95 Clay Street Is Ready To Rent!

Yesterday evening I received the following compelling comment regarding this post. Gary Floyd writes:

So I responded to an ad off CL for 95 Clay Street, listing 3 bedrooms for $1750 (should’ve know something was up right there) without knowing about the naughty history. This was two weeks ago, and me and my roommates spent the last two weeks trying to give the owner a check and all our application forms, thinking what a great deal it we were about to get. Then Friday, we finally found out the truth: the building is illegal, the ownership is unknown, there is no management company and the owner is a psycho. Inside, the apartments are nice and new, but after the broker found out about the shady dealings, he said he should definitely withdraw our application. So be warned: nothing in Greenpoint will ever cost below $2000 for a three bed, unless it’s a tainted dumpster.

Let this be a warning to anyone out there who is shopping for an apartment be it in Greenpoint or elsewhere. If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. While hardly fool-proof here are a few suggestions as to how to make a more informed decision when shopping for an apartment.

1. After viewing the apartment, Google the address and read what comes up.
2. ALWAYS check the records on HPD and the Department of Buildings. All buildings will have violations but if you see something like this, buyer beware!
3. Ask around. Talk to a neighbor or current tenant of the property in question. They are an invaluable source of information not only about any possible maintenance issues the apartment might have, but also the neighborhood in general.

Happy hunting!

Miss Heather

TODAY: Poetry At East Coast Aliens

Today from 3:00 through 8:00 p.m. East Coast Aliens will be hosting their third poetry event in partnership with Typo Magazine, Goose Up! Here’s the 411 per Typo’s press release:

Cannibal, Harp & Altar, Saltgrass, and Tight are pleased to announce Goose Up!, a poetry reading at East Coast Aliens. The 18 readers at Goose Up! represent the scope of four innovative independent literary journals of emerging prominence.

Headliners include Sarah Gridley (Weather Eye Open, University of California Press), Matthew Rohrer (Rise Up, Wave Books), Chris Martin (American Music, Copper Canyon), Shanxing Wang (Mad Science in Imperial City, Futurepoem Books), Timothy Liu (For Dust Thou Art, Crab Orchard Series in Poetry), Rebecca Wolff (founder/editor of Fence & Fence Books), and Kate Greenstreet (case sensitive, Ahsahta Press).  The reading will also feature poets with profound underground followings, such as John Coletti (co-editor of Open 24 Hours Press, editor of The Poetry Project Newsletter), Ana Bozicevic (Document, Octopus Books), Jess Mynes (editor of Fewer and Further Press), Joanna Sondheim (The Fit, Sona Books), and Frank Sherlock (Daybook of Perversities & Main Events, Cy Gist Press), as well as a selection of breakthrough poets Cate Peebles, Christopher Rizzo, Shannon Jonas, Jennifer Kronovet, Katy Henriksen, and Mark Lamoureux.  Intermissions will feature music by The Hadacol.

East Coast Aliens
216 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Doors open at 2:30 p.m. and the recommended price admission is $6.00 per person.

Miss Heather

P.S.: Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. East Coast Aliens will be featuring the Fritz Lang film, M. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the price of admission us $6.00. Here’s a fact I learned about this film via IMDb:

The extras playing the members of the criminal gang were real life delinquents: before the end of the filming 24 of them were put into jail.

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Sluts, Butts & Mutts

Yo! This churlish yet professionally-executed missive hails (as most great moments of Greenpointiness do) from McGuinness Boulevard and comes courtesy of Laura Hofmann. Great find, Laura!

Miss Heather

Another Bar Cometh To Greenpoint

I have often wondered (as many of you probably have) what is going on at this space at 113 Franklin Street. Well, thanks to a tipster now I know. It is slated to be a bar called (get this) The Production Lounge. It will apparently be a “theme” establishment and will sport director’s chairs for seating. This will make six bars on Franklin Street, lest any of you are keeping count.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Devil On Dupont

From (where else?) Dupont Street.

Miss Heather

Awareness Raising On Manhattan Avenue

I knew something was up when a group of cherubic-faced group of teens entered the junk shop and asked me if they could put up fliers. I asked what the fliers were for. “They’re regarding the Greenpoint Oil Spill” they said. Then they proceeded to ask if I knew anything about it. To wit I said “yes” on both counts, e.g.; yes, they can put up fliers and yes, I knew about the oil spill. And in true “old fuck” fashion I proceeded to tell them about my lovely cruise down Newtown Creek last fall. They humored me.

After I got off work I noticed these kids have been very busy indeed! This chalk drawing hails from the corner of Manhattan Avenue and Green Street.

This one (my personal favorite) is located just across the street.

This one can be found just down the block to the north.

And this one hails a couple blocks to the south. Curious to know more about who (or what) was behind this latest awareness raising campaign I chased down this group of teens and asked them.

Apparently they are part of a special one semester (junior?) high school program. The school is located in Westchester county, but the students hail from all over the United States.

In addition to posting fliers and doing sidewalk drawings they were distributing these nifty homemade fliers.

Which feature a handy map of the oil spill on the back! They asked me if I wanted one. I said no thanks because “I have enough shit at home already”. They thought this was very funny. One even noted that it sounded like something her mother would say. I will refrain from commenting on that.

They eventually turned the table and asked me about what I knew about the oil spill. I gave them my two cents and was very relieved to learn my answer passed their muster. They, in turn, told me what they knew about oil spills, brown fields and the like.

They told me nothing I didn’t know already (mostly via the Gowanus Lounge and Newtown Creehave to admit I was impressed.

Come to think of it, they imparted to me one piece of information that was both disturbing and very telling: most of the people they had spoken with had no idea such an oil spill existed.

Miss Heather