Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Entries from February 2009

Carroll Street Corner of Nightmares: Parking & Tagging

February 24th, 2009 · 8 Comments

[Photo courtesy of Jack Szwergold/GL Flickr Pool] We haven’t checked in on the Carroll Street Corner of Nightmares in Park Slope because it loosens our bowels somewhat just to be in the vicintity of the bad architecture and fugyly vibes, but frequent GL Contributor Jack Szwergold was brave enough to visit the buiding we call […]

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Tags: Fourth Avenue · Park Slope

GL Poll: Do You Go to Manhattan Other Than for Work?

February 24th, 2009 · 6 Comments

We were wondering how many Brookynites stick to the borough other than to visit the Big Island for job purposes (those who still have jobs). Herewith is our GL Poll inspired by our friend Carmen:  Go to Manhattan Except to Work? ( polls)

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Tags: GL Poll

Smart Car Series: Slope Smart Car Eats Natural

February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Well, here’s proof that Smart Cars are in fact smart. This one is after natural foods. On the other hand, given that the Slope Natural on Fifth sucks big ones (seriously, it’s bad), shouldn’t the Smar Car be at the Food Coop. On the other hand, the driver could have been returning a vid across […]

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Tags: Park Slope · Smart Car Series

GL Music: The Best Album of 2009 (So Far) – And It’s Free

February 24th, 2009 · 3 Comments

The story of the Damnwells is not unfamiliar: around eight years ago Alex Dezen (lead vocals, guitar, piano), David Chernis (lead guitar), Ted Hudson (bass), and Steven Terry (drums) form the band and base it in Brooklyn. They release two CDs, Bastards of the Beat and Air Stereo. They get some good press, but the sales aren’t […]

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Tags: GL Music · Uncategorized

Cool Thing: Eco-Mom Is GrowingInStyle

February 24th, 2009 · 3 Comments

GrowInStyle is a company founded by a mom in Sheepshead Bay Mom who’s got business to tend to while mommin’ the kid. To do so, she’s got herself an amazing website that not only provides all the urban babies the chance to have the oh so popular French giraffe teether we all know as Sophie […]

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Tags: Sheepshead Bay

Wonderful Park Slope Schoolhouse Has a Logo and Website

February 24th, 2009 · Comments Off on Wonderful Park Slope Schoolhouse Has a Logo and Website

To those who think we only dig negative stories, please follow our coverage of the Park House School House, which we think is a model of creative people in a community coming together to create something wonderful from what could have been a disaster. Yesterday, we bemoaned the lack of a logo for the new […]

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Tags: Education · Park Slope

City Council Takes on Bedbugs & Dumbass Practices

February 24th, 2009 · 7 Comments

This afternooon the City Council is having a hearing on the topic of bedbug infestation and several proposed bills. The hearing starts at 1PM. It will deal with some of the ignorance surrounding the issue. A bit from the email we got: The New York City Council’s committees on Consumer Affairs, Sanitation, and Health have […]

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Tags: bedbugs

Brooklinks: Tuesday Flock of Seagulls Edition

February 24th, 2009 · Comments Off on Brooklinks: Tuesday Flock of Seagulls Edition

· More proof we’re screwed: subway ridership down in January [CityRoom] · A Question of Process at Atantic Yards Hearing [TRE] · So, How’s Things on Cleremont Greene? [Brownstoner] · Exclusive (Attn. NYP): Armando’s May Return to Montague Street! [BHB] · Satori!!!!!! [PMFA] · Old Burg Polish Butcher Going Bánh Mì? Holy shit cakes. [Grub […]

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Tags: Brooklinks

Video Crap Toss of the Day: “Flatbush Gardens Exposed”

February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

You may or may not have patience to sit through the long audio with black screen at the end, but the pics here are quite impressive. The person that posted the vid writes: “I had an ongoing leak that management lied to me about fixing. Someone eventually admitted to me after 4 months that the […]

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Tags: Flatbush

Development Notebook: Burg’s 349 Metropolitan Sold & Tagged

February 24th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Things seem to be going okay at 349 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, but we can see the kiddies in the Burg are having some fun tagging up the fugly as hell “elegant facade of Jerusalem Gold Stone” that looks like painted stucco from across the street. We think the building looks like cheap dookie, but […]

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Tags: Uncategorized · Williamsburg

Downtown: More Destructoporn & Commercial Ethnic Cleansing

February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

[All photos for GL courtesy of Brenda From Flatbush] Last Friday, we posted a big gallery of photos of the now completely vacant blocks of Willoughby and Bridge Streets where Avalon Bay West may (or may not) build a gi-normous commercial and residential tower. If they don’t they will leave behind abandonment, blight and danger […]

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Tags: Downtown Brooklyn

Our Jobs Are Screwed, but Slope Offers Silver Lining to Misery

February 24th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Well, new unemployment claims are at record levels and we’re heading toward something that resembles more of a Depression that a little ‘ole recession. Well, at least something that will make the Reagan Recession of the Early 80s, which was pretty brutal, for those who only wish to remember the Gipper’s posthumus sainthood, look like […]

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Tags: Park Slope

Now, Markowitz Wants Obamabucks for Coney Boardwalk

February 24th, 2009 · 3 Comments

Borough President Marty Markowitz has expressed little interest in funding a fix for the deplorably deteriorated Coney boardwalk in the past and is planning to spend $64 million on an increasingly controversial concert venue that many say is ego-driven waste of money that will actually violate the quality of life of thousands of residents, but […]

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Tags: Coney Boardwalk · coney island

Because We Can: Sisters of Mercy–Dominion

February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Who knew the Sisters ever had a budget to do shit produced on location like this? Maybe that’s why Andrew Eldritch can’t get along with record companies. “Dominion – Some say prayers/Some say prayers/Now I say mine.”

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Tags: Because We Can

In the Pool: Yo Thanks

February 24th, 2009 · Comments Off on In the Pool: Yo Thanks

[Photo courtesy of Donkey Attack/Gl Flickr Pool] From Nevins and President Streets. We don’t even want to know what led to this.

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Tags: Gowanus · In the Pool

GL Day Ender: Nature Babies for Toddlers in Prospect Park

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Calling all you baby parents! For eight weeks starting Monday, 3/16, Prospect Park will be hosting “Nature Babies” at Prospect Park Audubon Center. This program gives parents and caregivers the opportunity to build up their babies’ smarts and culture thru storytelling and craft activities for babies 18-months to 3-years. Children are introduced to the living […]

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Tags: GL Day Ender · Prospect Park

However, the Fuglyfication of Bed-Stuy Does Continue

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Meet 113 Monroe Street in Bed-Stuy. We run this to show the ongoing fuglyfication of Bed-Stuy and how architects have gone wild tossing up mediocre structures that don’t fit in with the gorgeous brick and brownstone environment. The only saving grace here is that it’s at the corner of Monroe and Bedford and does less […]

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Tags: Bed-Stuy · Construction Issues

Gary Mirabelle Photo du Jour: Bed-Stuy Housing (Old Edition)

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

[Photo for GL courtesy of Gary Mirabelle] To the extent that it’s not being marred by out-of-context, fugly new development, Bed-Stuy is one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful neighborhoods as displayed in this shot from our own Gary Mirabelle.

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Tags: Bed-Stuy · Photo du Jour

Development Notebook: Scarano’s 99 Havemeyer A Bit Troubled

February 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments

There was a long time when we wondered if 99 Havemeyer in Williamsburg, which is at the corner of Hope Street, would ever exist because progress on the site was so slow it made one of developer Shaya Boymelgreen’s projects look like it was progressing at the speed of light. Yet, here it is. It […]

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Tags: Construction Issues · Uncategorized · Williamsburg

More on the Park Slope School House

February 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments

There’s more info on the Park Slope School House, which is replacing the Berkeley Carroll Child Care Center, which was closed down by the elite Park Slope School, with especially shoddy treatment of its employees. The new non-profit formed to run the new child care center is giving all those employees a chance to keep […]

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Tags: Park Slope · Uncategorized

Riding on the Metro Monday: Ridgewood M Train

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Here’s the Ridgewood as the M train enters Forest Ave.

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Tags: Subway

Brooklyn Nibbles: Another Chance to Eat & Booze it Up in the Slope

February 23rd, 2009 · 6 Comments

Another old Fifth Avenue landmark in Park Slope is about to change. It was a bodega in its most recent incarnation, but before that it was Berkley Clothing and its fascinating retro sign and part of the original facade had survived. No longer. A good friend of GL emails to say: “I noticed today that […]

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Tags: Brooklyn Nibbles · Park Slope

Deborah Matlack Photo Du Jour: The Other Coney Island

February 23rd, 2009 · 4 Comments

[Photo for GL Courtesy of Deborah Matlack] Here’s a part of Coney Island that most visitors or bloggers or New York Post reporters ever bother to visit. Fortunately, our dear contributor Deborah Matlack does. Here’s a view of the “other” Coney Island.

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Tags: Photo du Jour

Brooklinks: Monday Celebrating Cyberstalkers Edition

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

· Fighting Cyber-Stalkers & Cyber-Bullies with Lawsuits [Portfolio.Com] · Heavy Metal in East Williamsburg [NYT] · Rich Calder Discovers Our Coney Butcher on His Own!!!!!!! [NYP] · Bird in a Cage, Awaits Discovery by Above [New York Shitty] · Sunset Park is a Really Shitty Neighborhood [Brownstoner] · The Atlatntic Avenue Tunnel [McBrooklyn] · Shitty […]

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Tags: Brooklinks

Hazardous, Pre-Mature Public Place Demo Going to Be Explained

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

[Photo courtesy of Nathan Kensinger] Those who follow he goings on at the toxic Public Place site will recall last week’s little scandal. First, most of the warehouse was demolished just as the public was informed that demolition was “about to begin.” Then, it turned out that the work was being done in a way […]

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Tags: Carroll Gardens · Construction Issues