Vandals seem intent on make sure the environmentally-challenged Whole Foods site in Gowanus stays open, as yet another opening has appeared in the fence. This is the third or fourth time the fence has been open at the abandoned site. Interestingly, the Department of Buildings did check up on a complaint logged on October 20. […]

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Carroll Gardens blogger Pardon Me For Asking has a superb post today featuring the writing and recollections of a reader about growing up around the Gowanus Canal in the 1960s. It is special. We’re excerpting a few lines below, but if you have a few minutes to spend on reading something enjoyable today, then devote […]

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Gowanus, Brooklyn

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Ah, yes, the ongoing Gowanus rezoning. “Many developers aren’t waiting for rezoning. Potential buyers are taking options on sites. Landlords are signing only short-term leases or insisting on ‘demolition clauses’ letting them evict tenants with six months’ notice if a property is sold. A handful of hotels, which don’t require rezoning, have gone up in […]

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We’re not sure if it’s a sign of serious change on the Gowanus side of Fourth Avenue, but it’s definitely a sign of the times. Brooklyn Bean & Tea Company, which opened in September at Atlantic and Hoyt, is opening another cafe at the corner of Carroll Street and Fourth Avenue. Blogger Velvet Sea caught […]

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Given that we’ve featured the Gowanus Whole Foods fence when it was open again last week, it’s only fair to note that it’s been closed up again. How long it stays that way is anyone’s guess. The site has been in a semi-abandoned state for more than a year, with only a burst of demolition […]

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This is the way the Fourth Avenue Station will look after the MTA is finished renovating it sometime between 2010 and 2012. The renovation will include the replacement of opaque panels with glass, providing views up and down Fourth Avenue from the elevated bridge structure. The rendering is in the latest edition of the Brooklyn […]

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Given that the environmentally-challenged Gowanus Whole Foods site is semi-abandoned and that the grocery chain has a history of not keeping an eye on the property (well, except for recently when it made the Daily News and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum criticized them for failing to keep people off a hazardous property), there should be […]

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One suspects and entire daily series of damaged bus signs–especially ones like this–if readers were to start sending them. This is a B71 schedule. It hasn’t been tagged, so as long as one is willing to get on hands and knees, the schedule is still there for the reading. It comes from Union Street in […]

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Gowanus, Brooklyn

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Things are moving forward at the Public Place site in Gowanus. A reader emailed us the other day to note that work crews were still on site with a drilling rig taking soil samples or digging test wells, and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has reported five developers have submitted proposals–including many heavyweights–to develop the environmentally […]

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We have previously reported activity in the last week on the heavily polluted Public Place site between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal. Vegetation has been cut and barrels often used for the storage of hazardous and non-hazardous waste have been scattered around the property. Yesterday, we spotted a drilling rig and a work crew […]

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This is the Con Edison building on Fourth Avenue that has been under construction forever. The horrendous brick wall at street level could be in a planning and architecture textbook as an example of what not to do in terms of streetscape and street-level design. We’re certain there’s a reasons for this fortress-like exemplary use […]

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The evidence is starting to mount that the Toll Brothers are making a move in Gowanus or, at least, starting the process of trying to sway politically-influential supporters in advance of zoning decisions. Sign #1: The closed door, invite-only meeting with Gowanus “activists” that was reported in the Brooklyn paper on Friday to preview the […]

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We got an email from a GL reader late last week that there was activity on the highly toxic Public Place site between the Gowanus Canal and Smith Street. Our reader wrote that “a large amount of the underbrush (trees, weeds, shrubs) have been cleared away, at least on the Smith Street side.” A trip […]

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This is Hotel Le Bleu, yesterday afternoon around 3PM, when the NOW OPEN signs stopped us dead in our tracks on Fourth Avenue as passed by to see if they’d made their opening date of November 2. They did. We have poked much fun at Le Bleu, but we’re happy to see it open. Things […]

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Part I, courtesy of the wonderful photoblog Sidewalk Photography: Part II, captured by GL on a walk through Gowanus: We often have a lot to say, but in this case, the photos really speak for themselves.

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It’s time for AGAST, the Annual Gowanus Artist’s Studio Tour, during which dozens of artist’s studios in Gowanus throw open their doors to the public. The 11th annual tour takes place on Saturday (10/20) and Sunday (10/21) and more than 140 visual artists “working in one of the city’s most vibrant and creative art communities […]

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Carroll Gardens blogger Katia Kelly takes a ride in the time machine back to an art show that took place in 1982 at the site that it now called Public Place in Gowanus. It is the former site of a manufactured gas plant that left behind one of the most toxic parcels in Brooklyn. Bids […]

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We’ve mentioned the Gowanus Harvest Festival before, but now that it’s upon us, it’s only fit to bring it up again. The festival is taking place on Sunday, October 14, starting at 3PM at The Yard, which is at the Carroll Street Bridge on the Gowanus Canal and is a very pleasant spot to spend […]

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We noted the coming of the marketing effort for the Argyle Park Slope condos last week. The banners recently went up at the construction site as well. According to the Department of Buildings website, there is still a Stop Work Order on the project for damaging an adjacent building. We personally don’t consider the address, […]

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Union Street Bridge, Gowanus, Brooklyn

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It’s hard not to look at Hotel Le Bleu on Fourth Avenue in Gowanus and wonder if the hotel will ever open. The culprit is said to be some nasty lost paperwork issues with the Department of Buildings. The hotel’s original opening date was supposed to be around July 4. The revised opening date is […]

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For the record, we will not that the Brooklyn Public Library Business Library is having a “Con Edison Power Breakfast” on Thursday (10/11) from 8:30AM-10:30AM at the Business Library, which is located at 280 Cadman Plaza West. Here’s some of what it says: Go Gowanus!New residential, retail and hotel developments are coming to the Canal. […]

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GL did a drop by at the Party for the People at the Yard on the banks of the Gowanus yesterday. We found the vibe very pleasing and it was a superb place to pass some time on a beautiful October Saturday afternoon. We caught some music, hung out under the trees on the property […]

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