With a dusting.
Photo by MK Metz
Monday, March 3, 2008
Toll Brothers Gowanus Development Meeting Monday
Triada Samaras informs us of an important meeting tonight, Monday, March 3 regarding the 707 new apartments on the Gowanus Canal:
The Toll Brothers have unveiled their plan for a 605, 380 square foot project between Bond and the Gowanus Canal, Carroll and Second Streets. What does it mean for our neighborhood?
Come hear Craig Hammerman (District Manager, Community Board 6)
Phil DePaolo (Community Organizer) and
Tony Avella (City Council Member and Mayoral Candidate)
address concerns regarding the Toll Brothers development.
Help plan for the upcoming Public Scoping Meeting at City Planning on March 13.
Monday March 3 6:30 p.m.
St. Mary's Star of the Sea Residences, 41 1st St. (between Hoyt & Bond) in the Community Room
'Right in Bay Ridge' Blog is No More
The Right in Bay Ridge blog writes to say: "After much reflection and a shift in priorities, I have decided not to continue running the Right in Bay Ridge blog any longer."
The Bay Ridge Rover says this about Right in Bay Ridge: "Described by one reader as a 'warm glass of milk before bed,' Right in Bay Ridge was part postcard, part treatise - a veritable menagerie of everything Bay Ridge pastoral, bureaucratic and even bucolic."
McBrooklyn applauds the fine blogging Right in Bay Ridge accomplished since July, 2007.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Brooklyn's Ghost Problem Multiplies. Ghostbusting Teams Popping Up All Over the Place
First, the Pardon Me For Asking blog discovered a new ghostbusting service in Brooklyn -- the Brooklyn Ghost Investigators. (See Brooklyn Optimist piece here.)
Now, it turns out that four twenty-somethings -- Amanda, Brittany, Alyssa and Jennifer -- have co-founded a whole ghostbusting agency: Brooklyn Geist. They've gotten their equipment situation in order and are currently taking requests for assistance.
Anyone who has a "potential paranormal situation" can contact Brooklyn Geist and get some help with their ghost problem. The team will come on over with their equipment, set it up between the hours of 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and conduct a paranormal investigation.
Of course, demand being what it is, they may not be able to help immediately unless it's an emergency haunting.
Because suddenly, bed bugs aren't Brooklyn's biggest problem.
Here's a video Brooklyn Geist made at Friends Quaker Cemetery at Prospect Park. They used a digital voice recorder and a pendulum to record the answers they received. From something. At. The. Cemetery.
Another Swastika in Brooklyn Heights, and More Brooklyn in Brief Weekend
- Another swastika was found Saturday in Brooklyn Heights, spray-painted on a building on the same block that Ivaylo Ivanov -- Heights Swastika Man -- lives. But Ivaylo is still in jail. New York Times
- Surprise asbestos-related work and dumpsters carrying signs warning of asbestos removal have Carroll Gardens all in a tizzy. City Council Member Bill de Blasio says, "We have connected with the MTA and are investigating the situation..." Gowanus Lounge
- Brooklyn Junction is having a little contest: Correctly predict which sit down restaurant will be opening its doors in the imminent Target mall at Avenue H and Nostrand Avenue, and you can be the proud winner of a $25 gift certificate to that restaurant upon its opening. Brooklyn Junction
- How safe is it to walk from the Dekalb subway to the Clermont Avenue area near the BQE in the late p.m.? Save Brooklyn Now
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Is Manhattan Mike Moving into Brooklyn Dominic's Grinding Territory?
When it comes to itinerant knife grinders, there's only two: Mike Pallotta and his green truck, who plies his trade on the Upper West Side of Manhattan; and Dominic Del Re and his red truck, who has been sharpening knives in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope for more than a generation.
So McBrooklyn was shocked to find this unfamiliar face peering out an unfamiliar (but very Manhattanish) green grinding truck, bell ringing, parked on Henry Street near Love Lane in Brooklyn Heights the other day. We swear the guy inside looked positively nervous. He looked even more nervous when we took his picture.
Hey Dominic! You letting Mike weasel in on your territory, or what?
Photos by MK Metz
The Bride in the Thrift Shop Window
This bride and her maid wait for a suitor from the window of Brooklyn's Housing Works thrift shop on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Photo by MK Metz
Monday, February 25, 2008
Gersh Reads His Hate Mail
Brooklyn Paper's Gersh Kuntzman -- still on crutches -- received his Weekly Paper of the Year award recently down in Florida and his acceptance speech consisted of some of the funnier bits of his hate mail.
One line: "Gersh Kuntzman? What kind of a name is that? It sounds like a cross between a Muppet and a Jewish porn star."
(More hate mail talk at Gawker.)
Comfort Inn 'Brooklyn Bridge' Just Got Cheaper
Wow, that's cheap! A night at the "Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge" on Butler Street (near 3rd Avenue) is going for just $129 U.S. (That's before various discounts.) When we last checked, the official price ranged from $159-$319.
The hotel's location is generously listed on Booking.com as "City Centre." This description also appears on various web sites: "The Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge is ideally located between the trendy Cobble Hill and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn."
Note that it's also located between trendy Vancouver, Canada and super hip Sydney, Australia.
If you decide to visit, don't miss the comments on Booking.com. One correspondent put it rather blandly: "The location is not exactly as described."
On the other hand, rates for the same nights range from $319 - $519 at the Brooklyn Marriott (that's the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.) So if you're a hardy individual (it's only seven blocks to the Atlantic Avenue subway stop) with a sense of adventure and an appreciation for the industrial side of life, you could save yourself a few bucks!
New York Magazine also provides a review.
UPDATE: Gabby at Brownstoner asks: "I wonder how much has to do with winter slowdown or if this is a larger trend among the hotel cluster in Gowanus. Are rates also slashed at Holiday Inn Express and Le Bleu?"
Good question. In mid-January, Brownstoner posted a telling history of Le Bleu's rates, which by that point were as low as $136! A quick rate check today shows that Le Bleu has drifted back up. There are a few days where you can book for as low as $216, but the typical web sale promo rate is $270.
The Holiday Inn Express on Union Street, as of today, is offering discount rates ranging from $270 - 349.
We checked in with TripAdvisor to see how everyday travelers ranked Brooklyn hotels. Here's what came up:
Brooklyn's Top-Rated Hotels
(Top photo courtesy Comfort Inn's web site. Bottom photo from Google Maps.)
Leap Year Auction at Dumbo Arts Center
Dumbo Arts Center sent us word of its Leap Year Auction, which " promises a night of lively bidding and a chance to take home a wonderful work of art. Art purchases at non-profit auctions are the cornerstone of many of today's leading contemporary art collections," says DAC.
The Silent Auction will be on view and open for bidding in the gallery and online from February 22 through February 29, 2008, until the Live Auction concludes.
Auctioneer: Christopher Gaillard, courtesty of Sotheby's
Friday, February 29, 2008
Starting at 6:00PM
Live Auction begins at 8:00PM
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