The Red Hook Fairway opened as scheduled this morning and the breathless comments and rush of photos on flickr, like the ones to the right and below from a huge set posted by David Prince reminded Gowanus Lounge of how upscale food retailing deprived many in Brooklyn have been. (Actually, the response reminded GL of […]

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Is it just Gowanus Lounge or was there an unnerving, ho-hum reaction to this week’s prediction that New York City is at “very high risk” of a hurricane this year? In point of fact, because of weather patterns, the New York metro area literally has a big red circle over it. No space here to […]

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sugar factory, incomplete panorama, originally uploaded by e-liz. This view won’t do it justice, so Gowanus Lounge urges you to check out some of the great panoramas of the Big G and Red Hook stitched together by wonderful local photog Elizabeth Weinberg, aka e-liz, and offered up on her flickr photostream. We call this entry, […]

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View of Lake Gowanus, originally uploaded by rsguskind. This is the latest view of Lake Gowanus, the murky body of water formed by seeping groundwater at the future site of the Whole Foods at Third Avenue and Third Street in Gowanus. First expected this year, the opening date for Whole Foods has been pushed back […]

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Stung by stories that controversial student artwork removed from the Brooklyn War Memorial was damaged and lost, Brooklyn College officials have told reporters that they are investigating the claims. A statement from the college reported by AP, said in part, “We take these reports seriously and are currently investigating the nature and extent of this […]

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Gowanus Lounge was walking down Third Street in Park Slope between Fifth Avenue and Fourth Avenue, when we wandered past two gentlemen in their fifties who were longtime residents of the neighborhood and, clearly, could recall when things along the avenues and some adjoining streets weren’t quite so affluent as they are now. It was […]

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Remember the Brooklyn College thesis artwork at the Brooklyn War Memorial that was shut down on May 4 by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who called it not “appropriate for families”? Well, Brooklyn’s latest nastiness over “unsuitable” art has taken another turn with the artists alleging “shocking” damage to the removed works. onNYTurf picks […]

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A couple of developments worth noting in the Atlantic Yards battle (besides this morning’s appearance of Forest City Ratner’s Jim Stuckey and Develop Don’t Destroy’s Daniel Goldstein on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show). First, Atlantic Yards Report carefully examines the models of the project and notes the curious possible appearance of three additional towers of up […]

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There is good news and bad news to report at Gowanus Lounge’s favorite abandoned site in Brooklyn (now that the best part of the Greenpoint Terminal Market has been dramatically dispatched by the fire gods). First, the good news: Bloc Party will be playing a McCarren Pool on July 29. Now, the bad news: Doesn’t […]

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Killer Dogs Sign, originally uploaded by rsguskind. We call this one, simply, “Tagged Up Guard Dog with Stickers.”

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Weekends are for chilling, and so, Gowanus Lounge finds the photo to the right speaking to us. We call this slice of streetscape, “Peace Thru Vandalism, with Buzzers.” It is from Mott Street in Nolita, which was a gritty little street before the neigborhood gained its new name and super-expensive retail moved in. The photo […]

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Gowanus Lounge was amused by a reader’s reaction to our “Brooklyn Nostalgia Moment” photo of Dumbo in 2001. The words that went with the photo said, in effect, that the pace of change in some Brooklyn neighborhood is so fast that “nostalgia” can happen overnight. Here today. Gone tomorrow. This led the reader to (anonymously) […]

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The following is intended as commentary and has nothing to do with real starchitects and anything they have said: Stung by criticism of Miss Brooklyn, Frank Gehry has announced that he is testing a new concept at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenue, where the “grand entrance” to the Atlantic Yards project will be located. In keeping […]

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Third Avenue and Third Street, originally uploaded by rsguskind. A shot from Gowanus Lounge’s flickr photostream, shot at Third Avenue and Third Street in the heart of Gowanus. Jewish Press building recently purchased by Leviev Boymelgreen to make way for the Gowanus Village project is visible on the left.

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Okay, it’s a cheap trick to get your attention. But, Gowanus Lounge has very mixed feelings about Frank Gehry’s naming of his big Atlantic Yards tower, Miss Brooklyn. Yesterday, Frank O. explained how Miss Brooklyn (Could we do “Ms.,” maybe?) came to be. “When we were studying Brooklyn, we happened upon a wedding, a real […]

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Some of the reaction to Atlantic Yards V2.0 is so, well, nasty, negative and vituperative, that you almost have to feel sorry for Frank Gehry. Whereas Gowanus Lounge has issues with the project’s scale, we don’t go rabid dog about the design. (What sort of structure, exactly, do those that are stunned expect from Frank […]

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So much going on locally this weekend that Boro Prez Marty Markowitz has, in the enthusiastic Markowitzian way, officially proclaimed it “What a Weekend in Brooklyn!” Reasons include: The Bklyn Designs show in Dumbo from May 12-14 that runs at St. Ann’s Warehouse on Water Street and other locations. The show features the work of […]

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With the rubble of the Greenpoint Terminal Market as a backdrop, neighborhood residents yesterday demanded an independent investigation and asked whether the inferno was set as part of a “calculated and callous plan” to speed up waterfront development. They also asked for more air quality monitoring by the EPA and DEP, and greater community scrutiny […]

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Don’t know about you, but this new rendition of Atlantic Yards as seen from Flatbush Avenue is a real, um, eye opener. We will avoid the temptation to get into detailed analysis of Frank Gehry’s redesign, the mass at immediate street level, etc. As one who is not averse to Gehry (and who actually finds […]

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Thanks to the always excellent Daily Slope for blogging this priceless nugget of pure gold: A map of the “New Gowanus Bay” after a 9 meter rise in sea levels. Okay, so it might not be an immediate damper, so to speak, on real estate values. Long term, however, those “waterfront” developments along our beloved […]

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Brace yourselves. The latest Frank Gehry designs for Atlantic Yards were revealed earlier. To the right is the latest vision for the megablock at Atlantic and Flatbush, already posted at Curbed and at Atlantic Yards Report–and within a matter of minutes, probably at interested sites and news organizations all over the country. AYR’s Norman Oder […]

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It’s still more than a month away, but Gowanus Lounge was excited to find that Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn will be presenting the First Annual Brooklyn Blog Festival 2006 on June 22 at 8 p.m. at the Old Stone House, located between Fifth Avenue and Fourth Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets in Park […]

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Come on, you know you want to do it. Your mom will never forget her Mother’s Day canoe trip down the bucolic South Brooklyn Seine, although the runoff from Friday’s rain could make our favorite body of water a little ripe. (The Big G gets a nice dose of sewerage when it rains because it […]

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The entire issue of neighborhood names and identities–acronyms like BoCoCa aside–is vexing, especially in a hood like Gowanus, which has no officially recognized boundaries. There is an entire thread on the Park Slope Message Board devoted to answering the question: “My New Apt.–Do I live in Park Slope?” “It’s on 7th street between 3rd and […]

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First, news today that David Bowie will be curating a High Line music festival in May and doing a free concert, his first NYC show since 2003. Then, the early lineup for the Siren Festival in Coney Island. What more could one want in six hours? The early line up for the July 15 Siren […]

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