[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

This is Plumb Beach in Southern Brooklyn as seen from the bike trail there. The photo comes from one of our favorite GL Flickr Pool contributors, Rubys Host.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, we’ve got blue skies and bright sun. That’s the way it will stay today. The forecast calls for it to be pleasant “with brilliant sunshine” and a high of 82. Tonight will be clear with a low of 61.–Accuweather

Here’s another Williamsburg Wolfie, the stencil that has appeared here and there on some walls and sidewalks. This Wolfie is from Berry Street not far from Radegast Hall.

Prefer your doctor on a poster dressed in a tux, pitching health procedures? “I am quite at a loss for words. Please forgive the poor photography as I was completely unprepared for this inspiration. I am currently contacting my OB/GYN (whom I have yet to notice on ANY poster, mmmmkay?) to cancel as I have been bewitched by the advertising moxy on this guy. Thank You Jay Street!! For once again making all my dreams come true!! And Dr. Nitkin? I’m on my way.” Do check out the pics.–Pistols and Popcorn

Herewith a selection of music being performed between today and Wednesday:

Monday 8/25/08
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

Tuesday 8/12/08
Barbes: Jenny Scheinman (Violinist/Composer) $10, 7:00pm

Wednesday 8/13/08
Jalopy: “Roots n’ Ruckus” w/ Sean Condron (Folk) Free!!, 9:00pm
—Dan Bennis

“What is it about the inexorable approach of the end of summer. Even though I love the fall, and even the winter, when it is not too intense, the approach of the week before labor day brings a little bit of ennui, a rootlessness and sense of endings, of movings on..For most households that include children, adolescents and young adults, when this time of year comes around the scent of salt water, seaweed and suntan lotion begins to curdle and set into the faint whiff of the Death March to Bataan..our household is not much different. So, the other night, we were driven by the urge to hit the beach, to pretend it was Forver Summer. We walked the Boardwalk at Coney Island. First stop, Ruby’s Bar and Grille, just a stumble away from Shoot the Freak!”–DITHOB

What better way to have fun on a warm August Sunday evening than taking a pleasure cruise up Newtown Creek on a tugboat? For the news angle on one of our favorite bodies of water, check out CityRoom, which is reporting the EPA will test around the creek to see if it’s horrendous enough to place in the federal Superfund program.

On Saturday, August 16th, a “Maryland 400” remembrance ceremony was held at the Michael A. Rawley American Legion Post, located between 8th and 9th Streets and Third & Fourth Avenues. A faded New York State historic blue and yellow sign has been hanging in front of the Post on 9th Street commemorating the “Maryland Heroes” since 1952. “Here lie buried 256 Maryland soldiers who fell in the Battle of Brooklyn August 27, 1776,” it simply states.

This past Monday, however, we were surprised to see new signage had joined it—a Revolutionary War Heritage Trail sign (pictured above). Much more visible to the passerby, this illustrated sign states that the vicinity of 3rd Avenue and 9th Street represents “the presumed location of the burial site of more than 250 soldiers of the Colonel Smallwood Regiment from Maryland.” As you continue to read, the role Marylanders played in holding back the British—and enabling the American forces retreat across Gowanus Creek—unfolds with dramatic clarity. After a battle with heavy casualties, the British buried the American dead in mass graves on a hillock in the middle of the swamp. The sign states that the exact location of the burial ground is unknown. But we found a description of the exact location of the site in a wonderful old book, A History of the City of Brooklyn, by Henry R. Stiles.

So, where in Park Slope or Gowanus are they buried????

A little while ago, we had a rant from someone’s whose bike was knocked over and damaged by someone pulling out of a parking space. At least it wasn’t stolen, however:

Two of my motorcycles have been stolen within 6 weeks. Both were parked right in front of my house between Bond and Nevins. Both thefts occurred between 1a and 7a. First motorcycle was a Suzuki DRZ 400sm (prone to theft by most statistics) and the second was a Ducati Hypermotard. My girlfriend’s scooter has survived both of the assaults, minus a wheel which was chained to my Ducati.

The honorable wankers that have stolen the motorcycles clearly knew my schedule, the motorcycles, and how to steal them. By all appearances the job was very professional. I have been in touch with the 84th on several occasions and it appears that the neighborhood has experienced a rise in car break-ins and thefts recently.

Continuing with the vehicle-related theft and/or damage theme, there are also reports from Park Slope of a lot of broken car window glass being seen in the aftermath of an increase in break-ins.

This is part of the somewhat incoherent message that has appeared in the Slope on Seventh Avenue at the former Second Street Cafe location, which will become a Kids Rx. We’re not entirely sure what the message is supposed to say in its entirety except that we can clearly see that it’s related to child hunger. After that, however, the clarity goes downhill.

Check out the full message here.

The Cobble Hill Association and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative are sponsoring a “Cobble Hill Bike Ride” on Sunday, September 14, from 10AM-1PM. It starts at Cobble Hill Park. Participants should email name and daytime phone number to cobblehillbikeride@gmail.com.

To read some of the email details, click here.

This is a self-described “rant” from Brooklynian to a person who knocked over someone’s motorcycle while pulling out of a parking space and, uh, hurt it a little bit:

How did you not see my motorcycle parked right in front of your vehicle?!? Thank you for being so careless as to, while pulling out of your parking space, drive into it and knock it over, HARD. You hit it hard enough to knock it over, despite the fact it was leaning downhill! Oh, and thanks for the green paint you left rubbed into my frame.

Thank you for standing it back up, trying to pretend as if nothing happened, despite the fact it was dumping both oil and radiator fluid. Hope you got some on your pants. Thank you for driving off, without leaving a note. I now need to replace a number of very expensive parts on the bike, thanks to your carelessness. Way to be a neighbor. Take some responsibility next time.

Another motorcycle -related item in a bit.

It’s a few seconds of vid we shot on Saturday afternoon on the Boardwalk in Coney Island.

[All photos courtesy of Katie Lee Rush]

Indie rockers Yo La Tengo headlined yesterday’s final Sunday Pool Party at McCarren Pool, ending a series that’s filled Williamsburg with music on summer Sunday afternoons for three years. GL’s new Music Correspondent Katie Lee Rush shot all the photos above. She described the show as “crowded, but not packed,” noting that there was still room for a few people to have attended. She writes:

Until Yo La Tengo came on, most party goers were seated or lying down on beach mats from the Topshop booth. During YLT’s set, there was room for a body between people, but only near stage. You could still find empty patches of about 5 feet around outer edges of pool and above. Yo La Tengo sounded gritty and slightly droning, but played thoughtfully crafted rock n roll. It was humming, never overflowing, with intensity, as they played soft, poppy songs. There was not a ton of jumping up and down, or enthusiastic dancing, or singing along, but thousands of pairs of eyes focused, maybe captivated, by the subtle rock legends.

And so it ended, but Jelly NYC’s Alexander Kane told Katie that “We’re gonna be doing this next year on the [Williamsburg] waterfront. We’re gonna have fun next summer, too.”

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Man Goes to Meet Woman from Craigslist is Robbed, Shot & Dies [NYDN]
· Power Broker Clarence Norman’s Life is Different Today [NYP]
· McCarren Park Observed [NYT]
· Will New Head of ESDC Check Out AY Footprint? [AYR]
· Sign Check at Triangle Junction Mall [Brooklyn Junction]
· Visiting the New Pomegranate Supermarket on Coney Island Ave. [DITHOB]
· Pomme de Terre Deemed Chichi [Flatbush Vegan]
· Eat a Peach? [A Year in the Park]
· Greenwood Heights Reformed Church, Then & Now [BVIB]
· 184 Kent Cleans Up Its Historic Facade [WGPA]
· The Cortelyou School of Rock [Ditmas Park Blog]
· Urban Gravestone for a Recent Victim [Bed-Stuy Banana]

Here’s a little something interesting to start the last week of August: Some residents on and near the southern end of Court Street in Carroll Gardens (near the elevated Gowanus Expressway) are saying that they are noticing an unusual number of dead birds. The word comes via some email exchanges on the BoCoCa Parents Group, with one person describing the bird deaths as “a sharp uptick” and at least once other concurring that there are some dead birds around. Here’s the first email:

This is odd but has anyone (but me) noticed a sharp uptick in dead birds on the south end of Court street? Any ideas why this might be happening? I’ve so far managed to avoid either my son or dog playing with one but lately I’ve seen one or two every day.

And, there’s at least one response so far corroborating the observation:

I have noticed some too– today on a side street right by someone’s front door and once in our tiny yard, by columbia street. weird!!

Yet another resident speculates that West Nile Virus could be the culprit:

Please report any dead bird to the board of health through 311. West Nile could be the culprit, and the City has done very little about the mosquito problem in Brooklyn. West Nile is transmitted through mosquitoes and can, in rare cases, infect people making them very sick.

Further reports as we get them.

It seems like a statement of incredible optimism these days that a neighborhood would be working to get an indie bookstore–given the attrition rate of existing ones all over NYC–yet that’s exactly what Fort Greene is doing. There’s even a kickoff event for the Fort Greene Indie Bookstore Initiative on September 16. Per an email we received:

Last year the Fort Greene Association’s retail committee surveyed 380 locals about their shopping preferences. 75 percent of respondents (281) cited bookstores as a category in which they wanted more choices. To meet this need, the Fort Greene Indie Bookstore Initiative (FGIBI) embarked on a campaign to find an independent bookstore. After months of talking with Brooklyn-based bookstores, the group met Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, a Brooklyn entrepreneur who won the 2007 Brooklyn Public Library PowerUp! Competition for her business plan to open a bookstore in Fort Greene.

The would-be bookstore owner, who lives in Park Slope, also has a blog.

[Photo courtesy of Erinmelina/GL Flickr Pool]

Check out that Sheepshead Bay sky outside Randazzo’s Clam Bar on Emmons Avenue. Opinions about Randazzo’s may vary, but should be fairly more uniform regarding the sky.

“Long before the “humpbacked” street signs showing cross streets were installed on cast-iron lamps in the 1910s…long before porcelain, enamel and aluminum embossed signs appeared in the 1950s…and long before color-coded vinyl and aluminum signs appeared around 1964 (the green and white successors of which still dominate around town) … there were street signs chieseled onto building corners. Still popular in Europe, these signs dominated street identification for almost a century.” There are many photos of these old beauties, which you may have noticed if you’ve ever looked up at certain intersections.–Forgotten NY

[Photo courtesy of lornagrl/GL Flickr Pool]

This pic placed into our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool by lornagrl almost leaves us speechless. It is classically Coney Island and absolutely timeless.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory right now it’s cloudy and dark. Today’s forecast calls for “intervals of clouds and sun with a shower or thunderstorm around.” The high will be 87. There will be some showers and thunderstorms around tonight too; otherwise it will be partly cloudy. The low will be 65.–Accuweather

Remember the “upsetting incident” of oral sex on the steps of 15th Street F Train stop that made a stir a couple of weeks ago? Well, the women’s shelter that was implicated in the incident has sent out an email about it, apologizing for the “graphic public vulgarity” to which someone was exposed. (There was no proof that the woman involved lives at the shelter, which is located at the Park Slope Armory.) Here it is:

On behalf of CAMBA Park Slope Women Shelter we apologize that you and your family were exposed to that graphic public vulgarity. We are not sure that the homeless female individual you observed resides or has resided at our facility, but we have addressed all of our program participants about the situation. All of our residents agreed to uphold our “Good Neighbor Policies” while they reside at our facility. Any acts of public vulgarity or outlandish behavior in the nearby community will not be tolerated. On some occasions we do have residents that violate our Good Neighbor Policy and they are addressed directly by the shelter administration and, if necessary, in cooperation with the New York City Department of Homeless Services.

To read the rest of the thoughtful response, click here.

Today’s Sunday CL Missed Connection comes to us from Park Slope and mixes bicycling, lust and romance, which are all good topics:

“ya like, bikes?” cute biker on 7th ave by garfield st – w4m – 24 (park slope)

it was around 12:30am tonight (friday am) and i was walking down 7th ave with my head in the clouds when i heard an approaching noise, i turned around and saw you and your friend biking by. as i turned you actually said “ya like, bikes?” i assumed you were talking to me, since it would have been weird to ask your friend, who clearly also liked bikes. it was quick, but you were really cute! i laughed out loud, but i wanted to respond more appropriately, which i guess would have been “yes, i do like bikes.” i’m tall, long curly brown hair, blue jeans and shirt. you might have had glasses but definitely longish brown hair, possibly plaid shirt? you still with me? let’s go biking, or get drinks, or ride our bikes to getting drinks.

He likes bikes. She likes bikes. Please get together.

[Photo courtesy of galvarez51/GL Flickr Pool]

Today, this is a Nathan’s outpost and Cha Cha’s. Shoot the Freak would be to the right. Old timers still look at the building on the Coney Boardwalk and call it The Atlantis.

We have no idea whose work this, but we do like this art that we found wheatpasted to a Williamsburg wall the other day. It clearly has to do with money and the burning thereof.