Talk about signs that get screwed up when construction happens, this former One Way sign that has become a “Way” sign on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg is deserving of a DOT Award for Creative Altered Signage. Serious kudos to the contractors for the excellent work.

Having gotten a good sense yesterday of what Coney Island will look like and feel like this season, several conclusions emerge:

1) Because developer Joe Sitt has put property that was allowed to sit empty last year back into service, Coney will have more businesses operating this year and, possibly, than it has had in several year. Many, many storefronts and kiosks are occupied, and it is a very, very good thing.

2) The use of cleared land for rides and attractions by the developer is a good thing and should be cheered. We’re going to guess that some current business people in Coney Island may be chafing that there is duplication of rides and effort. In fact, there might have been a more conscious effort to introduce new rides rather than replicating ones that already exist in, say, Astroland. Nonethess, it’s great to see more things for people to do in Coney. Sadly, the number of rides will be greatly diminished in a couple of week, so it will be a while before the shape of things for the full season is clear.

3) Mr. Sitt and his firm Thor Equities are either driven by economic necessity to maximize profit on their land or are being pushed by a desire to put on a happier public face as it negotiates with the city. Last year’s created air of forced abandonment was a fairly despicable tactic. This year’s shift to storefronts and rides is a far better alternative both for the developer and for the public that is on the receiving end.

4) It’s hard not to conclude that Coney won’t be having the best season in years. All the publicity surrounding the rezone only serves to attract more people and, if the huge crowds there yesterday were any indication, it will be a good year indeed.

[Image courtesy of heyheyamy/flickr]

The Brooklyn waterfront where Brooklyn Bridge Park is intended to rise is changing very, very rapidly. This photo was dropped into the Gowanus Lounge Photo pool by heyheyamy and shows the site from the Brooklyn Bridge. The warehouses in the distance are still standing, but demolition is underway there too, and they won’t be there much longer either.

Who knew that Coney Island would be the site of Beer Island this summer? Beer Island…we love the way it rolls off the tongue…might best be described as a little bit of Water Taxi Beach, but without the East River and in Coney Island. We’re predicting big things for it this summer. It’s an expanse of sand, that was brought in last summer for use with a big inflatable water slide that saw little use on property owned by developer Joe Sitt. Before that it was the site of a miniature golf course that was the victim of Premature Demolition by the developer. The new drinking spot is said to be the work of two Coney boardwalk stalwarts, Cha Cha’s and Shoot the Freak. It has a lot of tables with umbrellas and a decent selection of (not cheap) beer and a few non-alcoholic options. We found it to be woefully short on food options, having a hot dog cart and nothing else. Hopefully this will change, as it would be great if it were a place to sit and get some food too. It’s also promising “entertainment,” so all it needs is a few tweaks like more edibles and, perhaps, some plastic palm trees, and we’re totally good to go.

For more Beer Island pics, click here.

We found these two couches out on Grand Street in front of the old location of the City Reliquary Museum at Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg. They’re street couch classics and, of course, are free and free of bugs.

There’s another public scoping meeting coming up for the Draft Scope of Work for the “modified rezoning project” for Coney Island. This is because there’s a revised Environmental Assessment Statement based on the change in size of the city’s “parkland” for an amusement park from 15 acres to 9 acres. The session will be held at Abraham Lincoln High School, 2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM.

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack/Matlack Photography]

The annual Kings County Memorial Day Parade took place in Bay Ridge yesterday and GL Contributing Photographer Deborah Matlack was on hand to capture some of the images. The parade is billed as the longest-running such Memorial Day event in the country.

Check out more Bay Ridge Memorial Day Parade pics by clicking here.

Last summer we were writing about the plywood that developer Joe Sitt was applying to the windows of property that he owns in Coney Island, including the old Shore Hotel. Yesterday, we found that the plywood has been painted yellow and red. There are two reactions that one can have: (A). Plywood is plywood and the windows have been replaced with plywood or (B). At last Mr. Sitt is trying to make it look less like plywood. While it reminds us a little bit of the city’s attempt to paint windows on boarded up buildings in the South Bronx in the 1970s, the result is colorful and preferable to the look of abandonment that the developer created last year.

Another shot of yellow and red, ahead.

We came across a Polish religious procession on Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg this week that involved laying flowers and placing candles on a memorial near N. 8 Street. There were several hundred people on hand, with someone in front of the procession tossing rose petals. When the group reached the memorial, they stopped and sang as a priest spoke in Polish. Then, they moved on down Driggs Avenue. The memorial was in front of The Sea League of America.

Another photo ahead.

Every now and then, we like to remind our readers that we are happy to have their informational tips and photos as well as questions to GL that might be of broader interest to everyone. You can use the contact form above or simply email us at thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com. Anyone that is interested in a more formal arrangement as a regular contributor can also reach us via that email. In the meantime, don’t forget to join and contribute to our GL Photo Pool on flickr.

It’s hard to know exactly what conclusion to draw about New York Magazine’s cover story called “The Brooklyn Wars.” It deals with blogging and Brooklyn–specifically with Brooklyn’s biggest and most successful blog, Brownstoner. Yet, the article does so mainly by dealing with one of the site’s most persistent commenters, who identifies himself as “The What.” The very long article focuses on the rather heated discussions that often development on readers, saying for instance, “the conversation, which now takes place all day, every day in the comments left on his blog (like the ones above), would become quite so spirited, with his commenters functioning like a cross between a Greek chorus, a clamorous town-hall meeting, and a howling mob.” Of Brownstoner, New York writes: “The site celebrates what’s sometimes called New Brooklyn: a vision of the borough as a diverse and lively enclave of flowering neighborhoods, all jammed with engaged homeowners, reborn blocks, and gorgeous and stately and (by Manhattan standards) bargain-priced real estate, waiting to be polished up under a tasteful eye.”

And, then, there is this person who calls himself The What

The new rides in “Reithoffer’s Playland,” the temporary amusements on land owned by developer Joe Sitt, were in full swing this weekend, adding entertainment options to the Coney landscape. A number of the rides duplicate existing offerings, and the lot, which is not paved, had a bit of a dust bowl feel in yesterday’s high winds, but the overall impact seems to be a welcome one.

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

· After 7 Years & $5.4M Fort Greene Community Ctr. Not Open [NYDN]
· Driver Who Killed Someone on Brighton Beach Ave. on Serious Drugs [NYP]
· Bullies Terrorize High School Students [NYP]
· Memorial Day Barbecue at Papasitos [New York Shitty]
· Committee to Save Green Church Meeting Thursday [Bay Ridge Journal]
· Rescue Me Being Filmed in Sunset Park [Best View in Brooklyn]
· Old Time Picnics in the Park [A Year in the Park]
· Sailing Season Kicks Off Late, but Does Start [Sail Brooklyn]
· City Reliquary Celebrates Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th [Brooklyn Ramblings]
· Update on the West End of Church [Kensington Brooklyn]
· A Journey to (Gasp)…Queens [Brooklynometery]

“It may be one borough, but when it comes to kids, Brooklyn is a tale of two cities. In Bay Ridge, youngsters can stretch out and enjoy 83 kids per acre of parkland – the most green space per child in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, in East Flatbush, families are faced with 2,497 kids per park acre, and in Borough Park it’s even worse, with a whopping 2,658 kids per acre, both among the highest concentrations in the city.”–NYDN

There is a “People’s Accountable Development Summit” coming up this Saturday, May 31 from 9AM-3PM. It’s organized by The South Brooklyn Accountable Development Initiative, which is a project of the Fifth Avenue Committee that “seeks to create dialogue and forge alliances among residents and various community stake holders in Brooklyn facing large developments, re-zonings and other land use changes.” There will be a series of panel discussions on four major accountable development topics: Housing, Labor, Environment and Process. The Summit will take place at PS 282 in Park Slope, which is located at 180 6th Avenue (btw. Lincoln and Berkley). The is free and there will be food, childcare and Spanish translation.

Click here for the full schedule.

Someday, if City Council Member Peter Vallone’s new proposal to fight construction site graffiti has its way, messages like this one at the Roebling Oil Field and Roebling Oil Building could be things of the past. For now, however, they are still very much with us. The Warehouse 11 site has remained free of graffiti with gentrification and/or environmental messages until now.

Would anyone care for “A Petite Bit of BoCoCa“? If so, Saturday, June 7 would be a day to note. That is when said event will be happening in the Transit Garden on Smith St. at Second Place from 11AM-5PM. It’s billed as a “Food & Wine Tasting Event celebrating The Transit Garden.” Per the email:

There will be an al fresco morning café au lait “picnique” with delicious finger food breakfast snacks from 11 AM until 1PM, ending with an instrumental serenade by the talented student musicians of P.S.58. At 1PM brunch gives way to L’apres-midi Wine/Cheese/Amuse Your Taste Buds Tidbits Tastings and more music from local talents – recorded and live.

All the info ahead, by clicking here.

[Photo courtesy Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

Someone in Park Slope, if not many people in the Slope, has a “crush” on Barack Obama, per this photo sent to us by Brit in Brooklyn blogger and GL contributor Adrian Kinloch.

[Photo courtesy of Sail Brooklyn/flickr]

This cool vantage point on Brighton Beach comes from GL Photo Pool contributor Sail Brooklyn. The massive grouping of buildings is the Oceana condo complex as they appear from the water.

We have gloom and rain right now outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, and today’s forecast calls for thing to be less than nice: “intervals of clouds and sunshine with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm; more humid.” The high will be 77. Tonight will feature periods of rain and a thunderstorm. The low will be 55.–Accuweather

We visited the Telectroscope in Fulton Ferry Landing a couple of times this weekend, but during prime daytime hours and at a quieter point during the night. It was so quiet, in fact, that no one was on the London end at about 4AM on a rainy night. The device, which has cameras and monitors at both ends so that people in London and in Brooklyn can see each other in real time, has drawn a significant crowd.

The Brooklyn Bridge has been lit up since Thursday night in a rotating assortment of colors. We believe the display ends tonight, but it highlights how the bridge could stand some dramatic lighting, even if the colors weren’t pink and blue, but rather just clean, white light.

A small gallery of Bridge night shots, ahead.

Here’s a shot of the Tour de Brooklyn as it came down Metropolitan Avenue near Union Avenue in Williamsburg yesterday morning. There were more than 2,000 bicyclists overall. Street Films has a nice video of the event, which we’ve also embedded after the jump.

Click here for a Street Films video of the tour.

This particular Brooklyn Missed Connections involves a couple of compelling things, that hotbed of lust on Union Street in the Slope known as the Food Coop and, well, letting someone into the express line with extra items because they’re cute. We have seen people nearly dragged to the basement and forced to pack cheese for 72 hours for similar offenses. (Just kidding. Really.) Here it is:

park slope food co-op check-out guy checking me out – w4m – 26 (Park Slope)
you were working express check-out on monday afternoon…. i came in and had too much stuff for express but you took me anyway. we talked about how i am going to visit my friends at lake michigan next week…. and i apologized for being slow. seemed like there was something there…

Oh, Coop, so much more than a grocery store.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. Happy Memorial Day to all! Enjoy!

· Freecycle is Big in Brooklyn [NYT]
· Blogging Distinction Needed, Among Other Things [AYR]
· Summer and Smoke [A Year in the Park]
· Fort Greene Restaurant Documentary [Bed-Stuy Blog]
· Early Childhood Center Moves to Bensonhurst [Bay Ridge Journal]
· Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]