Greenpoint Fashion Watch

October 25, 2008 by missheather
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic

This week (at least the portion of it I have had with Internet access anyway) I have been dialogging with chap named Tim. He wrote:

…your neighborhood is really the gift that keeps on giving–it’s so endlessly bizarre. love that. makes my east village look downright banal.

It’s true. I have lived in many places and have seen a lot of strange stuff but there has never been a place I have called home like Greenpoint. That’s why I love it so. It’s a refuge for eccentricity in an otherwise (and increasingly) uptight world. I feel genuinely blessed to be able to work in the neighborhood I live in as its purest essence can only be experienced when so-called “respectable” people are slaving away in nearby Manhattan. Which brings me to this.

Larry da Junkman spied this guy hanging outside our front door and admonished us:

I knew this guy back in Ridgewood 30 years ago. He’s nuts!

Well, this chap proved to be just that. But I really liked the personal entertainment system (or “Greenpoint iPod” as I like to call it) he was sporting: one cassette player with radio hung around his neck with twine and secured with duct tape.

I realize Mr. Blackwell (R.I.P.) would probably pan this fashion statement, but I give it two enthusiastic Greenpoint thumbs up! Practical, yet understated. Duct tape is the new black!

Of course not all genius comes so naturally. For others it takes years of careful cultivation —and the Garden Spot of the Universe is the perfect environment for freaks* of all varieties to bloom!

I imagine a number of you who have attended the Mermaid Parade over the years have seen this guy. He’s been a regular at the Mermaid Parade for some time now. What you might not know is this chap happens to be my neighbor. His name is Martin.

Here he can be seen (at right) listening with rapt interest to a tale Larry is telling him. He looks normal enough yes? Not exactly.

A stoned Mickey Mouse brandishing a 40. When I asked Martin about this he had an amusing story to relay. One day as he was walking down the street (wearing the above-depicted jacket) a child yanked on his father’s arm and exclaimed: