2007 BARC Dog Parade

I want to give a big ol’ New York Shitty shout-out to all the dapperly dressed dogs I marched with yesterday! My buddy Rachael and I had a lot of fun mixing with the pups (be they with four legs or two) while handing out Tootsie Rolls to the children. Unfortunately, marching while wearing a gas mask and digester tank bra render one unable to take pictures. (Hell, I could barely see where I was walking!) Such is the sacrifice one sometimes has to make for her art.

That said, my buddy over at The Gowanus Lounge shot a great set of photographs and a nifty short film. Check ’em out!

Miss Heather

Shanghai Lee: R.I.P.

I saw the above notice in the window of Shanghai Lee last week as I was running errands. I’ll be upfront: I never ate at this restaurant. My husband and I talked about doing so once. While standing right in front of Shanghai Lee, no less. The deal breaker was when we saw three men wrangle an enormous barrel of MSG out of the back of a truck and into the basement of this establishment.

Will this become a second Chinese Musician restaurant? I honestly don’t know. I will say the Chinese Musician is the only Chinese restaurant I will patronize in Greenpoint. Their soups are pretty tasty and if the they use MSG, they are a lot more low key about it.

In (semi) related news Ton Kao II, the latest Thai restaurant to grace the Garden Spot, has learned a very valuable lesson about operating a business here.

You do NOT put out a sandwich board advertising free beer in a neighborhood renowned for the copious consumption of alcoholic beverages. The above sign dates from October 7, 2007. In the last seven days I have watched it evolve. Their 2.0 version read: “Free beer with dinner purchase.” This too, proved to be flawed, as I learned last Saturday, October 13. This is when I heard one of their many* barkers handing out menus exclaim:

You get ONE free beer with dinner purchase!

As for the signage, they 86ed the free beer ad copy all together.

I tried one of their soups last week: lemon grass. It was a tad too salty for my taste. Come to think of it, a beer would have washed it down very nicely.

Miss Heather

*I cannot walk to Greenpoint Avenue without being assailed by three different people shilling their menus. Very annoying.

When Advertecture Attacks: 72 Norman Avenue

Yesterday I was reminded that I had yet to write a post about a new(ish) restaurant I recently discovered in Greenpoint. It is called Onyx and is located at 278 Nassau Avenue. Never heard of it you say? Too bad. If you had it might mean this hideous piece of (illegal?) advertising at 72 Norman Avenue is effective.

Wow, they even have a party room. How nice! Sadly, the same cannot be said about turning a piece of residential property (on an otherwise quaint block) into a billboard.

I wonder how much money the owner of this house received for hanging this turd? As you can probably imagine, one of this chap’s neighbors took issue with this sign and reported to the Department of Buildings. That was October 10, 2007. I took the above photo October 14, 2007. Per the Department of Building’s web site, this complaint was assigned to the “Special Investigative Team” —also known as S.P.I.T.— October 11, 2007. I am not making this shit up.

Anyone want to hazard a guess how long it will take before the Department of Buildings to order this eyesore taken down?

Miss Heather

The Forgotten Borough

I have been (long) remiss in posting this, the latest opus by my buddy Steve in Astoria. Here it is.

Staten Island and Greenpoint have a number of things in common:

1. Both of the previous are butts of endless jokes.
2. Both have been (or are) used as a trash receptacles for the city at large, yet
3. high-density Fedders-style development thrives.

And, lest we forget: public transportation sort of sucks.

Miss Heather

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Help Feed Greenpoint’s Hungry

One thing I learned on my “date” with the very nice and very married Co-pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church last month was there is nary a single food pantry in the Garden Spot. None. Nil. Zero. Zip. Given the median income for a Greenpoint family of four is $30,000 a year, I find this both surprising and appalling. From the Greenpoint Reformed Church web site:

According to the New York Coalition Against Hunger, the 11222 zip code doesn’t have a single food pantry, soup kitchen or food program. Yet, there are far too many people who are hungry in Greenpoint. Several people ring the church’s doorbell each month looking for a meal or some canned goods. In the Bible, Jesus clearly commands us to feed his people. Because of this, our congregation is taking a leap of faith and starting both a weekly food pantry and a Wednesday evening community meal.

Starting these programs is the easy part; keeping them going is going to be even more difficult. What can you do to help in this effort to reduce hunger? First, you can volunteer to help out. This project will need people to cook and serve meals and to organize and hand out grocery bags on Wednesdays. It will also require some start-up funding. Perhaps you can sponsor or organize a fund raising event or perhaps you’re prepared to make a monetary donation to the cause? Donations of food and funds are welcomed and encouraged. You can donate right here online or cans and boxed food can be left in the collection boxes in the church parlor.

I am hardly the church-going type, but I like Ann and what her church is doing. They offer a host of services and outreach programs the less fortunate among us here can really use. I strongly encourage anyone who is reading to this contribute a little time and/or money to get this food pantry rolling. A bag of groceries or $20.00 isn’t a such big deal to you or me, but to those in need (many of whom are families, I would like to add) it makes the difference between having dinner on the table or going to bed hungry. Think about it.

Greenpoint Reform Church
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383-5941

Miss Heather