resident at 184 Eagle St, and unbelievably I am under a lease. I can tell you first hand that this place is basically a Hostel, and while most original tenants have found a way out of here, I am still trying (with my security/last month intact). Nevertheless, shady things keep happening at the building (the other day a group of girls at the door asked me if the “club” was open today, whatever that means).
Perhaps that D.O.B. complaint I found so amusing is true?
As you can see this was filed February, 5 2009…
and we’re still waiting.
In closing here are some screencaps of Luxe Guesthouse’s and Department of Buildings respective web sites for your amusement.
Since when in the course of requesting a reservation is one’s gender, nature of visit and nationality been relevant to secure a place to hang one’s hat. Oh wait, I forgot, this place is totally illegal!
1/30/09: the Department of Buildings takes note that 184 Eagle Street is a new building without a valid Certificate of Occupancy.
2/27/09: I am tipped off to an illegal hotel/hostel being operated at 184 Eagle Street.
2/28/09: I am tipped off that the powers behind Luxe Guesthouse have been canvassing Greenpoint businesses.
3/19/09: “Caller states there is an illegal apartment on the 5th floor”
3/19/09: the Department of Buildings takes note, once again, that 184 Eagle Street has no valid Certificate of Occupancy.
3/30/09: I beat my head against the wall once again.
4/3/09: The Department of Buildings notes the elevator at “182 Eagle” is not functioning properly. So they issue paperwork to the respondent:
Best Value Inc.
394 McGuiness Blvd. LIC, NY 11222.
Could someone please explain to me the previous timeline of municipal malfeasance? Let’s review:
- We have a building with no certificate of occupancy whatsoever.
- Yet it is inhabited by renters…
- and patrons of an illegal hotel/hostel.
- The Department of Buildings is clearly aware of C of O issue.
- They have cited the owners of this building twice for this offence.
- They have cited the owners of this building for an inoperative elevator.
- Yet the Department of Buildings has yet to figure out what many of us know already: 184 Eagle Street is being run as an illegal hostel/hotel.
Which brings me to this:
A Certificate of Occupancy is used for a number of purposes:
- to establish how a property is to be used, e.g.; residential, commercial, manufacturing, etc.
- it also establishes occupancy, e.g.; how many people can be in said space.
- it is used to determine taxes on landlords.
This building has no Certificate of Occupancy. Luxe Guesthouse, AKA: 184 Eagle Street, will only take cash, money orders, travelers checks and paypal. Can you say tax evasion?
Miss Heather
From The New York Shitty Inbox: Abundant Life, Disassembled
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Jay Lombard (who took the above photograph) writes:
I saw this last night, snapped a photo and then saw you had mentioned it… Took out an entire section of iron gate. Could easily have wiped out kids who gather in front for an after school program…Have a good day and keep an eye out for cars on sidewalks.
This is some of the best advice I’ve heard of late given some of the recent, um, activity in our neighborhood. In closing I strongly advise anyone who witnessed this incident or the one which culminated in Violetta Krzyzak’s horrific death and a three car pile-up in front of Rivera’s Grocery* make it a point to attend this month’s 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting. Here are the deets:
94th Precinct Community Council Meeting
May 18, 2009 (that’s next Monday folks!) starting at 7:30 p.m.
Capital One Bank (AKA: The Greenpoint Savings Bank)
Calyer Street Entrance
807 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Miss Heather
*Especially those of you who were further south, e.g.; Driggs, Nassau or Norman Avenue.
SCADGate: The Conclusion
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
This morning I was reminded that all good things— even a curious case of a lifetime achievement award in inexplicably found in traffic triangle in Greenpoint— must come to end. Rebecca11222 writes:
Well, a pall hangs over the apartment today: the SCAD Lifetime Achievement Award has been returned to it’s rightful owner: Sidney Lumet’s publicist.
The kind people at SCAD and the Savannah Film Festival arranged for postage and packing materials. I just wrapped it & then dropped it off at FedEx.
I received some awesome SCAD booty (travel cup & tee-shirt) for my trouble. AND an offer from the director of the SFF to host me in Savannah should I like to visit. But the apartment feels empty, somehow.
See attached for photo of Sanford with the travel cup.
I suspect I speak for everyone (except perhaps Sanford, who appears to be less than impressed with the reward reaped by his owner’s good deed) to learn this story has a happy ending. If that award could talk I imagine it would have an interesting tale to tell. But alas, it is keeping its silence and we will have to be content with the whiff of serendipity it brought our lives. Bon voyage, prodigal lifetime achievement award! I hope you enjoyed your stay in the Garden Spot of the Universe.
Miss Heather
Hot Tamale!
After giving the matter considerable thought I have come to the conclusion my life generally revolves around two things:
1. Consuming Mexican food
2. Searching for more Mexican food to consume
Incomprehensible as it may seem to some of you I not only can but often will eat nothing but Mexican food for days on end. Few things please me for breakfast more than a plate of enchiladas. That is save of course tamales but that’s where I hit an impasse:
1. I’m too lazy to make them.
2. Most tamales to be found are NOT vegetarian.
Therefore you can imagine my delight when I found the above announcement at the Beaner Bar. Mouth watering, I went in for a late morning fix.
Once I placed my order I busied myself with the cup of Homies. Whoever came up with this idea is damned genius, not unlike place mats at Denny’s these little guys kept me entertained as I awaited for my hunk of corn-husk wrapped, tomatillo slathered goodness.
This is what a Beaner Bar cheese tamale looks like. Note the two salsas to the right. The red one was tasty but a teensy bit mild for my taste. I am very persnickety about my salsas. What’s more I want the most bang for my $3.00, e.g.; I want it to burn coming in and going out. Twenty Four hours later I was happy to learn the green salsa fit the bill perfectly.
I could resist playing with the Homies as I enjoyed my meal. Here they are cheering me on as I knock back that shot glass of green salsa. In all seriousness (or at least as serious as one can be about eating tamales and playing with Homies) if any of you find yourselves on the other side of the BQE some Sunday afternoon give these bad boys a whirl. The vegans out there reading this take note: they do on occasion serve vegan tamales as well. Check it out!
Jose’s Momma’s Tamales
Sundays at the Beaner Bar
447 Graham Avenue
Brookyn, New York 11211
(718) 599-1063
Oh yeah, I would woefully remiss if I didn’t make mention of their bathroom. Better yet— I’ll show it to you instead!
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: R & R
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
From McGolrick Park.
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
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