20th

The Comfort Inn on 20th Street (Third/Fourth) opens in a couple of months.  I punched in a random midday date for June and $279 came up as the best price.  I hope that includes expressway views.  When the Stephen Imports warehouse was there, the block felt less dense.  And I realized the other day that the height of the warehouse and the line of barbed wire fencing on top blocked a sideways view of the building next door.  I'm sure there's an architectural term for the structure and the style of this facade, but I don't know it.

It's got a kind of mission or southwestern, feel.  Or is it Italian in intention?  At any rate, I like its stage-set duality.  On top of a regular looking house, it's a real facade.  And perched on the cornice, a devil/gargoyle and heraldic lions guard the home.  This is the kind of building that expresses a distinct creativity and pride.  Someone put their own stamp on the place.   

Industry fades as office spaces and hotels are deemed acceptable substitutes.  BrooklynWorks has co-working-spaces here, and there are (nice one) dance studios and an OT gym for kids.  Permanent Records was here for a while but I think it's closed now.  Some of the old businesses are still around - auto shop, air conditioning, heating, metal, glass - but the metalworks and Tony Cuonzo's Golden Anvil sculpture smithy at the corner are long gone.  There are warehouse vacancies. Residential's mostly frame.