New booze and food in Brooklyn
On Saturday, former Gage & Tollner, "New York's Oldest restaurant" - (but recently a TGIFridays) looked like this:

But by Tuesday night, the lights were on and new curtains were up. It looked like this:

And this:

(Harlem's Amy Ruth's was supposed to open its downtown Brooklyn outpost in February.)
In Red Hook on Saturday, former the Pioneer bar looked like this:

Last night, they served me a beer. It's now Brooklyn Ice House. It looks pretty much exactly the way it did when it was Pioneer. The kitchen opens next week. (And I assume the garden will reopen eventually, but it was closed clased night.)
Labels: brooklyn, nyc, pictures, restaurants
Classy cornice on Columbia; or rather: nice frieze

Now here's something you don't see very often anymore. There's a new building almost complete on Columbia Street near Kane, map. (The one on the left.) Up on the top, you can see the building gets a name. Most of the buildings in the neighborhood with names tend to bear dates like 1904. But this one loks like 11-09-2007. (Is that part of the cornice? Is there a more specific architectural term for that? Francis, anyone?)
Update: Francis Morrone, in the comments, corrects: it's the frieze.

If you want to know how they came up with Valoroso, look no further than the construction sign on the fence:

Ikea's Red Hook 'grand opening campout'
See the new Brooklyn Ikea webpage for news of its grand opening campout.Customers can begin lining up at IKEA Brooklyn at 9:00 AM on Monday morning, June 16, 2008 – in advance of our June 18, 2008 opening. We are going to be doing something special for everyone on opening morning so you do not have to be the first, second, or third customer in line* in order to share in the fun. Keep checking for updates!Oh, the Red Hook jokes just write themselves, don't they?
******
And in other exciting neihborhood news, the B61 bus I was on this afternoon went down Columbia Street today -- in front of Pit Stop, Freebird, Sugar Lounge, Brooklyn Collective, Winkworth, etc. -- for the first time in a year or two. That said, the construction work still ain't quite done. They were digging up - yet again!! -- the intersection at DeGraw.
Earlier: Red light in front of Ikea Red Hook
Ikea Signange
Labels: brooklyn, nyc, red hook
'Floater Week' resurfaces
In November, I went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to cover a book release event for Gabriel Cohen's new New York thriller "Graving Dock." He read a passage from the book that mentions "Floater Week" which he said is real, and normally happens around tax day.
Indeed, April 15 was last week. And from today's New York Times ... it's time.
Popemobile in Red Hook
OK, the pope helicopter and popemobile videos and commentary are posted at NewYorkology, but here are the other Popemobile pictures that aren't completely out of focus or obscured by the dirty windshield.







Labels: brooklyn, nyc, pictures, red hook
Red light in front of Ikea Red Hook
Apparently I'm going to have to post my exciting evening in backward order. So first I give you ... a functioning stop signal in front of Ikea.After we dropped off the steplad in N.J., we hit this light on the return trip.
Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook
More L&O in Red Hook

I was a little too lazy to check the no-praking signs on the streets, but this past Friday afternoon the film folks were busy behind Fairway near the (currently unused) Water Taxi dock. One of the guys in the crew was wearing a "Criminal Intent" jacket, so I'm going with that.
No word yet on when that dock may again be used by the Water Taxi.
Labels: brooklyn, movies, pictures, red hook
Q. Can I use my MetroCard on the Water Taxi?

So the Red Hook folk are excited about the plans to extend the B71 and B77 to Manhattan's South Ferry via the Battery Tunnel.Will make the trip in much faster -- especially since the Water Taxi hasn't been forthcoming for its plans to resume service in spring. However, two interesting things of note on that matter.
1. The updated FAQ on the Water Taxi site includes this:
Can I use my MetroCard?2. The latest Ikea press release contains this line near the end: "The project includes a 6.5-acre public waterfront esplanade and many transit options such as ferry service from lower Manhattan.
Not at this time.
Will be interesting to see what's in the five-borough ferry plan Council President Christine Quinn mentioned last month.
Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook, traffic
Law & Order checks into House of D neigborhood

So it looks like "Law & Order SVU" will be filming this week in the vicinity of one of the most interestingly located new hotels in the city. On this side of the street, the new condo/hotel. And on that side of the street, the Brooklyn House of Detention.Pink sheets say no parking around Smith and Atlantic on March 4 & 5.
(The condo office looked almost functional Sunday afternoon, with a guy at the desk. The hand-written sign said "87 Smith Street condos" -- but no hint of the hotel -- except that the permit still says condo/hotel/retail.)
Labels: brooklyn, filming, pictures
QM2 departs Brooklyn with extra security

I just watched the Queen Mary 2 depart Brooklyn, and with an unusual amount of security. It used to always get one, sometimes two helicopter escorts, even for its 5 a.m. arrivals. But lately, nothing, except for the 3 Queens thing.
Actually, come to thing of it, I watched it arrive around 7 a.m. today and didn't see of hear helicopters.

Anyhow, tonight's departure had police boats and two helicopters flying closer than I've ever seen. (Which kind of freaks me out ever since I read the pilot's and co-pilot's remarks from those East River helicopter crashes in 2005.)
My only guess is that they're worried about retalition after someone stuck a bomb under the car of Hezbollah's Imad Moughniyah in Syria.
Labels: brooklyn, nyc, pictures
Sign says: Say No to Drugs ...
There's a pair of signs painted on a building along the Gowanus Expressway I've always hoped to take a picture of but I never remember in time when I'm not driving. But on Sunday, Martin was behind the wheel as we traveled to and from Brighton Beach (which was where the steplad wanted to go to hear some real Russian.)
So my picture-taking skills, not so good on the way out.

But on the way back, you get the full message:

Exciting new signal at Sackett & Columbia

Very good news for the normally-ignored Columbia Waterfront District -- there's now a functioning traffic signal at the oft-dangerous intersection of Sackett and Columbia.
We used to live half a block from here and it was a constant source of frustration (even before they suddenly decided one afternoon to make Columbia a one-way street, but only erect one-way signs at a few intersections, letting other drivers careen head-on into oncoming traffic.) It had very bad sight-lines, one or two bus routes (depending on if the B71 drivers took the short cut,) and lots of speeding, oversized commercial buses and trucks coming from Red Hook, which technically aren't supposed to cut through that neighborhood. Columbia went back to two-way recently, with the same lack of notification for drivers entering from any of the side streets.
In this other spectacular picture I took yesterday, you can see a bit of the smashed in fence at the art lot, one assumes from another wreck.

Heaven forbid I only say nice thing about the traffic folks. Please note that there are not yet crosswalks along the Columbia Street section of the intersection. The Columbia drivers didn't even have a stop sign previously -- so it would be nice to paint the crosswalk to help alert them of the new traffic pattern, no?
About two months ago the traffic wizards also installed new stop signs at Columbia and Summit, map, and also didn't bother to paint in a cross walk, erect signs noting the new traffic pattern -- or do something really useful like putting the new stop signs in a place that drivers can actually see them. I can't tell you the number of times cars blow through those new stop signs completely unaware there was a stop sign. The B61 also has to go through that intersection (necessitated by that ongoing Van Brunt/Columbia multi-year street reconstruction disaster) and it's nearly impossible for the bus to make that left turn onto Columbia.
OK, ending on a good note ... The reason why I have the pictures is that we were over there yesterday for lunch at Mazzat, which gets better and better each time we drop in.
Earlier: That sinking feeling on Columbia Street
More on Columbia St. one-way chaos
Living one-way on the wrong side of the BQE
Oh Columbia
Red Hook winter deserters
First the Water Taxi, now the garden centers. Chelsea Garden Center has looked pretty deserted lately, though no sign explains why they're closed. I called the Manhattan location (because there was no answer at the Red Hook phone) and was just told that they decided to close the Brooklyn location until it warms up -- probably March or April.
Just yesterday I noticed the Gowanus Nursery has a "closed for winter" sign up on its fence.
That leaves just Liberty Sunset, though I haven't been by there to check -- at least not since we bought our Christmas tree in December.
End of year misc.: Gottino, Water Taxi, SB mafia
Had a fabulous dinner a couple days ago at Gottino, a new wine bar on Greenwich Ave. So new in fact, the baretender claimed they weren't even open yet. He claims they need more work on the menu, but what we had was just excellent. Five tasting plates for $25 (including divine cheeses, pates, marinated pears and olives) along with a sardine thing (which yeah, that one was a bit dry.) Great wine as well.
It's at 52 Greenwich Ave - practically across the street from the former Our Name is Mud make-your-own-pottery place (which by the way, is still a vacant storefront.)
The Water Taxi, as you may recall, recently said it would cancel service to Red Hook for the winter, which it calls its South Brooklyn service. A couple days later, it announced it would also cancel its East River service for the winter, due to economic reasons. A couple council members rallied Saturday to get city subsidies to reinstate East River service. Cough, Red Hook?
Seems the NYT also forgot Red Hook, as its Real Estate section commuting thumsucker on Sunday gave a juicy superfluous quote to Water Taxi owner Tom Fox:
Or look at the New York Water Taxi, which started a route from Red Hook to Wall Street last year. Five years ago that circuit wasn’t necessary. But the perpetual “next big neighborhood” has sprouted not only a gourmet grocery store but also a community that shops there.Maybe healso forgot he canceled all service to Red Hook.
“The stop has two things,” said Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi, who worked with Fairway and local developers to create the service. “It has a new population in Red Hook that is going to Wall Street, and second it’s got Fairway which draws people to Red Hook, so there’s a potential for travel to and from the location.”
Still more on Red Hook. ... I walked over in the scathing wind this morning to see what was up at the old sugar factory because I've been hearing a lot of construction noises in the past few days. I was afraid they were ripping down those old red brick buildings closest to the water. But they're mainly still there. The short one, attached to the old metal ruins in the water, are only two walls, the interior of the building has all been ripped out and neatly placed into duumpsters. Have no idea if that means they're going to try to preserve something from that site.
(Pictures TK)
At the right, you can see the outer walls of the brick building.

This is where the smokestack was - the one I took pictures of in November while it was smashed to pieces.:

Two of my college buddies are making media waves lately. Welch is taking over Reason magazine as EIC come April. The Washington Post discusses the swingin' pot-smokin' DC parties he'll be attending. ("We want to add a new bacteria to the culture.") Ironically, it's Tony Pierce now wearing the suit for The Man. But as it turns out, The Man now wants to drink beers with him. Read Tony's account of his first day at the LA Times as king of all blogs. He may yet be able to save newspapers.
Ken Layne, who isn't technically part of the SB Nexus Mafia, has a new politics column at AOL. This week I learned, via Ken, that Huckabee's kid was fired from a Boy Scouts camp for torturing a dog to death.
Oh and since I used to own the crazy animal beat at the LA Daily News, I should flag a line of interest from the SF Chronicle's reporting about the zoo mauling, in which the height of the wall turned out to be lower than necessary: "In the two days since a fatal tiger attack on Christmas Day, the zoo has given at least five different measurements for the outdoor exhibit."
Luckily when I was covering that stuff in LA, the only zoo animal that came after me was Gracie the chimp who slung her poo at me because I was talking to her keeper, who was late for feeding time. Luckily I moved quickly, so the large handful of flying poo -- powerfully lobbed, mind you, from the middle of the chimp enclosure about 40 feet to where we were standing -- instead landed on the expensive shoes of the zoo's PR woman.
Oh and I shouldn't end on a whine, but damn, what the hell happened to the Internet? In the past six months, it seems like there's so much more crap (Gracie's poo excepted) -- and from people who should know better. Is it just that search engines like quantity over quality? I know it's not that you have more time on your hands, so what gives?
I pretty much hate all this Web2.0 stuff, but in the past few weeks I've been wading in, trying to find out what's actually useful. I mean really, I want facts, quickly. Is that so wrong?
Labels: bakersfield, brooklyn, nexus, nyc, pictures, red hook, restaurants
Water Taxi abandons all East River commuters
The Water Taxi sent out a follow up e-mail yesterday, making it clear it's not just Red Hook left high and dry for the winter, but also the other stops on its East River service:
New York Water Taxi regretfully announces the suspension of commuter service on the East River from 1/1/08 to 5/1/08. As you may know, NYWT took over the service in 2003, on short notice, when it was abandoned by another operator. We have added new stops and worked tirelessly to make the run economically viable.Earlier: Water Taxi's Christmas Eve special
This year, for the first time, the service broke even during the spring, summer and fall when tourists used the commuter service for sightseeing and visitors traveling to and from Water Taxi Beach.
However, fuel prices have doubled since the beginning of 2007 and during the winter months ridership on the East River commuter service decreases approximately 30%. Therefore, it is not economically viable to operate the service during the winter months.
We apologize for the inconvenience that this service suspension will undoubtedly cause. NYWT will resume the service on May 1, 2008. ...
The end of Red Hook's sugar smokestack
As I've noted previously, there's been a lot of demolition along with the construction in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Here's what the semi-demolished century-old Red Hook sugar factory looked like in June (taken from the water while I was on the Hidden Harbor tour.)
By July, more of the nearby structures were coming down:

Most of the deconstruction of the smokestack was done brick-by-brick by two guys hanging in a cart:

But the end came fast, when heavy machinery was brought in. It had a long arm with a pincer on the end. At certain angles, you could see it had an "eye" making it appear like some evil raptor bent on destruction, taking bite after bite until its prey was ruined and devoured.




The beast, famished:

Lastly, two pictures from May 2006, when the sugar dome was still standing, and the sunken lightship hadn't yet been removed:
Labels: brooklyn, nyc, red hook
Red Hook cranes go grey for deconstruction

The cranes over at the Ikea site are coming down bit by bit. Last week they were getting painted grey, though I have no idea why.

Over at NewYorkology, I have a little picture of the smokestack at the adjacent sugar factory site -- which is still coming down brick by brick, getting stumpier all the time. As I type this now, I can hear the chunks of the building crashing down as well.
Labels: brooklyn, nyc, red hook
Two book events - Walking Brooklyn and MB
If you happen to be in Park Slope this evening, I'll be the Q half of a Q&A with "Walking Brooklyn" author Adrienne Onofri.
The book talk starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Bookstore on 7th Ave -- not far at all from where we used to live.
And tomorrow night of course is the first reading/signing of "The Malice Box." Please join us at Barnes & Noble in the Village (6th Ave and 8th Street) at 7:30.
Labels: books, brooklyn, malice box, nyc
Two thumbs up - a movie and an opera
Wanted to pass along the info for two really excellent shows I saw in the past week.
One, you can still see. The Pioneer Theater in the East Village this Friday will again screen "In Sickness and in Health," a very moving documentary about same-sex couples in New Jersey who sued to be allowed to marry. The heartbreaking part comes when one of the partners is diagnosed with ALS and it becomes so obvious so quickly how "partner" means second-class citizen to the medical and legal world. I cried.
Unfortunately the other show I saw and loved was the Puccini opera "Il Tabaro" that was staged on the Mary Whalen oil tanker in the Brooklyn container port last weekend. Only two shows left and they're sold out. A very crazy only-in-NY experience. Near the very final dramatic scene, unbeknownst to the actors, the Tribute in Light came on in Lower Manhattan. But for the whole audience, we watched the end of the tragedy unfold on the deck of the boat with Lower Manhattan and the lights in the background. I wasn't the only one who cried.
My Red Hook sub sightings
OK, we're in England on vacation, so I can't post my cameraphone pictures of the Red Hook submarine I took last month, but I'll offer my quick two cents anyhow.
Yesterday afternoon the husband handed me his blackberry with the news alert about the sub-type device next to the QM2 in Brooklyn.
"Oh no, I know what it is. I have pictures," I said, and ran upstairs to grab my cell phone (which gets no service here, but I always take it on trips so I can use it at the airport in NY.)
And yes indeed, in pictures dated July 18 you can just barely see the bobbing little sub, in the water just next to Steve's Key Lime Pies. (This is also the location of the ramp where New York Ducks was going to launch its amphibious bus tours a couple years ago but couldn't get permits.)
But what's easier to see in the July 18 pictures is the giant image of the QM2 pulling out of the Buttermilk Channel. I thought it was odd that those guys were in their antiquey looking sub and the Coast Guard/NYPD vessel (I can't recall which it was) didn't seem to mind. Though I just assumed they'd already been by to check it out -- considering everytime the QM2 comes in, she's escorted in and out by police-type boats and at least one, sometimes two, police helicopters. (Interestingly, the Crown Princess, the only other cruise ship that regularly visits the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal, never gets the same police fuss.)
I took my pictures from the park next to the Waterfront Museum. Coincidentally, the other camera-phone picture I took on that run was at the very end of Wolcott Street at the Snapple Building. At the end of the street, another huge section of land had crumbled into the Buttermilk Channel. And according to the NY times today, that's the same spot where the police yesterday tied up the sub after arresting the artist for getting too close to the QM2.
I did see the sub one other time since the time I took the pictures -- it was in the same spot, but I don't recall if it was a day a cruise ship was at the terminal.
Update: Here's one of the pictures. Such bad quality on the Treo it makes me think I might not even bother with a camera on the next cell phone and may go the blackberry route:

Mystery ship

This guy slipped through the Buttermilk Channel around 9 p.m. tonight. A bit late for Fleet Week, no?

Here's the answer. It's a Brit.
Labels: brooklyn
Red Hook: 360 on hiatus, life at Lillie's
So much going on out here ...
The 360 restaurant has had its shutter down. If you call, the message says they're closed as of May 23, "for repair and maintenance until further notice." I walked by the Saturday prior and they were completely packed.
And on the other end of the spectrum (a 180?,) I was by Lillie's this past weekend and the shutter was up for the first time in more than a year. I poked my head inside and two guys were cleaning up. They said they hope to reopen the place this summer as a bar - but not as Lillie's - and with a restaurant next door. No name yet.
What else? There are no-parking signs all over Van Brunt and along the side streets to Conover for two different films shotting in the neighborhood this Wednesday and Thursday: "Diminished Capacity," (a film with with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda, according to IMDB,) and Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche," (with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener, says IMDB.)
Oh, and last week when I was walking by the site just between the demolition of the sugar refinery and the Ikea site (where it looks like they're building a whole bunch of berths/docks for boats)I got into an argument with a guy who might have been a security guard who asserted I had no right to take pictures eventhough I was standing on a public sidewalk. He said the owners of the property intended to put up a sign blocking the demolition, but since they hadn't yet, it was his job to tell people they're not allowed to take pictuers. So in his honor, here's what it looks like:
Oh and heck I forgot all about the destruction of the Red Hook Flea Market:
Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook
QM2 at night
The Queen Mary II spent the night in Brooklyn. Usually the ships come in between 5:30 and 7:30 in the morning, then leave around 5:30 in the evening -- at the high tides. But she just stayed and stayed, and she's still there. My camera doesn't do well at night, but here's what I got, with the Empire State Building in red, white and blue.
Bait & Tackle vs. van
Just took a cab home and passed the aftermath of an ugly crash on Van Brunt at Pioneer -- looked like a partly burned up car, and a van that came close to smashing into the Bait & Tackle bar.
I guess in this case it made no difference that only two weeks ago did Van Brunt get its second stoplight just a couple blocks away.
No more beer shakes?

So this sign's been hanging on the door at Schnack for about two weeks now. Don't know if that means they've got issues with their liquor license, but I suppose that means no beer shakes for awhile.
Labels: brooklyn, restaurants
Shoring up Red Hook

I was out in Red Hook today and was surprised to see the construction across from Valentino Pier.

Langfield fans may recall this was the site of the steplad and dad construction project in January -- you know, when it was T-shirt weather.
Today, not so much.
Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook
That sinking feeling -- Red Hook edition
Last month I mentioned that some houses on Columbia Street have been sinking, but it's far more exciting at the edge of Red Hook, as I saw earlier this week.
As you walk out toward the Waterfront Museum and that new park, there's been a section along the water blocked off by a fence. You could see there was some sinkage going on, but it's obviously gotten way worse during the winter. The fence is actually half way under water now.
(To get your bearings up top, I was standing on the pier for the Waterfront Museum. You can see just the edge of Fairway on the far right.)
Spa comes to Columbia Waterfront (Red Hook)
Well depending on what you want to call this neighborhood, you could say there is now a day spa in Red Hook.
Loma Wellness spa and medical center is now open in a big new building on Carroll Street between Columbia and Hicks. That's on the water-side of the BQE, about two blocks from the scenic toll plaza for the Brooklyn Battery Tunnell. Ch-ch-changes.
(Technically, the neighborhood is really only on the edge of Red Hook, as I alsways think of it as starting at Hamilton, though a lot of people do consider this whole stretch all the way over to Atlantic as part of Red Hook.)
Departed's Brooklyn connection
I still haven't seen Oscar-winning "The Departed" but I did see DiCaprio when he was filming part of the movie over my back fence.
Labels: brooklyn
That sinking feeling on Columbia Street
The Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier this week has a story about the big road construction project in my neighborhood, though it focuses on the noise and fails to notice that Columbia Street was made one-way. (It's phased-in one-wayedness, you may recall, was the subject of my rant a few months ago. And another post when construction started in 2005.)
The paper does have two interesting new facts.
The construction project "will now stretch into the spring of 2008" instead of fall 2007.
And this:
John Spavins, a DDC spokesperson, noted certain homes on Columbia Street have been "sinking over time."As for the one-way problems, you may recall that the one-way signs initially went up at only some intersections along Columbia, so drivers entering at other spots had no way of knowing they were about to cause a head-on crash. A couple days after my December rant, (which Curbed linked to and the construction manager responded to,) there were NYPD cops placed along the route every weekday during the day. And the cops are still out there, though only at the two ends of the one-way mess: at Alma (DeGraw and Columbia, map) and by the entrance to the container port (Hamilton and Van Brunt, map.) Your tax dollars at work.
"That soil just isn't as firm as the rest of the city," he said. "As we work by those homes we are looking to see if there is settlement of the soil."
One for the neighbors: Bouillabaisse update
E-mail from Bouillabaisse 126
Bouillabaisse 126 is now closed on Wednesdays (except February 14th of course!) and on Sunday Brunch. Both will resume in the Spring when our garden opens. We are also happy to announce our 20% off Early Dinner Special from Sunday to Thursday from 4:30 to 6:45PM, just mention it to your waitress. We are launching our take out menu next week, you can check it on our website. It will be available every day but Fridays and Saturdays (our kitchen is too small!).
Labels: brooklyn, restaurants
Survival in Red Hook
So before we returned the steplad to Jersey on Sunday evening, he wanted to head back out to Red Hook to see if his structure survived overnight.
It did somewhat well. They happened to build at what turned out to be the high-tide line and the water actually washed under the patio. Fancy, huh?
Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook, steplad
70 Degrees is Beach Weather
When it's 70 degrees in January, it seems logical to head to the beach.
The tide was so low, we could see lots of barnacles.

But since it's the Red Hook beach, it means we'll be building stuff from whatever's washed up on shore.

Lots of good driftwood today.

Of course you'll want a patio.

And equally fancy inside.

Several ferries passed across the harbor while we were there.

The builders pose.


Did I mention the weather?

Eventually we had to remove the big rocks and take off the twine we brought. But to the designer's surprise, it stands.

And to this very day, that's where it remains. At least until high tide or a strong wind.

When the day is done, it's time to pose for another picture. When you're 10, this is how it's done.

Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook, steplad
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