Former City Planning Commissioner Ron Shiffman has joined the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Advisory Board and has unloaded with a withering critique of the Atlantic Yards plan. “Forest City Ratner (FCR) and, by extension, the City and State of New York, continue to follow a process that is fundamentally flawed in pursuit of a plan […]

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Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related news stories, blog items and images: Atlantic Yards: Stuckey, Lewis Face Restive, Skeptical Crowd at Yards Session [AYR] Summary of Affordable Housing Session Coverage [No Land Grab] After “Race” Battle, Dan Goldstein Charges On [NYObserver] Former Planning Commissioner on Atlantic Yards [Gotham Gazette] Rebranding Atlantic Center Mall [AYR] Former […]

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As a big fan of Ferdinando’s Focacceria at 151 Union Street in Carroll Gardens/Red Hook, Gowanus Lounge was amused to learn from newyorkology that Leonardo DiCaprio has been onsite shooting Martin Scorsese‘s The Departed. If you haven’t been to Ferdinando’s, you should go, because this little Sicilian place is the real deal–a true taste of […]

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East River State Park in Williamsburg is moving a bit slowly thanks to all the rain, according to a well-informed source who went to people working on the new park to get the scoop. The mid- to late-July opening target is slipping because the rain has made the new lawns too soft for “the inevitable […]

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Chalk up an early PR victory (moderated as the day goes on by skepticism) in the latest skirmish for the hearts and minds of Brooklynites over Atlantic Yards for Forest City Ratner. The developer can claim that it drew a crowd estimated at 2,500 people to the meeting it held on affordable housing at the […]

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The Real Estate ran an item yesterday about Assemblyman Jim Brennan, whose district includes Park Slope and who chairs the Assembly Committee on Cities, and his support of the $300 million “Restoring New York’s Communities” state program. The program is supposed to “help restore blighted communities by funding the reconstruction of deteriorated real estate,” in […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news article, blog items and images. The photo above pictures genuine Brooklyn-grown flowers: Green Thumbs: Serra’s Carroll Gardens Rooftop [Apt Therapy via Brownstoner] Sandra’s Carroll Gardens Stoop [Apt Therapy] Brownstoner Garden: Now We Can Eat [Brownstoner] Greenbacks: Video of the Day: Brooklyn Politician’s Bribe [Gothamist] Gordon and Norman […]

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Gowanus Lounge must have been in a coma to miss this, but upon going through news of Brooklyn events from upcoming.org, we found a concert listing that is as obvious as it is fun: The B-52s will be playing Asser Levy/Seaside Park in Coney Island (at West Fifth Street and Surf Avenue opposite the Aquarium) […]

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It has nothing to do with Brooklyn or Gowanus, but it does have to do with our hearts and our musical memory, so it is with sadness that we note the passing of Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. From the BBC: Syd Barrett, one of the original members of legendary […]

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First off, we’re very sorry not to have photos of last week’s sewage geysers that Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus emailed us about. (If you do, send ’em along and we’ll gladly publish a photo of this phenomenon.) In any case, you might remember the monsoon-like rainstorm during the morning commute on July 5. […]

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Gowanus Lounge loves the summer vibe in Park Slope, including the overall quieter feeling and the fact that come late night on a Friday or Saturday, there’s so much parking around that you could dock an ocean liner on Prospect Park West and other streets. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn‘s Louise Crawford does a superb […]

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Gowanus Lounge has long thought that live poultry markets were gross in an olfactory way and possibly troubling in a cruelty to chickens sense. We’ve seen poultry trucks hauling chickens around in milk crates and we’re either overly empathetic or simply weird, but we feel for the birds stuffed into tiny spaces. And, we don’t […]

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The Brooklynite, the wonderful and thoughtful Brooklyn magazine that was created by Daniel Treiman, but that has ceased publishing, held an “Unlaunch” party at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom on Dean Street in Prospect Heights last night. (Itself threatened with being swallowed up by the huge Atlantic Yards project.) While Gowanus Lounge couldn’t make it, we […]

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Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related news stories, blog items and images. The photo is mom and baby captured at the McCarren Pool Party on Sunday in Williamsburg: $4.5 Million Makeover for Fulton Street [Brooklyn Record] Art for the Birds [Dope on the Slope] McCarren Pool Party Photoset [e-liz/flickr] Opinionist: Les Savy Fav at McCarren […]

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The annual “Dance of the Giglio” at the Giglio Feast on Havemeyer Street on Williamsburg’s Northside took place on Sunday. The Giglio Feast, now in its 103rd year, is sponsored by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and parish priest Fr. Tom Conti called the Giglio Dance, in which dozens of men hoist the three-ton, […]

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Those that attended yesterday’s cool free McCarren Pool show might have gotten a flyer on the way out from some people promoting a new group called Pool-Aid. Pool-Aid is having a meeting tonight at Union Pool (484 Union Ave.) at 8PM and the flyer invites interested parties to “Come plot and scheme. Help make some […]

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The free McCarren Pool concert series called Pool Parties got off to a rocking start with a triple bill headlined by Brooklyn stalwarts Les Savy Fav. LSF tore through a blazing set that featured Tim Harrington’s frenetic vocals and Seth Jabour’s searing guitar. Harrington made good use of the vast McCarren Pool space, venturing into […]

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Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related news stories and blog items: Happy Italians [A Brooklyn Life] Brooklyn Celebrates Italy’s Big Win [Bklyn Record] Ciao France [z.madison] NYC Erupts as Italy Wins Cup [AMNY] Bensonhurst Celebrates the Big Win [PlanetPLG] France-Italy Borders in NY [NYT] Teens Sell Panini in Park Slope [NYT] Third Street in the […]

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Gary Jarvis is a very new Brooklyn immigrant who moved here from Iowa City on June 20, but it hasn’t taken him long to get people to pay attention. That’s because he has a wonderful new blog, Runs Brooklyn, and the ambitious goal of running every street in Brooklyn. He’s using the blog to document […]

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Gowanus Lounge went out of borough yesterday and put in some late afternoon time at Rockaway Beach, where we loaded a bunch of Ramones tunes into the MP3 player and sat in the sand, rocked out and reflected on what a beautiful voice Joey had while watching an amazing number of surfers do their thing […]

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Last weekend’s Billyburg Short Film Fest was the beginning of summer programming at McCarren Pool, the long-closed Williamsburg/Greenpoint WPA-era pool turned ruin that has, for the time being, morphed into an entertainment venue. There will be shows produced by corporate conglomerate Clear Channel Communications this summer as well as more community oriented events. Well, the […]

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Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related news articles, blog items and photos. The photo above is from Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, scene of the ongoing Giglio Festival: Goodnight Brooklynite [Gothamist] Fiat [Runs with Scissors/flckr] We Go to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory [burntsienna] Turn of the Century Bklyn Map [Bklyn Ramblings] Prospect Park Lake Attracts […]

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The historic Parachute Jump was lit last night in Coney Island, with Boro Prez Marty Markowitz presiding over the ceremony at a private “Marty’s Party” he hosted on the Steeplechase soccer field. (Gowanus Lounge didn’t have an invite and wasn’t in the mood to grovel to get in, so we watched from the beach, which […]

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Brooklinks is our daily selection of Brooklyn-related news articles, blog items and images: Camera in the Kitchen: L&B Spumoni Gardens [Gothamist]Coney Star Shines [NYPost]Flower of a Tower is Relighted [NYT]Friday Night in Park Slope [OTBKB]Woman Hit in Red Hook [Bklyn Record]Weekend with the Gowanus Canal’s Empty Vessel [Bklyn Ramblings]W. Side Railyards vs. Brooklyn Railyards: Double […]

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