The new St. Alp’s Teahouse on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg has been open for a couple of weeks. It occupies the site of a former laundromat–one of the useful businesses that are quickly disappearing in the neighborhood, although we do have to say that the toast and the deep fried shrimp balls were pretty good. Clean sheets. Shrimp balls. Same difference.

That didn’t take long. This is a poster of President Elect Obama in the window of a bodega on the Boerum Hill side of Fourth Avenue, which is rather magnificently placed next to a sign for bottles of Poland Spring for a buck.

And, now, some musical options for the first half of the week:

Monday 11/10/08
The Bell House: Monday Night Vinyl Club (In the Front Lounge) Bring one 33/45/78 rpm record and play one side of it. Free!!! 7:30pm

Jalopy: Country Blues Jam: Bring you fiddle, accordion, banjo, washtub, mandolin, guitar, or maybe even spoons and participate in an open jam session. Free!! 9:30pm

Union Pool: Team B, featuring members of Beirut, & The Arcade Fire (Indie) $8, 8:00pm

Tuesday 11/11/08
Bar 4: Open Mike Night: Hosted by Tanya Buziak Pre-list @ 6:15pm, Sign up @ 8:00pm, Start @ 8:30pm (mostly Singer-Songwriters) Free!!

Wednesday 11/12/08
Barbes: Mary Halvorson Trio: CD Release Party!!!! (Jazz/Avant-Garde) $10, 7:00pm & 8:30pm
—Dan Bennis

This week’s Craiglist Missed Connection section was a goldmine. So, we’ve got a couple of leftovers, starting with this one:

Missed Connection w/ Hipster D-Bag – Beacon’s Closet yesterday – w4m – 28 (williamsburg)

I was trying on shoes yesterday in Beacon’s Closet in Williamsburg when you approached me. Tall and lanky, wearing a too-short cardigan and too-tight jeans, you were too young for that old-man fedora on your head, and definitely too white for those vintage Cazals on your face (those are $500 glasses, trust fund much?). Having never been to Beacon’s Closet before, I thought maybe you were approaching me to ask if I needed help (a conceit that is probably causing regular Beacon’s shoppers howl with mirth at my naivete). But no, you had in fact come to scold me for the fact that I was sitting on a chair that was for sale, and of course you did it in the most scowling, attitude-laden, obnoxious way possible:

‘….my non-anorexic-hipster ass…’

[Photo for GL Courtesy of F. Jasmin Adams]

After the co-owner of Bagels on The Park in Carroll Gardens died, a kind of Bagel Shrine went up on Smith Street in his honor. It has been up for several weeks, in front of the Gowanus Yacht Club, which the bagel store adjoins.

We didn’t realize this until we saw this mentioned somewhere, but the city isn’t collected rakes leaves for composting this year. Here’s the link to the Department of Sanitation News Release. And here’s some of what it says:

Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty announced today that raked autumn leaves will be collected with regular household refuse on regularly scheduled days this Fall. Leaves will not have to be placed out in large paper lawn and leaf bags this year. In recent years, fall leaves were collected separately from refuse on special Sunday pickups and turned into high-quality compost that was returned to city residents during fall and spring compost givebacks. “Tough financial times require that tough decisions be made. We hope to resume our popular seasonal leaf collection and composting program soon,” said Commissioner Doherty.

There you have it.

· Ice Hockey, Brookyn-Style [NYT]
· Bike Ridership Up on All Three Brooklyn Bridges [NYDN]
· Concept of East River Bridge Tolls as Popular as Ever [Gothamist]
· Ah, just another Stop Work Order on Another Building [PMFA]
· Beta Spaces in Bushwick [New York Shitty]
· Favorite Ditmas Park Things [Brookynian]
· Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument Having Centennial This Weekend [CHB]
· Want a Wooden Phone Booth? Go to Farrell’s in Windsor Terrace [Lost City]
· Brooklyn TKTS Now Open Saturday, Closed Monday [McBrooklyn]

This is the Santorini Grill a brand new, grandly opened restaurant on Grand Street a few storefronts from Bedford Avenue. Greek food with a fascinating looking menu.

[Click to enlarge]

Here’s one that a lot of people that don’t know this part of Greenpoint don’t know about. The toxic threat from “the Meeker Avenue Plumes.” The issue is complicated. At its most basic there is crap down there that has nothing to do with the Greenpoint Oil Spill that can kill you over the long term. In professional parlance there are “several large plumes of chlorinated solvents (TCE & PCE) in the soils and groundwater beneath Greenpoint and East Williamsburg. These plumes are collectively referred to by DEC as the “Meeker Ave. Plume”. The plumes are the result of decades of dumping and irresponsible manufacturing practices by historic and contemporary drycleaning, dyeing, and metalworking businesses.” The stuff is under a lot of homes and even extends to areas where new condos are being built. There’s a wealth of info about it here at the Newtown Creek Alliance’s website. In any case, there’s meeting about the plumes and what’s been found and what can be done clean up the mess and keep people from dropping dead of horrendous illnesses coming up this week. It’s being held by the NY State Dept of Environmental Conservation and the NY State Dept of Health. It takes place at St. Cecilia’s School, which is located at 1 Monitor St. There are two sessions on Wednesday (11/12) from 2PM-5PM and from 7PM-10PM. Per an email, the government reps will be on hand to “answer questions about the site and the recent investigation results, and to provide one-on-one meetings to discuss an individual property owner’s sampling results. Those living in the vicinity of the Meeker Avenue Plume Trackdown site are encouraged to attend.” Just in case anyone wonders WTF the problem is:

During the winter of 2007/2008 DEC/DOH conducted indoor air sampling in East Williamsburg just south of the BQE and discovered hazardous vapors from the Meeker Ave. Plumes in the indoor air of almost every residence they tested. Of the hundreds of homes that are potentially impacted by hazardous TCE and PCE vapors from the Meeker Ave. Plumes, DEC regrettably tested only 12. Of the 12 homes tested: 10 require mitigation, 1 requires mitigation/monitoring, and 1 requires that residents “take reasonable and practical actions to identify source(s) and reduce exposure”. Human exposures to TCE and PCE have been linked to the development of autoimmune diseases, birth defects, nervous system disorders, infertility, and cancer. Hundreds of Greenpoint and East Williamsburg residents and employees are potentially affected.

Twenty percent Special Plume Discounts on all new condos!!!

Here is a tale that involves a “not so neighborly neighbor” that comes via the emails that circulate among our good friends at Park Slope Parents. The issue is at hand is a neighbor who won’t let someone get meep-meeped:

Our neighbor in the rear of our property will not allow access to her back yard for Time Warner Cable/Internet and phone. She states she will not do so “on principle”. Our downstairs tenants went without their own internet account or any cable TV at all and used our ( Time Warner ) wi-fi for years because she did allow access. Now we are also having issues where rewiring for the whole building ( through her yard ) is required to bring any of us internet/cable. She says no.

Speaking of principal: When we first moved in 5 years ago, she poked her head out into our backyard from her window and requested that we rip down all of the ( beautiful ) mature ivy in our yard which was growing on her building. She mentioned a fear of rodents climbing the ivy into her windows. I did it for her. She told me she would pay half of the $$ I spent having the ivy taken down. She never did give me any money, and I never brought it up. I also allowed her and her workman to come into our backyard so she could access whether the ivy did any damage to her building. I offered to allow her workman access to her building through my yard if she wanted to do any repairs.

Actually, she’s just “a bit whacky.”

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack]

GL Contributing Photographer Deborah Matlack took her camera to Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday afternoon, with beautiful results.

We always find articles in foreign publications about Brooklyn particularly amusing. So it is with this article in the Irish Times:

I AM IN Brooklyn two days before I notice it. The sky. It’s 7pm in Park Slope and I’m sure it was bright 10 minutes ago when I went into the supermarket, but now the sky is dark grey with a fading pink stripe. After that I am aware of it all the time, this bowl of colour and cloud over brown rooftops and water towers. I am told that it is one of the reasons Europeans love Brooklyn, that it is one of the things that makes Brooklyn feel like a real place.

Brooklynites talk a lot about Brooklyn. They talk about the Williamsburg Savings Bank and how it used to be full of dentists’ offices before it was converted into condos, with a penthouse owned by Michael Jordan. They point out that the dome over the clock tower is real gold, and the four-sided timepiece below is so reliable no house in South Brooklyn ever owned a clock.

Yes, of course, there’s more.

There will be a public hearing about the mess involving Long Island Hospital this evening sponsored by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Special Assistant to the Borough President Yvonne Graham. It’s called “Long Island College Hospital and the Ongoing Health-Care Crisis in Brooklyn.” It will take place from 6:30-8:30PM in the Brooklyn Borough Hall Courtroom at 209 Joralemon Street (between Court and Adams Streets). Speakers are limited to three minutes and asked to bring ten copies of testimony. Per and email: “This meeting will address the closing of LICH by Continuum. Please take this opportunity to let the BP know what you think…”

[Photo courtesy of Caryn Rose]

This comes from Franklin Street in Greenpoint.

Sure looks pretty shining there in the sun, but is this turkey the biggest gobbler in all of Brooklyn. It started out with astounding prices (higher than Toren and Oro on Flatbush Avenue) and, then, as noted by both Curbed (where we brutalized it) and Brownstoner, got serious price cuts. A new look at Streeteasy shows that not one of these stinkers has sold yet. (Actually, they’re nice looking units. It’s just that the prices seem to have been set by a psycho with a death wish.) We’re betting we’re looking at Rent@Schermerhorn. (Probably with free months thrown in with the lease.) Thoughts?

Here’s a question we found via a circulating email that raises a compelling question: How do you fire your freaking nanny?:

Hi. I am going to let my PT nanny go but was wondering what the practice is with regard to severance. She only works for me on Wednesdays for 7 hours and started less than two months ago. I am letting her go because of performance issues (she has repeatedly clipped my son’s fingernails to the point where they bleed, she is unable to nap him properly, doesn’t take direction very well, etc.). Is it standard practice to let someone go without pay or to pay for one week’s worth or work (which in my case is just one 7 hour day)?

The nanny pictured here is not the nanny being discussed, but we do have another related nanny question on this fall Saturday: Is Veteran’s Day a holiday for a nanny? So many conundrums.

There is nothing like a good Sunday Brooklyn Missed Connection involving a near death experience because we all know that someone nearly killing you definitely pushes that special button of desire. (We’re also softies for bike-related near-death MC’s.) So, here’s this week’s choice:

I almost made you kill me with your bike. – w4m (Clinton Hill)

I haven’t really slept much in the last few days, but that’s hardly an excuse for crossing into a bike lane without looking first. I was so intent on getting home and crossing the street before the light changed that I don’t think I even registered your first shout of warning. So when you had to stop your bike completely to avoid hitting me–it was the first real time I even noticed you were there.

I feel so bad! I bike myself so I should know better. But you were so nice about it, smiling at me in only a slightly annoyed way. And you know what? Maybe it’s a good thing I walked out into that street without looking. Cause your smile is adorable and I never would have gotten a chance to see it otherwise. I am still sorry for interrupting your smooth cruising, though. I’d like to make up for it; we could bike to a coffee shop or a bar, and this time I’d promise not to get in your way.

Just let me know which intersection you almost killed me at and let’s set a date! You wear those fantastic glasses and I’ll bring a new sense of self-preservation. We’re sure to have a good time.

Dude, we hope you find her. She digs you.

A whole bunch of vids of the post-Barack victory street celebrations on Tuesday night-Wednesday morning.

[Image from Bell House courtesy of woodendesigner/GL Flickr Pool]

How many Missed Connections were there in Brooklyn on Election Day and Night. Call them Missed Obamas. You be the judge:

Nov 6 – F train, election night…sneaky Whitney – m4w – 31 – (Cobble Hill)
Nov 6 – Dude who lives at 244 Jackson, I hope you got to vote – w4m – 27 – (The Wrong Polling Place)
Nov 6 – in front of soda bar – election night – w4m – (prospect heights)
Nov 5 – Election night commonwealth, hot guy on a Motorcycle – w4m – 28 – (park slope)
Nov 5 – Curly Hair, L Train, Election Night, You Winked – w4m – 30 – (Williamsburg)
Nov 5 – Obama Celebration at 5th & Union around 1:30 am Election Night – w4m – 28 – (Park Slope)
Nov 5 – Exit Art – Election Night – m4w – 23 – (Bklyn)
Nov 5 – coming home on the F train election night – you had a little flag – m4w – 27 – (brooklyn)
Nov 5 – You Got Arrested. I Took Your Bike. – (Williamsburg)
Nov 5 – Brunette on G train Nov 4 – m4w –
Nov 5 – Dram Shop Election Night – m4w – (Dram Shop )
Nov 4 – Election day in Park Slope – m4w –
Nov 4 – Missed you on the G Train – m4w – 33 –
Nov 3 – For Nikki: We just shared a cab home to Greenpoint from Bedford L – m4w – 25 – (Williamsburg/Greenpoint)

[Photo courtesy of Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

Here’s a classic scene. Bike lane. Bike. Car. It comes from our dear friend and GL Photo Contributor Adrian Kinloch, who in addition to being a superb and talented photographer is also a very, very nice person.

So here’s something interesting that came thru the e-circuit. Next Sun (11/16), Italian pipe organ virtuoso, Mario Duella, will be performing at 7pm at the Brooklyn Baptist Temple (360 Schermerhorn St at 3rd Ave.) If you’ve never been to this church, this is really a great opportunity to have an amazing experience. Not only is the church, itself, absolutely beautiful and has great acoustics, but it also has housed an a wonderful Steere & Son Pipe Organ since 1918. So, if you aren’t scared of the idea of spending a Sunday evening at church to listen to some beautiful pipe organ music, we suggest you head on down there. Culture, not torture. (And if we offend with our personal opinions of church… we are deeply sorry.)
—Vaduz Uvunt

[Photo courtesy June Carter Cash Peep/GL Flickr Pool]

Yes, Ward Bakery in the Atlantic Yards “footprint” is gone and the land will no doubt have a glorious future as either an empty lot or a parking lot for years to come. Perhaps, as time drags on, it can be renamed “Markowitz Grove.”

Remember yesterday’s scare about how Craiglist wasn’t going to be doing “Erotic Services” ads anymore after having reached an agreement with 40 states? Well, we checked in this morning and can report that the NYC section is still going strong. This is a screen cap of the hundreds of early morning Brooklyn ads today done at about 9:45 AM. Sex care workers of the world unite and fight this evil attempt to ban the use of this internet thing. Threaten to take it back to the streets. Suggest that if they don’t let you use CL or Frankslist or whatever, that you’ll just go to Seventh Ave. and Sixth Street in Park Slope and sell it out front of Barnes & Nobles. They’ll have online petitions up in the Slope asking for your right to sell it online faster than you can say “happy ending.” We’re guessing that maybe Eliot Spitzer refused to sign the agreement.

Bishop
Age: +/- 2 Years
Sex: Male
Type: DSH, black (and a little white)
Neutered: Yes
Vaccinated: Yes
Health: Excellent

Neutered during a Trap-Neuter-Return program, Bishop turned out to be very tame. A leg injury brought him into the house and he’s been there ever since. He’s energetic and affectionate, loves to play and nap with equal vigor. He’s great with most cats, he all but adopted some feral kittens we also had in the house. He’s black cat with a lsmall white ‘priest’s collar’. He’s been eartipped but is very sleek and handsome. He also likes to ‘sing’ when he wants your attention, but he has trouble staying in tune!

Marbles
Age: +/- 2 Years
Sex: Female
Type: DSH, Black & White
Spayed: Yes
Vaccinated: Yes
Health: Excellent

She was a tough street cat, but has discovered her inner kitten now that she lives indoors. She is very high energy, she tends to be too much for other cats, so she’d be best in a single-cat home. She has very soft fur, loves backrubs and lounging on the couch. But most of all, she loves to play! Running, chasing, hiding, pouncing, she is tons of fun!

If interested in any of Chris’ foster cuties, please email him at garbageface@gmail.com.

Missed the past weeks cuties?
Annabelle and Augie
Chatzee!
Senor Don Gato

Are we addicted to the forums at Brooklynian? “Addicted” is such a strong word…how about “attached”? Seriously, we can quit anytime we want to. We just don’t want to, that’s all. For those of you who are still social lurkers, we here at GL offer a weekly peek at what’s weird, funny, and gentriconfrontational over at Kings County procrastination central. Think of it as that first gratis hit from the old dope-peddler.

It’s all about the election everywhere this week, and our wacky little corner of the Brooklyn blogosphere (Brooklosphere?) is no exception. We We rejoiced (and gloated a little). We were a little bummed. We dreamed of the future. But don’t worry: not everyone’s happy. That wouldn’t be the Brooklynian way. In other news, we still have insane neighbors. What would Obama do?

—Jean Kahler