Anybody who shops for cameras online knows that there are an inordinate number based in Brooklyn that advertise impossibly low prices on equipment. The game is that to get the ridiculously low price on, say, the Nikon D70, you have to buy outrageously priced packages of “accessories.” Not buying the accessories often means not getting the camera.

Our compliments to the Brooklyn Record for its excellent item–with several links–to help spread the word about one of these operators. The item, headlined, “Buy This Camera or Bite Me,” details an operation that totally crosses the line and outright abuses its customers. We go to the copy and paste:

A pushy salesman is one thing, but a salesman who threatens to break your neck is another beast entirely. A camera shop with several online aliases (including WawaDigital.com and StargatePhoto.com) that operates out of a graffiti-stained shop at 295 Avenue O has been generating complaints all over America for their bait and hook schemes and “uncouth and threatening service.” Their cameras are listed at rock-bottom prices, but apparently, once you place your order and give your credit card number over the phone, they demand that you add on a pile of expensive accessories — or face a “20% restocking fee,” and, perhaps, a knuckle sandwich. They’re also known to hang up on customers — and then call back to leave death threats on their customers’ answering machines. (You won’t want to blast this out of your work computer, but you can listen to a sample threat here.) Tons of bloggers are fighting back by getting the word out about these bad business practices — but what needs to happen to shut down this shady operation?

What, indeed? While these practices are clearly in their own league, many other online camera dealers here and elsewhere play the same game. GL’s advice: if the price is impossibly low, there’s a catch. Stick to reputable retailers where you will encounter run-of-the-mill maddening problems rather than bait-and-switch, false advertising and worse.

Eleven gaily-colored parachutes operated from the top of a 250-foot tower, enable visitors to experience all the thrills of “bailing out” without the hazard or discomfort. Each parachute has a double seat suspended from it. When two passengers have taken their places beneath the ‘chute, a cable pulls it to the summit of the tower. An automatic release starts the drop, and the passengers float gently to the ground. Vertical guide wires prevent swaying, a metal ring keeps the ‘chute open at all times, and shock-absorbers eliminate the impact of the landing. One of the most spectacular features of the Amusement Area, this is also a type of parachute jump similar to that which the armies of the world use in early stages of training for actual parachute jumping.

At the end of the Fair, the Jump was purchased by the Tilyou family and moved to Coney Island. It opened in 1941 as part of Steeplechase Park (which was torn down by Donald Trump’s father, who is said to have symbolically begun the 1964 demolition by throwing a rock through the glass of the structure that was widely considered one of the world’s most beautiful examples of Beaux-arts architecture).

The Parachute Jump ride actually ran until 1968 and, then, dodged multiple demolition bullets. In the end, it survived long enough to be protected by preservationists because it would have cost too much to tear down. It was landmarked in 1977, de-landmarked the same year and re-landmarked in 1989. In 2003, it was taken apart and restored. Last fall, a London-based architects Kevin Carmody, Andrew Groarke, Chris Hardie and Lewis Kinneir won a competition to create a “Parachute Pavilion” next to the iconic tower–a 7,800-square-foot, glass-enclosed structure with an exhibition space, a restaurant, a bar, and a souvenir shop.

The new lighting scheme designed by Leni Schwendinger involves 17 lamps, 150 lighting fixtures and 450 LEDs. There are six different lighting arrangements for seasonal changes, holidays and the lunar cycle. The light show will run from dusk until midnight from May through October and from dusk through 11 PM the rest of the year. Tonight, all of the lighting arrangements will be used. The weekly Friday night beach fireworks show follows the lighting, which is scheduled for 9 PM.

• Parachute Jump History [Amusement Parks.Com]
• A History of the Parachute Jump [BayRidge.Com]
• Thrill of a Lifetime [Preservation Online]
• Parachute Jump [wikipedia]

The Empty Vessel Project–the revived WWII rescue boat being converted to community use on the Gowanus–celebrates its first birthday on Saturday with a party on the Big G that is certain to rock. The boat is docked on the west side of the canal at the foot of First Street, one block south of Carroll Street Bridge. (Just look for it from the bridge. You can’t miss it.)

The Empty Vessel Project provides some birthday background:

8am, July 8, 2005, EV left her previous home on Westchester Creek in the Bronx under her previous moniker, KOKKOMOKO and under the power of one stout grey tug. With no engines to guide her, she was at the mercy of the lines tied taught through her gaping windows and the wits of her bleary-eyes crew.

The tug had the world-weary Francios at its helm. Having just signed away his ownership of the tattered vessel for a dollar, he had made a promise to deliver her safely to her new home on the Gowanus Canal. A fabulous promise and a promising journey with the outbound tide…Our first obstacle was a draw bridge and the mouth of the Westchester Creek. High tide was meant to carry us out, cut down on fuel for the muscle boat and sweep us out to the hudson river with ease. But as we approached the bridge we heard Francios holler, “Are we gonna clear it?” One of our crew scrampled up to the roof of the bridge. “No!”

Lines taught, engine reversed, grinding sound of steel on half-a-century old mohagany. EV and her tug jackknifed in the creek to avoid a collision that would have knocked the bridge off EV’s deck. The tug nudged EV sideways to the pilons of the bridge. We tied up and waited. Finally the bridge opened and we were headed south again…Out of the creek, we passed ancient ship wrecks, NYC’s floating prison, Roosevelt Island, Manhattan Island, Redhook and finally made it to the mouth of the Gowanus Canal.

July 8, 2005 was a scorcher. 98 in the shade. By the time we arrived at the Gowanus, the temperature had risen past a hundred. The drawbridge operators refused to open the 9th Street bredge for fear that expanded metal would not permit it to close again under such furious temperatures.

We tied up to the Lowe’s parking lot and began negotiating. “After the sun goes down?” “Nope – it’s gotta cool.” “What if we ice it?”

Francios and his crew took off for home as we tried to talk our way up the canal. No luck. EV was doomed to spend her first night in her new incarnation tied up to the Lowe’s lot. We slept on her to guard her.

GL wishes the Empty Vessel Project the happiest of birthdays in her new life and in her new home on the Gowanus.

(The photo is from f.trainer, one of our favorite flickr photographers.)

• Light the Parachute [coneyislandshortcakes]
• Landmark Parachute Jump to be Lit Up Friday Night [NY1]
• Stars, Art Brut Head Up Siren Fest [CMJ]
• Weekend on the Water [Sail Bklyn]
• Check Out the Transit Museum on the Cheap [Bklyn Record]
• Pedestrian Run Down in Red Hook after Nabe Pleas Ignored [NYObserver]
• Heavy Metal in Clinton Hill [Brownstoner]
• Midnight Red Hook Bike Ride [burnsienna]
• Breakfast Porn, Puppet Libraries and More [Bklyn Record]
• Not Enough L Trains [NYDN]
• $250K Bail Set for Greenpoint Fire Suspect [NYTimes]
• Yassky Thinks Miss Bklyn Should be Halved [AYR]
• Hungry Cabbie Eats Culpepper’s [Gothamist]
• Red, White and Blueberry [Eating for Bklyn]

If you want to sit in a Brooklyn Park with your laptop and can’t wait for Prospect Park to be wired, you can always hit Brooklyn Bridge Park. The park went wi-fi as of the end of May, but the system has experienced some down time and weak signals. The Brooklyn Bridge Park network was created by NYC Wireless, which is a nonprofit that has also set up wi-fi in Union Square Park, Tompkins Square Park and Stuyvesant Cove Park. NYC Wireless has also helped wire other parks in Manhattan, has wired some public housing and maintains a directory of free wireless hotspots.

Bonus Prospect Park Love:

Dig bats? (The flying, Dracula movie kind, not the New York Mets ones). Check out Dope on the Slope’s account of his hunt for bats in Prospect Park, which apparently is home to them in great abundance. According to Dope, who knows his nature, the bats he observed were little brown bats with 8-10 inch wingspans, “the most common species in the park.” There may also be, Dope writes, big brown bats , which have wingspands of 12 inches or more. Best viewing times are about 8:45-9:15 and some of them can be spotted around the Picnic House so if you want to point and click at night, you can put some Bauhaus on your MP3 player and do your wireless thing with the bats.

Dig fishing? Well, do your kids like it? The 59th Annual Macy’s Fishing Contest is happening from July 12 through 16 from 10AM to 4PM at the Audobon Center. The contest is open to anyone 15 and under.

Dig classical? The New York Philharmonic plays Long Meadow on Tuesday, July 11 at 8PM. Xian Zhang conducts as the orchestra plays Tchaikovsky’s Coronation March and Violin Concerto, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. The evening ends with a fireworks display. Twenty-four, 15-foot speaker towers are promised. And, possibly, bats.

There’s a new spot opening in Park Slope on Sunday, July 9. It’s called Union Hall and it’s located at 702 Union, above Fifth Avenue. The owner’s myspace blog says they’re opening around 6 and describes Union Hall as “a brand-spankin’ new bar, located in lovely Park Slope, Brooklyn. you’ll find me just off 5th Ave., at 702 Union Street, next to the gym. i’ve got two bocce courts (my sister bar is Floyd NY in Brooklyn Heights), TONS of cozy seating, a delicious menu of tasty bar food, and an AMAZING downstairs room for private parties, rock shows, and lots of other eclectic and awesome events. i don’t mean to brag, baby, but i’m huuuuuuuuge. if you know what i mean. ” Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn took a peek inside and reports it’s “quite elaborate in there — like an old library or something. Lots of books,
shelves, etc. I think there’s going to be music there as well.”

Bocce courts!

It’s a short week, but there’s no lack of activity to report in the ongoing War for the Hearts and Minds of Brooklynites over Atlantic Yards.

First, No Land Grab reports that the Park Slope Food Coop will be screening an 18-minute short film called “A Walk Through the Footprint” on Friday (July 7) at 7:00 PM. It profiles several Prospect Heights residents facing eviction because of the Forest City Ratner highrise and arena development. (The 16-building megaproject would displace about 800 people.) Modeled on PBS’s “Walk Through” series, the film shows opponents visiting some of the residents that would be displaced. It was produced by Coop member and filmmaker, George Lerner, who has made a series of short films on Brooklyn neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Red Hook for the website TurnHere.com. The Coop is at 782 Union in Park Slope.

Second, Forest City Ratner’s latest salvo is a session to talk up the 2,250 units of affordable housing the massive development would produce. Yesterday FCR placed an ad in the Daily News and sent out an email blast via its Atlantic Yards News about a session being held at the Brooklyn Marriott on Tuesday, July 11 at 6:30 PM. As per most Atlantic Yards events hosted by the developer, access is being restricted to a pre-screened, pre-approved list of attendees. To go, one must email or call FCR with a name and phone number and get an email confirmation. Gowanus Lounge calls this the Norman Oder Verboten/Nicht No Land Grab/Nein Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Clause.

Third, the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods is preparing for the battle over the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement by holding meetings to “prepare the community to respond” to the (very likely) contentious document. The first meeting will be held the same day Atlantic Yards holds its affordable housing meeting. The neighborhood meeting is at St. Cyril’s Belarusian Cathedral, Atlantic Avenue and Bond Street, on July 11 at 7 PM. No, um, advance clearance or permission is required to attend.

Fourth, Develop-Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is holding a “Rally Against Ratner’s Skyscraper City and Arena Over-development” at Grand Army Plaza on Sunday, July 16. It starts at 2PM and features a long line up of officials such as Council Members Letitia James and Charles Barron, Actor Steve Buscemi and a variety of entertainers. Look for flyers to be up soon everywhere.

Nathan’s would remain in place. But Mr. Sitt [Joe Sitt of Thor Equities, the developer] plans to replace the bumper boats and go-cart track with a year-round water park on the east side of Stillwell Avenue that would be connected to a family-oriented, S-shaped hotel, which would include apartments and time-share units.

On the west side of Stillwell, there would be a second, more luxurious, 500-room hotel and a condominium tower on the Boardwalk. Plans call for a dramatic entrance to the complex. The towers, ranging from more than 20 stories to more than 30 stories, would sit atop a shopping center, a modern game arcade and a multiplex theater.

Thor Equities is s talking to Nickelodeon about developing a family-oriented hotel and to race car driver Mario Andretti about “a racing attraction.”

(We played with a Google map to show the development parcel, which is above.)

We do know that the scale of the highrises is likely to spark controversy as is the plan to put housing in the “amusement zone” south of Surf Avenue, an idea that is likely to meet with some opposition, especially if Dick Zigun and his allies have a voice in shaping the plan. There are also those that have questioned why someone would want to build an indoor water park in a place people visit in order to be outdoors.

The outcome will depend heavily on zoning changes that the city opts for after a consultant’s study is completed. While there are few that would argue that the Coney boardwalk in its current state is a desirable thing, you can expect that proposals for luxury apartment towers on the boardwalk will lead to bloodshed as will anything likely to make Coney less of a “beach” attraction and more of a Times Square sort of place.

The third and final issue of the Brooklynite, which has folded, is currently online and has some interesting Brooklyn stories worth a look, as did its first two print issues. It saddens us that Brooklynite couldn’t make a go of it, but reminds us that publishing real, paper magazines is a tough business.

The NY Sun, meanwhile, uses news of this wonderful magazine’s demise to draw a basic conclusion that it’s impossible to successfully publish a magazine in Brooklyn and to take some digs at the borough in general. In fact, the paper gloats in a very aggravating way. Here’s a taste:

Just last summer, Brooklyn had a whole stack of glossy magazines devoted to chronicling the borough’s supposed renaissance. Since then, all of those magazines have run out of money, and today, the only one still standing is the Brooklyn Rail, a nonprofit that gets most of its operational budget through arts grants.

The latest to fold is the Brooklynite, a free, glossy quarterly that has called it quits after just one year due to lack of funds. Until a few months ago, the editor, Daniel Treiman, had been planning to publish a third issue, but financial woes forced him to shelve the project and instead settle for posting online the material already written.

The Brooklynite joins a graveyard full of other failed Brooklyn magazines, including NRG, the self-proclaimed “Pulse of Brooklyn,” which ceased print publication last year; BKLYN Magazine, a lifestyle book that went on indefinite hiatus last month, and Brooklyn Bridge Magazine, a general-interest periodical that folded in 2000.

In addition to the “supposed renaissance” jab, the writer goes on to call Brooklyn “quite provincial,” before offering a fairly cogent explanation of why it’s hard to make a financial go of publishing a magazine in Brooklyn. Of course, one might add that the fundamentals of the publishing business say that it’s hard to make a go of publishing any magazine and that a publisher needs to have very deep pockets and be prepared to sustain years of losses before turning a profit.

This is all the more entertaining in light of the conservative Sun’s own financial and circulation struggles, which are lovingly chronicled over at Gawker. Now, about those unsolicited copies of the Sun that keep piling up at our door in our parochial and supposedly renaissance digs in Brooklyn…Give the trees a break.

Us, we await a Brooklyn magazine venture that will marry a patient publisher to thoughtful editorial content and a good marketing strategy.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news stories and blog entries. (The photo above is the 2006 version of the Giglio on Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, photographed on July 3):

• Suitcases: Story of Park Slope Bomb Scare [OTBKB]
• Weekly Food and Drink Roundup [Bklyn Record]
• Latest Brooklyn Boom: Failure of Glossy Magazines [NYSun]
• Cleansed [The Brooklynite]
• The End [The Brooklynite]
• Dead Meadow and The Double to Play McCarren Pool [Free Williamsburg]
• Volunteers Needed for McCarren Pool Parties [Bklyn Vegan]
• Fireworks in Greenpoint [justiNYC]
• Bats in Prospect Park [Dope on the Slope]
• Rain, Gravestones and a Horse [Runs Bklyn/Bklyn Runs]

In the It Must Have Been a Wild Fourth of July category, Curbed got and posted the following e-mail that went out to residents of an undisclosed Prospect Heights condo today:

Residents and their guests are not allowed to engage in sexual acts on the roof or in any other area outside of the privacy of a unit. A couple was observed engaged in sex on the roof (not the 4th floor deck) outside the stairwell by the 10th floor compactor shoot. Please be respectful of our building’s residents, which includes children of all ages, and our guests. Also, remember that unit owners are responsible for the actions of their guests.

This particular situation could have been very embarrassing to the unit owner that observed the situation as they had guests over the weekend and the culprits were plainly visible from a unit owner’s deck. Personally, I hope that this is the last time a matter like this has to be brought to the Board’s attention.

To this email missive, Gowanus Lounge can add absolutely nothing.

Hats off to Brownstoner for breaking the (depressing) news that one of our favorite Gowanus businesses, the Gowanus Nursery may get kicked out of its home because of land sale. Writes Brownstoner, who has adorned his garden with Gowanus Nursery greenery:

The bloom is off the rose at 102 3rd Street. From what we hear, the owner of the lot that has been home to the Gowanus Nursery for the past several years is close to selling the lot, which runs all the way through to 4th Street. Word is that there are two bidders at around $1.3 million. Anyone have any suggestions for finding the nursery a new home?

We were already bummed at the passing of the long weekend and, now, this.

Listen hard and you can hear the winds of change blowing through the hood.

The shortcakes come in large and small sizes, priced at $5 and $3 respectively. Each is a wonderful dish with a foundation of shortcake biscuits topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. The biscuits are tasty and the strawberries are fresh and soaked in their own sugary juices. The whipped cream is light and fresh. Gowanus Lounge suggests taking your time with the shortcakes so as to allow the strawberry syrup to soak into them.

We had ours while talking with Dan and Kalene, the two super friendly and nice Prospect Heights residents who created stand and make and sell the shortcakes. “We didn’t want to spend the summer sitting at our computers,” Kalene said of their decision to put in long workdays on the Brooklyn Riviera. Both are graphic artists and designers, and they produce a magazine called Sherbert as a side project. Unfortunately, our conversation was cut short because a nasty thunderstorm was building on the evening we visited. After one too many bolts of lightening snaked down from the sky and a stampede began to get to the Stillwell Avenue subway station before the deluge, we finished our excellent shortcake and ran for cover too.

To call the shortcakes the best thing that have happened to desert on the boardwalk food-wise in a long, long time is not an overstatement. Gowanus Lounge remembers desperately seeking some sort of desert one night last year (that didn’t involve some sort of vile deep fried food) and settling on the boardwalk outpost of McDonald’s for an ice cream.

By the looks of things, the shortcakes are doing well. Next time you’re in Coney Island and your sweet tooth starts calling you, head to the Strawberry Shortcakes stand. You’ll be glad you did.

Live Blogging the Coney Hot Dog Eating Contest [Gothamist]
Coney Island on Comeback Trail [Asbury Park Press]
At Coney Island Freaky Side Still Shows [LATimes]
Down by the Boardwalk, a $1 Billion Revival Plan [NYT]
Coney Island–Hot Dog Conetest and More [423 Smith]
Village Voice Arrives in Red Hook [Callalillie]
Atlantic Yards Sponsoring Coney Volleyball [Atlantic Yards Report]
Dramatic Brooklyn Rescue [NYDN]
Grand St. Bridge/Torn Flag in Gowanus [bluejake]
July 4 Immigration & Patriotism [Bklyn Ramblings]

(Handy Giglio pronunciation guide: It’s pronounced Jill-Yo, not Gig-Lee-oh.)

Details and feast schedule are available at the Giglio website and there’s an excellent background on the Giglio feast at Giglio USA’s website. The first Giglio feast in Williamsburg took place in 1903.

We admit that we’re a bit overly focused on what could happen to Brooklyn, and all of New York City, in a hurricane. But did you look closely at the Office of Emergency Management‘s hurricane evacuation map when the revised version came out last week? If you did, you will have noticed exactly how much of Brooklyn will be underwater in the (admittedly unlikely) event of a monster hurricane. But still, it looks like about one-third of our fair borough will look a lot like the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

And we’re not talking about under a little bit of water. Storm surges could be up to 30 feet in some parts of the borough. That’s about three stories worth of water. You will note on the map below that all of Manhattan south of Canal Street in under water.

A snippet of the map is below. Orange areas get nailed in any sort of hurricane. Yellow in a Category Two and Green (the really scary stuff) in a Category 3 or 4. If a Category 5 strikes New York, we suppose that we become a part of the history books under Global Warming and that future generations in the desert around Minneapolis will read about what happened to us and shake their heads.

Now, those of you that aren’t interested in things more than 24-48 hours old probably won’t want to click on this next link, but if you want to read a riveting account of what a hurricane will do to New York, you should check out Aaron Naparstek‘s superb article in the New York Press in July 05. The devastation that Naparstek outlines makes could make New Orleans look like minor, if only because the scope of the flooding in New York will be so much larger.

• Where the Muskets Once Roared (Old Stone House, P. Slope) [NYT]
• Today is July “Pour” [NYPost]
• Handicapping Hot Dog Contest [Gothamist]
• Eat Hot Dogs! [coneyislandshortcakes]
• July 4 at Coney: American Dreamland [Online Journal]
• Brooklyn July Events [About Bklyn]
• Mermaid Parade Helped Turn Coney Around [Bklyn Eagle]
• Closed for the Holiday [NYDN]
• Happy Fourth of July! [z.madison]
• Catch [Lex’s Folly]
• Save New Orleans 4 Reel [bluejake]
• Bicycle Fetish Day in Williamsburg [Bklyn Ramblings]

Once you’re in DUMBO, of course, it’s a great place from which to watch the fireworks.

When I was just a boy my parents would take me to Coney Island for July 4th. This was 1947, a few years after WW II, when the Cyclone roller coaster roared down from the sky, the Wonder Wheel rose in the hot sun and later the great parachute jump spilled its screaming couples 220 feet down to a jolting halt, a few feet from the sprawling boardwalk, the planked wood stretching from the proletarian Brighton Beach to the elegant gated community of Sea Gate. All this life punctuated by disastrous fires and marvelous restoration, shedding its stars, like Durante, Mae West, Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor, into America.

Between them, Nathan’s hot dog stand grew on Surf Avenue to the mother of all fast food joints, with the greatest hot dogs, French fries, fresh fried seafood, roast beef and hot buttered corn you could imagine on working people’s wages, plus a July 4th hot dog eating contest. Is this America or is it just Brooklyn? Or are they one?

Well, it’s the Fourth, so we won’t produce an avalanche of words, just some links to photos below, and a link to the Coney Island Voices Oral History Project, which is way cool.

Cool Coney Photos:
What a Magical Place [coneyislandshortcakes]
Coney Island, July 2, 2006 Set [rsguskind’s flickr set]
Coney Island Days flickr Pool [Coney Island Days]
28,963 Coney Photos on flickr [flickr]

Then, the boat headed back north. This time, it went around Governors Island on the Statue of Liberty side to Battery Park and, then, up the West Side of Manhattan to 44th Street. Then, we reversed course, going back down the West Side to Battery Park and, then, south to Red Hook again and, finally, back up the Buttermilk Channel to Fulton Ferry Landing.

GL got to watch an ever-changing cast of tourists, acquired a windblown look and shot a, um, boatload of cool photos of Brooklyn.

We note with amusement that the Water Taxi tour guide person said (his words, not ours), as the boat passed the remains of the Greenpoint Terminal Market that the building was torched because the landlord wants to put up 40-story highrises, but that the landlord denies having anything to do with it. We can only conclude he doesn’t think the drunk the police arrested had anything to do with it.

There are a few more photos of Brooklyn from the water below, and bunches more in our Brooklyn from the Water flickr photoset.

Williamburg View up Broadway

Red Hook Waterfront

Domino Sugar, Williamsburg

Remains of Greenpoint Terminal Market, Greenpoint

Princess Cruise Ship, Red Hook

Fourth of July: Fireworks, Extreme Hot Dogs & Cruises [newyorkology]
Fourth of July Guide [7online]
Fireworks Viewing Spots [NYDN]
Coney Island Pig Out [OTBKB]
Fourth of July NYC Guide [About NYC]
Vitamin Steve’s Fourth of July Extravadanza [vitaminsteve]
DUMBO 4th of July Block Party [dumboblockparty]

Gowanus Lounge has seen the Brooklyn New Store Zombie Look before–glazed eyes, disbelief, somewhat slack jaw and a redness that indicates the possible onset of tears. We have witnessed it, not in the United States, but in the old West Berlin, when we walked the streets on the day the Wall came down and watched East Berliners break down and cry at the site of western grocery stores.

The Brooklyn Papers reports that the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce‘s annual economic study finds that a lot of us are still shopping in Manhattan because the 25 million square feet of built retail space is not enough. (Give it another 5-10 years, we think.)

Target’s Downtown Brooklyn location, for instance, is one of the chain’s busiest stores anywhere in the country. (The Brooklyn Paper notes they’re opening another branch near Brooklyn College next fall.)

Among the other noteworthy Bklyn Chamber survey findings:

• Brooklyn lost another 7.6 percent of its manufacturing jobs last year.
• An amazing 41 percent of Brooklyn workers work for the public sector.
• Wages went up 7.8 percent last year and unemployment stood at 5 percent, down from 10.4 percent 10 years ago.

Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related stories, blog items and photos.

Stories and Blog Entries:

• Food with a View (Red Hook Restaurants) [NYT]
• Hook Ports Fight Back [Bklyn Papers]
• What Good is Hysteria if You Can’t Join In? [Callalillie]
• Scoop Du Jour, July 3 [OTBKB]
• Hungry Cabbie Does Randazzo’s Clam Bar in Sheepshead Bay [Gothamist]
• Sonja’s Eats Pocket Guide [Bklyn Ramblings]
• GL Does Coney Island Shortcakes [coneyislandshortcakes]
• Flatbush Farm (Formerly Bistro St. Mark’s) [Daily Heights]

Images:

• Street Panda [davidfg’s flickr stream via gothamist]
• Red Corner 3 [bluejake]
• Holy Fools [rsguskind flickr photostream]
• Porchetta [mlik]
• No Words_Daily Pix [OTBKB]

• Beached [F.Trainer on flickr]
• Elvis is Available [Shield on flickr]
• Bloggers in Hot Tub [dpstyle’s flickr stream]
• Fun Game [bluejake]
• Williamsburg Bridge in Reverse Tilt [justinyc]
• Coney from the Pier [rsguskind flickr stream]
• New Look McCarren Park [Runs with Scissors on flickr]
• Park Slope Vespa [Frank Lynch on flickr]
• Epic Bklyn Bike Ride Map [burntsienna]