Countless words have been written about the gentrification of Williamsburg. We found this Bye Bye Buggy, the kind of thing one normally sees in Park Slope, parked on N. 6 Street. Just saying.

Meet 385 Fourth Avenue, which is not the most solid member of our Dead Pool for project that may be dead in the water, but is start to gain that stench of death. This is supposed to be an 11-story building with 51 units from the shop of Richard Bienenfeld Arcitects in New Rochelle. Now, there is a Stop Work Order on the project, but not because of work that is being done but because the fence sucks, which would also qualify this thing for our Blight Me feature. A complaint was called into DOB that “CLR STS SITE PLY WOOD FENCE HAS FALLING AND NAILS STICKING OUT CLR STS KID CAN GET HURT PLS INSP” and the order was issued. The violation is still stuck on the fence as if no one has bothered to read it, which would leave one to believe that, for now, at least, the site may be abandoned. Someone correct us if we’re wrong.

There seems to be a problem with “dog feces” in Carroll Park, specfically in the section used by infants and toddlers. Per an email on the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association list:

Yesterday, my friend’s sitter came home and mentioned that there was a lot of dog feces in the baby section of Carroll Park. It seems lately there has been a major issue with dog owners using the park, more specifically the baby/toddler section of the park, as an improvised dog run in the early morning and late evening. As you can imagine as a result there is a lot of dog feces not picked up in the play area. My friend has contacted Friends Of Carroll Park, they are aware of the problem but they are having a hard time getting a response from anyone and they are looking for some suggestions on spreading the word. I personally love dogs but It’s a disgrace that people are not picking up after their dogs and leaving it for babies & toddlers to come into contact with and the health risks. I’m posting this to make everyone aware and to spread the word.

God, we hate this kind of, uh, shit.

Last night around 9PM in a little community garden on Fifth Avenue.

We have nothing to add other than knock, knock, knock.

[Photo courtesy of mikkime/GL Flickr Pool]

Williamsburg gorgeousness.

Kentler International Drawing Space (353 Van Brunt St.) is presenting two one-person shows simultaneously, with opening reception for both this Friday (2/6) from 6-9pm. Two artists inspired by their homelands will be divided between two rooms of the gallery. Hawaii’s Joel Sokolov will be presenting his Big Island Drawings, while Alabamian Hugh Williams will be presenting his Alabama Wire Drawings. As a special bonus, on Saturday (2/7), both artists will be at the gallery at 4pm for an Artists’ Talk about their works and inspirations. For more information about this show or Kentler, visit the gallery site.
—Vaduzuvunt

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

We call this the S. 3 Street Beauty from the Southside of Williamsburg. If you look really hard you will notice pigeons admiring it too.

We love old pictures of Brooklyn, old being anything pre-1990. We’re guessing many of our readers may have some gems and scanners. If so, and you’d like to share them, send us the JPEGS at thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com.

[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/flickr]

After a snowstorm in March, 1956. The photographer writes: “When I was a kid.. and I was pestering my mother too much she’d say. ‘Why don’t you go look at the puppies in the pet shop’. The thing was… there weren’t any… just a few parkettes, a lot bird seed and men buying cigarettes by the carton. Oh yeah,., and did I mention when Crazy Joe Gallo visited; he used to toss quarters to the kids … he was swell. Just a quiet little shop. Bungalow Pet Shop. McDonald Ave near Church Ave, Brooklyn NY. photo March 1956 .” We love this.

There was an abundance of riches on Missed Connections this week and we put several in the reserve bin because they were amusing. Here’s a dude looking for an Albanian hottie. And if he can’t find this particular one, he’ll take any Albanian hottie. (Warning contains crudely expressed lusty thoughts.) Enjoy:

Albanian hottie i am obsessed with you – m4w – 29 (Brooklyn)
You are my friends girl, and i am fucking obsessed with you. I think you are so fucking hot, and would fuck you till you couldn’t take no more. Only problem is that i can’t really say anything. Soo, if you send me your face pic, and if your “her” i hope we could hook up. I am just hoping you would see this.
Even if your not her and are albanian, i would like to consider hooking up.

Albanian hotties of Brooklyn, this is your chance. He’s up for it.

Hey, it’s snowing and wintry today, so why not look at a vid of the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with the Cocteau Twins as the soundtrack?

Park Slope’s NoNo Kitchen is for rent. A couple of weeks ago we’d noticed some strange signs in the window about how the menu was being changed, which struck us as signs that the Cajun spot (which we never cared for much) was having some trouble. The “for rent” sign now in the window indicates there is real trouble.

[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle]

This is from a wall mural in Bed-Stuy and is as meaningful today as the day it was painted many years ago.

This is 441 Grand Street in Wiliamsburg, east of the BQE, just off the hoping Union Avenue Triangle. While we’re tempted to blame Robert Scarano for this one–as it has many of the King’s flourishes like lots of walls and lack of windows–the blame can not go to him. It’s actually the work of Kutnicki-Bernstein, which also has a buiding going up on Union Avenue. The six story building will have ten units. It’s a beauty, no?

UPDATE: When we screw up it’s always good to do so in an ironic way. We had the address of the building wrong and as it turns out our first instinct was correct. A building permit at the site, which we photographed, said 415 Keap Street, which is an entirely different building in an entirely different place. This is the work of Robert Scarano, King of the Brooklyn Architects. We apologize to both Mr. Scarano for not crediting for his work, which we recognized correctly, and to Kutnicki-Bernstein for wrongly crediting them for it. Oops.

· After the Fire: Miss Williamsburg Diner [Brownstoner]
· Growing Sexual Abuse Scandal in Hasidic Community [McBrooklyn]
· 81-Year-Old Dockside Cafe Closed [GerritsenBeach.Net]
· Mucking About the Park [AYITP]
· Making Fun of Kensington [Kensington Stories]
· Thank God: India House Space for Rent on Court Street [PMFA]
· Flatbush Shots: Ocean Avenue [Flatbush Vegan]
· Clothing Swap at Macon Library [BedStuy Blog]
· New Mexican Spot on Sunset Park’s Seventh Ave. [BVIB]

One’s perspective on this depends on one’s status and feeling about current loves or past ones. Valentine’s Day has become another one of those gargantuan opportunities to sell! Sell! Sell! And if you don’t pony up in the right way. You, my friend, are an unromantic (expletive deleted). Of course, if you are unattached or actively fantasizining about ways that your formerly beloved might, well, you know…spend the day in (fill in the blank), your perspective is different. But we digress. Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue isn’t just having Valentine’s Day, they’re having Valentine’s Week! The joy this brings to our heart is nearly too much for words. Here’s the breathless email circulating on Park Slope Parents (the all caps screaming from the sponsors):

FIND YOUR HEART…AND MORE ON 5THAVE, PARK SLOPE. WE LOVE TO LOVE ON 5TH SO MUCH THAT WE WILL CELEBRATE VALENTINES DAY ALL WEEK MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, FEB.14TH!…..BARS AND RESTAURANTS AND ROMANTIC PLACES FOR LONGING GAZES AND SOFT WHISPERS…..JEWELERY & GIFTS ON 5TH AVE. TO INSPIRE TENDER KISSES

Sorry, we just had to run to the bathroom to barf. Now, back to the email:

…..CAREFULLY SELECTED SOPHISTICATED SPIRITS INVITING AMOUROUS KISSES…..FLOWERS AS TOKENS OF LOVE AND JOY TO PLEASE THAT VERY SPECIAL GIRL OR BOY CHOCOLATES *DESSERTS *MUSIC* CLOTHING*SEXY LINGERIE*SPAS. SO MANY DELIGHTS….IF ONLY YOU’D BE MY VALENTINE TONIGHT ON 5TH AVENUE, PARK SLOPE!!!

Dozens of participating merchants, restaurants, bars, cafes and specialty shops will be offering discounts, promotions, prix fix dinners and more all during Valentines Week. JOIN THE ROMANCE AND FUN ON 5TH.

Darn. Don’t you guys know the thing about doing things in ALL CAPS. Coming next year, Valentine’s Month!

Remember when another important little piece of Coney Island history was destroyed when the landmark B&B Carousell sign was painted over. Well, now we know what’s going in the space: a bowling place called “Magic Bowling.” How do we know this? Our keen powers of observation. Sure woulda’ been nice if they hadn’t destroyed an historic sign and could have found a way to make their presence known in a creative way.

The Parks Dept. and architects Rogers & Marvel are going to be providing an update on everyone’s favorite spot in Wiliamsburg, McCarren Pool. It will be in the form of a presentation to the Community Board’s Parks Committee on February 10th and will happen at 6:30pm at Our Lady of Snow (410 Graham Ave.  between Withers/Jackson Sts.).  For those that haven’t been paying attention, the pool is being turned back into a pool for summer swimming and the former bathouses will be used for year-round recreation. The preliminary design (like the one above) released by Rogers Marvel last year included space for ice skating and off-season performances. Per an email: “Funding for the renovation remains secure, and we will continue construction this year as planned.” Which is a bit of good news in these days of budget cuts and projects begin delayed or put on hold. We assume there will be updates to the design and plans that will be discussed.

UPDATE: The original email distributed contained the wrong date.

The Daily News has figured out via a source why the cost of Frank Gehry’s Atlantic Yards arena shot up to $950 million: the cost of making the glass bulletproof. (We would have thought bomb proof, but whatever.) Here’s some of the lowdown:

The stratospheric cost of protecting the Atlantic Yards from terrorist attacks could be the death knell for architect Frank Gehry’s flashy NBA basketball arena, the Daily News has learned. The bulletproof glass facade proposed for the glitzy arena will cost a mind-blowing $625 per square foot, a source familiar with the designs told The News.

“I think the owners clearly didn’t have their financing tied down for this project, and that’s going to be the biggest hurdle,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the sky-high prices associated with securing the 850,000-square-foot arena against terrorism. “With the security concerns at the arena, there’s not much you can do to make it that much cheaper,” added the source…Sources close to the project said the cost of reinforcing the arena’s thick glass with a ballistic-resistant glaze shocked even Gehry’s own designers.

As we’ve been predicting, we see an ugly $500 milliion concrete box. Think Atlantic Terminal Mall, but as an arena.

[Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dunne/GL Flickr Pool]

It’s a heron on the ice at the Japanese Garden at the Brookyn Botanic Garden. No worries. Cherry blossoms will be here in no time at all.

There’s an important meeting coming up in Williamsburg about what used to be called “The People’s Firehouse.” Here is something from the email we got:

On Thanksgiving Day 1975, the City told the firefighters of Engine 212 in Williamsburg it was going to close because of the city’s dire fiscal crisis. Within hours, a crowd of 300 local residents gathered in front of the firehouse to prevent the city from removing the equipment from the firehouse to close it down. People stayed there around the clock for the next 16 months until the City agreed to keep it open. The firehouse was ultimately closed in 2003, but NAG and the People’s Firehouse have been awarded the building to develop it into a community center. We need your help to raise the funds to renovate the building and make the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center a reality. When completed, the facilty will provide affordable office and meeting space for community organizations, create a street-level exhibition space for local cultural and arts organizations, and commemorate FDNY Company #212 and other local history.

The meeting takes place today (Tuesday, 2/3) at 6PM Union Pool, which is located at 484 Union Avenue at Meeker.

[Photo courtesy of Best View in Brookyn/GL Flickr Pool]

This is Second Avenue in Sunset Park at 39th Street, which the photo (and blogger) notes looks out into a favorite local spot called Peyton’s Playpen, which has been the subject of much local controversy.

Here’s a sampling of the photos we shot on Astroland’s last day. It’s by no means our last Coney story, but definitely our last Astroland pics. There were not a lot of dry eyes in the house as the eviction deadline loomed. The Astroland office, by the way, is now in trailers next to the Cyclone, which it will continue to operate.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

We have heavy, heavy leather from South Williamsburg.

Slope Natural Plus which we first reported on in mid-January is now open at the corner of Fourth Ave & St. Mark’s on the Slope side of the great Fourth Avenue Slope-Gowanus great divide. Another business open on Brooklyn’s Park Avenue.