Greenpoint
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Culture on the Cheap
Bed-Stuy Photo du Jour: Willoughby Avenue
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
What would this country be without New Jersey? A helluva lot less entertaining, that’s what!
Miss Heather
Public Service Announcement: Found
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
If any Greenpointers out there partied a little too hard last weekend and awoke to find his (or her) bail of hay and comb missing, I have some very good news.
You can pick them up on the east side of McGuinness Boulevard just north of the BQE.
Miss Heather
Same Borough, Different Worlds
You can really tell a lot about a neighborhood by how its residents choose to decorate their properties. I recently came across two different houses: one is located in Greenpoint, the other in Bushwick. Both employ canine statuary, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. The messages these home owners intended to convey could not be more different.
First up, here’s a stoop from Housman Street.
The tinsel, silk flowers and icicle lights (all preferred articles of decoration in Greenpoint) exude Easter time cheer. To further enhance this effect the home owner placed a cherubic little lab puppy on his stoop. As you can see, it bears a sign which reads “WELCOME”.
Now let’s take a look at this house on Eldert Street in Bushwick.
The wreath is rather nice— in fact I’d go so far as to say it is of Martha Stewart-esque quality. But that down home cozy feeling is somewhat diminished by the presence of a security camera (which can be seen above the horse shoe). If the chains used to secure this canine ambassador to the fence are any indication, he must be one nasty character.
In closing, I do not think I would want to be this house’s mailman.
Miss Heather
THIS WEEK: Forgotten NY
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
I am pleased to announce that Forgotten New York’s very own Kevin Walsh will be gracing the Garden Spot with this presence this week! He will be giving a presentation followed by a question and answer session at Word Books this Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. I’m not sure what Kevin has up his sleeve, but I have been told (by the man himself) he is going to float an idea for a new book and wants our take on it. Sounds intriguing.
Word Books
126 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 383-0096
As always this event is free to the public. Let’s give Kevin a heaping helping of good ol’ Greenpoint hospitality… so mark your calendar!
Miss Heather
Hooking Up “East Williamsburg” Style
It is an all too common conundrum. You princely pup (for the purposes of this post let’s say he is a Highland Western Terrier) is lonely. Being the caring pet owner you are, you immediately put a cunning plan into action that turn your doggy’s frown upside down in no time!
Step 1: You make a flier.
Step 2: Post your fliers. Where should I place them for maximum effectiveness you ask? Should I post them at the local kennel association? The ASPCA? Craigslist? Nerve.com?!? Of course not, only a practicing amateur would do that. You know how to pimp your pup right. So you gather up your fliers, grab your scotch tape and proceed to those brand spanking new bus shelters on Graham Avenue.
Step 3: Be sure said shelter features an advertisement for Kaletra —and for chrissakes place place your canine solicitation out of the view of small children!
This is a family-oriented neighborhood.
Miss Heather
TOMORROW: McCarren Park Meeting
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Those of you who are interested in what’s happening with McCarren Park listen up. There is going to be a meeting tomorrow you should not miss. Dewey Thompson (of GWAPP) writes:
Hey McCarren Park user! You use the park. You want it to be better. You’re not alone… The best way to get the parks we deserve is through persistent community attention to each park. GWAPP (Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning) wants to help kickstart a big (and sustained) Push for Parks all across our North Brooklyn neighborhoods by helping to create (where one doesn’t exist) support (where one does exist) and unite (where, as with McCarren Park, several active groups co-exist) park-specific Friends Groups.The purpose of these groups will be to gather information about the way the community uses the park, the issues and needs of each park and, most importantly, establish a community representative (or two or six or twenty) of that park, acting as a watchdog and persistently (key word) pushing for improvements – whether from the city, the Open Space Alliance (www.openspacealliancenb.org), neighbors, local businesses, grants…
I am volunteering to help set up an initial meeting of what, for now, might be called the United Friends of McCarren Park. We have an opportunity, with this particular Mayor and the promises made regarding the McCarren Park Pool, Ice Skating Rink and Skate Park, to push for real improvements in McCarren Park. We need to make sure we have a unified and coherent voice in the way the park is maintained and plans made for future developments. With the Pool reconstruction underway (design-wise at least) it seems the various user-groups of this potentially wonderful park have a shared purpose. Let’s use it to make the park better.
Here’s a proposed (and very preliminary) agenda:
- Request a comprehensive survey & study of Park usage & potential
- McCarren Park Pool – reconstruction status update
- Pool-adjacent “Comfort Stations†– can these be built first?
- Fieldhouse “Comfort Stations†– the most disgusting bathrooms in Brooklyn? (No, they aren’t — Miss H)
- Wading/Spray Pool – what can be done to have this running by summer?
- Benches & Paths
- Natural turf conditions
- Gardens & Trees
- Dog Run(s)
- Plan to artificially turf paved field next to tennis courts
- Plan to study de-mapping Driggs and/or Union Ave. through the park (which will entail disrupting the route of the B61 Bus— Miss H)
- Concerts, Films & other programming
- Other issues & needs?
What: United Friends of McCarren Park
Where: Automotive High School Library
50 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, 11222 New York
When: Monday March 3 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Be there or be squat —over some horribly maintained crapper drenched in piss and bereft of toilet paper*.
Miss Heather
*I am referencing McGolrick Park ‘s “comfort stations” which no one seems to care about.
Greenpoint Photo du Jour: (To The Left)
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
From Calyer Street, Greenpoint, U.S.A.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Santa and Sombrero
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Taken at Save-Rite Discount Wine on Manhattan Avenue yesterday, February 29, 2008.
Miss Heather
Photo du Jour: Lady Liberty
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
From Bedford Stuyvesant.
Miss Heather
The Big Greenpoint Fire of 1900
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
When I was knocking around the Brooklyn Daily Eagle online archives last night I happened upon a piece of Greenpoint treasure.
Your eyes are not deceiving you. The title of the above photograph reads The Post & McCord Fireproof Building, Destroyed In The Big Greenpoint Fire, April 9. Yes, it would appear Josh Guttman’s convenient conflagration two years ago was only the latest in a long tradition of Garden Spot firebuggery. Come to think of it, maybe the moniker “Garden Spot of the Universe” should be dropped in favor of something reflecting our fair ‘nabe’s appetite for destruction. “You Build It, We Burn It” immediately comes to mind, but I am certain a number of you, dear readers, can come up with something better.
In any case I was intrigued by the destruction of this supposedly fire proof building so I did a little searching and found this article from the April 22, 1900 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Enjoy!
The result of this fire proves to me that if it is desired to prevent the destruction of a building of the sort by fire, the whole exterior should be walled about with fire brick.
This Mr. Gullfoyle was sharp as a tack. Too bad he is no longer with us, he’d probably be a much better Buildings Commissioner than our current one.
Miss Heather
P.S.: Curious as to where this big Greenpoint fire took place? If so, click here for the reveal!
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