We came upon a superb blog item about paddling on the Gowanus that is quite lengthy and is jammed with information and observations about our favorite body of water. It’s an item called “Drifting Through Brooklyn” from Sitebits. We’ll excerpt a couple of passages to give a sense of it:

It’s lined by crumbling warehouses, generating plants, shadowy factories, Coast Guard fuel depots, and even a Home Depot. It meanders beneath the Gowanus Expressway, one of the busiest highways in New York City, and has been referred to as the most polluted waterway in America. A slick, rainbow film of oil and other chemicals gives the water in the canal a colorful, shimmering candy coating that would be beautiful at sunset if it didn’t smell like cold metal and gunpowder and leave a disturbing acrid taste in the air. Visibility in the water is almost zero, and any trip across it is highlighted by an overpowering fear that you might get some on you…

By the end of World War One, the Gowanus Canal was the busiest, and arguably most disgusting, commercial canal in America.

As America’s shipping moved from water to highway during the 1960s, the Gowanus Canal and surrounding area suffered a precipitous plunge in prosperity. By the 1970s, over 50% of the previously bustling property in Gowanus was abandoned. Dead-end streets that butt against the canal’s concrete embankments became magnets for gangs, drug dealers, muggers, and according to local legend, popular spots for Mafia thugs to dump cumbersome bodies to disappear beneath the impenetrable waters…

“So when the water is clean, then they’ll kick everyone out and built fancy places for rich people,” is a popular sentiment among neighborhood residents. In a city where revitalization has become synonymous with gentrification, and in a borough that is caught in the middle of battles over redevelopment of multiple neighborhoods that are seeing long-time residents and business moved — potentially through force of eminent domain — to make way for luxury condos and stadiums, it’s no wonder that some Gowanus locals, who have seen a modicum of peace and order return to their neighborhood, might see the cleaning of the Gowanus Canal as the first wave of development that could push them out of their homes and businesses.

There’s a lot more to this excellent article. Absolutely worth a read.

Photos:

• Mean Machine [A Test of Will]
• Past and Present [Park Slope Street Photography]
• Sunset Park Gem [Sunset Parker]
• Composition with Two Trees on Nevins [seriously excited!]
• Season’s Greetings from Greenpoint [jUSTINYC]
• Dispersions of Light [Dumbo NYC]
• Slices of Life [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Gowanus Side Door [atomische]

Words:

• Shoppers in Sales Frenzy [NYDN]
• Local Park Slope Gift Guide [OTBKB]
• Mr. Gargano Has a Bad Week [TRE]
• Gowanus Dredgers Honored [Gowanus Oyster Garden Stewards]
• Red Hook Death Should Be Urgent Call to Action [Grito de Galarza]
• Running to Fort Hamilton [Runs Brooklyn]
• Willoughby’s Pedestrian Plaza Could Become Permanent [P.S. Courier]
• Manhattan Beach Bulkhead Needs Repair [Bay News]

• “Seven Berry” Coming Up in Williamsburg (above)
• Measuring the Neighborhood Grocery Gap Again
• Styrofoam Condos in Brooklyn
• Lawsuit Filed to Save Red Hook Graving Dock
• SoBro Getting Some Greenery
• Glass at Meier’s OPP Closing in on Half Full
• Williamsburg Gets Craned, Again
• Gowanus Whole Foods Redux: Turn Right at the Toxics

You find the darndest things sometimes. Like a discussion of whether “the law can place any restrictions on how corporate America adopts and exploits local gastronomic traditions and culture.” AKA the offensive case of the “Brooklyn-Style Pizza” being marketed around America by Domino’s.

The discussion appears on findlaw.com in an intelligent and very legally-titled article called, “Should the Law Regulate Whether and When Corporations Use Locality-Based Food Designations Such as ‘Brooklyn Style Pizza’?” In other words, should there be a Badge of Brooklyn (BOB) to certify that something is really and genuinely a Brooklyn thing like a canoli from Court Street Pastry or pizza from Totonnos, and not just some “Brooklyn-style” abomination offered up as a marketing gimmick. (We found the article via the IPTAblog, which offered a compelling entry on the Appellations and Origin of Brooklyn-Style Pizza.)

Don’t laugh. (Or do, because this whole pizza flap has been funny as hell.) In Europe, they take their “appellations of origins” seriously. The authors explain (in language that normal people can understand):

As readers may be aware, in Europe, certain foods carry deep associations with local regions and traditions. The word “Champagne” refers to a place in France, not just a style of sparkling wine; the word “Parmesan” refers to a place in Italy, not only a style of cheese. And the local producers do not want wine producers in America to be able to call their sparkling wine “champagne,” nor do they want cheese made in Holland to be called “parmesan.”

Over the years, a system of legal regulation limiting the use of geographic titles, or “appellations of origin” has developed. European wines have traditionally been regulated by the French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system, the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) used in Italy, and the Denominación de Origen system used in Spain. Since 1992 the European Union has expanded this concept to foodstuffs by employing various legal devices, such as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG).

Wouldn’t you love to see the bureaucracy in Washington that would develop around certifying products as genuine and the rules and guidelines they would develop? The absurdity value alone might be worth the hundreds of millions in tax dollars it would cost every year. In any case, we’ll return to the lawyer’s cogent analysis of the pizza situation:

Domino’s campaign for its “Brooklyn Style Pizza”…trades in crude stereotypes about urban America. Its website has a cast of ethnic stereotypes, and a liberal amount of what we think is supposed to be “attitude.” Meanwhile, the television ad that accompanies the campaign looks like an outtake from “Welcome Back Kotter.”

The point is not that Brooklyn has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. The point is that it doesn’t seem like anyone who truly cares about Brooklyn–its people or its food–had very much to do with the “Brooklyn Style Pizza.”

The practice of appellations of origin is just starting to get a foothold in the United States. We are not sure that pizza from Brooklyn deserves that sort of care and attention. But think that there is a connection between respect for the local pedigree of a product and respect for that product’s region or home.

In the case of Domino’s “Brooklyn Style Pizza,” we think that the lesson is particularly clear: Local flavor or authenticity should not be manufactured along with a homogenized, national product. Even if consumers are not fooled–they know, in the end, they are just getting a Domino’s pizza–Brooklyn and the dignity of its local culture have been cheapened as a result.

Not to flog a dead horse, but us, we wouldn’t eat the crap if you paid us.

So, with the holiday shopping rush officially underway as of today (GL’s goal is to do almost everything online) and a sad reminder about pet stores earlier this week, we thought this would be a good time to pitch for a worthy cause: Adopting a pet from a shelter or contributing to one as someone’s holiday gift.

One of our local favorites is the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), which is based in Williamsburg. They have a bunch of great holiday options including adoption, BARC Gift Certificates that can be used to purchase pet supplies or to use toward and adoption fee, pet photos with Santa (December 16 & 17 from Noon-Five), sponsorship and shopping for supplies at BARC’s store, which is located with the shelter at Wythe and N. 1st in Williamsburg.

Another great option is the Brooklyn Animal Foster Network. You can make a donation and they even have a wish list if you want to give a gift that will mean something.

And, of course, there is the North Shore Animal League, they offer a ton of adoption options, plus multiple ways you can make a donation on someone’s behalf. They’re not strictly Brooklyn, but they do good work all over the tri-state area.

(The cat above is up for adoption at BARC and is named Bushwick. He’s described as”a very sweet orange tabby male who was found…Guess where? He wants to leave the street life behind and cozy up with you!” The dog is Marvin, a ten-year-old who was given up by his owner who could no longer care for him. “He is a sweet senior dog who would like a quiet home and gentle pampering.” We’re guessing he’s kinda’ sad and could use some love and attention.)

• Black Friday Survival Strategy [NYDN]
• Food Coma [Dope on the Slope]
• Ratner Had Designs on Atlantic Yards as Early as ’93 [No Land Grab]
• Goof Could Stall Atlantic Yards [NYPost]
• Atlantic Yards Report Digest [No Land Grab]
• South Brooklyn Raccoon Invasion [Brooklyn Papers]
• Better Late Than Never? Fourth Avenue Downzone Push [Brooklyn Papers]
• Soundwalk Audio Tours of Dumbo [Dumbo NYC]
• Coney Island Desktop [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Wonder Wheel [photobento]
• Favorite Sites [Built Environment Blog]

Here’s a new Brookvid put together from a visit to the site of the Greenpoint Terminal Market, which you might remember burned to the ground in a conflagration that is alleged to have been accidentally started by a local drunk scavanging copper wire. You can watch by clicking over to you youtube via this link or by clicking on the embed below.

• Gobble Gobble [Z. Madison]
• Mrs. Kravitz is Not Doing Thanksgiving [OTBKB]
• Thanksgiving Magic: Shiny, Happy N Trains Holding Hands [Bag of Rocks]
• Happy Thanksgiving [Bay Ridge Blog]
• Thanksgiving Cornucopia of Ingratitude [NYDN]
• Thanksgiving Weekend Guide [Newyorkology]
• Museum Holiday Hours [Gothamist]

Images:

• Bush and Trees [shveckle/flickr]
• The Straight Path [Test of Will]
• Very Ugly Bird [The Sage of Shadowdale/flickr]
• Gowanus, You Know You Want To [atomische]
• Creepy Doll in Dead Horse Bay [gowanus/flickr]
• Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge from Above [Dumbo NYC]
• Public Pool, Douglass & Nevins [seriously excited!]
• View from Dumbo Roof [f. trainer/flickr]
• 3 Men [Park Slope Street Photography]

Regular Thursday Food Links:

• Biscuit on Fifth Avenue is “Horrible” [Park Slope Gastronome]
• Sahara Has Bad Service, But the Food is “Pretty Darned Good” [Project Me]
• Not Really Feeling La Porchetta for Brunch [423 Smith]
• Wednesday Food and Drink Roundup [Brooklyn Record]
• Check Out Menutopia [A Brooklyn Life]
• Dear Slice: You Missed Elegante Pizzeria in Bay Ridge [Slice]
• Giardini’s Square Slice Rocks [Eating for Brooklyn]
• We Heart Bonita II [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Like Bonita I, but with Tequila [Brooklyn Record]

You know it’s the holidays and winter in Brooklyn when the Wollman Rink in Prospect Park opens for business. Well, today is the day. The Wollman is offically open for the winter ice skating season (although in practical terms, the day may be tomorrow). The schedule is: Monday 8:30AM-2PM, Tuesday 8:30AM-5PM, Wednesday 8:30AM-3PM, Thursday 8:30AM-6PM, Friday 8:30AM-9PM, Saturday 10AM-1PM, 2PM-6PM, 7PM-10PM and Sunday 10AM-1PM, 2PM-6PM. The rink is open today (11/23) from 10AM until 1PM and from 2PM to 6PM. It’s open tomorrow (11/24) from 10AM to 9PM.

A little history: The rink was added to Prospect Park by everyone’s favorite planner and park chief, Robert Moses (who also added the Prospect Park Bandshell and some playgrounds). The land was originally Music Island, a tiny island with a stage facing the audiences in the park’s Concert Grove. (Creation of the rink was not universally popular. It altered Prospect Park Lake and interfered with the original design. There are plans to build a new rink and to restore the original landscaping.)

In any case, admission for adults is $5. It is $3 for children 14 and under and for senior citizens. Skate rentals is $5.50. All of those bruises you’ll get on your backside are priceless.

More information is available here. (Please Note: The opening depends on the weather, which is not looking good for ice skating today. Check the website when you decide to go this weekend.)

[Photo courtesy of ginatrapani/flickr]

Thanksgiving is not a day for vegetarians (and certainly not for turkeys), so in the interest of information sharing (not that you need us if you’re going meat-free), we’re putting down a couple of thoughts. There is the do-it-yourself vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner (with or without the interesting Tofurky) option and there are some interesting recipes here. We’ll also note that the Park Slope Food Coop will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 8:30-2:30, if that’s your scene.

While there are any number of options in Brooklyn and New York City, there are a few we’ll mention: Red Bamboo in Fort Greene will be open for Thanksgiving dinner, and told us there will likely be a three-course prix fixe menu for $23 in addition to the regular menu. The Thanksgiving menu will include “smoked turkey” and a lot of fixings, plus dessert. They strongly advise reservations.

Also, Foodswings, the Williamsburg vegan spot is offering a full Thanksgiving dinner from 5PM-10PM. The cost was noted as $15 in advance and $20 on Thanksgiving day. While Foodswings is a cool spot, it may not be everyone’s thing on Thanksgiving, so perhaps it would be a good take out option if you call in advance. They’re featuring “New England Turkey,” by the way.

For those with a bigger budget, Park Slope’s Applewood is offering a lot of vegetarian sides for takeout at about $100 for two people. We saw this in a Brooklynian discussion, so it’s best to call the restaurant and see what kind of advance ordering is required. (The “events” page on Applewood’s site was supposed to have Thanksgiving information, but has none.)

‘Round Manhattan way, Counter on First Avenue in the East Village is offering a Thanksgiving dinner. It’s noted for being insane on holidays, but if you don’t mind a crowd, and reservations are still available, it could be a good option. Also in Manhattan, Hangawi, the vegetarian Korean restaurant in Midtown is supposed to be open on Thanksgiving.

It’s not a vegetarian list, but About Brooklyn recently offered a list of Brooklyn restaurants open for Thanksgiving.

And, finally, for those who are interested, we’ll mention the Adopt-A-Turkey Project, from whence the photo, above, of Blossom came. Twenty bucks gets you an adoption.

Oh, and via Gothamist which got it via Supervegan, we direct you to this handy Tofurky Disguise Kit. The, um, results are pictured here, just above. And relevant to nothing in terms of eating suggestions, other than irony, check out the tale of the wild turkeys in Jersey that showed up at train station and also seem to have caused a traffic accident.

(We apologize in advance for any glaring omissions. We weren’t trying to be exhaustive, just helpful. If others have suggestions, please leave them in the comments section or email us and we will add them!)

What better day than Thanksgiving to check in on the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, the organization chosen by the state and city to coordinate community response to the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement?

The group will be hosting a Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Gridlock! event tomorrow (11/24) to mark Black Friday at the always-fun intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic and 4th Avenues. Volunteers will be holding up signs, handing out literature and helping pedestrians get across the street. It’s all being done to highlight their conclusion that gridlock will be the order of the day at the already traffic-clogged intersection if the Atlantic Yards development goes forward. It’s supposed to start at 2PM and run until 3PM. Give them a wave if you’re, um, stuck in traffic at Flatbush and Atlantic.

Also, CBN will be holding a Public Information Forum about the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement on Thursday, November 30th. The meeting will happen at 7:30 at 85 South Oxford Avenue in the Lafayette Presbyterian Church.

Finally, CBN has sent a letter to the members of the Public Authorities Control Board, the State body that has a final say on Atlantic Yards, “calling on it to urge the Empire State Development Corporation to perform a thorough public analysis of any potential terrorism issues in regard to Atlantic Yards.”

Towers are rapidly spreading on Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue. The area between Second and Fifth Streets have been an early center of activity with two Leviev Boymelgreen towers and a new boutique hotel. However, there is building underway at Carroll Street and at Douglass Street and new projects have been announced at First Street and at Seventh Street. All together at least a dozen new buildings–most of them 12 stories–are going up between Union Street and 15th Street on Fourth Avenue. (And you can be that regardless of what side of Fourth Avenue the new buildings sit on–the avenue being the current-day line of demarcation between the Slope and Gowanus–they’ll all be referred to as being in Park Slope.)

The activity is due to a 2003 rezoning of Park Slope that protected low-rise residential streets from highrises but turned Fourth Avenue into a target for developm,ent. The rezoning allows buildings as tall as 12 stories along Fourth Avenue and allows that buildings to extend 100 feet down side streets. A citizen group called Fourth Avenue Neighborhood Preservation had its first meeting this week trying to push for a reexamination of the rules, given the rapid development they’ve encouraged.

In any case, a reader writes to say:

We just bought a place on 11th btwn 3rd and 4th and one of the neighbors came by and said that a building was going up on the corner. i did a bit of research and found a developer…bought up a bunch of the real estate on 4th btwn 10th and 11th but an old timer resident refused to sell, so it wasn’t clear what would happen.

The corner in question was indeed the subject of a detailed article in the Brooklyn Papers. A developer named Bailing Yang has been active in the neighborhood (offering huge sums to homeowners) and controversial developer Isaac Katan, who has stirred up tremendous opposition in the South Slope, also is either building or has plans for more than 400 units. The area between 11th and 15th Streets in particular is shaping up as a great place to sell property to developers at huge profit, but as a less stable place to live over the next few years.

If anyone has information about any Fourth Avenue towers between 11th Street and 15th Street, we’d love to hear.

Related Post:
Is Twelve Stories Too Tall for Fourth Avenue?

Yesterday’s news that the Empire State Development Corporation had forgotten to include some responses to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Atlantic Yards before issuing the Final document indicates the landscape may be shifting. One would be hard pressed to say that Public Authorities Control Board member and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who holds a critical vote on Atlantic Yards, was rushing to vote on the project before Gov. Pataki leaves office. Now, the need to go back and revise the document and to determine what else may have been left out in the rush to complete the massive task could derail the entire approval schedule. There is rampant talk that the earliest the ESDC can re-issue the document will be December 10-15. Then, the ESDC must wait 10 days to vote. At which point, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas the holidays.

What are the odds that the Public Authorities Control Board, which has to approve the Atlantic Yards project, would vote between Christmas and New Year’s Eve?

It could turn out that the slip up will be The Boo Boo Heard All Around Brooklyn.

Top 100:

• Park Slopers Denied Self-Righteous Place in American History (See Below) [Intelligencer]
• Give Us Your Park Slope 100 [OTBKB]
• Brooklyn Principal Not Likely to Anyone’s Top 100 List [NYT]
• Buildings Department Tries Getting Off Bottom 100 List in Manhattan Beach [NYDN]

Not Top 100:

• Goldstein v. Pataki Has First Day in Court [AYR]
• Eminent Domain Fans Should Stop Skewering the Facts [No Land Grab]
• No Service Diversions on the F This Weekend? Really? [Z. Madison]
• Only on the L Train [Gothamist]
• Hot Dog Conspiracy? [Brooklyn Record]
• Stalled Greenpoint Buildings [City Seen]
• Bay Ridge Woman Keeps Dead Husband in House…for Several Years [7Online]
• New Building on Edge of Carroll Gardens [Brownstoner]
• Bay Ridge Toilet For Your Convenience [Englishman in New York]
• Very Sad Puppy Story [Brooklyn Record]
• On Prospect Park Listed on Corcoran [Daily Heights]
• Coney Island’s Year Round Destination [Kinetic Carnival]

A Programming Note:

Gowanus Lounge will continue to post through the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. If you’re leaving town today, Happy Thanksgiving! Check us out from wherever you are as you digest, take a break from shopping or hang out wirelessly at the airport or train station.

Just when we were thinking that the Red Hook development front had been very quiet of late (with rumblings of demolition trucks spotted on the Revere Sugar property and speculation about whether Ikea had started filling the historic Graving Dock on its property), we got word from the Municipal Arts Society that it had filed a lawsuit that could preserve the latter.

(Background: The Swedish big box retailer is planning to build a huge store on the Red Hook waterfront. It has demolished all of the buildings of the former Todd Shipyards, including a number dating to the Civil War era. Advocates have been arguing that Ikea should save the Graving Dock, not as a historic relic, but as a working facility. They have been rebuffed by the big retailer.)

The MAS–which is not exactly litigation crazy and always prefers talking to unleashing the lawyers–is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to force “a legally-mandated review of historic resources at the Ikea site in Red Hook, Brooklyn.” The only surviving “historic resource” on the site, of course, is the Graving Dock. Ikea wants to fill it for part of its parking lot. (It would leave some historic markers and the cranes as landscaping elements.)

Says MAS President Kent Barwick in a statement: “For nearly two years, the Corps has said that civic groups and others would be allowed input and comment on demolition and construction plans at Red Hook. That time never came and we are left with no alternative but legal action. The law requires a proper historic review, and the public deserves it.”

The National Historic Preservation Act requires “a full and fair review of the effects of the Ikea project on all historic properties in the area, including the dock itself,” according to the MAS.

The massive Graving Dock dates to the 1860s that supporters say is both historic and a functioning part of the city’s maritime infrastructure. The 710-foot ship repair facility is one of only two docks in New York Harbor that can accommodate large, tall ships. The MAS has previously proposed alternate designs that would meet Ikea’s parking needs and allow preservation of the Graving Dock.

Related Posts:
Ikea to Critics: Go Ektorp Yourselves
Red Hook Graving Dock Future: Ikea Parking Lot?

Here we go again. You might remember the “two is a parade” rules that were brought up and withdrawn this summer. Well, they’re back in somewhat modified form and there is a hearing about them scheduled for Monday, Nov. 27. To summarize the proposed rules, groups of ten or more bicyclists or pedestrians who plan to travel more than two city blocks without complying with traffic laws would need a permit or be subject to arrest and groups of thirty or more bicyclists or vehicles which obey traffic laws would also require a permit or be subject to arrest. You can read the full proposal here. There will be a public hearing at Police Headquarters on November 27th from 11am to 2pm.

A coalition called Assemble for Rights NYC, a coalition joined in this quest by City Council members Rose Mendez, Charles Barron, Letitia James, and Alan Gerson. The Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, United for Peace and Justice, Housing Works, the Five Boro Bike Club, the New York City Bicycle Coalition, and the Birth Control Project are among the members of the coalition.

Opponents are holding a rally from 10AM to 11AM, before the hearings, at NYPD Headquarters, One Police Plaza. For more information about the rally and about sending letters to City Council Members, check assembleforrightsnyc.org.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has again proposed undue and constitutionally questionable limits on political speech in New York City. The proposal represents a narrow retreat from a similar proposition that NYPD withdrew two months ago after vociferous opposition from members of the City Council and the public.

Hotel Chatter is reporting a new aloft hotel (the lower-casing is deliberate, not a typo) will be opening in Brooklyn, sometime in 2008. While the article rubs salt in our favorite wound, calling the Gowanus Holiday Inn Express the “Park Slope Holiday Inn,” it notes that the aloft–which is a budget chain from Starwood and the W chain–will be opening on Duffield Street, which will put it smack dab in the middle of the booming Flatbush Avenue corridor, where luxury highrises are going to be rising faster than you can track them over the next several years. Says Hotel Chatter:

The full-service hotel will be paired with a newly built Sheraton Hotel and the two will have 500 rooms, meeting space, and a host of upscale amenities. There will also be a swimming pool and an open terrace.

The Sheraton has been previously reported as a 25-story building. (This would make the rendering above definitely not of the Brooklyn specimen.) The item also goes on to note the 93-room Smith Hotel that will be part of the Leviev Boymelgreen condo at Smith and Atlantic. The planned opening is April, 2007, though by the look of the building, getting anything open there by April will require a minor miracle. aloft hotels is a new venture and, as of yet, none have opened.

Related Post:
Brooklyn Hotel Boom Redux

The Brooklyn Record reports one of those stories today that ticks us off even more than developers demolishing historic buildings. (You don’t need us to bring you this story, but if only one person that hasn’t already noted it sees it here, then we feel that we’ve made a contribution.) The item is about a pet shop in Bay Ridge called A World of Pets where a reader reported:

puppies that were so thin you could see their ribs, no water in cages, and one dog that looked underfed was even eating his own poop.” But before we took this tipster’s word for it, we did some research — and reviews of this pet shop on the web are overwhelmingly negative…Jennifer S. on Yelp said, “The place looks like a complete puppy mill.” Marlene M. on Judy’s book adds, “The animals sit in their own feces and the store always smells terrible. Go to a breeder and find your pup.” Heed this advice, guys — or visit a local animal shelter.

Amen to that suggestion. Wonderful options include the North Shore Animal League, the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC) and the Brooklyn Animal Foster Network.

(The dog pictured here has nothing to do with the pet store. He is a Jack Russell Mix available at BARC. He is two-years-old and weighs 22 pounds.)

There have been a lot of film shoots in Williamsburg lately and one result is that the light poles and other surfaces are getting crowded with those lovely “car relocation” notices. We captured this image on Sunday on Kent Avenue. Okay, it’s only two shoots, but two back-to-back?