[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

Where, you might ask, is this gorgeous sunset view from? Coney Island, of course, from a bit of an elevation. The pic comes from the superb selection of photos submitted to our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool by Rubys Host.

“The issue is not with lack of interest in buying condos, but in the increasingly more difficult ability to get credit in the wake of the subprime mortgage mess. The days of handing out credit to every Tom, Dick or Harry are over, and people are going to need to shore up their finances if they expect to own something some day. Tis true this will fuel a renters market for awhile, but the rents will remain very high, especially in the hotter areas of Williamsburg. It will not thwart the continuing development boom overall.”–Brooklyn Sales Plunge: North Brooklyn Edition

[Photo courtesy of jplpagan/flickr]

Here’s one from jplpagan, who’s one of our favorite GL Flickr Pool contributors, of Golden Chocolate on Smith Street. He says he couldn’t bring himself to complete the name on the sign, so we did. Sort of.

What would happen if one of the more out there Karl Fischer buildings in Williamsburg (say, 20 Bayard) got the Frank Gehry treatment. Well, it certainly would look different.–Restless

[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle/Mirabelle Studios]

This gorgeous black and white shot comes from local sculptor and photographer Gary Mirabelle who is a frequent GL Contributor.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, it’s already hot. Today’s forecast calls for it to be sunny and hot with a high of 87. Tonight will be humid with some clouds and a low of 69.–Accuweather

[Photo courtesy of Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

This bit of gorgeous flora comes from Red Hook courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn blogger and GL Contributor Adrian Kinloch.

Herewith, a selection of some musical events from today through Sunday brought to you, as always, by GL contributor Dan Bennis:

Friday 7/11/08
Barbes: Smokey’s Roundup (Western Swing) $10, 10:00pm

Celebrate Brooklyn: Brazilian Girls, Chicha Libre, Ticklah (Electronic, Surf Rock, Reggae)- Free!!, 7:00pm

Saturday 7/12/08
Celebrate Brooklyn: Beth Orton, Matt Munister (Folk/Trip-Hop, Rock/Jazz)- Free!!, 7:30pm

The Yard: Oneida, High Places, Titus Adronicus, Shy Child, Chinese Stars, Ponytail, Telepathe, Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda, Knyfe Hyts, Soft Circle, Soiled mattress & The Springs, Chairlift (Indie/Eclectic/)-$10, 12:00pm

Sunday 7/13/08
McCarren Park Pool: The Breeders, Matt & Kim, The Whip (Indie Rock)- Free!!, 2:00pm

The Yard: Sunday Best: Kevin Saunderson (DJ)- $8, 3:00pm
—Dan Bennis

[Photo courtesy of vaduzuvunt/GL Flickr Pool]

No, it’s not a sofa. But, it’s from Red Hook and it’s certainly loung(ing)-worthy. Also, we like the collection of crap on it.

Ridgewood Reservoir is on the Brooklyn-Queens border and its fate is up in the air, so it definitely is of interest to GL. Check out this vid.

It’s official: the building on the corner of Sixth Street and Fifth Avenue is one of the Slope’s Restaurant Corners of Death. (There are others that we wish would be similarly cursed, but that escape, year in and year out.) The corner in question most recently housed Mediterra, although some might recall it as another Mediterranean restaurant that crashed and burned or as part of the Chip Shop (which escaped just before the curse spread to the entire franchise). In any case, meat lovers, it’s becoming a new burger place called Corner Burger. Here’s the lowdown from pastoralia on Brooklynian:

Just walked by the old Mediterra restaurant on 6th st and Fifth Avenue yesterday and saw a sign saying “Corner Burger, Park Slope Brooklyn”. It will be a (duh) burger joint. I couldn’t read the full menu since the shutters covered most of it. While this might be cause for celebration- this is a cursed corner (two failed restaurants in about a year) and on the other corner of 6th st and 7th Avenue Five Guys will be opening any day now…causing a burger overload. Who knows? Maybe it will be good? Maybe Corner Bistro good? Although the decor in Corner Burger is a lot of red and black lacquer (ick) and not aged wood and cobwebs.

How many months will it get before it too succumbs to The Curse?

One thing leads to another around here. Thanks to parks spokesguy Eugene Patron, the true identity of yesterday’s found-art installation has been revealed: “Turns out it’s an old dredger, used to clean the watercourse of weeds and invasive plants like phragmites along the lakeshore. We have another one, nicknamed the Lake Mess Monster, that our aquatic ecologist Adam takes out now and then.” That’s Adam on the beast, at left.

So, here’s a quick looking at growing potatoes in one’s Brooklyn backyard. Assuming, of course, that one has a backyard to begin with. On the other hand, it looks like some of these methods are transferable to a window box too.

This could be one of the saddest sights we’ve seen on the Park Slope side of Fourth Avenue that isn’t related to hideous architecture of a violation of the streetscape that we’ve seen in a long, long time. This is the current state of the old SEPTA trolley car that has sat on a property alongside the Lyceum for a long, long time. There were once dreams of turning it into a cafe or of repurposing it, but as Brownstoner has reported, the property is being developed and will be home to a new 12-story building with 40 units. And so, this odd Fourth Avenue landmark, which is a daily part of the scene for people getting on or off trains at the Union Street stop is being taken apart. Another small piece of the oddness that has made Brooklyn what it is, literally, carted off to the scrap yard.

Manhattan is not the only place there are iLines. We’ve got them in Brooklyn too. Check out the scene at the ATT Store in Downtown Brooklyn.–Brownstoner

[Image courtesy of The Real Estate]

One of the most interesting tidbits in yesterday’s Brooklyn Market Report wasn’t that prices are still holding steady, but that sales in Brooklyn fell by nearly 44 percent over the previous years. There were declines in all areas. In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, for instance, the annual drop was close to 30 percent. The graphic above is from this morning’s Real Estate, which shows the numbers on a chart in all areas of the borough. (Click here for the full version.) The fascinating thing about the static image above is that there were 122 home sales in North Brooklyn in the second quarter. This portends some very interesting things in a part of the city where thousands of new condo units will be coming online in the next 12-24 months. One senses the dawn of a renter’s market in North Brooklyn.

The Red Hook Ballfield Vendors are almost back. Seriously. We got an email from Cesar Fuentes, who is the group’s spokesperson, that they’ve finally cleared up the mess with the Department of Health and will be back next Saturday, July 19, with a “raindate” of July 26 if all the vendors aren’t ready. Here’s his email:

Upon our last compliance hurdle being met -that is, the vendors food trucks and carts passing DOHMH inspection next week- our affair can finally open its season as early as the weekend of July 19th!! While we are almost certain that most vendors will be compliant & ready to operate by July 19th, we have also set up a ‘rain date’ for the weekend of July 26th in case the majority of our vendors are required to further adjust their mobile food vending units to meet inspection standards. While we will issue an official statement advising the specific start date soon, please feel free to spread word that our affair will definitely start on either date this month.

Even though the game of bureaucratic hopscotch has managed to wipe nearly two months of the vendors’ season and the streets running by the park are now used for access to Ikea, we’re glad to know they’ll finally be back. Frankly, the empty ballfields are depressing.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Ebbetts Field Houses Tenants Want to Reclaim Plaza [NYDN]
· Brooklyn ‘Slay Wife’ is Innocent, Cop Husband Says [NYP]
· Atlantic Yards is All About Basketball? BS Meter Time [AYR]
· $100,000 in a Box at Borough Hall [McBrooklyn]
· The Return of Fedders Friday! [New York Shitty]
· Myrtle Ave. Recovery Circa 1997 [Real Fort Greene]
· Turtles Liberated into Prospect Park Lake [A Year in the Park]
· Red Shed Community Garden Party [Williamsburg is Dead]
· Rents, Chains, Commerce, Etc. [Neighborhood Threat]
· The Eliasson Waterfalls Considered [DITHOB]

“According to a reader, and the image sent in…the 11,000 square foot Morton’s Steakhouse in Brooklyn’s Marriott is scheduled to open this November. Get ready Luger’s.”–Eater

[Photo courtesy of weenieart/GL Flickr Pool]

This is the A&S Pork Store as contributed to the GL Flickr Pool by weenieart, with apologies to the vegetarians out there.

Skyscrapers in Your Backyard

Everything is education,
Parents.

The way you brush your teeth
Up and down,

Or side to side is
Seen and emulated by your little ones.

The way you sit in traffic
Fuming,

Is it polite to curse
The suffocation of skyscrapers

Growing,
In your backyard?

Resident poet Graziella Radici has penned a long one, so click here for more.

[Photo courtesy bestviewinbrooklyn/flickr]

This view of kids playing in the sprinklers at the Sunset Park Pool that was put in our GL Photo Pool by bestviewinbrooklyn certainly fits the In the Pool theme. The photographer also produces the Best View in Brooklyn blog, which covers Sunset Park.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory a nice July summer day is on its way. Today’s forecast calls for it to be sunny (note the lack of high humidity and threat of thunderstorms) with a high of 85. Tonight will be clear with a low of 70.–Accuweather

We found this interesting specimen on N. 9 Street on a construction fence that we’ve featured more than once because it’s often wide open and constitutes a public safety hazard. We do like it.