It helps to have a sense of humor when considering the long list of issues related to the Department of Buildings. For instance, there’s a new DOB inspector on the job. Her name is Hard Hat Hannah, and she might check things out faster and with more vigor than the agency itself.–New York Shitty

The downtown IHOP at Livingston and Bond Streets is now open and there is talk of customers forsaking Junior’s. Turns out the IHOP owner has his hand in the hip hop business.–NYDN

The much loved Donuts Coffee Shop on Fifth Avenue at Union in Park Slope is in its final days. Its space will soon be consumed by the Associated Supermarket next door, along with the storefront that had been occupied by the shuttered Beso. Photographer Nate Kensinger sent us these photos, along with his take on the sad closure:

The Donuts Coffee Shop is one of those classic diners that feels like its been around forever – just a counter and a row of stools, serving simple food that everyone can afford. A timeless little joint that somehow held on as 5th Avenue has changed.

The owner, Chris, is also the cook, and makes everything behind the counter at a little station in the back. He told me he’s been there for 10 years, 7 days a week, starting at 4:30 in the morning. Besides being the cook, he also helps wait on customers, clears the plates, and knows almost everyone who comes in by name. If he doesn’t know you, he calls you buddy, as in “hey buddy, you want coffee with that?”

He had some choice words about the direction this area is headed… especially about the stadium and all the new developments changing Brooklyn into a new Manhattan. But mainly, he just seemed sad about closing, because, like he said, “You’ll never see another place like this.“

Sad to see it go. I’ve been in there so many times, taken everyone I know there, shared it with friends and family. One of the last old, good things about 5th avenue. Now theres hardly anything at that intersection but new stores, brooklyn industries, red white and bubbly… expensive boutiques.

It’s due to close by the end of December. (Needless to say, that’s Chris in the photo below.)

Go inside Brooklyn Navy Yard Building 1. It “was formerly a barracks, complete with movie theater, laundry and rifle range. It has been empty for years, with paint peeling off the walls and broken windows throughout.”–Nathan Kensinger Photography

DUMBO was essential to Brooklyn’s rise as a major manufacturing center, and was home to some of America’s most important industrial firms that produced everything from ale and paper boxes to soap and steel wool. DUMBO’s distinctively designed buildings and sublime vistas survive to this day, and still define its character, even as it has evolved into a largely residential neighborhood. This designation will ensure that this still-evolving neighborhood retains its unique historic character.

Some of the significant buildings that are protected include:

20 Jay Street. Erected for Arbuckle Brothers in 1909. Designed by William Higginson Arbuckle Brothers was America’s largest coffee roaster and packager, as well as a sugar refiner. The sugar refinery and several other Arbuckle buildings are within the historic district. In 1913, Arbuckle employed 100 people in its coffee business and 668 in its sugar refinery.

135 Plymouth Street. Built 1901 for E.W. Bliss. Designed by RL Daus. E. W. Bliss was a major machinery manufacturer that employed 1,646 people. It this was the second largest machinery manufacturer in Brooklyn in 1913, behind the Merganthaler Company.

26-38 Washington Street. Constructed for Robert Gair Co. in 1887. Designed by Benjamin Finkensieper. Robert Gair Co. manufactured paper boxes and printed labels, stationery, and other items. Gair was also a major realtor, leasing industrial space in his many buildings within the Historic District. In 1913, Gair employed 1,702 people.

Of course, having a Dumbo Historic District in place several years ago would have been helpful in terms of having an impact on some big developments, nonetheless, it is a very important step.

Dumbo Historic District Linkage:

• Breaking: Dumbo Designated as Landmark District [Brownstoner]
• Dumbo Landmarked, Including Its ‘Sublime Vistas’ [TRE]
• LPC Approves DUMBO Historic District [Gothamist]
• Dumbo is Now Protected as a Historic District [CityRoom]
• LPC Approves Dumbo Historic District [Dumbo NYC]
• DUMBO Area Gets Landmarked [Sun]

Non-Holiday:

• About Those AIA Zoning Tweaks… [Brownstoner]
• PLG is MIA from That Brooklyn Map [Hawthorne Street]
• Bed-Stuy Volunteer Opportunities [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• New Version of the Save Coney Island Song [Kinetic Carnival]
• Red, Red Meat (& Maybe Apple) in Downtown Brooklyn [McBrooklyn]
• Can Prospect Park West Keep the Old Pet Food Sign? [Brooklynometry]
• Domino Plant Already Landmarked, Now You Can Eat It [Gothamist]
• Arborcide on 92nd Street [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Photos of Old Flatbush Wanted [Brooklyn Junction]
• Foodtown Renovation in Full Swing [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Sunset from the N Train [Velvet Sea]

Holiday:

• Slice of Brooklyn Christmas Lights Tour [About Brooklyn]
• Candy Canes with Tail Pipe on Newel Street [New York Shitty]
• Christmas Goes to the Dogs [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Caroling in Clinton Hill [Clinton Hill Blog]

That park behind developer Shaya Boymelgreen’s Novo Park Slope condo, which is called Terrapin Playground, isn’t done yet. The developer promised to renovate it after using it during the condo’s construction. It was supposed to be done in the fall, but lookis like sometime next year might be the charm.–Brownstoner

Vox Pop, the cool establishment on Cortelyou Road in Flatbush is having an interesting sounding event tonight. Here’s the description, from their calendar:

with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz Vox Pop will publish “What I Love about Ditmas Park/Flatbush” right here on the spot, this will be a Do It Yourself Media Holiday Party Event to REMEMBER! Live Music, too.

The books are being printed by Publish Yourself!, which is next door to Vox Pop. More info about the event and about their very cool micro publishing enterprise is available here and the Ditmas Park Blog has the Borough President’s contribution. It runs from 7PM-9PM. Vox Pop is at 1022 Cortelyou Road.

“Go to almost any neighborhood in New York City this time of year and the main drag will be garlanded with Christmas lights, hanging over the street like a luminescent canopy. But on Court Street, the primary artery of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, you’ll find two, count ’em, two strands of holiday lights, both on the block between Union and President. The rest of the strip? Dark…”–Lost City

Still shopping or food-type things? Looking for a place to put together a platter for a holiday party or a holiday meal? These are all good places to start.–Brooklyn Based

Well if you want to know the truth…the Garfield family lived in the musty basement of the Canal Bar along with the fischer-price toys. When my grandmother died, I cleaned out her house and couldn’t bring myself to part with my childhood collections. I put them in the basement of the 3rd Avenue apartment (I lived there for 3 years) and left them there when I moved to Crown Heights (which was a stupid idea). Well anyway, I didn’t last in the Heights for more than 9 months, lucky I even made it out of there alive… But having been vacated from 3rd Avenue apartment for 9 months, the owner of the bar said I just had to get my stuff out of the basement. I went. The answer was to purge. What was I ever going to do with a tote box full of garfields? They certainly wouldn’t fit the decorating scheme of my new residence…a victorian country house on eastern Long Island. Not wanting to throw away my childhood, and being too lazy to schlep them to the Salvation Army, and knowing that no self-respecting Park Slope parent would fish them out of a box for their brood if I were to leave them on 5th Avenue…I did the only thing I could do. Together with my friends (former neighbors; current residents of the aparment above the canal bar, we disposed of the garfields down by the Gowanus. In a late night covert operation, we climbed the truss of the bridge to create an impromptu garfield totem pole.

Alas, my childhood toys have found a home. The garfields seem to have dwindled in number which means people are probably taking them. That makes me happy. Give them a good home on Garfield place (hardy har har). As for me, I am enjoying the country life that long island affords, where my new water view is of the bay and fire island, an odorless experience contrasting that of the canal. Fairwell Brooklyn in all of your overpriced, overhyped, and tragically hip glory. I’ll miss you! Our relationship has become too intense Brooklyn, we need to take a break. But we will get back together. As soon as I make enough money to live in a neighborhood where I wont have to live with the guilt and shame of being a “gentrifier.” Goodbye Gowanus fish…and hello to beaches, farmstands, sleepy LIRR commutes (and the occasional split level ranch house which makes me want to consider a career in arson.)

There you have it.

A hoax e-mail purporting to be from Forest City Ratner was making the rounds of the city’s media Monday morning, announcing a new “online park system to serve the young adults of the neighborhoods of Gowanus, Crown Heights and Park Slope.”

The e-mail, which appears to satirize the “conversion of 6 acres of park space” in the Atlantic Yards footprint to “needed office space,” also referenced a Web site, www.atlanticyardspark.com…The bogus “online park system” consists of three mock video games, which are described in what can only be called racist terms. For example, one game, “CrackDown,” allows player “to avoid the local drug dealers, their clients and prostitutes while walking to the neighborhood bodega.” Another, “Our Welfare,” teaches young girls “how to deal with their pregnancies and negotiate the welfare and child services system in New York they will be involved in.”

The site vanished by Monday afternoon, apparently, but No Land Grab, which has been creating an absolutely invaluable public record of everything Atlantic Yards and eminent domain-related that’s published online and in print, offered a screencap of some of the offensive content, which can be seen here.

The Park Slope Armory is looking pretty spectacular inside after a long $16 million renovation project.–Brownstoner

The Sunset Park entry is The Sunset Park Blog, which is tied to a website called sunset-park.com that also includes a message board that could turn out to be both interesting and valuable if it catches on. We’ve missed consistent Sunset Park coverage since Sunset Parker’s short run last year, so we’re especially excited to see what kind of coverage this new blog has up its sleeve. Some early offerings include a nice look at the Christmas decorations on Fifth Avenue and some news about a new hotel on 39th Street.

Meanwhile, the relatively new Prospect-Lefferts Gardens entry is called Hawthorne Street. It bills itself as dealing with “local curiosities, reno tips and random thoughts on the urban environment” and its been keeping up a very active posting schedule so far.

• Arena Construction Schedule Says 2011 at the Earliest [AYR]
• Holy Crap: Email to DOB Commissioner Elicits NYPD Response [Queens Crap]
• CB6 Tries to Avoid Amity Street Horror [Brownstoner]
• Riviera Suites Resumes Construction [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Racist Incidents at Brookyn Precinct? [NYP]
• How Many Times Can You Say “Hip” and “Williamsburg”? [Curbed]
• Carroll Park Heat & Workers Update [Pardon Me for Asking]
• Fifth Avenue Gets Erect Steel [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Rescued Bodega Cat Needs Home [New York Shitty]
• Understated Decorations [Brooklynometry]
• The “Sheriff of Windsor Terrace” [NYDN]
• Peppe in Park Slope Destined to Become a Top Pizza Spot? [Chow]
• Christmas Pizza, Bensonhurst Style [Lost City]
• Local Color [Bed Stuy Banana]

Located in Gowanus Brooklyn, the Studio houses a large industrial arts workshop as well as private studios and exhibition space. Resources include a woodshop, printmaking shop (with screen-printing, etching and lithography presses) metalworking equipment, a large open workspace, and private storage.

Listed membership rates are start at $50/mo. for access to tools and space, $125/mo. for access and storage, $250/mo. for storage and a private work table, and $300/mo. for a private studio space, and there’s a yearly fee for members. There’s a flickr page with photos here.

One best not start counting on buying their favorite Trader Jones products at Atlantic and Court Street anytime soon. A look inside reveals no rush to get the new store open.–Racked

Red Hook, Brooklyn

Normally, we’ve been running Brookyule pics without comment. However, in this case, we’ve got to say this is one of our favorite photos of the season.

Still shopping (as many of us are) for holiday gifts? Then, check out the Dumbo 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. There are many shopping options on these streets between the bridges.–Dumbo NYC