Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Boobification Photo du Jour: Boobies On Board!
Filed under: Area 51
From 4th Avenue.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Che With Sinks
Filed under: Area 51
From Clay Street.
Miss Heather
A Great Moment In Product Safety Advisories
This is one of the 4-5 rat traps gracing the front of the ACME fish plant on Gem Street. Those of you who are in the know will attest that this establishment has its own very distinct —how shall we say —perfume. In fact unless one is a serious fish lover (or better yet: A CAT) this stretch of sidewalk does not strike me as being a place one would want to hang around…
much less while perched atop a rat trap. However, given how happy the young woman looks in the above photograph I may very well might give it a shot.
Miss Heather
Choice Pickin’s From The Greenpoint Grapevine
A good friend of mine recently asked me if I had seen this. In fact, I had. But the Gowanus Lounge beat me to the punch writing an angry missive about it. Nonetheless my favorite passage from David Yassky’s apologia for selling us out reads as follows:
In the supermarket, a few days before the vote, an older man approached me, told me he had voted for me, and told me he didn’t like the term limits extension. But then he said: “Whatever you do, I trust you to do the right thing”.
“Older men” in “supermarkets” do not a constituency make, Dave. I find the previous variety of pedantic and paternalistic pud-yanking not only self-indulgent but also condescending. Politicos who rattle off such rhetoric do not engender my trust. I am not an “older man” in your “supermarket.” I am an angry 30-something broad in Greenpoint. I seriously doubt you’d rub elbows with the like of me. Do you remember Greenpoint, Yassky? What about 184 Kent Street in Williamsburg? Or did Ken Fisher and 184 Kent Avenue Associates help you to forget? In any case, I haven’t.
The fact of the matter is I do not have a set opinion on term limits for the simple reason it is dependent on whose term one seeks to limit. Incompetent and/or corrupt officials should be disposed of post haste; good ones should have a shot at a third term. It’s the way Bloomie, you, et. al. went about it that irks me, Dave.
But I do know that we are in a period of extraordinary challenge, and that voters may well value stability and experience in the City government.
Cloaking one’s hypocrisy with self-righteous rhetoric and trumping the “fear” card only pisses me off more. What’s more, I am not alone. This city will go on without you.
Anonymous writes:
I’m writing you because I got a crazy idea in my head last week: I’m going to run for the city’s 33rd council seat (Yassky’s). I’m openly pandering for a Newyorkshitty endorsement. I honestly think that if I lined up the support of bloggers from Greenpoint to Brooklyn Heights, I might have a snowball’s chance of unseating a two term incumbent.*
The petition to get on the democratic ticket will not be circulated until next June, so I’ve got some time to line up support and I’m starting with you. As for a platform, I’m going to be running on my unequaled building code and zoning expertise. Considering the rampant development in CC District 33, I think I’m the best person to reign in development in the ‘hood…
I will not divulge the identity of this pretender to David Yassky’s throne but I will toss out a few deets:
- He/she is a Greenpointer.
- He/she is qualified to hold his office.
- He/she is sick of Yassky’s shit.
As am I. How about you?
Miss Heather
*Or give Yassky the hell he so richly deserves.
P.S.: Those of you who are interested to know how Wolf Block/Ken Fisher has played for pay in this city (and beyond) should click here. It ain’t just north Brooklyn kiddos! Ken’s one busy boy!
Halloween Video du Jour: Miss Heather Goes To Clinton Hill
Yesterday it came to my attention via Gothamist that some folks had the temerity to say Greenpoint Halloween goodness is second to that to be found in Clinton Hill. hulaedwyn wrote:
This is pretty great, but IMHO, the house at 313 Clinton Ave in Brooklyn is better. And they have a show.
rarelement kicks it up a notch by stating:
This is NOTHING. Come to Clinton Avenue between DeKalb and Lafayette in Brooklyn on Halloween night…
Sure, Clinton Hill may roll out a good show come Halloween— but what about decapitated heads puking up blood? Satanic clowns? Or green vomit? This is the stuff the Garden Spot of the Universe is made of dear readers —and not exclusively on October 31 either! In my fair burgh every day is Halloween.
To this end I whipped out my Metrocard and headed down to Clinton Hill to see what all the fuss was about.
It is not my wish to diss my fellow G train travelers to the south. Rather, I suspect they espouse a different philosophy than we do up north. Namely, they think Halloween is for kids.
chuzzlewit got it right when she wrote about the above menagerie:
we live close to here, every october my daughter wants to move. we spend the whole month talking her down.
Night terrors and bed-wetting are what Halloween is really about. To Greenpoint adults, anyway.
Humor your neighbors to the north, Clinton Hill. We have beheld the true face of terror: it has six legs and a taste for blood!
Miss Heather
P.S.: You can see pix from my brief Clinton Hill excursion by clicking here.
1940’s New York: Cityscapes
Filed under: Area 51
I realize it has been a while since I have hit you with some great pix from the New York City of old. So today (while waiting for the landlord to turn the damned heat on) I decided to share a handful of images hailing from Manhattan. Enjoy!
On a lark I googled the name of this club. Turns out it was located on 52nd Street and was quite a famous jazz venue in the 1940’s. Here’s what Miles Davis had to say in his biography:
But 52nd street was something else when is was happening. It would be crowded with people, and the clubs were no bigger than apartment living rooms. They were so small and jam-packed. The clubs were right next to each other and across the street from one another. The Three Deuces was across form the Onyk and then across from there was a Dixieland club. Man going in there was like going to Tupelo, Mississippi. It was full of white racists. The Onyx, Jimmy Ryan’s club, could be real racist, too. But on the other side of the street, next to the Three Deuces, was the Downbeat Club and next to that was Clark Monroe’s Uptown House. So you had all these clubs right next to each other featuring people like Erroll Garner, Sidney Bechet, Oran “Hot Lips” Page, Earl Bostic every night. Then there would be jazz going on at other clubs. That scene was powerful. I don’t think we will ever see any shit like that ever again.
Not too sure where this located but I found the old storefronts a lot of fun. You can see a full size image by clicking here.
If you look carefully you’ll notice the store at the far left sells “movie star photos”!
Note the old ad for Bendix washing machines in the background.
Anyone know what this building is? I’ve been knocking my brain about trying to remember. It’s driving me nuts! Oh well.
At least I know where this photograph was taken. I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek at New York City sixty years ago!
Miss Heather
P.S.: You can see larger versions of all the previous images on my flickr page.
Soviet Santa?
Life is rife with little ironies. In my case it is the fact that my father’s family (whose delightful mishmash of Lithuanian and Polish in the way of a surname I sport) immigrated to the United States via New York. It is possible— if not probable— my forebears once called Greenpoint home. Regardless one of their progeny lives in “Little Poland” now. A gal whose last name is laden with all the consonants, but alas something got lost along the way:
- I’m a vegetarian. The smell of kielbasa be it hot* or otherwise makes me queasy.
- I know very little in the way of Polish. What little I do know was learned here and would probably get me punched in the face.
Anyhoo, when I see stuff like the following (which hails from Manhattan Avenue) I really wish I was fluent in Polish.
I have no idea who SPOTKANIE z BALLADA is or what they do— but I like them! Enough so to steal commandeer the following poster to decorate my bathroom.
I cannot overstate how much joy the sight of this bit of knitted fanny floss gives me everyday. Which brings me back to their latest show. Upon closer examination I observed the “Santa” in their flier was a wee different than the one I grew up with.
It’s not the glassy-eyed expression on this gent’s face or his dirty undershirt. I’m used to that. It’s the solitary red star on his cap. This here Santa is a RED. Naturally I immediately brought this to the Mister’s attention.
Miss Heather: This Santa has a red star on his cap. He’s a Commie!
Mr. Heather: (laughing)
Miss Heather: What would Soviet Santa stuff in kids’ Christmas stockings?
Mr. Heather: (thinking)
Miss Heather: I know! A copy Das Kapital —and nothing else!
Mr. Heather: Or a free ride on his sleigh to the gulag.
Yet another childhood myth busted.
The jolly fat man (WEARING A RED SUIT NO LESS) who crawls down capitalist chimneys to give children of Bourgeoisie scum gifts every Christmas is in reality a Soviet agent. Don’t believe me? Think about what you asked dear Santa for as children, dear readers, and compare it to what you actually got. Uh-HUH. That Erector set you didn’t get wasn’t an accident, it was a message!
Rudolph’s red nose was in actuality a coded reference to a Sukhoi S-26 experimental ski-equipped jet fighter. Sleigh guided by a red-nosed reindeer my fat capitalist American ASS! And to think I grew up thinking he was a reindeer who had a cold— or possibly a cocaine problem.
I am now a sadder but wiser woman. Come Christmas Eve I imagine I’ll be kicking it in Alaska with my pal Palin. Our eyes (and scopes) will be locked on the Arctic Circle. When we take these infiltrators down I’ll leave the debriefing/interrogations/taxidermy to her.
Miss Heather
P.S.: This one goes out to you Mr. Heather. I never thought the (numerous) evenings I tried to write while listening to you watch Soviet aircraft porn on the television— LOUDLY— would amount to anything more than aggravation and wasted time. I was wrong. Thank you.
*Someone should make a porno called “Hot Kielbasa” and it should feature Ron Jeremy.
TODAY: Meet Miss Wit
Filed under: Area 51
Some of you might remember this terrific t-shirt. I discovered at Atlantic Antic earlier this month and blogged it. Well, as it would happen it came to the creator’s attention. I wasn’t rendered into a pillar of salt. I received a rather nice email from a woman named Deb instead. The subject line was “I Get It”:
Hey Miss Heather
Love the photo you put up of the Palin shirt, you are sneaky, to get that photo with out even a pose! Love it! Thanks much
Long story made short the lovely lady in the above-depicted photograph (with a lollipop no less) is the brains behind one of the wittiest bits of Palin-bashing I have ever seen. Her brand is Miss Wit, she hails from Sunset Park, Brooklyn and today she’ll be at Brooklyn Flea!
Brooklyn Flea
357 Clermont Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11238
When I cast my vote next month I’ll be wearing this shirt— what about you?
Miss Heather
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Solace
Filed under: Area 51
Woodendesigner (the chap took the above photograph) writes:
So I have been meaning to take a picture of this dollar since last week when I went to get a bagel from Korean Bagel (It’s a little typical “Bodega” run by a very nice Korean couple and they have some of the best bagels…. but that is a different story). Anyway I got this dollar as change but did not notice until a few days later. I laughed because it really just sums up everything that has been going on with the stock market and in a way everything that I have been ging through lately. I have been very hesitant to spend it and now after shooting it for you people to enjoy I have decided that I am going to save it….. Even though thay also dated it on the back ( 9-20-07) so it was actually written a year ago.
Also I don’t know what the deal is with the “dollar dollar” or the lack of proper punctuation after “My” but it still makes me laugh because I did not notice it until I tried to spend it several days later.
Thanks for sharing this gem, Nathan. It really made my day!
Miss Heather
THIS WEEKEND: Secrets Of Prospect Park
Filed under: Area 51
This Sunday, October 26 my buddy Kevin over at Forgotten New York will be conducting a tour of Prospect Park. Here are the deets:
WHEN & WHERE: Everyone interested in attending this tour should meet at the southwest corner of Grand Army Plaza at noon.
HOW (much): A measly $5.00!
HOW (long): Approximately 2-3 hours.
RAIN DATE: November 2, same time, same place.
WHY: Because this tour sounds damned neat!
To get everyone in the F-NY Tour 36 spirit I have pulled a few oldies but goodies from my cache of old New York City goodness. Some old snaps from Prospect Park!
From the Prospect Park Zoo.
The Japanese Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
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