What Part Of Greenpoint Do You Live In?

My buddy Matt Wolfe (formerly of the Greenpoint Courier) tipped me off to this great map over at Very Small Array. It looks like I call “North Vinyl Siding” home —although I prefer Vinyl Siding HEIGHTS, thank you very much! Any of you who have a little time to burn today do check out this web site. It is teeming with lots of fun and informative stuff!

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photos du Jour: Aftermath

Today I finally got around to checking out the site of our latest auto(mobile) de fe. Tammy Jez did an excellent job documenting the incinerated truck. Follows are a few photographs I took of the property damage.

It was one HELL of a fire. It even blew out the windows on the first floor of this house.

Its neighbor received a more Salvador Dali-esque treatment.

You can even see where the mattress was placed.

Miss Heather

Torch Of Suffrage

This is 619 Manhattan Avenue. It is currently the home of the Brooklyn Slavic American Citizen Club. On any given weekend when I walk by it is teeming with men socializing and watching television. Therefore, I found it very interesting to learn it was not the first social organization to grace this building. Just under 100 years ago it was the home of the Woman’s Suffrage Party, as you will learn from this great old story from the December 20, 1909 edition of the New York Times. Enjoy!

Feminists and Socialists in Greenpoint?!? Believe it or not, this is not as far-fetched as it seems. Greenpoint has a very long history of being a progressive burgh. Take day care for working mothers, for example. Our humble neighborhood had it long before it became “mainstream”. The Garden Spot of the Universe keeps getting more —not less— interesting the more I research it!

Miss Heather

Subway Poster du Jour: Nassau Avenue, Part II

From the Smith – 9th Street bound platform of the Crosstown Local.

Miss Heather

Cleanpoint!

Wishing to steer clear of the downright nasty heat today I have whiled away the afternoon by knocking around the apartment doing housework and perusing the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives. Mostly the latter— which is where I found this plum of story from the June 9, 1896 edition which proposes that our fair burg might soon be re-christened Cleanpoint. With a hefty helping of patriotism and child labor, naturally.

112 Years Later: July 19, 2008, 239 Banker Street

Looks like we still have a ways to go.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Back In The Day: Peter Pan Bakery

Anyone worth his (or her) Greenpoint salt is familiar with the Peter Pan Bakery. Not only is it the home of some of the best damned donuts in the city, but to go inside makes one feel like he (or she) has entered a time warp. If any of you, dear readers, have ever felt this way (I know I have) don’t worry: the feeling is well warranted.

When I showed the above photograph to an employee of this establishment this morning it created quite a stir. Even the owner was shocked at how little Peter Pan has changed over the last thirty years and gladly gave me permission to take another, newer photograph of her establishment as it looks today. Here it is.

As you can see very little has changed. All the way down to the lovely uniformed waitresses manning the counter and children eagerly awaiting tasty treats, Peter Pan is more or less the same now as it was thirty years ago.

The addition of a few scantily clad staffers notwithstanding.

Miss Heather

P.S.: I want to give a big New York Shitty shout-out to the ladies of Peter Pan for allowing me to photograph the interior of their establishment. Thanks!

HOLY SH*T!

I just received the above photograph from a fellow Greenpointer named Tammy Jez. She writes:

this may look like a war zone, but nope, it’s in front of my apartment on newell street and norman avenue in greenpoint brooklyn. i came home last night from a weekend getaway… to find my place of residence had barely survived a three story high fiery explosion. according to a neighbor, around 2am saturday night (sunday morning) some youths set fire to a mattress, pushed it under a pickup truck, and the effect is shown in the attached photos. check out the melted siding !!! its a miracle no-one got hurt. definitely a close call. unfortunately, to my knowledge the youths have not been identified.

Damn.

From what I can tell the 94th Precinct had a very busy weekend. The very same morning this truck was torched New York’s Finest took down a pit bull in the middle of Huron Street. Sheesh.

Miss Heather

Photo Credits: Tammy Jez

THIS WEEK: Ba-Rock Brooklyn

This Saturday, July 26, Ba-Rock Brooklyn will be having a fundraiser right here in Greenpoint. Live bands (with such interesting names as “Mobile Wash Unit” and “Madam Robot & The Lust Brigade”) will be performing at T.B.D., Lost & Found Bar, Van Gogh’s Radio and Queen’s Hideaway starting at 6:00 p.m. After an evening of short films Apollo Heights will grace the stage at East Coast Aliens at the stroke of midnight. Lastly, this evening of entertainment (which is way too jam-packed for me to go into here) will be capped off by an after-party at T.B.D.

Those of you who are interested in attending can learn more about this event (and others in the works, including another event in Greenpoint August 9!) by checking out Ba-Rock Brooklyn’s web site. Be advised the price of admission is $20.00. This is a fundraiser after all!

Miss Heather

Subway Poster du Jour: Nassau Avenue

What can I say about this modified poster (from the Queens-bound platform of the Crosstown Local)? It is what it is.

Miss Heather