The big Coney Island lot that once held go-kart tracks, batting cages and other amusements that was cleared by developer Joe Sitt last winter, may be getting some life back this summer. There’s word on the Coney Island Message Board that there will be rides and games on the developer’s property. (We presume it’s reliable, […]

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We realize that this is Brooklyn/New York City and that muggings happens (less frequently than they used to, but often enough to make it an unpleasant possibility). For some reason, mugging tales that circulate via some of the neighborhood listserves are most unsettling than “police report” stories, possibly because of the personal accounts they contain. […]

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Good Friday was observed in a variety of ways around Brooklyn yesterday, including local processions marking the stations of the cross. Here are some photos from Windsor Terrace from GL Correspondent Anna Lewis: The Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (Windsor Terrace) marked Good Friday yesterday with a “Way of the Cross” Procession through the parish. […]

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The book, Brooklyn Storefronts, which has just been published, will be presented by its author, Paul Lacy, at the Brooklyn Public Library on Wednesday, March 26 at 7PM. An email says it’s “just 1 hour long = Totally do-able! and exponentially faster than wandering all over the Borough yourself, (though you may be inspired to […]

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[Photo courtesy of f.trainer/flickr / Food of the Future] How serious is the “stall” of Atlantic Yards? Does it mean that most of the project is dead? That Frank Gehry’s creation has been mangled? That what it will amount to is a nearly $1 billion basketball arena? Or is the developer looking for more public […]

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Graham Avenue, Williamsburg

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If you’re into old signs on buildings, this post with photos on “signs & vines” on a Flatbush building is a must click. “This sign, formerly on Nostrand Avenue & Glenwood Road- near Brooklyn College- illustrated the effects of nature on a fading ad, which made it a dynamic reminder of the passing of time- […]

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Sometimes you pass by things and don’t really notice them. So it is with this Christmas tree on the roof of the building at Seventh Avenue and Lincoln Place in Park Slope. It graced the neighborhood with its rooftop display during the holidays and, well, it’s still there, looking crispy and formerly festive. Sadly, it […]

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The exemplary specimen of Feddertecture on Jefferson Street in Bushwick is not only complete, it is now tagged up. “I wonder if the developer hired someone to do this so these luxury town homes would have that built-in ‘urban’ feel?”–New York Shitty

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We found this vid courtesy of the always excellent Kinetic Carnival from Omar Robau and Ben Nadler. It’s amusing in a first day of the season at Coney Island kind of way.

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The Grand Street rezoning has been passed by the City Council’s Land Use Committee, clearing the way for a City Council vote, perhaps as early as this week. Building height along Grand Street would be limited to four to five stories. The quick action may kill at least two planned 10-15 story buildings at Grand […]

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Miss Heather, who submitted this image of a a sign on Powers Street in East Williamsburg, notes that each neighborhood seems to have a specialty. Her Greenpoint neighbors enjoy destroying and discarded couches. People in Bed-Stuy appear to excel at destroying pay phones. The good people of East Williamsburg, meanwhile, she says, do very, very […]

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Right now, as we gaze out of the Brooklyn weather observatory, we see clouds and note that it’s 34 degrees. Today’s forecast is for mostly cloudy skies and a high of 46. Tonight will be clearing with a low of 33. Looking ahead to Easter Sunday, we’re talking about partly sunny skies and a high […]

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As promised by officials earlier this week, some preliminary site work has gotten underway at the contaminated Public Place property in Gowanus for which a large mixed-use development has been proposed. This phase of work involves clearing the site of shrubs and trees and removing concrete. The development itself still has to go through a […]

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Late last night, we saw very interesting news in the Times about the Atlantic Yards development. In an interview, developer Bruce Ratner suggests that the economy and credit crisis could scuttle or delay everything in the Atlantic Yards project but the $950 million Nets basketball arena. The Times headline is “Slow Economy Likely to Stall […]

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So, what does someone do if one is walking down the street with one’s spouse and dogs and is attacked by insane dogs that have escaped from a construction site? Apparently, one should reach deep inside and appeal to the God of one’s understanding. We were in touch yesterday with one of the victims of […]

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Times architecture critic Nicolai Ourousoff calls the possible slowing or cancellation of parts of the huge Atlantic Yards project noted in today’s Times “a painful setback for urban planning in New York.” He also calls it “a betrayal of the public trust” and the possible arena that will result “a piece of urban blight.” We […]

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Well, here is Dashing Diva, the nail salon that is taking over the (cursed) space on Seventh Avenue that most recently housed the ill-fated Maggie Moo’s and before that a forgettable Italian restaurant and before that…Dashing Diva has been doing up nails from a screaming pink location on Smith Street for a couple of years. […]

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Could the Robert Scarano building that we call the Finger of Richardson Street and that is known as “The Luminous” for marketing purposes get a new friend? It’s possible. The Richardson Street building that houses the restaurant Diner has been put on the market for $900,000, which would be roughly double what it sold for […]

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Yesterday, the State Siting Board for power facilities turned down a proposal to build an 1,100 megawatt power plant at N. 12 Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. For those that thought the plant was dead in 2004, it was. At that time, an application for an above-ground facility was turned down. But TransGas, the […]

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There was some interesting activity yesterday afternoon at Smiling Pizza in Park Slope, which is located at Seventh Avenue and Ninth Street: “At 3:15 or so today (3/20) there were at least a half dozen police cars and paddy wagons encircling the corner of Smiling Pizza. There were quite a few teens that seemed to […]

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This pink and orange fabric covering with the Barrio name and phone number has been up at Seventh Avenue and Second Street for a couple of days, but we finally go a chance to get a digital of it yesterday. Also, the owners have cleaned up the tagging on the metal grate outside that had […]

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Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related information and images: Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards [NYT] Building Inspector Arrested in Crane Collapse Case [NYDN] Court Rejects Former Arabic School Principal’s Claims [Sun] Fourth Avenue Stairway to Nowhere [Brownstoner] Another Rape in Brownsville Project [NYT] Patriotism in Air Conditioning [Bed-Stuy Banana] Going to Urban Outfitters […]

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An item in The Real Estate from the Observer’s Bradley Hope has created a small stir among the Coney crowd. He attended the panel discussion on The Future of Coney Island at the Museum of the City of New York on Wednesday and reports that there may be a change of strategy on the part […]

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“Most blocks in South Brooklyn stick to the usual variations of brownstone and red brick buildings. On Summit Street, between Henry and Hicks, however, you’ll find a veritable Easter egg basket of pastel paint jobs. Baby blue, pale yellow, light green, lavender, candy-apple red—they’re all here (along, of course, with plenty of plain red brick). […]

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