Author: Brett

After a “luxurious” Saturday of apartment-hunting in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we loaded the wee ones into the car on Sunday and drove Northward to The Bronx.

Riverdale is a Northern Bronx neighborhood which looks suspiciously like a Westchester suburb (minus the outrageous property taxes). Wooded and green with winding streets, Riverdale’s many apartment buildings line the Henry Hudson Parkway, which, surprisingly, feels more like a Central Park cross-street near the off-ramp areas than a major thoroughfare. There are single-family homes in Riverdale, but they are mostly out of our price range (above 750k) and those in our grasp appear to need some serious fixin’. Since we are pretty desperate to move into our own place at this point and can’t safely renovate for the next couple of years, we need a place in good shape. So, for this trip, we stuck to looking at apartments.

Riverdale is a formerly sleepy area which has seen massive (mostly unwelcome) growth in the past few years. The most recent behemoth is the Solaria, with prices starting at $915k for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit. Needless to say, that was beyond our “measly” budget of low 700s.

We saw 3 apartments on our first trip. The first two were in The Waterford, one of the newer condos in Riverdale. The Waterford sits on Waldo Avenue, a quiet, hilly street lined with both single-family houses and apartment buildings, and overlooks the streets below. Down the block is a row of shops—a deli, pizzeria, and drugstore. As with many apartment buildings in the nabe, The Waterford rents its lower floor to a preschool.

At first glance, the building looked amazing. There is a part-time doorman, but at all other times, a sophisticated new security system allows residents to punch in a code and let themselves in—no fumbling with keys. A video monitor allows residents to see any arriving guests. The realtor showed us a brand-spanking new wood-paneled common room where an actual resident sat drinking coffee, laptop stretched across his legs. The building also featured a party room, indoor parking, a workout room with a flat screen and DVD player, and a basement storage closet for each unit—all at no additional charge.

The first unit of the two available in the building was on the second floor and was one of the only apartments without a balcony. This unit was offered by the building; it was the only one not to have been sold in the initial offering in 2006. Once we took a look inside, we could see why. The living room and master bedroom faced the playground for the preschool. The realtor assured us that the kids were all gone by 2pm each day, but who really wants to risk accidental indecent exposure? A look at a furnished unit on the 5th floor gave us a glimpse of the true size of the place as this apartment was being sold by the tenant. This owner barely had any furniture either and had most items lined up neatly on the floor against the wall. What was it with these new apartments anyway? Is furniture-free living the new trend? Makes one wonder whether California Closets isn’t somehow brainwashing the masses….

It was at this point that the realtor dropped the bombshell on us. Turns out that those “free” building perks were not actually free. The quoted monthly maintenance fee of $686 had recently been raised to a whopping $950 ($925 for the 2nd Fl. apartment)! As we stood there aghast, the agent hastily crossed out the printed figure and scribbled in the new one. I guess the big shots-that-be figured out why other buildings charge extra for everything. At any rate, the units were now out of our price range. Once again, we wasted our time looking at something that was incorrectly (read: falsely) represented. We could only wonder what was in store for us in the next building…

On Saturday I took part in yet another Brooklyn Blogger video. Yeah, I know. I’m quite the local celeb. This one will be shown at the May Blogfest. Saturday’s blogger interviews and the Blogfest are both brainchildren of Louise OTBKB. Where does she find the time and energy to do all this stuff? Don’t you hate people like that? I prefer to hang out with my loser friends because it makes me look good.

Anyhoo, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with the F train. Blue Barn Pictures, the production company behind the video, is located in Dumbo right near the York Street Station.

I wore a big HTF (Hide The Fat) dress that kept blowing up as I walked and new shoes that were 1/2 size too small. I HAD TO buy the shoes because they were $8.50. Really cute. See, if I wasn’t dressed so uncomfortably, I could’ve just stayed on the A and walked a few extra blocks. But since I got tired of flashing everyone and my crushed toes were hurting, I opted to change for the F.

I’ve had the disadvantage of living near the F line most of my teen and adult life. It’s not one of the reasons I left Park Slope, but let’s just say I haven’t missed it since the day I said goodbye. I’ve always considered the F to be the worst line in the city. Perhaps it’s because that’s the one I had to take. You know, like when you’re at the supermarket and YOUR line is always the slowest? Does that happen to everyone or just me?

So I’m an A train person now and I’m proud of that. I’ll be honest, I feel quite superior. But the other day when I had to take the F, it was like a bad dream all over again. Three A trains passed as I waited. And waited. I kept saying “It will come soon. I’ve waited this long.” On the way back, same thing. About a 20-30 minute wait for a 2 minute train ride. I DESPISE that train!!

But the shoot….that was fun! After all my worries about looking too fat on film (again), it was just a head and shoulder shot. I won’t find out if I had crust in my eyes or something in my teeth until it’s shown on the big screen in May. Hopefully I sounded fairly intelligent. I know I stumbled a few times, but that can be edited. I believe I said something about blogging in the buff. Have a feeling they’ll keep that one in. Great.

While awaiting my close up, I chatted with Brit in Brooklyn about missing the old Coney Island. And spoke to Self Absorbed Boomer a bit about country life/city life. Had lunch with Louise OTBKB and Eleanor Creative Times. My apologies for ruining Eleanor’s lunch talking about salvaging toilets with poop inside. Guess it’s not good dining conversation.

Well, all in all, a fun day. Wanna see the interviews and heckle? You’ll have to show up at the Blogfest in May.

Brooklyn Blogfest 08
May 8th at 8 p.m.
The Brooklyn Lyceum
227 Fourth Ave & President St
$10 suggested donation
Open to one and all

$ 179k: Crown Heights Studio

So this is what $179k buys you in Brooklyn these days. A 410 foot studio on Utica Avenue. Well, at least it’s renovated. Open house this weekend.

$ 189k: Kew Gardens 1 BR

Nicely done FSBO site. The descriptions sounds like agent-speak 101 though. Anyway, we’re talking about the apartment, not the site, so….. looks nice. Kew Gardens=not too shabby. This is a coop, not a condo. 100 amp service. Does that mean the whole building has to agree to upgrade? Perhaps a silly question, but I don’t know from coops.

$189,488: Parkchester 2 BR

Lemme tell you something. You really get your money’s worth in Parkchester. 2BRs right near the subway and all amenities. The buildings seem well cared for. If I was looking to buy my first place and I wasn’t so anti-condo, I’d consider Parkchester. Are those floors polished concrete?

$199k: Jersey City 1 BR

Hey, look at that! Da kid is getting out of the boros. See? I told you this is a tri-state blog! So, I heard JC is cool. This says it’s near Lincoln Park and the Path train. Looks like a lovely pre-war building that hasn’t been all modernized.

$139k: 3BR Condo Alternative

This came up under my condo search. Now, who wouldn’t want to live on a house boat? Forget what I said about Parkchester. If I was buying my first place, this would TOTALLY be it! I could’ve sworn I saw this ad awhile ago and the fact that the photos are not current probably means I’m correct. Maybe it never sold. Or it sold and the new owner couldn’t deal with it. Whatev. Who cares? I want it! I’d so be at KPD every night. And morning. Maybe lunchtime too. Not that I’d ever live in Mill Basin if I had to live on land.

ClintonHillChill launched earlier this week. Our “pilot”, BKnesto, is a fourth generation Brooklynite (damn, I’m only 3rd) who can recall “back in the day”. Like the post about Spike Lee’s crackhead brother.

I lived in Ft. Greene in the late 80’s. I don’t remember Spike’s brother, but I did see his folks wandering around the neighborhood quite a bit. I found a cat on Dekalb across from 40 Acres and named him Spike. He was with us for 13 years until he passed at the age of 18. That’s my Spike Lee story. Not very impressive, huh?

And I forgot all about Spike’s Joint! Ok, here’s a little trivia (because I can’t remember myself and I’m looking for the answer). Didn’t director John Singleton also have a store on Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights?

Yeah, I like to travel BIG just as much as anyone. But sometimes an overseas vacation is more stressful than it’s worth. That’s why I’m a huge fan of local travel. Just go. Get out of the city for a few days. No better way to relax. Instead of my usual “Weekender” post, I’ll let you do your own research. Here are some planning resources for ya….

GORP covers the great outdoors. The site lists activities on Long Island, in NJ and Upstate. For those of you who can’t get away, there are resources for biking, kayaking and horseback riding right in the city.

EscapeMaker isn’t greatly informative, but it does cover lots of ground. A nice place to start before narrowing down where it is you want to go.

I Love NY. Who doesn’t?

Discover Long Island here.

And New Jersey here.

Retreats for the highly stressed.

Or follow the culture.

Parent Zone has a nice guide for child friendly weekend trips.

And Blue Sky Dogs is a travel agent. For dogs.

Cyberrentals and VRBO are THE two vacation rental sites. Filter by price, kids, pets, area, etc.

Have fun!

WashUp is merely a concept at the moment. Sevin Coskun of Turkey entered the design into the Greener Gadgets Competition this year.

The idea is to store wasted water from the laundry in the flush tank to be reused later. Also a great solution for small apartments.

Just don’t forget to lower the lid before unloading clothes!

Via Trendhunter

I usually try to find vintage switchplates on Ebay or I embellish existing ugly ones with wallpaper scraps or antiquing techniques. But I wanted to see what else is being offered out there. So, here are some recycled switchplates: all too pricey for moi.

Eleek makes some gorgeous plates. Not cheap though. The “Crosshatch” pictured above is $68. Using these for every switch in your house would cost more than a used car. Perhaps not, since they don’t make outlet covers.

Boris Bally designs these football shaped switchplates using recycled street signs. I can see them in a few rooms, but not all over the house. Don’t get me wrong….I like them. But they scream teenage boy’s room to me. $39.99 at Green and More.

Tin Can Sally makes her switchplates out of…you guessed it. Although most of them look “kitcheny”, perhaps the plain tin, which I actually prefer, can be used all over the house. Her designs average $22, which seems like a steal compared to the other companies.

Etsy designer Debby Arem uses circuit boards for her switchplates. Some of the colors are really nice, but I prefer the plate pictured above because it’s not obviously a computer part. $28 for the 3 switch cover.

Another video from those crazy kids at BCAT. Anne from Sustainable Flatbush is in the spotlight this time. Special guest appearance by The Flatbush Gardener.

Check out the fun carbon footprint table on ERedux. Oh and here’s an interactive map depicting the best and worst states. New York is in the “Best” category. Texas the “Worst”.

Ok, ok, I’m not done yet. Type in your zipcode and look at the “green web tool” links on the right side. You can check out local air quality, cheapest gas, traffic reports via links to other sites. But you’ll definitely want to spy on your neighbors with Huffington Post’s Fundrace 2008. No surprise that my Bed Stuy neighborhood supports Obama, but it was fun to see who supported Bush in small town Beacon in the 2004 elections. I actually did this back in ‘04, but since I have no memory, it was like magic all over again!

A venting toilet that doesn’t stink. Why didn’t they think of this years ago?

It seems simple enough. Instead of (or as well as) having an exhaust fan in your ceiling, the dual purpose fan pulls exhaust directly from the bowl. It also pull humidity out of the bathroom.

As if that wasn’t enough to get anyone whose sh*t stinks on board, the Ventex is also a water saving system.

Starts at $519 for the complete system. Think about how much you’ll be saving on matches, candles and deodorizers.

Via Bobby V

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