Thursday, January 31, 2008

Brownstoner's Worst Nightmare

Regular readers of the Brownstoner site know that nothing gets the readership there worked up more than white window frames on a brownstone (besides maybe the recent rash of $3 million brownstone listings in Carroll Gardens). Here is Brownstoner's worst nightmare come true. In this case I'd have to agree that this is a true abomination, an aesthetic crime against the neighborhood, and it should be rectified immediately. This building is over on 5th Street near 5th Ave. across from the Middle School in case you want to leave a nice note for the owners.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Infinite Union

Union Street subway station.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

New Windows

4th Avenue in Park Slope.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Signs of Life at the Gowanus Lonely Building

There was something brewing today at the landmarked Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building or as I call it The Gowanus Lonely Building since it's (put on your high pitched Eric Carmen voice) all by itseeeeelllllf with just a huge empty lot behind it- future site of Whole Foods.

Anyway, that yellow van parked on the sidewalk in front (or is that the side? sort of fitting that a building on 3rd and 3rd would have similar looking entrances on both streets) was doing some work on the building. It looked like the workers were removing, adding or replacing the plywood that boards up the windows. Soooo...I'm sure that clears it up for you- a return visit will be needed to find out anything. If you look at the top left window you can see daylight clear through out the window behind it. Oh well, enjoy the clouds:

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Gowanus Park Slope Parking Lot Construction

That title may be a bit confusing but I'll clear it all up here...This is the construction site for a new residential condo building (on the left of the shot) on 1st Street in Park Slope called "The Gowanus". The area pictured will be the parking lot for the building. What's not clear is why it's called "The Gowanus" when it's not in Gowanus and if future residents will be tolerant of the wafting french fry smell from the McDonald's located about 15 feet away from it. Also of interest is the now-working clock in the background atop the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower aka One Hanson Place.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Pigeons on Stone Park

Here's some pigeons congregating on the roof of the Stone Park Cafe, basking in the relative January warmth today.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

When One Door Opens...

I guess the "when one door closes, another door opens" quote doesn't really fit here; it's more like when one door opens, there's another one right behind it and it has a jimmy proof lock on it so you're not getting in without the key. Anywho, I found this set of doors in Gowanus to have an interesting variety of textures.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Any Color You Like, As Long As It's Black

As Henry Ford said, "any color you like, as long as it's black." In 100 years, apparently some things have not really changed. I wonder why all the "black cars" in the city are black- seems arbitrary to just choose a color and it's not particularly distinctive from the other cars on the road the way yellow cabs are. Although the vehicle model is somewhat distinctive; I'm pretty sure nobody under 75 really drives these on a regular basis for their everyday car. This is from a sales site in Gowanus.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

"Street Cleaning"

File this one under: I moved my car for this? This is a shot of the street AFTER the street sweeper came by. Did it even pick up anything? It looks like all they did was move the crap from the curb into the middle of the street. This is pathetic, my roomba picks up more stuff than this. Your tax dollars at "work":

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

And the Scaffolding Goes Up!

One day you post about how a building is the best looking one in all the sloping lands of Park Slope and the next day they're covering it up with scaffolding. Blends in nicely with the scaffold next door (the vacant building where a chunk of the a windowsill fell off a few months back- what's the deal with that one anyway? Joe's Shoe Repair moved out and the entire building sits empty). Perhaps my next post should be about a building in disrepair and scaffolding could magically appear the next day and workers would be there fixing the building. Hmmm......

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Best Looking Building in Park Slope

The 1886 Moutarde Building (I'm naming it after the French restaurant on the ground floor since it doesn't seem to have it's own name) is the best looking building in all of Park Slope. Very well preserved and handsome. An asset to the community.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The OTHER other Brooklyn

Followers of the Brooklyn Paper are aware that reporter Gersh Kuntzman (who was fantastically informative in the documentary on combovers)- is travelling west to Brooklyn, Iowa to cover the caucuses there. The paper is calling it "the other Brooklyn". Well it might be, but what about the OTHER other Brooklyn? The one to our east? Huh? East? Well yes, and north... over in the Atlantic Time Zone in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada there is the OTHER other Brooklyn:

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What goes on in Brooklyn, NS? Not quite as much as BK, IA, as I found when I passed through over the summer:
However, this sleepy town was home to country legend Hank Snow. And interestingly enough, there is a hockey rink there called The Brooklyn Arena.