The Second Annual Closing of Astroland Forever Spectacle is about to begin. We will have more about that as the situation develops and we attend “Astroland’s Last Day” for a second time as negotiations with developer Joe Sitt about a third “Astroland’s Last Day” next year continue. For now, though, some Astroland vids.

[Photo courtesy of themikebot/flickr]

There will be a forum this Wednesday (8/27) to talk about Williamsburg Walks, the project that shut Bedford Avenue to traffic on successive summer Saturdays. Word comes via the Neighborhood Watch blog from NAG:

Did you enjoy Williamsburg Walks as much as we did? Would you like to see it come back again? Do you have feedback for the organizers on how to improve it? Join organizers of Williamsburg Walks this coming Wednesday the 27th at 6pm at a public forum to discuss the future of the event!…Please come to the public forum to express your praise or constructive criticism. If you are not able to make it to the event, feel free to send a detailed email to williamsburgwalks@billburg.com Feedback will be collated into a section of the Williamsburg Walks Final Report. In the report, we will also include implications of the event, Best Practices, Lessons Learned and potential scenarios for the future….

The meeting will take place at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (66 N 6th) on August 27, starting at 6PM. There’s a full flickr set of pics of Williamsburg Walks from the mikebot, whose pic is above, located here.

Definitely check this out. It’s a very nicely done Point of View ride on the Cyclone.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

This, friends, is the most symbolically exquisite street couch that has come our way (via Miss Heather, of course). It was photographed outside Radiac. What does that mean? Well, Radiac, has a bit of history in the neighborhood and let’s just say that a Geiger Counter placed next to the door, does show a bit of a reaction that does not encourage camping out there.

“I sense big box retail on the Revere lot and the two bus lots. Ramburg and I believe Red Hook Marble are leaving. I’m afraid that Brooklyn Brewery has probably assessed all available space. They are getting priced out. When the economy recovers big box retailers and aggressive luxury residential developers will be the only ones able to afford this real estate. Isn’t Revere $40+ million? Residential might work if they are kept as rentals only. Owners complain. Renters can be removed.”–In the Pool: Revere Sugar Red Hook Survivor

[Photo courtesy of weenieart/Gl Flickr Pool]

This cool shot of a bike at a subway station at an undisclosed Brooklyn location comes from frequent GL Flickr Pool Contributor weenieart. We love it.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory we’re sensing a little bit of a cook up for today. The forecast calls for it to be “more humid with more sunshine than clouds” and a high of 87. Tonight will be partly cloudy with some showers or thunderstorms toward dawn with a low of 69.–Accuweather

[Photo of fountain on Dean Street courtesy of adopt/le-font]

First, the news: There’s a cool program allowing one to “adopt” a fountain like the one pictured above. Here is their message seeking temporary homes for the fountain:

ADOPT/LE-FONT is looking for participants throughout Brooklyn to adopt and temporarily house a simple fountain. The fountains will become available for hosting on September 1 and will remain available for consecutive week-long intervals throughout the month. Adoption is free and open to the public.

For more information one can check here. Now for the interesting part, which is a response on Park Slope Parents that objects to the use of the word “adopt” and asks for the use of the word “sponsor” instead. Here are a few excerpts:

I would hope that whoever is running this campaign would consider changing the wording to “sponser a fountain”. As a parent who adopted my children, I find the original terminology to be unfortunate. Many others in the adoption community dislike this usage as well. I really don’t mind people using the term “adopt” when speaking of adopting a pet. To me, that’s much closer to what it means to adopt. But to adopt a fountain, highway, zoo animal — well, that’s playing on the term adoption (as in adopt a child) with none of the long term commitment.

So, what does the Journalist’s Guide to Adoption have to say?

We have a vid this week of some very available (and dare we say killer cute) kitten available through the Empty Cages Collective:

For info about these lovelies, contact the Empty Cages Collective at emptycagescollective (at) gmail (dot) com. They are also in need of volunteers via the same email. Anyone interested in contributing can do so through Paypal by clicking here. You can learn more about the Collective–which is a new group and very much in need of support–by clicking here. Adopt a kitty or help out the Collective. Seriously good karma is available in return.

In case you’ve got no patience for the video, check out the pic below or see the full photo set by clicking here.

[Photo courtesy of galvarez51/GL Flickr Pool]

There are many pics around of the Thunderbolt, which sat in a glorious state of decay in Coney Island for many years (until demolition crews dispatched by the Giuliani Administration showed up to tear it down without warning). We are always fascinated when we come across them and this one was dropped into our GL Flickr Pool by galvarez51.

This comes from a construction fence on Keap Street in Williamsburg on the site of some new condos going up. Actually, there are condos and rental units going up all around it.

Holy craWow. It’s only a few weeks until the Brooklyn Book Festival comes around again. This year’s event is scheduled on Sunday, September 14 from 10AM-6PM. It will take place a Borough Hall. Much more later, but for now, we’ll copy and paste from the email:

Major free public event: Joan Didion, Richard Price, Jonathan Lethem, Dorothy Allison, Russell Banks, A.M. Homes, George Pelecanos, Terry McMillan, Jonathan Franzen, Susan Choi, Esmeralda Santiago, Thurston Moore, Paul Beatty, Jacqueline Woodson, Chuck Klosterman, Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, Nikki Turner, Elizabeth Nunez, Ed Park, Pico Iyer, Gail Carson Levine, Cecily von Ziegesar, Chris Myers, Jane O’Connor, Jon Scieszka, Mo Willems and more!

The Brooklyn Book Festival is one of America’s premier literary and literacy events—a hip, smart, diverse gathering attracting thousands of book lovers of all ages. The festival is organized around themed readings and devoted to timely and lively panel discussions. The inclusion of top national and international authors and new partners has expanded the festival’s reach while continuing to celebrate and enhance Brooklyn’s contemporary and historic literary reputation. The festival boasts five outdoor stages in Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park, as well as “Reading Rooms” inside beautiful, historic Borough Hall and nearby at the Brooklyn Historical Society and St. Francis College auditorium. An outdoor literary marketplace will include more than 140 booksellers, publishers and literary organizations.

More info here.

[Photo courtesy of vuduzuvunt/GL Flickr Pool]

The photographer calls this “Love all around, except on bills.” It comes from Red Hook.

“Safe Haven Bar and Grill just opened in BarBQ’s old space on 6 Ave and 20 St. Last night was the ‘grand opening’–very packed, good crowd, good beer (it was a Six Point fest), good music, and free food for the opening–catfish fingers were delicious. I hear that the kitchen’s not yet open, but I hope it’ll happen soon! I’m glad a good crew seems to be taking over the space.” [GL Inbox]

[Photo courtesy of lornagrl/GL Flckr Pool]

We suggest you click here to view this photo at a larger size. It is superb. It comes from lornagrl via our GL Flckr Pool.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning, we’re seeing perfection. The forecast calls for a mostly sunny day with a high of 83. Tonight will be clear with a low of 67. Can’t get much better.–Accuweather

We like the way these flowers on Ainslie Street in Williamsburg sort of blend nicely with the painted brick behind them.

We’re calling this one the Brooklyn Fish Camp Leather Sofa because we found it outside Brooklyn Fish Camp on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. It’s definitely more of a Slope couch than a Williamsburg or Greenpoint model.

Here’s a fun segment from WNET in 1998 about a Brooklyn sign painter. Enjoy.

1) The Baluchi’s that we reported more than a year ago that will be coming to Fifth Avenue in Park Slope is still on its way. We think. The interior (pictured above) is still a mess and has a long way to go, but the grates were up yesterday on the two storefronts the restaurant is taking over and there was some sort of work going on inside. The interior showed all the hallmarks of the Indian chainlet’s restaurants, particularly the unique lighting fixture they all feature. It could be one of the slowest restaurant construction jobs in recent memory. No, wait. That honor, we think, probably will end up going to the expansion of Frankies Spuntino on Court Street.

2) Shinju II on Seventh Avenue is a lot closer to opening in the spot once occupied by Inaka Sushi. The restaurant is an offshoot of one with a Pearl Street branch in the Financial District. Menus are up in the window and the interior is coming along.

Check out Shinju II’s menu by clicking here.

Here we go again. “Astroland’s co-owner says she won’t put the storied Coney Island amusement park’s rides up for sale just yet, despite issuing an ultimatum that she would do so if she was not offered a lease for 2009 by Friday. ‘I’m just kind of in this holding pattern,’ Carol Hill Albert told amNewYork on Thursday. ‘I think I’m going day by day. I really just don’t know.’ Last week, Albert said she was inching closer to accepting the fact that Astroland would close forever on Sept. 7. The park’s lease with developer Thor Equities expires Jan. 31. Thor and City Hall have separate plans for the waterfront property, but construction before the end of next summer is unlikely. Albert said Thor officials have not contacted her in the past two weeks. She declined to provide a new timeline for making a decision but said the process of selling and removing the rides will take months. Albert briefly put Astroland’s rides up for sale last year before pulling them off the market. Thor eventually gave the park an 11th-hour lease extension for this year. While the rhetoric from Albert might seem familiar, she says the circumstances are different. ‘Last year, every time my rides were to go on sale, I got a call from a city official asking me to pull the rides back, that they thought I was going to get a lease,’ she said. Albert said that city officials have expressed interest in having Astroland return next year but added that she has ‘not had the same confidence that I had last year.'” For the record, Ms. Albert was not expressing “confidence” last year.–Urbanite

Last week, we put up a pic of the building we consider to be the ugliest most utilitarian of all the Karl Fischers in Brooklyn. The building is 525 Union Avenue and it’s on the market as a luxury rental building. People are already moving in. Windows have finally been added to what had been big cinder block-filled squares at street level. They are smoky, dark glass glass and, as far as we can tell, they are in front of the cinder blocks. We are assuming this is a decorative element to hide the parking that is behind them. If you haven’t seen it, the website for 525 is worth a look because it shows a view of McCarren Park with the Financial District skyline as the backdrop. During its construction phase, we used to run weekly features of Sunday work on the site, which at various points, really upset people at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church behind the development.

Newish Brooklyn Blog Pistols and Popcorn has been putting up some fun posts. Her latest is about a trip to an amusement park called Adventurers, which is the former Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Southern Brooklyn. Here’s a bit of the post:

Having never visited Bensonhurst, I had no idea where we were headed when I got into my friend Laura’s car. She invited me along to go to “a carnival, or something with rides”; for someone with standards such as I have, that was more than enough for me to say “but of course”, and get my go on. Twenty minutes from Carroll Gardens and we were there. It was a place called Adventurer’s (formerly Nellie Bly Amusement Park), and being there felt like we had stepped into a production of amplified everything. All colors, carnival music, smells and stereotypes seemed just slightly above normal, beginning with the lady who sold us our passes. Naturally, her welcoming opening line was, “Are ya gonna buy something or just stand here and discuss it?”…Moving on, with our all-day passes (which didn’t turn out to be all-day after all, but just until 4 PM, but semantics, no?) I couldn’t help but be taken back to an acid trip in High School, but that was just the colors of the Fun Slide speaking.

We recommend the full post.

Here’s a very cool vid showing to two recent thunderstorms over Clinton Hill. A must for fans of lightning strikes.