Maybe you know about the Brooklyn Artists Gym, the facility in Gowanus offering studio space for artists? Well, they emailed to say they’re looking for artists, and the cost for space is $220 a month. Here’s some of their pitch: Ours is a beautiful open studio space (3,000 sq. ft.) located in the Park Slope […]

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We attended the first Rooftop Films screening of the season in Gowanus this weekend and have to say there’s nothing nicer than watching some films al fresco on a great summer night in Gowanus. In introducing the program, Mark Rosenberg, Rooftop’s director, noted that “Gowanus is changing rapdily, but not all of it is good.” […]

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Gowanus, Brooklyn

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Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn

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Tonight (6/16) is the season’s first Rooftop Films event of the season in Gowanus. The screenings take place at the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus. It’s located at 232 Third Street at Third Avenue. The screening is Industriance Shorts: Disaster Management, The Space Age goes terribly wrong. They’re described as “Short, funny, bizarre films.” […]

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Frankly, we can’t get enough Hotel Le Bleu, probably because it’s a hotel in Gowanus and it’s the first one that isn’t a Holiday Inn or a Comfort Inn. It actually aspires to be, like, a cool boutique hotel. Now, if you know Fourth Avenue, you know that it’s sandwiched between a big taxi depot […]

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So, that image above is…from N. 6th Street in Williamsburg? Someplace in Chelsea? Uh, no. If you said Gowanus, you’re right. This is The Vue. It will be the new restaurant on the eighth and ninth floors of Hotel Le Bleu on Fourth Avenue. It is described as “The new haunt of New York’s chic […]

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Rooftop Films are back. They’ll be holding their first Brooklyn screening of the summer on Saturday, June 16. The screening are held at the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus. It’s located at 232 Third Street at Third Avenue. Saturday’s screening sounds fascinating–Industriance Shorts: Disaster ManagementThe Space Age goes terribly wrong, described as “Short, funny, […]

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The Brooklyn Artist’s Gym, which is located at 168 7th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Gowanus has several workshops coming up: The Kid’s Art Workshop is geared towards the 6-12 age range and includes painting and drawing, collage and sculpture, depending on the child’s interests. It will be offered on Saturdays, beginning July […]

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The story of the Whole Foods store on the toxic site at Third Avenue and Third Street was picked up by Bloomberg yesterday. The long story quotes a Whole Foods exec as saying that criticism of the store has “been a little brutal” but that the retailer will be “happy to be there.” He also […]

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Google knows how to make a splash, and it’s doing so with its street-level images. There are abundant concerns being voiced about privacy issues, and we have to say we were amused to find Casa GL, even if you’re not quite able to see into the windows. A little weird, we’ve got to say. Nonetheless, […]

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No, not the bridge & tunnel kind of toll. This kind of Toll. A Gowanus resident sent along this photo of signage that has appeared on Bond Street and First Street, which would be close to the epicenter of the roughly 400-unit luxe development the Toll Brothers would like to build on the shores of […]

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[Photo courtesy of Real Deal] Hotel Le Bleu is coming to Gowanus and, along with it, Le View of the Gowanus. Gabby Warshawer reports on the Real Deal that Le Bleu will open on July 1: “Brooklyn’s first boutique hotel,” according to developer Dominic Tonacchio. Rooms at the Andres Escobar-designed Hotel Le Bleu at 370 […]

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We have reported a couple of times about the potentially toxic threat under the Thomas Greene Playground in Gowanus. Located at Third Avenue and Douglass Streets, the park sits atop the former site of a Manufactured Gas Plant (MGPs) of the Fulton Municipal Gas Company. The plant operated from 1879 to 1943. MGPs are notorious […]

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Was Atlantic Yards the only thing behind the purging of Community Board 6 by Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Member David Yassky and Council Member Bill de Blasio? It was probably a major factor, given what the New York Times described as the BP’s “red-faced eruptions” of anger over opposition to Atlantic Yards, but it […]

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[Photo courtesy of Denton Taylor via Curbed] Silly us. We thought that the activity pictured last week at the Whole Foods site and the construction trailer we noted yesterday indicated that the project had a green light. It doesn’t. There are no demolition permits in place and plans for the building were disapproved by the […]

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We have to say that we’re fascinated by the building at Carroll and Bond Streets that we call The Bunker in honor of its stunning lack of windows. It reminds us of gun emplacements used in Europe during World War II and of the remnants of emplacements near Montauk at the end of Long Island. […]

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Just a couple of weeks ago, we were having a conversation with someone about the fact that it had been so long since Whole Foods had done anything on its site at Third Street and Third Avenue in Gowanus that it was possible the grocer had abandoned the project. After all, the site has toxic […]

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We’ve written about Room 58 before, but it’s having it’s grand opening celebration on Wednesday (5/23) from 7PM-9PM. The venture, which is a shared space for writers, and one of a handful of its kind in Brooklyn, is part of the Brooklyn Artists Gym, which is located at 168 7th Street and very convenient to […]

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Brooklyn tour season is upon us, and there is much coming up. Here are two pending events. One takes place today (5/19) and is sponsored by BCUE, which keeps up a full schedule of superb Brookly tours. The other comes from the Municipal Art Society, which always offers incredible panels and excursions. 1) The Red […]

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We had heard–but hadn’t had time to follow up–that the Issue Project Room, the performance space on the Gowanus Canal next to the Carroll Street Bridge would be moving. We had been told it had something to do with the upcoming Big Stink as the Canal’s flushing system is shut down for repairs, but the […]

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Among the many issues in the ongoing discussion about Gowanus rezoning and planning is how to preserve the neighborhood for the hundreds, if not thousands, of artists that are working there. One proposal, to make Gowanus an Artist’s District, or to at least provide some buildings where artists can work at low cost is the […]

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The building at the corner of Ninth Street and Smith Street, in what blogger 423 Smith amusingly dubbed “The Notary District,” has come up fast. Its the handwork of Henry Radusky and the ubiquitous Bricolage Designs, a four-story, 50-foot high building with three units. Mr. Radusky has earned the nickname “Too Tall” for his many […]

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The city may be considering the deeply contaminated Public Place site between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal as a site for housing and the community may have other ideas about using the space as a park. The Brooklyn Brewery, however, may be eyeing the land as a new site for its operation. The brewery […]

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The following appeared on Vox in an item called Not Overheard in New York: “No, I don’t care for children or dogs. What? Yes, I’m entirely sure that I live in Park Slope, not Gowanus.” So, we repeat our rule of thumb, without getting into the entire bit about neighborhood boundaries: If there is a […]

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