It's Spring, Let's Play!

I may be getting a wee bit ahead of the season but I saw my first Mr. Softee truck last night. It's spring!

Vote or Die

Seen on Crosby St, just south of Houston. But I'm not sure what Laser Guided Democracy means.

Photoblogging Valentine's Day

Thanks to Jeff over at Urban Velo for blogging a photo of mine today for Valentine's Day. Be sure to check out Urban Velo for more hot bike pics.

Rural Massachusetts Through the Viewfinder

While home with my family over the holidays, I spent some time playing around with "TTV" - a technique known as Through the Viewfinder, where you shoot through the viewfinder of a 1950s era camera with another camera, using the older camera solely as a lens. In trying this out, I was inspired by the flickr group Through the Viewfinder. This technique produces a slightly distorted effect, softens the colors, and allows you to capture the crackles and scratches on the older lens.

Though not without its difficulties - I found myself wishing I had a third hand to help juggle two cameras while also keeping my image framed, in focus, and out of the sun's glare - I like the new way it lets me see the world.

A Hole in a Fence

Last summer I was interviewed by D.W. Young, a documentary filmmaker, who was shooting a film about an abandoned lot in Red Hook. This chameleon of a site has been, variously, a graffiti spot, a homeless encampment, a formerly industrial truck loading zone, a magically-invisible overlooked and forgotten lot, contested urban space, a possible Ikea parking lot, and a reed-filled shallow pond. D.W. Young tracked me down because I had shot a series of photos of the site (you can see my set, Red Hook Marshland, on flickr).

The film, A Hole in a Fence, has just come out and is pretty damn cool. Young interviews a range of people about the site, from local teen graffiti artists who use the site as an artist wall, to a Yale Architecture School student interested in sustainable building, who used materials found on-site to build a shelter and live there for a week. And you can see yours truly opining about the site, and catch some of my photos.

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Watch the trailer on YouTube.
Or go to the website for the film.

Rock Camp for Girls Rocks

School of Rock isn't just a movie.

The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls played a noon show today at the Highline Ballroom. The show was the culmination of a week-long crash course in every aspect of rock - picking an instrument, getting a band together, silk-screening band t-shirts, and more. One volunteer teacher estimated that only about a quarter of the girls, who ranged from 8 to 18, had any experience on their instruments before getting to camp Monday morning. By the show today, they were poised, confident, and ready to rock.

If you missed today's show, there's no need to wait until next year. You can catch the second session's show on August 25th at the Highline Ballroom.

NYC Dyke March

My favorite photo from yesterday's Dyke March shows two spectacularly turned out groups - New York's own Vixxxens, in the pink sequins, and a hotter version of the Village People that I happened to run across last year as well.
More photos here.

Photo Tour of Borough Park

Borough Park is home to a large community of Orthodox Jews. While the Satmar Hasids are based in Williamsburg, the Hasidim in Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) primarily belong to the Bobov community.

Giving a taste of the neighborhood, a community blog suggested possible neighborhood slogans, among them "Boro Park- my Rebbe is bigger than your Rebbe"; "Boro Park- nu, so where else are you going to live? Flatbush? Why don't you just put on a knitted kipa, you freier. Feh"; "Boro Park- otherwise you'd have to go to Yerushalayim to see Chasidim riot"; "Boro Park: The World's Competitive Eating Capital!"; "Boro Park- come on, Bobov can't fight forever"; "Boro Park- just leave your car anywhere"; "Boro Park- the nicest frum neighborhood on Earth, more or less," and last but not least, "Boro Park-The Melting Cholent Pot."

13th Avenue is the main shopping strip in Borough Park, a lively thoroughfare lined with kosher meat markets, bakeries, clothing stores and more. It evokes an earlier era, as the lettering and graphics of many storefronts have not changed since the 1950s or earlier. Here's an assortment of sights from the strip:

Clothing Stores

Freund's F&F Family Shop
Domonick's Shoe Repair
Yeedl's Juvenile Shop
sells furniture for children's rooms.
Brach's outfits
the well-groomed gentleman.

Food Shops

Shem Tov restaurant and catering	Paskesz kosher candies. They say they marketed the first kosher chewing gum.
The New Thirteen Avenue Bagel Corp	another 13th Ave bagel shop
Tuv Taam Fish Market & Appetizing	Ossie's Fish Market
Appetizing Plus	Meal Mart
Deli D'Lite	Herbst Mehadrin Meats

Wig stores

Many Hasidic women wear wigs (sheitels) as part of tzeniut (modesty) standards.
Halacha (Jewish law) requires married women to cover their hair.

Books & Judaica

Flohr's Judaica
Tiv Tov Book Bindery

Getting around

Yeshiva Beth Hillel school bus
Zion Car Service
For another cool photo tour of Borough Park, check out Bridge & Tunnel Club.

Mid-Century Telephone Numbers

Early readers of Brooklyn Ramblings may remember my post about old telephone numbers from the 1910s to the 1970s that used two letters and five numbers instead of the seven numbers we're familiar with today. Legacies of the old 2L-5N system are still here, mostly in neighborhoods of the outer boroughs that haven't undergone many changes in the last few generations.

First we go to Bath Beach. At 1707 Bath Ave is Sta-Brite Decorators. If you're looking to get your furniture re-upholstered, this is the place. If it was 1950, you'd have dialed the operator and asked for CLarkson 9-0868.

In nearby Dyker Heights, we find Terrace Meats, at 7317 13th Ave and 74th St. You would have reached your local butcher by dialing BE-2-2003. BE probably stood for Bensonhurst, but possibly Beachview.
Next up, Golden Gate Fancy Fruits and Vegetables, at ES-7-2581. This one-story produce mart is out on Flatbush, in an outer Brooklyn neighborhood called Flatlands. Rounding out our survey of outer Brooklyn retro-gasm is the Avenue U Seafood Market, at DEcatur 2-6363. Built around 1930, maybe those were the days that you could actually eat the fish you caught off the Brooklyn piers?

Shots from 11 Spring

An amazing, overwhelming show. Props to the new owners for doing this. More photos here.

War Wagon in the South Bronx

The War Wagon - South Bronx Fire Station, originally uploaded by Shield.

Firehouse 71 in the South Bronx calls itself the War Wagon - perhaps referencing the fires that ravaged the South Bronx in the 70s, or perhaps signaling a 'pull your wagons 'round' seige mentality.

Company 71 has been serving the Morrisania neighborhood since 1899. On the 100th anniversary of the company, the company reminiscenced about the early days of the company:

The work chart for the turn of the century fireman was very simple. He worked a 24-hour tour for five days in a row with one day off. Twice a month he could take a 12-hour leave, which could not be used with his 24-hour leave. He could go home for meals three times a day for an hour each time or he could go home twice a day for an hour and half or once for three hours. Back during this time, the Bronx was a slow area and occasionally a fire run would come in. Most of the time the men would be busy caring for the horses, house watch duties, building and hydrant inspections, messenger duties to the Battalion or Division and being detailed to another fire company for sick or vacation time. Another duty was the theater detail where one man would be assign to a movie house to make sure the theater was not over crowded and the aisles block. This duty was rotated around the men in the company. Some districts had several movie houses while other few or none.

Life's a little different now, but the War Wagon's still there.

For another quirky New York firehouse, check out The Friendly Firehouse of Flatbush Ave.

Good News From Around the City for Bikes & Pedestrians

Ever tried to cross from the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza to the farmer's market? Then you know that the timing of the lights will leave you stranded on a tiny traffic island as traffic whizzes by you in both directions. Streets Blog reported today that the Department of Transportation has corrected the timing of the lights, after repeatedly insisting that to do that would have a disruptive ripple effect on neighborhood traffic. DOT is also planning to implement other pedestrian-friendly changes at Grand Army Plaza over roughly the next year. Check out Streets Blog for the full report.

What effect does traffic have on neighborhoods? Besides what you might expect, Transportation Alternatives' new study, Traffic's Human Toll, found that New Yorkers living on streets with high volumes of traffic spend less time outside and are more likely to restrict their
children's outdoor play compared to people who live on "medium" and "low" traffic streets. The study also finds that compared to residents on low traffic streets, residents on high traffic streets are twice as likely to be disrupted by traffic while they are walking, talking, eating, playing with kids and sleeping.

Want to check out the Bronx waterfront? The Department of City planning has just released the Bronx Harlem River Waterfront Bicycle and Pedestrian Study, which proposes to improve pedestrian and bike access to the waterfront by adding off-street paths or striped bike lanes. Click here for the full report.

Photo, an inventive entrance to the bike path in Toronto, by mute*.

Working on My Portfolio

My portfolio, originally uploaded by Shield. Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I've been updating my portfolio on flickr, and I'd welcome any comments or suggestions that people have. Click on the photo to see the whole set, or click on individual photo captions to see a particular photo.

Row One: 1. salt ponds 1, 2. reflection slope 6, 3. reflection slope 5, 4. dream of a building, 5. bike on NY street, 6. trike in the moonlight,
Row Two: 1. woman walking away, 2. woman, 3. child, Mission alley, 4. SF Mission alleyway queen, 5. billboard, 6. guard,
Row Three: 1. left behind, 2. then he was gone..., 3. flat fix abstract, 4. 347, 5. Patauger dans les roseaux (Wading in the reeds), 6. wounds,
Row Four: 1. door, 2. crosses, 3. rust abstract, 4. they shoot clowns, don't they?, 5. Providence wall, 6. auto spkr,
Row Five: 1. meatpacking district coffee, 2. flag, 3. 9/11 memorial, 4. no post no bills, 5. Gowanus barbed wire, 6. Ice cream stand.

Photo of the Day: The Wilds of Red Hook

The guard dog (um, guard-bobcat?) we all need. New York is rough, yo. Click to see it larger.

Sunday is for Buffing

The unintentional art of buffed (covered over) graffiti.

shades of red wall by limonada

handball court/mccarren park by meadows

Providence wall by Shield