Some venerable street art on Beard Street in Red Hook will probably have disappeared from view by the time we post this. It has adorned a shed that is on the Revere Sugar property for a long time, including a sign that reads “Criminalize Greed, Not Graffiti.” Some of the art is very faded and […]

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Apparently, would-be Coney Island developer Thor Equities is trying a slight strategy shift in Coney Island. (No public name calling has been reported this week, although late last week a Thor spokesperson seemed to publicly insult community businesses by saying the firm wasn’t concerned with “tenants of the past.”) The New York Post reports that […]

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[Photo courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn] The blogger behind the always excellent Brit in Brooklyn photoblog was up last night capturing dramatic images of a big fire on Fifth Avenue at Baltic Street in Park Slope. No details on injuries, but it looks like an inferno in which residents and businesses lost everything.

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The last time the Community Board 6 Transportation Committee met (on March 15), people were lined up outside that were unable to get in and people inside were chanting, “Let Them In.” We’re guessing that Thursday night’s meeting will be less dramatic, as it will deal with issues that inspire less outcry than the proposal […]

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The construction site on N. 6th Street, which we’ve previously called Williamsburg’s Big Hole, because it’s so deep and so big, has given us another gift. We’ve previously featured it when part of the fence fell over and opened the site up to people that like deep holes and the chance to fall 20 feet […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images: Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Case Due Back in Court on Friday [AYR] Coney Island & Other Global Warming Issues [Daily Times of Pakistan via C.I. Reporter] Strong Place Church Renovation Going Full Swing [Brownstoner] Attention Park Slope Parents and Buyers: School District Map [Gumby Fresh] […]

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Spring is coming! Spring is coming! (Actual spring, as demonstrated by yesterday’s energizing weather, not technical spring, which has already been around for a week.) We know this because things are starting to bloom in and around Prospect Park and because the park is having an “Egg-O-Rama” staring on Saturday (3/31). The egg thing goes […]

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As you may or may not know, April 1 is opening day for Coney Island. While the fact that it falls on April Fool’s Day this year is dripping with irony, we’d simply point out that Coney Island’s current season–from just before Easter through Columbus Day–is one of the longer one’s for a Northeast waterfront […]

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1) Amazon Cafe, which is an outpost of the chain, is now open at 236 N. 12th Street. We talked to the owner on Sunday who said it had been open about a week. The lighting looks a little more subdued than the Smith Street branch, which is too bright (and is also in the […]

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There’s a report in the new City Limits on the rally held by Project Empire this past weekend to protest the closing of the Empire Roller Skating Rink. The group gathered outside the rink–which is slated to close and be converted to a storage facility next month–on Saturday to, in the words of the writer, […]

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For those wondering how Ikea’s effort to fill the historic Graving Dock at former Todd Shipyard that both preservationists and working waterfront advocates had been working to save, we can report that progress excellent. While crews weren’t at work this weekend, we did manage a look at it and we can say that if you […]

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We had dinner at Bubby’s in Dumbo on Friday night. The first thing we noticed was the big, cash-only sign on the door. The second thing was that the menu had shrunk to a shadow of its former self. And the other was the “We are Closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the check.” Not […]

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Some street art stays around for a long time. Some has a very short shelf life. And some gets tagged up. Case in point is this Deuce Seven piece located in the former cement plant across from 184 Kent in Williamsburg. One of the pieces was painted over on a tank that was later removed […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn related information and images. Report on the Coney Island Development Corp. Board Meeting [Kinetic Carnival] Check Out the Major Urban Room Coming to Dean Street After Demolition [AYR] Atlantic Yards Demolition Begins [WNYC] Protest at Ward Bakery Demolition [amNY] Southern Brooklynites Use Mass Transit Too [Streets Blog] Gowanus […]

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Remember 110 Green Street, the development in which Magic Johnson has invested? The one with the crappy fence that was immediately replaced by a Super Fence with two-story poles? We figured the developers were going to toss up a humongous fence. Turns out they put up the poles so that they could put up video […]

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Willamsburg, Brooklyn

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We were in Coney Island this weekend to check on the progress of the demolition being done by Joe Sitt and Thor Equities (still ongoing, but the war-like wreckage that made for excellent photo has been cleaned up a bit, except for all those pesky paint chips) and found it busy with workers re-installing rides […]

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For those of you that prefer moving images, here’s a Brookvid we posted on YouTube we shot on Saturday of workers getting Coney Island ready for opening on April 1. You’ve got your workers putting things in place at Astroland, the Wonder Wheel turning as cars are attached, the Spider Ride turning, some kiddie rides […]

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There is hope. Everyone’s favorite Coney Island attraction, Shoot the Freak, is going to live to see another year. There had been some doubts as the property had gotten a little banged up by developer Joe Sitt’s demolition crews, but when we were in Coney Island this weekend, we watched people at work repairing the […]

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[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather] A couple of notes from the food, libation and retail scene in Greenpoint: 1) O Sole Mio Café has opened its doors at Manhattan Avenue and Green Street in Greenpoint. It is operated by the owner of Triangolo Pizza, which is across the street. Our Greenpoint correspondent–who is a tough […]

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Want to know what building is going up next in Williamsburg? Follow the Big Pile Driver That Bangs the Burg. We spotted it yesterday, ready to move on from N. 8th and Roebling where it’s been banging away at the site of the former Tribeca Bakery and future Karl Fischer-designed condo. (There’s been a stop […]

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On this day of significant Coney Island coverage, it’s worth recounting the following conversation we overhead while walking on Stillwell Avenue in the corridor that is Thor Equities’ demolition zone. The exchange took place between a little girl who was probably about eight or nine years old and her father: Little Girl: Daddy, what happened […]

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images: The Big Hole in the South Slope [IMBY] The Ugliest Brickwork in Brooklyn [Velvet Sea] Looking at Preservation, Planning and Brooklyn [AYR] Eat Local Via Edible Brooklyn [OTBKB] Dine in Brooklyn Week: Doing Much Better [Esthetic/Aesthetic] Go to the Save Coney Demonstration on Friday [Brit […]

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Could the consulting firm hired by the city to examine the history of downtown Brooklyn buildings have deliberately ignored key documents? There is significant evidence the buildings were part of the Underground Railroad, but the downtown Brooklyn plan counts on Underground Parking to trump Underground Railroad history. Now, there’s a suggestion that consultants took a […]

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The demolition work at the Revere Sugar Plant site in Red Hook continues–and will go on for a long time–but all traces of the iconic dome have vanished. There is a farm of tanks on the property, which Thor Equities blowtorch-bearing crews (okay, the Breeze crews hired by Thor CEO Joe Sitt) are now laboriously […]

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