We already have Prospect Park in Lights, the lighting display that was officially turned on on Monday. This weekend and early next week should mark the start of an awful lot of outdoor decorations being lit up, if they’re not already blazing. Here are some other spots where you can get your fill of Christmas […]

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Reaction to the sale of Astroland to developer Thor Equities is continuing. Here are some tidbits we’ve found here and there, from writers and bloggers we haven’t linked to before: 1) No. No No No No No. No. I don’t believe a word Thor Equities has said. I have no faith in their claims. I […]

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[Loucali photo courtesy of slice/flickr] Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images. On Thursday, we focus on food. Eat: Fusion at Petit Bassam in Bed-Stuy [Brooklyn Record] Smoke Joint in Fort Green [NY Press] Winning Schnitzel at Bay Ridge’s Schnitzel Haus [Village Voice] Get Ready to Wait Longer at Lucali’s [NYT] Patsy […]

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[Photo courtesy of daltonrooney/flickr] The photo above was shot by photoblogger Dalton Rooney, whose blog seriously excited! is one of our favorites and worth checking out. He had emailed the other day to say that the Gowanus is looking extra funky this week, with extra-murky water and a lot of floating debris. “The greyish-green color […]

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So, you’ve been ignoring all those maps that show what could happen in Gowanus (and Brooklyn generally) during a hurricane. A kind reader that saw our post of an old-time Gowanus photo yesterday emailed us some others. For the moment, we’re going to post only a couple of them that show Fourth Avenue flooded by […]

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Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn

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The moment we saw the item late yesterday afternoon about the sale of Astroland to Thor Equities we realized why we started doing a “Coney Island Deathwatch” months ago: because Thor’s plan is to erase virtually every element of Coney Island’s past and to rebuild it from scratch. There’s more to it than that, however. […]

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It didn’t take long for the community at the Coney Island Message Board to react to news of the sale of Astroland to Thor Equities. Here’s a sampling of opinion: 1) This sounds like another project that will ram a development, like it or not, down the community’s throat – similar to Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images. Astroland’s Swan Song [NYDN] Thor Equities Buys Coney Island’s Astroland [Crain’s] Astroland Sold to Thor Equities [Kinetic Carnival] Land Deal Right on the Coney [NYPost] Developer Buys Coney’s Astroland [Sun] Astroland Amusement Park Sold [7Online] Cyclone Saved, But Beloved Astroland Will Close [AP/NYDN] Coney Island’s […]

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Christopher Wood, the son of the creator of the Broken Angel landmark in Clinton Hill has sent out another update on its status. (If you recall, after a fire, the city issued a ton of building code violations, the owner was evicted and demolition was threatened.) The threat hasn’t gone away and the family is […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images. Today, we’re offering it in two parts. Jeffries Tells Silver He’s Worried About Atlantic Yards Density [TRE] ESDC Says Density Works in Times Square [AYR] Court Street Lofts [Brownstoner] Perception vs Reality at Fulton Street Mall [Brooklyn Record] Alligator Found in Brooklyn [Gothamist] Best Scoop […]

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Greenpoint, Brooklyn

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You could spend the better part of this lifetime documenting the wonders of life in Brooklyn’s construction boom. For now, how about a website that shows how ugly and comsuming and nasty life can get when something starts going on next door? The site, called 229v231 documents a slugfest between owners of 229 16th Street […]

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We don’t normally do straight copy and paste, but in this case we will. Thor Equities has purchased Astroland in Coney Island. It will close at the end of the 2007 season. More in the morning. For now, this from the Associated Press via the Daily News: The vintage Astroland Amusement Park, one of the […]

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We were going to compile our GL Brooklyn Holiday Gift Guide and run it in one entry, but decided that if we go that route, it will be mid-December before we ever get it accomplished. So, we’re taking an episodic approach. Our focus in today’s first installment will be memberships in or donations to Brooklyn […]

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Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the Empire State Development Corporation this holiday weekend when all of the stops were apparently pulled out to remedy the mistake that led to the omission of 148 public comments and required an amended document and a vote to recertify. In announcing the error, ESDC […]

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One of our favorite local bloggers, Dalton Rooney, who produces the seriously excited! photoblog, sent us a distressing email this morning with the subject line “Gowanus Canal is Seriously Messed Up.” You know we love Brooklyn’s Grand Canal and we know it so well in places that we recognize when new crap has been tossed […]

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Thor Equities, which is proposing the massive $1.5 billion Coney Island redevelopment, is launching an advertising campaign to build public support for the project. The development is reported in today’s New York Post. Yesterday, Thor leaked the results of a poll it had commissioned that shows support among Coney Island residents for the project. And […]

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There’s another meeting coming up about summer programming and events at McCarren Pool. Unlike the Parks Department planning meeting a couple of weeks ago that included Live Nation on the invite list, this one’s billed as “an open meeting for members of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg communities to discuss events to be held at McCarren Pool.” It […]

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[Photo courtesy suzun/flickr]Light: Propsect Park Lights: The Pergola [Flatbush Gardener] Prospect Park in Lights Photoset [suzun/flickr] A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [NYDN] Arch, Moon, Tree [atomische] Let There be Light [OTBKB] Tis the Season [GerritsenBeach.net] Upcoming Holiday Events [Adventures of Pie Queen] Darkness (Just Kidding. Or Not.): Atlantic Yards Final Impact Statement Recertified. Quickly. [AYR] […]

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Seventh Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn

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We found this on a My Space page and thought it was a short, sweet and to the point item about Coney Island. We stopped in Coney this weekend too–something about the weather brought it to mind. That’s one of the pics we shot above. In any case, we’ll let Maya704 and Coney Island Baby […]

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1) Public Support? A poll obtained by the New York Post that was commissioned and leaked by developer Thor Equities, shows The Post, reveal that nearly 76 percent of area residents “do not want city officials to block ‘a $1.5 billion investment in Coney Island to expand amusement attractions and bring new restaurants and retail […]

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If you’re looking for one of the Top Five Ugliest Development Battles of 2007 in Brooklyn, look no further than Red Hook. We’re not talking about Ikea’s big box on the waterfront or, even, Thor Equities plans for the former Revere Sugar plant with its iconic dome. We are referring to the city’s plan for […]

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Starting today, we’ll be running a Daily Brooklyn Christmas Photo that we’re calling Brookyule. Because Christmas comes on with such a rush, we’ve already got a bunch in the GL photo folder. We start with one of our favorite Williamsburg Christmas tree lots, hipster included.

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