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

We’ve had photos of these sunflowers on Union Street near the Gowanus Canal before, but they are endlessly fascinating to us. We like the angle in this pic.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

This photo has all the visual elements of scenic excellence. There is a Richard Nixon poster from Obey, an ATM, a chair and sneakers, all from Williamsburg. Mainly, however, it’s a very good Tricky Dick.

This is Beer Island. The red truck serves BBQ. They are in Coney Island. Like many things there, it makes us smile. We are sad that the official summer season is coming to a close (where did it go?), but Happy Labor Day Weekend!

We’re not clear on the artist here, although we probably should no. The face is on a wall on N. 6 Street in Williamsburg where a lot of art has come and gone over the years.

Here’s a fun time lapse just posted to the YouTube of the stage at McCarren Pool being put together. The whole thing.

We’ve seen people in some Brooklyn neighborhoods complain that, say, their branch banks look like crap (attention Bank of America. Hint. Hint.). Williamsburg ATMs, as can be seen in this photo of one outside a newly upscaled deli on Metropolitan Avenue near Union, are in a class unto themselves. This one, which has several messages, is actually one of the nicer ones in the neighborhood. There is much worse. Then again, the day is coming when the Burg will have bank branches about whose cleanliness people can complain.

There are a couple of skating parties coming up this Labor Day Weekend at the Dreamland Roller Rink in Coney Island. Tonight is a Bollywood Party starting at 7PM:

Bombay meets Hollywood kitsch extravaganza! Sway your hips to the Bollywood’s upbeat and catchy musical films! Featuring a few select pieces from performer Cara Yeates’ fascinating one woman multimedia show “Bye Bye Bombay.” Cross-Cultural Fusion! Dance to DJ Tspoon’s unique hybrid sound of east and west. $12 ($10 reduced) admission/ $5 Skate Rentals (or bring your own). Dress in Bollywood glitz attire – colorful saris, bindis and patterns for reduced price admission!!

Tomorrow night (8/30) is a Saturday Night Fever Skate Party where you can “boogie to soundtracks of Saturday Night Fever and more! Get ready for Roxy’s fantastic DJ Julio disco lovin’ stayin’ alive tunes! Relive the fever with the screening of Saturday Night Fever movie throughout the night while you roller skate!!” Festivities start at 7PM and admission is $14 with $5 skate rentals. Age 21 and over. For more info on all go to the Dreamland website.

We turn now to Sunset Park, where City Council Member Sara Gonzalez took a walking tour of the park this week with Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel. Per a release from Ms. Gonzalez’s office:

The Parks Department officials pointed out the improvements thus far including all new paths, curbs, drains, benches and magnificent plantings all throughout the southeastern portion…Future reconstruction plans include a synthetic turf field that will double as a soccer field and baseball diamond. Commissioner Spiegel assures the Councilwoman that the crushed tire surfacing that has drawn complaints will not be used. Instead, a more cooling surface has been selected. A new state-of-the-art sprinkler system will be installed and antique-appearing rail fencing will replace the chain link fencing at the northern end of the park. The enhancements and upgrades currently in the southeastern portion will be in place throughout the entire park. When the reconstruction is complete, Sunset Park will take its place among the premiere parks of New York City.

Work on the park has been ongoing for some time and $1 million of work was completed in the southeast part of the park in May.

It’s hard to know what to make of the future of Snark in the Park, a brand new blog, except to say that it’s going to take a different kind of look at Prospect Park. What do we mean? Well, the first post is about a spot where one can find many un-parklike things, such as condom wrapper, lubricant containers and the like. In the first post, the snarkmeister writes:

My friends, we’ll eventually get to wildlife and all manner of beautiful things. However, today we make a close examination of a lesser-known Prospect Park ecosystem – the Wild Blooming Condom Groves.

It should be an interesting ride.

Here’s a short documentary just posted to the YouTube about a women’s shelter in Fort Greene. (Warning: it starts with a test pattern and a loud tone of about four seconds.)

It’s been interesting to watch the progress of the huge alternate side parking changeover as it has progressed from Park Slope through Gowanus and now into Cobble Hill. It has not escaped our attention that the greatest commotion arose in Park Slope, where there fears and complaints about people hogging parking spaces and about the alleged build up of filth on streets (both of which, we believe, were unfounded). The process barely merited a blink of an eye in Gowanus and has gone without much in the way of noticeable complaining in Cobble Hill too. In any case, this is the process of street sign change in Cobble Hill, as captured on camera by David Paco Abraham of the Cobble Hill Association.

The developer of 360 Smith Street took his case to build his building tall than allowed by new zoning language to the Land Use Committee of Community Board 6 last night and lost. The vote against the developer’s appeal (which will got the Board of Standards and appeals in any case) was unanimous with three abstentions. Only 20 percent of the building’s foundation was complete when the “Narrow Streets” zoning text amendment was approved by the City Council and the Department of Buildings issued a Stop Work Order on the project. A contingent of residents went to the meeting, according to special GL Correspondent, and spoke against the allowing the building to go to 70 feet rather than the currently allowed 55 feet. Community representatives also apparently pointed out errors in the BSA application. The local group CORD turned in 500 letters opposing the application to be allowed to continue to the 70-foot height. Developer Billy Stein’s lawyers are reported to have left the meeting expressing frustration with the outcome and vowing to continue their appeal to the BSA.

It has been a while since we had an item about our little pigeon friends, but this morning we do. It comes from Carroll Gardens in the form of an email on the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association list. Someone, apparently is feeing pigeons which, in turn, is leading to “a rat and possum problem.” (This is the first time we’ve ever mentioned a possum problem in Brooklyn.) Here it is:

My next door neighbor who lives on the 2nd floor of the building has been feeding pigeons for the past few months on her patio. There are now at least a hundred or more pigeons roosting on her patio and the building on the other side of me when they are not feeding (I had pigeon spikes installed on my roof). My backyard is sandwiched between these two buildings and it’s nearly impossible to sit outside, tend to the garden or simply just walk out there because of the excessive amount of bird excrement and feathers everywhere. I now have a rat and possum problem in my backyard which may or may not be related to the pigeon feeding.

I’ve politely asked her several times to stop feeding them, which lasts about two days. When I contacted the health dept. they gave a citation to the restaurant downstairs from her and never went up to her patio to inspect it. I don’t know what other steps to take…

Updates to follow as necessary.

[Photo courtesy of Charles Andrisano]

This gorgeous photo of the Verrazano Bridge comes to us from contributor Charles Andrisano. He writes, “Did a little night shooting of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge as the sun was setting in the West. This shot is from the bike path, that runs along side the Narrows. The sunset was beautiful.” Yet, it was indeed.

The 2008 Coney Island Rockabilly Festival starts today at Cha Cha’s in Coney Island and runs through the Labor Day Weekend. Tonight’s show (8/29) features: The Memphis Morticians (NYC), The Arkhams (NYC) and Rockets’ Red Glare (NYC). There’s live Burlesque too. Ticket are $15 at the door. Saturday’s show on an outdoor stage will include Jimmy Nations Combo (NYC), Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers (NYC), Sit and Die Co. (NYC) and Guitar Bomb (NYC). Tickets are $5 advance & $8 at the door. Then, Saturday night there’s the 2nd Annual Big Burlesque Blow Out billed as “The Biggest Burlesque Show in the History of Coney Island with Real Live Sideshow. Those tickets are $20 in advance & $25 at the door. It wraps ith the 2008 Miss Pin Up Coney Island Contest on Monday, September 1.

[Photo courtesy of June Carter Cash Peeps/GL Flickr Pool]

This is a house in Boerum Hill. Per the photographer: “In the Midwest, they put campaign signs on their lawns. In NYC, they express their political leanings in mosaic/mural form. This is 108 Wyckoff — otherwise known as the house of hope.”

This is the side of an old building in Williamsburg on N. 8 Street between Driggs and Bedford Avenues that always manages to attract a lot of street art. Work has been going on in the old industrial building itself that at one point seemed to be a prelude to demolition, which would be a big loss. It’s one of those buildings that cries out for someone to renovate and reuse it rather than tearing it down.

We found the Godzilla handlebar ornamentation on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. It lends a certain dignity to the bike, we think.

We haven’t seen any “Summer of Hope” press releases announcing the Cops vs. Cops NYPD Boxing at Beer Island tonight. We only saw the sign hung at the Coney beer drinking establishment announcing the event. The last such event was a Summer of Hope “Beer Brawl” in late July. Details of tonights big cop fight are on the sign.

There are a lot of opportunities to watch Barack Obama’s historic speech accepting the Democratic Nomination tonight. We won’t steal the thunder of someone else’s hard work compiling a list of bars that will be showing the speech. We’ll simply steer you over there to check out the list.–Breukland

Yesterday, we posted a BoCoCa Parents email from a parent upset about what she called “filth” and broken toys at NY City Explorers, a play space for kids at 388 Atlantic Avenue. One of the owners responded, so it’s only appropriate to post what she has to say:

Thank you so much for your feedback about our Atlantic Avenue playspace. Keyanna and I welcome all comments and suggestions from our customers and take them very seriously. We opened on Atlantic Avenue last November and are incredibly grateful that we opened our doors in a neighborhood where families support the services that we offer and come out to enjoy our space. We aspire to be a warm, welcoming place where families can play safely, make new friends, and enjoy a fun and laid-back environment. We green-clean daily and have all carpets and upholstery professionally cleaned on a regular schedule. To keep our hardwood floors spiffy, we mop daily (or more depending upon the customer traffic) and sweep as often as needed throughout the day.

We

The MTA has taken its share of criticism from the community for not informing people in advance of asbestos work. Yesterday, it actually circulated, via the office of Council Member Bill de Blasio, and advance notice about “manhole abatement” work that will take place at the Fourth Avenue F Station after Labor Day. We assume that “manhole abatement” is a euphemism for work that includes asbestos removal. The work will start on Fourth Avenue at 9PM on Tuesday, September 2 and will take place through September 24. Work is scheduled from 9PM to 5:30AM.

The full email from the MTA is ahead.

Herewith a selection of music available for one’s listening pleasure today through the end of the Labor Day Weekend:

Thursday 8/28/08
Southpaw: Hot Peas & Butta- DJ’s Cash Money & Skeme Richards (Funk/Soul) -$7, 9:00pm

Friday 8/29/08
South Street Seaport: Oneida, Endless Boogie, & Special Guest (Indie) –Free!!, 7:00pm

Saturday 8/30/08
Union Hall: Live Band Karaoke w/ Bunny England & The New Originals (Sounds like whatever you want it to sound like)- Free!!, 8:30pm

Sunday 8/31/08
The Yard: Sunday Best: Metro Area, Justin Carter, Eamon Harkin, and Doug Singer (DJ’s)- $8, 3:00pm

—Dan Bennis

We finally had a chance to see and shoot some vid of the “Waterboarding Attraction” in Coney Island. Here’s the action both outside and inside. It’s more hype and political statement than waterboarding, but we imagine that dollar bill collector has been sucking up a bunch of them.

Yesterday, a GL reader wrote with alarm, wondering if Beacon’s Closet on Fifth Avenue (between President and Union) in the Slope might be closing. The email read as follows:

I saw on Trulia this morning that the Beacons Closet space on 5th Avenue is for rent for 8500 beginning November 15th. Can we find out if they are closing? I’m hoping they are looking for a larger space in Park Slope actually, because the place is always so packed!

The answer is that, in fact, they will be moving to a bigger space. Someone at Brooklynian emailed the store and got back the following response: “Beacon’s Closet Park Slope is moving to a larger space on 5th Avenue. Fear not. The move will happen around November. Nothing else about the store is changing. Love, Beacon’s”