It’s so nice to walk the trails in Prospect Park and not have to worry about ticks and scary wildlife. So what the trail is like 2 feet long and there may be a rapist or murderer around the bend? It’s the best of both worlds!
Speaking of the park, did you hear that they gassed the geese?? What a fuckin’ outrage! It’s the talk of the doggy circles and people are NOT happy.
Isn’t George Steinbrenner a fictional Seinfeld character? I don’t follow baseball so I don’t really know this Steinbrenner dude. I do know that Larry David did a much better Steinbrenner than Steinbrenner himself. Check out this clip that either ended up on the cutting room floor or didn’t air too often. I don’t remember it, anyway. It’s Steinbrenner doing Steinbrenner! And he kind of sucks.
See, this is why I shouldn’t leave the house. I go out looking for some restoration materials and I come back with a light fixture that I don’t need.
Roy Vaccaro has lots of iron work and other goodies at his outdoor spot near Gowanus Lowe’s. I went looking for some marble for my window sills (Eddie Hibbert, if you’re reading this, you never called me back!) and ended up falling in love.
Check out that baby below! It’s big and heavy and has griffins and lions. How could I not buy it? The husband says it may be too heavy for our ceiling and I said “You make it work.” Cue whip sound.
Roy had many cute lights, but I had to close my eyes and keep moving.
So, what do you think I paid for it? Huh? Huh? It’s about 2 feet tall and is missing one dangly piece. Of course it needs rewiring.
“But what if I want my white vinyl windows?!” Cranky old guy just couldn’t let it go. Saturday’s meeting to address the landmarking of Bedford Corners was informative and interesting, but it was Cranky Old Guy who stole the show….at least for me.
Before we arrived, I wondered who the hell would hold a meeting on a Saturday in the middle of the summer. I thought nobody would show, but it was standing room only. May I add that my block, which is about 3 feet long, was well represented.
I scribbled some notes, but mostly I just distracted Brownstoner’s Montrose Morris, whom was trying to pay attention like a professional blogger. Hey, I’m sure she’ll have a much more informative post later this morning.
So, here are some fun facts about historic landmarking:
* There are about 100 landmarked districts in all 5 boroughs. Most of them are in Manhattan, followed by Brooklyn.
* Brooklyn Heights was the first landmarked district in the County of Kings.
* Guess which boro is the most resistant to landmarking? Come on, you know.
* Less than 3% of all properties in NYC are landmarked.
* In 1965, it was Mayor Wagner whom started landmarking districts. (Interesting. I was like “Mayor Who?” I can only remember as far back as Lindsay and I guess I don’t remember my history lessons.)
But back to Cranky Old Guy. During the Q&A, he asked if Landmarks was going to tell him what he can and can’t do to his house. The response was that Landmarks does indeed oversee replacement doors and windows on historic homes in the district. There was back and forth for a bit.
“But it’s MY home. What if I don’t want to put in expensive wood windows?”
“Sir, Landmarks doesn’t make you install wood. They will approve wood or aluminum windows. Not vinyl.”
“But what if I want white vinyl? It’s MY home. How can they tell me what to do with MY home!”
“You can do aluminum. Not vinyl. The cost is only a bit more and they will last you longer.”
And on and on it went until someone said “It isn’t really YOUR home because you pay property taxes.”
If you live in the designated area, you really should get involved. The neighborhood needs to get behind these issues. It’s not like a couple of volunteers take care of it. Strength in numbers gets it done.
Please go to the website to learn more.
Punk Jews-Work in Progress from Evan Kleinman on Vimeo.
Who knew there were punk Jews? I’m kvelling for the anarchists in my tribe! I’m not talking about my kind of lapsed Jew since birth….the Jon Stewart type. These Heebpunks are like really, really religious. Or at least they were brought up orthodox.
There’s a punk band featured in the film called “Moshiach Oi!” How clever is that? If you don’t get the reference, you’re either too young, too old or you were listening to Air Supply back in the 70′s.
I caught the Jew story on Cool Hunting (actually, from a Facebook link). The docjewmentary is a work in progress by Brooklyn based filmmaker Jesse Zook Mann. You can be a backer of the movie by going to Kickstarter and pledging as little as a buck.
It almost makes me sad I’m not a real Jew.
Almost.
Remember the Thursday night Coney Island Seaside Concerts I posted? Well, it turns out that there are Tuesday night concerts in the same venue and they aren’t listed on the website! WTF? A reader found that the Tuesday event calendar is only listed on Council Member Domenic Recchia Jr.’s site.
A couple of interesting shows at Coney….
Boilermaker Jazz Band on July 20th
Shout! The Mod Musical on July 27th (I dare you to click the link and not sing along. Go on. I dare you!)
Those are just two of the shows that look good to me. There are performances every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30pm.
Also, let’s not forget that Marty hosts the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series at Wingate Field. There are some pretty awesome shows lined up for this summer, started with…
Hel-lo! George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic with The Ohio Players! July 12th.
Toni Braxton. July 19th.
Salt n Pepa with Naughty by Nature and Rick Slick. Aug 2nd
And Aretha will be playing August 9th at Wingate as well as the 12th at Coney.
Be sure to check out the Coney Island Fun Guide. This Saturday, Planet of the Apes! Freak shows, movie nights, baseball games and fireworks. Coney kicks ass!
Looks like this Bedford Corners Historic District thing is moving along. I received the following email as well as a flyer posted on the door of my house on a block not mentioned. This is Phase I. Maybe my block is Phase II? 
It’s all good. Gives us a chance to install new front door and windows without landmarks breathing down our back.
And now to the old cut and paste……
An open forum community meeting regarding the creation of the Bedford Corners Landmark District will be held on July 10th, 2010 at 2:00 PM at the Bedford Branch Public Library. The library is located at 495 Franklin Avenue at Hancock Street.
A presentation by members of the Historic Districts Council will address the conditions and benefits of achieving historic landmark status. After the presentation residents of the neighborhood will be able to ask questions about the process and what it means to the community.
Bedford Corners comprises the blocks of Macon St., Halsey St, Hancock St, Arlington Place, and Jefferson Avenue from Bedford and Nostrand Avenues and extending east to Tompkins Avenue.
Bedford Corners will be only the second new historic district named in Bedford-Stuyvesant since 1971, when the Stuyvesant Heights district was formed. Growing support for the formation of Bedford Corners has been shown with a postcard mailing campaign to the Landmarks Preservation Commision earlier this year. This district has also garnered the support of Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Councilmember Al Vann.
This district has filed a Request for Evaluation with the LPC and is awaiting surveying and calendaring procedures. Currently the Bedford District Block Associations (BDBA), a coalition of local block associations, is collecting signatures to a petition in support of this designation.
The hubby was cleaning out the basement over the holiday weekend (What, did you expect us to barbecue?) and discovered a vintage wedding cake. It was a very eew moment. The cake was sitting in a plastic bag in a freezer that hasn’t been plugged in at least since we got the place in 2005.
See all the black gunk? Yup, the icing.
After careful evaluation, we’ve dated the artifact around the 1980′s.
This is one salvaged item that ended up in the trash.
1. Go to a British pub. Be all like “Hey, screw you Brits! You ain’t the boss of me!”
2. Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. You can be a spectator or apply for the competition if it’s not too late. Coney Island. Where else?
3. Take a self guided battle for New York tour. It covers a lot. You may need to stop for a pint at a British pub.
4. Brooklyn Music Festival at Floyd Bennett Field. Reggae, ska, calypso, hip hop….
5. Circle Line cruise. Never done it. Not July 4th, not ever. But could be a smile. 79 bucks though. Ouch.
6. Stormville Flea Market. July 3rd & 4th. Worth the drive.
7. Let the eagle soar! Celebrate America’s icon at the Audubon Center in Prospect Park. July 3 & 4. There are other events taking place in the park that day, so bring a picnic and hang out some.
8. What’s more Amer-kin than seeing the next best thing to Johnny Cash? Rosanne Cash at Governors Island. Free show and ferry.
9. Joisey. Macy’s fireworks are over The Hudson this year, not the East River. Hop on the PATH to Hoboken or Weehawkin. Force your way to the crowded waterfronts or check out the restaurants or cruises.
10. Splurge! Go to the top of the Empire State Building. You can’t get a much better view than that. Tickets are $125 a pop and limited to the first 300 people. It doesn’t seem to be sold out yet.
Most importantly, kids, remember not to blow off your face or hands with illegal fireworks!
Happy 4th!!
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[...] There is a walking tour of Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights taking place this Sunday! The tour is being hosted by Amzi Hill of the blog “Save Bedford Stuyvesant” and Montrose Morris, one of the writers over at Brownstoner. Click over to Reclaimed Home for all of the details. [...]
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