Jeans, from Japan's Tomoking, Hanging on Scaffolding in Dumbo

We saw these interesting hand-painted Levi's jeans hanging over a scaffolding in Dumbo the other day.

Nice touch: A red felt heart, with a message written inside, was pinned onto the illustration of a pair of cupped hands. The heart reads:

"Hi my name is ToMoKing. I came from Japan. I'm happy I met you. I wish the world to be happy and peaceful. I love all people, because I hope many people to make good smile."

Photos by MK Metz

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Tributes to Gowanus Lounge's Robert Guskind

Tributes to Robert Guskind, founder of the Gowanus Lounge blog, continue to pour in from bloggers.

Guskind died Tuesday.

The Gowanus Lounge's tagline, as seen when searching for it on Google, was "Gowanus Lounge -- Serving Brooklyn." Guskind served us all since April 2006, covering all of Brooklyn, but especially Gowanus, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Williamsburg and Dumbo.

He warned us about the condition of the Boardwalk at Coney Island, the problems with the Red Hook vendors, and the battle over 360 Smith Street. He analyzed developer tax breaks, discovered a bizarre Wikipedia war going on between a prominent developer and his detractors, and covered community board and other civic meetings. He linked us to hundreds of other interesting blog postings, seemed to never sleep, and was a vital part of the web ecosystem.

The latest version of the blog, online since May 2008, is mysteriously down. His earlier work, however, is preserved on Blogger at http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/.

UPDATE: Gowanus Lounge is back up, thanks to a friend who also helped with the technical side of the blog.

Tributes

- A beautiful tribute at Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
- Miss Heather, Newyorkshitty
- Obituary at the Brooklyn Eagle
- Large list of links at Flatbush Gardener
- More thoughts and comments at Brownstoner
- Speculative account at Brooklyn Paper UPDATE: Some of the sadder speculations have been removed from this article (original reproduced in part here).


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Construction of Tunnel Connecting R/M/A/C/F Trains Continues in Downtown Brooklyn

Construction of a pedestrian tunnel connecting the R/M trains’ Lawrence Street station and the A/C/F trains’ Jay Street station in Downtown Brooklyn has been going on since July.

The photo above looks down the subway stairs on Jay Street right in front of MetroTech's TKTS booth. Quite a pile of rubble down there -- don't see how the workers can walk around.

Willoughby Street is in a permanent state of construction, as can be seen in the photo below.

The transfer tunnel under Willoughby Street will probably attract more riders to the Lawrence Street and Jay Street stations, which combined handle roughly 35,000 passengers per week, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

- New Subway Pedestrian Tunnel Burrows Under Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn

- Brooklyn Approaches to Downtown Brooklyn, 1917 nycsubway.org

Photo by MK Metz

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Musing Over the Fountain at Brooklyn Borough Hall

Thought-weary and sad, I reclined by a fountain
At the head of a white-cedar-shaded ravine,
And the breeze that fell over the high glooming mountain
Sang a lullaby low as I gazed o’er the scene.

From The Dream By the Fountain by Charles Harpur

Photo of Brooklyn Borough Hall fountain, planted with evergreens for the winter, by MK Metz

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What They're Saying About the NYT's New Brooklyn Blog

The New York Times rolled out it's "hyperlocal" Clinton Hill / Fort Green blog -- The Local -- this week. It's a pilot project focusing down on a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods (and two more in New Jersey, via another blog). The Times will be posting "creative works" from people in the community and drawings from local children, and will also be using student bloggers from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

Andy Newman, the Times' resident blogger, says, "There’s a growing consensus in the media world that one way that newspapers can sustain themselves is to foster what is known as participatory journalism or citizen journalism. The Times wants to see if it can find a sustainable way to do this. Your backyard is the petri dish where we will try to grow it."

Here are some comments and advice to the new blog from the Blogosphere:

- Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn: "Some advice: keep it real, do it with passion, love and a true interest in the community that you're covering. And post frequently.There are some hungry blog readers out there."

- Gothamist: "Oh, thank you so much for helping to continue the gentrification of my neighborhood by promoting it as the new cool local place for (white) people who read the NYT to be!"

Brownstoner on Techcrunch: "One big question will be whether The Times fits smoothly into the existing ecosystem of local blogs or whether it becomes seen as an 800-pound competitor soaking up the already small amounts of local ad dollars available . . . It will also be interesting to see whether The Times brand will be able to nurture enough good will on a local level to generate reader tips, the lifeblood of any good blog."

Courierpostonline: "I think the New York Times’s strategy of having staff writers and editors curate the blogs is inspired, and give these a much better shot than so many unmanaged, automated citizen journalist blogs before them."

Econsultantcy: "If it works, all those kids who have abandoned the newspaper for social media will be reborn under the banner of The Local. Why post on Facebook when you can write for the NYT? “Yo dude. See my post in The Times today?”

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You And Me Always, On the Beach in Dumbo

Loads of folks walk and sit on the rock wall facing the pebbly beach at Dumbo's Empire State Park. You can't beat the view of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges -- the water, the sky, the city.

But how many notice that little metallic plaque affixed to the boulder seen in the photo above, in the center of the second rock from the right. See it?

We didn't either for the longest time.

Here's what it looks like close up.

Here's to Siu and Paul. Let's hope their love is as enduring as that boulder on Dumbo's pebbly beach.

Photos by MK Metz

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Icicles, Brooklyn Heights

According to Wikipedia, icicles form when ice or snow is melted by a heat source -- in this case these lights on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights.

Photo by MK Metz

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Sneak Preview of Revamped Lundy's Tonight, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach Civic Association is holding its General Meeting tonight, March 3rd, 7:30 p.m. at Lundy’s Restaurant. That's the proposed site of the new Cherry Hill Gourmet Restaurant and Market. A "sneak preview" tour will be given. GerritsenBeach

- Could the Tea Lounge come to the old Palmiras in Brooklyn Heights? Brooklyn Heights Blog

- Brooklyn Food Conference, May 2. Start the day with a New Orleans-style parade featuring massive puppets -- then participate in workshops, food demos, kids’ activities, lunch, dinner, and a dance. Brooklyn Food Conference

- Brooklyn College students tell how the upcoming tuition hikes and budget cuts may force them to drop out, while professors are pushed to the breaking point. But few officials showed up to hear them. The Excelsior

- Why the smartest people have the toughest time dating. Huffington Post

- AIG is losing $465,421 per minute. To put that in perspective, every six seconds it loses enough to pay full tuition for a year at Harvard. New York Times via NY Magazine

- Everybody loves a worm composting potluck! Sustainable Flatbush


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Snow Day!

School is canceled due to the snow, and kids all over Brooklyn took to the hills on sleds.

Photo by MK Metz

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Snow Circle, Brooklyn Heights

Aerial view of Cadman Park.

Photo by MK Metz

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