Up Close & Personal with the Gowanus Canal

gowanus, originally uploaded by f.trainer.

Ghosts of Old Brooklyn Farmhouses

It's an age-old story. Brooklyn transplant falls in love with his new borough and sets about photographing it voraciously, aware that what he sees through his lens is changing every day and might soon fall victim to the relentless pressures of urbanization and modernization. 2006? No, 1906.

Between 1905 and 1911, Clinton Irving Jones traveled the outer boroughs, using a bellows camera with glass plate negatives to preserve the old farmhouses, barns and mills of neighborhoods like Flatlands, Flatbush and Elmhurst. The negatives were recently rediscovered and were bought through ebay by Dumbo gallery owner David Sokosh. Sokosh is displaying them until next Sunday at his gallery, Underbridge Pictures, at 111 Front Street.

Photo: 1224 Fulton St., between Bedford and Nostrand, under the elevated train [map]
The Last Strains of a Pastoral Song [NY Times]

Phony Demolitions as Brooklyn Eviction Tactic

Five buildings in Prospect Heights and Park Slope face eviction based on their landlord's claim that he plans to wholly demolish or do a gut rehab of their building. The landlord, Frank Farricker, is currently running for Connecticut State Senate on an affordable housing platform.

Although Farricker insists that he will respect tenants' rent-stabilized leases, which guarantee tenants the right to renew their lease, Farricker's real estate investment firm's application to the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal suggests otherwise. The application asks the agency's approval for Farricker "to refuse renewal of" tenant leases "and/or proceed for eviction."

Bennett Baumer, who works for the Metropolitan Council on Housing, charged that "this is a mass eviction that he's applied for, so his intention is to have everybody out on the street. He says one thing in Connecticut and does another thing in Brooklyn."

Read more: Greenwich Times, New York Times.
Photo: 217 St. John's Place, one of the buildings Farricker seeks to gut.

Graffitti on the Gowanus

Graffitti on the Gowanus, originally uploaded by daltonrooney.

Photo of the day from the Gowanus Canal.

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*.

This Sunday

Bye sun, originally uploaded by Mazda6.

For Kaija, originally uploaded by pirate johnny.

Gloomy days are upon us.

Maps of Other Lands: Narnia

First of an occasional series.

Zombies Take Manhattan

Zombiecon 2006 kicked off on Saturday with a bloody mary brunch on the upper east side. The locals who showed up to watch the game on the telly were, shall we say, a little befuddled to see that so many people who belong below 14th Street had taken over their bar and were busily applying zombie blood and make-up.
After traipsing through the Bloomingdale's perfume floor - we definitely needed something special to cover up that funky grave smell - we hit the subway to head to Times Square.
There's nothing more classic than a subway car full of New Yorkers, who, when zombies crowd into the car, look up briefly from their newspaper, make a snarky comment or two, and go right back to their reading. Does nothing phase you? Nothing?
FAO Schwartz management was not exactly thrilled to see us. Neither was Red Lobster - despite bringing our own bibs and politely asking the maitre de for a "table for 95, please," they kicked us out too. Passers-by were very sympathetic about the zombie discrimination.
Next - zombies gotta eat. Ordering from a waitress who's seen it all at the Times Square Pub.
Revitalized, we hit the street again. Next up: Union Square and a few more bars. Somewhat surprisingly, the tourists were way more playful and into the whole thing than the downtown New Yorkers.

1964 World's Fair Subway Map

On this date in 1964, the New York World's Fair ended its first six-month run at Flushing Meadows. More than fifty-one million people saw the Fair, which was planned by the infamous Robert Moses and is now best remembered for the "Tent of Tomorrow" and Unisphere.

To mark the occasion, the MTA published a special subway map that explained how to get there - I guess some things don't change, we still need help getting to Queens.

Map courtesy of Ryn

Neckface Kicks

Graffiti artist Neckface has teamed up with Vans to put out a series of skate shoes emblazoned with his designs. After being based out of NYC for a number of years, Neckface has moved back to his native California. You can still see his prickly arms stretching across NYC walls and rooftops - a great view of a big one is from the F train as it goes above ground at Smith/9th. My personal favorites are his stickers (below), which show his irreverent and self-deprecating sense of humor.

"Die Brooklyn Yuppies"

IMGP5757, originally uploaded by amg2000.

Found in the men's room at Bonnie's Grill on Park Slope's hipper strip, 5th Ave. The snarky reply to "die Brooklyn yuppies" says "before or after brunch?"

Part II: Halleck Street Ikea

On a recent trip to the planned Ikea site in Red Hook, I checked in on the former truck loading zone next to where the graving dock used to be. Although the graving dock was destroyed by Ikea in the last month or so, the truck loading zone next door still remains and is virtually unchanged. I believe Ikea plans to turn this area into a parking lot, and I imagine they'll leave it for a while longer while they're building the store. Soon enough, though, another of the few wild and forgotten places hidden in the city will be gone.

inside, graffiti on the concrete walls

jury-rigged fencing

"Do not pick up / girls in this / area thay got / aids"

where truck used to exit the loading zone, viewed from Hallack Street

Last Glimpses of Halleck St Ikea Site

The bulldozing of the Todd Shipyard in Red Hook appears almost complete, paving the way (no pun intended) for Ikea's planned store. For now, there's still some street art along Halleck Street. Although graffiti and street art is always ephemeral, these are almost guaranteed to disappear when Ikea sanitizes the area.

Dumba at the Under the Bridge Festival

Brooklyn Ramblings checked out the Dumbo artists open studios today. Powerhouse Books presented No Sleep 'til Brooklyn, a hip hop retrospective that runs until November 19, and includes classic shots from the 1980s, some intense series, and current shots from around Brooklyn. Art collective Dumba showed a number of artists, and the collective itself is something to see. These kids have put a lot of work into the building over the years, and it shows. Here are two shots from their place.

Oh Cambodian, Where Might You Be

The search for Cambodian food in New York City continues. After some short but basically exhaustive internet research on the Cambodian community in New York, I made a guess that if there was Cambodian food to be had, it would be in the Bronx along Fordham Road. You can see my earlier post and the map showing how much time I had on my hands here.

I took a trip up there after work on Tuesday. As I walked along Fordham Road near the D train I quickly saw that the stores were all pretty high-rent places - national chain stores, fast food joints, and local powerhouses like Jimmy Jazz. A mom and pop restaurant isn't likely to be able to pay that rent. On the west side of the Grand Concourse, the stores get a little more local - cell phones stores, pizza joints, and bodegas. But still no Cambodian food. I couldn't find anything but Goya in the bodegas.

I must have looked lost, as I was soon greeted with "hey guy - whatcha lookin' for?" When I said Cambodian, my good samaritan just looked bewildered. But then I started getting some interesting leads. First I stopped in at St. Rita's youth program, which does a lot of work in the Cambodian community. The staff there told me that there was a Cambodian grocery a few blocks away, above the park on University. Very excited, I walked there, but it turned out to be a Vietnamese grocery. The owner pointed me towards Jerome Ave just south of Kingsbridge, where he said there was a larger Asian grocery that was owned by someone who is Cambodian. Once at Phnom Penh Market (2639 Jerome), the owner confirmed that she was Cambodian but said that they didn't sell any Cambodian food, just Thai and Vietnamese. This is the point in my fantasy where I would get invited to their house for some home cooking, but alas, that didn't happen. I also went and peeked into Phung Hung across the street (2614 Jerome), but their food appeared to be just Vietnamese. They were closed, so I couldn't investigate further, but this place might deserve a return trip.

Sadly, it seems that there is no Cambodian food to be had in the five boroughs. It almost (almost) makes me sad that the place in Fort Greene has shut down. It seems that I'm going to have to content myself with driving a few hours to Apsara's in Providence for their nime chow. Translation: heaven.