Hinsch's is back! (Gothamist)

Starlite, a documentary on Crown Heights gay bar Starlite Lounge, which opened in 1959 and closed last year, will have a rough-cut screening this weekend. Also this weekend, a reunion party in support of a planned Starlite re-opening. (Brownstoner, Next Magazine, The Starlite Project)

Back to Work, Monday Morning

Cemetery Links

Confirming earlier rumors, the Brooklyn Paper reports that the Greenwood Cemetery is  buying the Weir-McGovern Florist, on Fifth Avenue & 25th, for use as a visitor center. Here are some shots of the beautiful greenhouse buildings taken earlier this year.

Meanwhile, over in Paris (big jump), Oscar Wilde's tomb at Pere Lachaise will finally get protection from the lipstick-wearing hordes (Guardian).  Phew.

Another New York City: Grand Street Dreams of 1950

Links

Back in August, I learned about the documentary To Brooklyn and Back: A Mohawk Journey, directed by Reaghan Tarbell, and wished I could get to see it. Well, it's going to be screened on Wednesday evening, at the Central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.  More information here.

Admiring the View

From the F train at Sunset

Buy Nothing Day

If the thought of heading to the stores today sickens you, why not get down to Zucotti Park this afternoon to join the Reverend Billy & others for Buy Nothing Day in NYC?  The event will recognize the harsh economic realities for millions of Americans, & will honor one paricular victim of foreclosure, Brooklyn resident Kendall Jackman. Things will kick off further north, at 12:30, outside the Housing Works bookstore at Crosby Street. More details here.

Happy eating to all.

At the Window

Link

Stabbing at Fourth Ave. Station on Monday night (Sub Chat & News)

Maps of Wallabout Bay & the Navy Yard (BHS)

Birds

Before this property at 204 20th Street belonged to Al-Noor, it was the aptly named New Wing & Sing Poultry, though I doubt the birds were very cheerful.  It was a poultry market long before that, though.  I don't know much about the industry, but the few poultry businesses I've passed in Brooklyn have fairly nondescript exteriors, certainly nothing like the detailed decoration on this building.  When I looked at it yesterday, I was first drawn to the female faces, and the central friezework, but then I noticed the birds hanging upside down at either end?  Was I imagining them?  I stared for a long time.  No, I was quite sure. 

Look at the detail, and those faded reds and blues.  It's a real gem of a building, and it's a bit of a miracle it's survived the rampant forces of neighborhood destruction. Perhaps its market zoning makes it highly prized? What a temple to the poor live bird.

Lorraine

Links

Worker killed at Video X-citement, Third & 24th - (NY Daily News)
At least the News edited the original article, where the poor clerk was "clobbered", & described as "over the hill" at 53.  Nice.

An Actual Sunset!

Despite the name of this blog, there aren't many actual sunsets on it.  Given the re-emergence of the Fourth Ave. temporary bridge though, that will soon be remedied.  Perhaps to the point of tedium.  One of the pleasures of living in Brooklyn is seeing a lot of sky, though "development " is taking that liberty away, condo by sodding condo.  Still, it's easy to nip down to Fourth - around 4:30 right now - & take in big gulps of evening cloud & light.  Because there are no Manhattan-bound trains this weekend, I was able to duck under the plastic tape & have the place to myself.

East New York Avenue

Not far from the pleasant gilt Cordials sign I noticed last weekend (I can't say that word & not feel happy) Morris Discounts (9223 Third) displayed the modest dignity of Sundries & Colognes.  The lost vocabulary of life's quiet needs & desires.

Links

Old Chelsea Station (Walkers in the City)

Remembering Miller Fish Market (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Post-war house for returning vets (Brooklynology)
I could just see a Home Section retro Quonset chic today.  1.5 million, anyone?

And on a day of bracing action, how about an absurd quote from a financial district resident:
Linda Gerstman, 40, who lives near the stock exchange — “the barricaded world,” she called her neighborhood — said she was grateful for the city’s action because she had grown concerned about health conditions in the area. “We’re touching the same doorknobs,” she said.  (NY Times)    

Ninth Street: 6:45 a.m.

Cheery News of the Day

A real bumper crop of gloom ...

Major storms Could Submerge New York City in Next Decade (Guardian)
Irene-like storms of the future would put a third of New York City streets under water and flood many of the tunnels leading into Manhattan in under an hour because of climate change, a new state government report warns Wednesday.

Retailers See a Split in Behavior of Shoppers (NY Times)
At Wal-Mart, shoppers cut back on staples like milk and meat that had price increases of a few cents. At Saks Fifth Avenue, they paid full price for shoes and designer fashions at a rate higher than before the recession.

...“I feel good about the luxury consumer,” Mr. Sadove of Saks said.

Congress Blocks New School Lunch Standards (NY Times)
Food companies including ConAgra, Coca-Cola, Del Monte Foods and makers of frozen pizza like Schwan argued that the proposed rules would raise the cost of meals and require food that many children would throw away.      
Hah!
      
Coney Island game booths get the pink slips (Brooklyn Paper)

But it's Christmas now, at least!  At Starbucks, employees already have on their Santa hats, & are listening to endless loops of Yuletide cheer, & the booths in Bryant Park & Union Square (it's OK to take away public space for commerce) are ready to go.  Deck the halls!
   
 

With the clocks turned back, it's dark now by the time I get home, & before too long it'll still be dark when I leave in the morning.  My only consolation is the re-opening of the temporary platform bridge at the Fourth Avenue subway stop.  Back are the views - layer upon layer of buildings & sky - that keep up my spirits as I trudge back & forth each day.  Bliss.

Links

A look at the future boardwalk? (Amusing the Zillion)

A discussion this Sunday at Union Docs in Williamsburg -  Block by Block: New York Street Historians.  The panel of speakers will include Kevin Walsh, of Forgotten New York.

Art

I can't write much about my job, even though it's a mine of truly bizarre anecdotes.  Confidentiality & all that. Still, I can say that one of my students, when asked the other day, "Why is art important?" thought long & hard, wrote, erased, & wrote again, with infinite deliberation, in large, heavy print:
"Art is important because it makes mad and sad people happy."

Henry Harde's (Est. 1933) : Third Avenue

Cordials

Links

There's a really interesting new piece on the Brooklynology BPL site.  It's about Sidney Franklin, who was born in Brooklyn (South Slope's Jackson Place), and went on became a successful bullfighter, who worked in Mexico & Europe, and was much admired by Hemingway.

"Franklin is brave with a cold, serene intelligent valor....he is one of the most skillful, graceful, and slow manipulators of the cape fighting today. ....He kills easily and well. He is a better, more scientific, more intelligent and more finished matador than all but about six of the full matadors in Spain today...."

Franklin's autobiography, Bullfighter from Brooklyn, came out in 1952.

The Marvellous Creatures Of Coney Island

The man with the sea beast was there again this afternoon, and we chatted for a bit.  Dr. Takeshi Yamada has lived in Coney Island for almost a decade, and that furry friend is just one of his many marvels.

I Must Go Down to the Sea Again

On the spur of the moment, I decided to take the train to Coney Island this afternoon.  Was this really (again? perhaps? perhaps not?) Ruby's last Sunday of 2011?  Or ever?  It was all too confusing to think about.  The sun hid behind clouds most of the time I was there, and made the sky a sullen, yellowish gray.  It was still warm enough for comfort, though. A steady stream of walkers passed by, but almost all the boardwalk businesses were shuttered. It was just down to Ruby's & Lola Star. The tables in front of Ruby's were empty, but a few regulars took their places at the sea end of the bar, laughing, & trading stories.  A middle aged guy fed the jukebox, then slumped in an easy chair, nursing a Bud.   The room was almost stripped bare.

Ridge Paint Hardware Co Inc (91st Street)

The hardware & stationery stores of my dreams are not the Lowes & Staples of this world, but small premises crammed to the gills with useful and arcane goods: a zillion kinds of screws and bulbs, keys and locks, slightly ugly kitchenware, old-fashioned ledgers, receipt books, narrow lined notepads of every shape and size.  They should smell of paint, potting soil, metal and ink.  A well-stocked stationery business is a rare beast these days, but you can still find a good independent hardware store in most parts of the city.  For now.
Ridge Hardware makes me happy just looking at it, with its striped canvas awning, and its signs in the window that look like they've seen a lot of time go by.  A million items is a grand, bold claim, but the other Be Safe sign is the one I like best, with the crime-fighting Batman & Robin up at the top, & all your needs for chains, alarms & gates there to be met. It was made for Gotham City, not the pallid Bloomberg vision of box stores, condo towers, and 7-Elevens. That promise of jimmy proof locks is hardware poetry, & seeing it made my day. 

Anapoli

I spent the afternoon on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge.  Even though it has more than its fair share of ugly vinyl awnings these days, you can still see a few fine old storefronts, and a handful of tucked away remnants of earlier retail incarnations.  I ate hash & eggs at Anapoli Ice Cream Parlor & Family Restaurant, where I was treated royally by a beaming waitress.  She asked about my camera & told me of her fondness for photographing tombstones.  Anapoli is a warm, golden place, with a lot of wooden built-ins, an old tiled floor, and some counter seats that have done good service over the years.  It also has a fine clock.
Though, as is often the case with luncheonettes, many of its customers were getting on a bit, there were plenty of young people too, which was nice to see.  Still, at the back, a quartet of elderly ladies held court.  One of them, looking quite severe, reminded me at first of the glamorous, sweetly out-of-date mannequins you see in the windows of backwater garment & beauty stores.  No, not that.  Something less gentle & a little more ravaged.  Perhaps that old dowager Queen Mary, frowning over the marriage ceremony of a young Elizabeth, or Miss Havisham, in the David Lean version of Great Expectations (what other version is there?), lingering among the ruins of the wedding feast.  Or perhaps Quentin Crisp, bravely & jauntily dressed for life's battles: stiff-backed, with lips pursed in a frown. She had a long face, thickly powdered in the palest pink.  A face of chalk.  The stiff curls of a fresh perm sat high upon her head, & perched atop of them, a leopard print pill box hat. On top of that, a gauzy pink scarf, untied, floating in a casual-elegant-deranged kind of way, wafting around her cheeks.  Her style of dress, and  upright carriage were in stark contrast to her sensible-looking, slacks & windbreaker maids-in-waiting.  From that back table throne, she was queen of the ice cream parlor, and I, all the way up front, was in her thrall.

Links

A Pageant of Old Scandinavia (Walkers in the City)

Check out Sibyl Kempson's play The Secret Death of Puppets, playing this weekend & next at Dixon Place. If you've ever wanted to know the language of the animals (& who hasn't?) you will enjoy this performance very much.  I went last night, and am still thinking about the crow in the attic.

Full Moon on E. Houston

Up the East River, 7:45 a.m.

Let's have a little Teddy Pendergrass for the middle of the week, courtesy of some UK Soul people. Yes, I remember Lancashire & Northern Soul in the 70s!

Links

The history of Public Bathhouse No 7 (now The Lyceum) - Brooklynology

The bath was a popular desination for residents of South Brooklyn, particularly in the summer months. It was closed in 1935 for renovations and remained that way until a group of protestors voiced their need for the facility. On July 8, 1937, a group of sweaty kids rallied outside the boarded up bathhouse, led by Joe Rutico, known as the "King of the Kids." Protesters shouted, "Down with Washtubs. We want our shower baths." 

The Last Porn Theater in Brooklyn? - Sheepshead Bites

Red Hook's Paris Burlesque Club now a common-or-garden strip-joint?  -Brooklyn Paper

Brooklyn Streetcar Artists' : Group Show at Coney Island Hospital - Sheepshead Bites

Fourth Sans Cars

Marty's Brooklyn Boulevard

Johnny Hollywood's Grand Opening

Plaza Street at Dusk

I've been eying this window for a while. Often though, the foot is not alone in the room, and I've left it be.  Of course, sidling up to it when there's no-one around doesn't exactly make me seem any less fetishistic.  Just more furtive. With the clocks changed, the sun dipped lower & lower as I made my way home, & Eastern Parkway was bathed in gold. By the time I got to the foot, it was almost dark.

Watching the Marathon

I took about fifteen million photographs on Fourth Avenue today.  Some were connected to the Marathon, but I was also taking advantage of a traffic free-day & the anonymity of camera-carrying to look around more freely.  Beware the glut of Fourth related pictures over the next few days.