Today’s New York Sun has a lengthy and very upbeat article on our namesake, the Big G, that continues the excellent press our once scorned South Brooklyn Seine and environs has been getting in recent months. The Sun notes the upcoming opening of the Gowanus Holiday Inn Express (which we learn, to our disappointment, does not have canal views), notes that developer Shaya Boymelgreen is still cooking up plans for Gowanus Village and updates the status of planning and zoning efforts that will determine Gowanus’ actual future. It devotes a great deal of space to the work of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, which recently released an updated comprehensive plan for the neighborhood.
Here’s our favorite part of the article:
The Gowanus, like the canals in Chartres, Venice, Gdansk, and Georgetown, has an intimate scale and calm waters. Gowanus is rich in history; as a creek it was one of the first Dutch settlements; the site of the Battle of Brooklyn (“Good God, what brave men must I lose this day!” said Washington of the 400 Marylanders); the landscape industrialized by real estate developer Edwin Litchfield, who petitioned the legislature to allow the building of the canal (his Italianate Brooklyn Improvement Co. building still stands at Third Avenue and Third Street, and was recently landmarked). The canal has water, scale, ecology and history — and it smells better than Venice!
In point of fact, Gowanus Lounge has logged months of time in Venice over the years, and we can attest to the fact that in the last several years, at least, we have rarely noticed the Gowanus smelling as ripe as many of the canals of our favorite city in all the world can smell on the wrong day.
In case you just dropped in from someplace that is not Brooklyn or New York City, the photo above is Beard Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The red brick buildings in the top photo belonged to the Todd Shipyard, property now owned by Ikea. They are separated by almost exactly two months.
On Monday, we wrote an item about Saturday’s wonderful Indie Designers Market show in Park Slope that focused on some background noise created by the Old Stone House, which hosted the show. Several of the designers (very appropriately) noted that we overlooked their hard work. That was not our intent.
The show featured two impressive floors worth of local designers offering excellent fashions and accessories, and showcasing their wonderful creativity. (The beautiful work to the right belongs to Elaine Perlov.) We passed through between rainstorms and weren’t taking notes or we would name our two particular favorites: a designer on the second floor offering some of the coolest custom-designed clothing for children and toddlers that we’ve ever seen anywhere (the t-shirts with the handpainted cars were genius) and one with wonderful hand-crafted colorful leather accessories and little bags in which to carry things around.
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn highlights the designers themselves, which was the entire point of the show. We’ll borrow from OTBKB’s excellent summary for the one or two readers that haven’t already seen it there:
On Saturday, I went to the Design Collective Market, the brainchild of clothing designer Kathy Malone, at the Old Stone House.
And this is what I got: a quilted blue skirt with a red floral patterned lining by Fofolle for 2-year old Ducky.
There were two floors of Brooklyn’s hot, new, design stars who were selling their indie handbags, jewelry, children’s clothing, accessories, and paper and lifestyle goods.
Lot and Lots of cool things to buy. Here were some of my faves:
Beautiful skirts in beautiful fabrics and great t’s and tanks with appliques by Fofolle. Loved Elaine Perlov’s clothing and her obie belts. She was featured on Daily Candy and Lucky Magazine’s Pick of the Day. Pretty, pretty necklaces with glass beads and baubles by Kristin Eno. Cool name and cool stuff from Slope Suds. Beautiful hand-screened goods by Foxy & Winston.
So much more — I don’t remember all the names. Special, hand-made things. A great way to support local, indie talent and own something beautiful and unique in the process.
The Design Collective has a large membership and Kathy Malone has many more shows planned for this eclectic group of artisans and designers. Stay tuned for more shows.
We will say it here LOUD AND CLEAR: We were excited in the first place that this show was taking place locally, we salute the hard work of the organizers and designers and we look forward to more shows from this excellent group of talented Brooklynites. Next time, we promise a focus exclusively on your wonderful work!!!
As we noted in an update on Ikea’s Red Hook demolition progress over at Curbed on Monday, people are still hoping to save the Graving Dock on the Todd Shipyard property where the Swedish retailer intends to build its big blue box on New York Harbor. (The Graving Dock is a huge dry dock where ships are repaired.) Our own look at the Ikea property on Saturday reminded us that the dock is about the only thing left to save, as demolition is so advanced that the only things left on the site are a small portion of the red brick powerhouse on Beard Street and three cranes. The rest of the site–via a feverish demolition effort–has been reduced to emptiness and hills of crushed rubble.
Last week, when we were talking with the Kenter Gallery’s Florence Neal, she noted a brainstorming session on saving the Graving Dock would take place Thursday from 6-8 PM at the Waterfront Museum Barge. (It is located next to the Waterfront Museum Barge, which is located next to the Red Hook Fairway.) The meeting is sponsored by the Save the Graving Dock Committee.
The dock needs all the help it can get, as Ikea is planning to fill it in for parking. Brooklyn Ramblings writes that “Graving dock advocates, however, point out that the number of such facilities in the New York area is declining rapidly, thus putting the shipping industry at a hardship.” Several proposals have been floated to keep the graving dock in operation, but Ikea has turned them down. Brooklyn Ramblings also offers a letter from State Comptroller William Thompson to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Daniel Doctoroff that urges preservation of the Graving Dock. (The Preservation League of New York has named the Graving Dock as one of the most endangered historic structures in New York State and put it on its list of “Seven to Save.”)
Watch an excellent BCAT segment on the Graving Dock and the Waterfront Museum barge by clicking this link.
The Board of Standards & Appeals formally handed opponents of highrises in the South Slope a major victory yesterday by denying developer Isaac Katan’s application to build an 11-story tower at 182 15th Street under old zoning regulations that allowed highrises like the one pictured above. Parts of the South Slope, Greenwood Heights and Windsor Terrace were downzoned last year, but developers have been trying ever since to get a number of buildings “vested” under the old zoning. (The legal issue hinges on how complete a building’s foundation was at the time the zoning was changed.) The BSA ruling can be appealed to the State Supreme Court, but it doesn’t often overturn BSA decisions.
The 15th Street building was the subject of a particularly nasty fight between neighborhood groups and the developer. Aaron Brashear of Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Hts., which has helped lead the fight against the highrises, said residents “are most encouraged that BSA took seriously the community’s allegations of illegal and improper practices” at the building site. The agency gave developers the go-ahead in three previous cases.
Three remaining properties–at 614 7th Ave., 1638 Eighth Ave. and 422 Prospect Ave.–are still up for BSA decisions.
We don’t usually list performances at Celebrate Brooklyn, as our favorite neighborhood summer music fest does a great job of promoting its shows. But Thursday night’s performance by the world-renowned Phillip Glass and the Kronos Quartet deserves emphasis.
They will be performing an original score to 1931’s Dracula (with Bela Lugosi), which Glass and Kronos have been touring around since 2000. Slavic Soul Party is opening with some Balkan anthems and funk. The music and blood sucking fun start at 7:30 at the Prospect Park Bandshell.
If you caught Yo La Tengo performing their score to the sea life documentaries a couple of weeks ago at Celebrate Brooklyn, you’ll know why these shows are fun.
Big ups to the blog Z. Madison for promoting the Red Hook Movies in the Park Summer 2006 series. The venues for the series, which runs through September 23, are Coffey Park, Valentino Pier and the Red Hook Community Farm. Hook Productions is presenting short films produced by neighborhood teens before each feature. The schedule includes Dave Chappelle’s Block Party on July 29 at the Community Farm, The Wiz on August 5 at Coffey Park, Crooklyn on August 12 at Valentino Pier, The Future of Food on August 19 at the Red Hook Community Farm, E.T. on August 26 at Coffey Park, Madea’s Family Reunion on September 2 at Valentino Pier, Wallace and Grommit on September 9, The Italian Job at Coffey Park on September 16 and Pirates of the Carribean at on September 23 at Valentino Pier.
The rumor mill has been abuzz since news surfaced that Brooklyn’s first family, AKA Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, were departing Brooklyn for Hollywood.
Untrue!
No Land Grab is reporting that it’s all a misunderstanding and Heath and Michelle are staying in Brooklyn. Specfically:
It’s pathetic for NoLandGrab to have to stick our noses into the cauldron of celebrity gossip, but…a source close to the first couple of Boerum Hill has told us that Michelle and Heath bought Ellen DeGeneres’s home in Hollywood so that they could have a home base for the family while in town for work. The couple “still consider New York, and specifically Brooklyn, home,” and they’ll be back again in the fall.
They might be sorry that they’ll miss the Empire State Development Corporation’s public hearing and forum, but other Brooklynites will show up to represent Boerum Hill.
In the meantime, it’s totally lame when an amateurish information portal on Atlantic Yards has the scoop on the professional snarks.
GL welcomes No Land Grab’s scoop and denies being a professional snark. Amateur, maybe.
July 25th, 2006 · Comments Off on Wallabout Update: Affordable Housing Coming to Brig Site
Remember the “Brig”? Know where the Wallabout section of Brooklyn is? Sure you do. The Brig is the old Naval prison across Flushing Avenue from the Brooklyn Navy Yard that was visible from the BQE until it was demolished last year. It was located on a square block bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, Park Avenue to the south, Clermont Avenue to the east and Vanderbilt Avenue to the west. Wallabout is the name for the Navy Yard area and part of Fort Greene. (In case you still can’t picture it, the handy map, showing the parcel with the prison still standing is below.)
In any case, the city is now requesting proposals for development on the site, which would include 400 new housing units, about two-thirds of which would be affordable housing. There would also be commercial space on the site.
The winning bidder will get the site for $1.
If you’ve never much thought about Wallabout, which is named after the East River’s Wallabout Bay, around which the Navy Yard developed, it has a pretty awful history. The bay was where British prison ships were moored during the American Revolutionary War, from about 1776-1783. More “than 10,000 soldiers and sailors died due to deliberate neglect on these rotting hulks,” according a Wikipedia entry, which was more American soldiers than were killed in every Revolutionary War battle combined. It continues:
Though the corpses were buried on the eroding shore in shallow graves, or often just thrown overboard, local women collected remains when they became exposed or washed onshore. The nearby Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument in Fort Greene Park houses remains of the prisoners and overlooks the site of their torment and death.
The bay’s name means “bay of the Walloons,” referring to the French-speaking settlers of the area from the southern part of Belgium.
(The photo of the cleared site, above comes from Angela on flickr.)
Comments Off on Wallabout Update: Affordable Housing Coming to Brig SiteTags:Uncategorized
A new free film and music series called Summerscreen starts at McCarren Pool in Williamsburg tonight. The series is produced by L Magazine and Sens Productions (and sponsored by Volkswagen). Door open at 7PM, with music first and films starting after dark. The series will run every Tuesday night through August 22, with a special finale on Saturday, August 26 with DJ Spooky. Tonight’s movie is Do the Right Thing, with Bottle Rocket showing next week (8/1) and the French Connection the week after (8/8). The Swimmer is being screening on August 15. Love Streams is August 22 and Style Wars is August 26. Kick back, hang at the pool, listen to music and watch movies.
When we read the story in the New York Times on Sunday about the farm tractor in Park Slope, we had the nagging feeling that we’d seen it before. But, we consume way more information than we can retain so we couldn’t put our finger on it. Today, we know. One of our favorite blogs–and one from which we wish we’d hear more every day–posted an item this spring about someone he’d photographed in Park Slope “lovingly maintaining a jim-dandy 1946 Ford Ferguson farm tractor.” NYT reporter Jennifer Bleyer e-mailed Dope and tracked down the gentleman, despite the fact that Dope didn’t know his name. The morph from blog entry to NYT story says a lot about the interconnectedness of old and new media and the way that more and more stories that first surface in the blogosphere make their way into “traditional” media.
Gowanus Lounge attended the Park Slope Designer Market at the Old Stone House in J.J. Byrne Park on Saturday. It presented a nice assortment of clothes and accessories created by local designers. The little scene we witnessed at the front desk, though, has had us scratching our heads ever since. We’ve hestitated even getting into this, because we like the Old Stone House and its director and admire its role in the community, but we helped promote the show…so, here goes:
We arrived around 4 o’clock and noticed that the person at the desk was requesting a “three dollar suggested donation” for admission. (Which is no doubt standard for the facility.) Interesting, in this case, because the show was specifically promoted as being free. In any case, like we said, we like the Old Stone House and didn’t have a problem with the three dollars, even though we were on our way to Sunset Park and to Bay Ridge and were only planning to stay for a few minutes. What’s three bucks, right? As we entered, we heard the person at the front desk ask a young woman who was clearly under the age of eighteen to see her student ID when she said “I’m a student,” in response to the request for “a donation.” The young woman looked surprised, but coughed up her student ID.
We looked around the show, and were on our way out when we heard an ugly exchange between the Old Stone House person and two visitors who said they were surprised they’d have to pay admission. They didn’t want to see the museum, they said, only the design show. As they continued to balk, they recieved a stern lecture (this is a kind description of the tone we heard) about how “this is our suggested donation” and how “the donation supports the museum and programming at the Old Stone House.”
“But we only want to come to the design show,” one of the visitors said.
“It’s in the Old Stone House and three dollars is our suggested donation,” the worker said.
We didn’t want to get into the dispute, so we stayed out of it and didn’t point out how the promotional material said the show was free. (“Free show,” to us, doesn’t mean the show is free, but the venue charges you.) Make a long story short, one of the visitors told the worker she could be nicer about it. The worker said the visitors (who were being quite nice) were being nasty “so we’re even.”
The two visitors left without ever going in, one of them saying, “I don’t want to support this place.”
So, here’s the point of all this: If a donation is an admission price, why hew to this fiction that it’s a donation? We understand that we live in an era in which the public sector shortchanges cultural institutions and that our parks are, almost literally, being sold to the highest bidder and that everyone from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on down does it, but why engage in double speak? If you demand it–and do so stridenly–it is only a donation in the sense that a mugger would call the money you give up a “donation”
More to the point, while the likely villain is probably a miscommunication somewhere along the line, is the few hundred dollars the Old Stone House collected on Saturday worth the ill will it generated among people that might have been badly treated by niceness-challenged person who was at the desk in late afternoon? (There are nice ways to tell people to pay up, and there are less nice ways. We only heard less nice ways.)
Again, we like the Old Stone House. It hosts wonderful community events. So does J.J. Byrne Park. We attended the Brooklyn Blogfest there and it was great. We feel awful just pointing this out. But, we feel even worse that we helped promote the designer’s show and that some people were taken by surprise by the “donation” and that those that didn’t want to “donate”–for whatever reason…cheapness, lack of cash, lack of civic mindedness, whatever–were turned away or, worse, treated badly by the staff.
Yes, this is a dumb little thing, but it’s been irritating us ever since we listened to the exchange. We’re sorry to the Old Stone House for pointing it out. We’re sorry to the people that worked hard to organize the design show. We’re sorry to the people who attended and had issues with the admission price.
Gowanus Lounge was out-of-borough for a while yesterday, and we made a point of passing through blacked-out Astoria, where up to 80,000 people are still without power. The streets are full of Con Ed trucks, NYPD and FDNY vehicles, portable generators and traffic cops directing traffic at intersections where traffic lights are out. We saw hundreds of Con Ed employees working hard to try to get the lights working again and a couple of distribution points where the Red Cross is handing out ice and meals. Here and there on Steinway Street in Astoria, the stench of rotting garbage and food was overpowering. The scope of the outage is a bit staggering–it covers a huge area–but not as stunning as Con Ed’s deception and/or stupidity. (IE, underestimating the number of people impacted by 90 percent.) A few more pictures below and in our flickr photoset.
The Arts Build NY website has a fascinating collection of renderings and drawings of ongoing or planned expansions or development by 55 cultural institutions. Gowanus Lounge was especially taken by the drawings of two planned cultural institutions near the Brooklyn Academy of Music–the Visual and Performing Arts Library, which is pictured above, and the Theatre for a New Audience, which is below. The website is connected to a show that opened on Wednesday called City of Culture organized by the Alliance for the Arts and the American Institute of Architects.
Gowanus Lounge was on Court Street and looked up to see evidence that the Tea Lounge is opening a branch on Court. We passed by sort of quickly, and only saw the logo, so we don’t know whether this is imminent or not and all the Tea Lounge website says is “Coming Soon: Cobble Hill.” The new Tea Lounge will be located at 254 Court Street in the space formerly occupied by Blue Star. That’s Court Street between Kane and Butler. Tea Lounge is one of those love it or hate it sort of places, either a mecca for underemployed creative types and moms looking to hang during the daytime with their kids or an irritating place in which people camp out all day where you can never find a place to sit. All said and done, it’s a welcome addition to the Cobble Hill-Carroll Gardens cafes at which to hang scene.
Here’s one way to spend the next three minutes and nineteen seconds of your life: Click on the video below or on this link and watch Twist of Fate. It’s a short motion graphics film, with Williamsburg streetscapes, “that deals with the notions of non-linear history, fate, and synchronicity,” in the words of its creator. And so, he writes, “the main intention behind my design choice was to combine the idea of freezing pivotal moments in time with the more abstract concept of illustrating the infinite number of life’s paths within the randomness of collage.” Just click and watch.
Hats off to the always intelligent, thoughtful and in-depth Brooklyn Ramblings for finally posting the redevelopment plan that NYU Wagner School students recently offered for a key parcel of land along the Gowanus Canal between Smith and Hoyt Streets and Fifth and Ninth streets. (You can see all the details at the Public Place website the students created, which is loaded with photos and maps and details of the thoughtful proposal.) Part of the deeply polluted site with which the proposal deals was once used by Brooklyn Union Gas (Keyspan’s corporate predecessor) and is now vacant and awaiting cleanup and reuse. (The entire site is 6.5 acres.)
The Wagner School grad students–like the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corp.’scomprehensive plan–envision recreational use for part of the parcel. (And would also have the huge cement business on part of the parcel relocating to another site on the canal or elsewhere in order to open public waterfront access on the Big G. It is one of the many use conflicts that will have to be resolved before any Gowanus redevelopment happens.)
We’ll quote Brooklyn Ramblings for a bit:
The site, known as Public Place, was the site of a manufactured gas plant operated by Brooklyn Union Gas, the predecessor to KeySpan. Today, the site is highly contaminated, mostly vacant and underutilized. It is, however, in a central location between residential uses to the north and west, and industrial uses to the south and east, and is close to mass transit. It is one of the larger, mostly vacant, city-owned sites remaining in New York City.
Any plan for Gowanus redevelopment faces multiple hurdles, including the fact that city planners in the Bloomberg Administration will draw up the plan that carries the most weight. City Council Members and the Mayor will make any final decisions on zoning and project funding. The students quote an unnamed local official saying, “Gowanus is like the Balkans.”
Notably, the NYU planners identified a community preference for open space and recreational use on the parcel as well as community facilities and work space for artists. The scenarios for the space, Brooklyn Ramblings reports, include a 128,100 square feet, a 3-acre park with a waterfront esplanade, and a 23,100-square-foot community facility.
The image below is from the new proposal, on the Public Place website, as is the aerial photo beneath it. If you’re interested, you can download the entire Wagner School report here.
In checking out Brooklyn vids, we discovered this gem, which is especially appropriate on a weekend, even a soupy and, possibly, stormy one. This is an Astroland commercial from 1983 when, apparently, you could ride the famed Cyclone backwards. Who knew? (This experience was called “Back-Fire on the Cyclone.”) Click on the vid and see for yourself:
Speaking of the Cyclone, you can click here and check out a night video someone shot of what it’s like riding our favorite historic wooden Brooklyn roller coaster.
