Amy Haimerl, the co-director of the Red Hook Dog Association, gave up the good news that a petition many residents, dog lovers and supporters have signed succeeded at swaying Community Board 6 to extend the hours of Coffey Park from 10-11pm (for all park goers), and designate Coffey Park as the 89th off-leash park in New York City. Off-leash hours are 6-9am and 9-11pm. Dogs are certainly welcome in the park all hours, just on the leash between 9am-9pm.

There are some critical stipulations to the benefit of course:

Perhaps you recall GL Chief Correspondent E.C. Stephens report before Christmas about the return of Maria’s Bistro which had become Mercado Social. Yeah, we know you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. What comes next from our readers, however, makes this potentially the most tawdry and scandalous Park Slope restaurant stories of the year. If only the food had been this good. Oh, yeah, friends, we have allegations of divorce and unsubstantiated rumors of the owner “fooling around” with a waitress and being discovered by his wife. Oh, baby! This is the original story of the morp from Maria’s Mexican Bistro into Mercado Social. That would have been in the glorious days of mid-October. And, here’s the story of the morph back to Maria’s. But, friends, we are doing what in the business is known as burying the lead. A reader, who must have insider knowledge writes blockbuster allegations of lust and divorce:

There is in fact a divorce at play here. The owner Eduardo was found fooling around once the place was closed with a waitress by his wife no less. It’s really ugly.

We have no idea of the veracity of the scandalous allegations, but Hooooly shitcakes. A Park Slope restaurant soap opera worthy of Smith Street if not that other borough, Manhattan.

[Photo courtesy of Captain Nemo/Coney Island Message Board]

We woke up yesterday to a sad email from Tricia Vita of the Coney Island History Project, saying “my collage was stolen!!! thank you for posting info about the shrine. collage was stolen overnight. it happened overnight….” She directed to photos posted by Captain Nemo showing that the tie wraps had been cut. Was it a collector? Will it show up on eBay? Was it a supporter of developer Joe Sitt’s redevelopment plans? Was it someone who’s glad Astroland appears to be going to the Great Amusement Park in the sky? We have a funny feeling, though, that other things are going to show up. There were already a couple of things added as can be seen below. Two years ago, when Thor Equities was demolishing rides, we went nearly every weekend to document the process. A year ago yesterday, we took a long walk on the boardwalk with an old friend to document conditions. This year, we can’t even bring ourselves to photograph and document any of this depressing stuff. What is happening is the equivalent of kicking a dog when it’s down. We will simply say this our editorial voice: A pox on all those who are allowing this happen from developer Joe Sitt to the Coney Island Development Corporation to all the city bureaucrats who failed to develop a contingency plan to protect Coney Island while rezoning was going on. And, in case anyone hasn’t noticed, the credit market meltdown that has happened while the rezoning soap opera has been taking place, pretty much guarantees that NOTHING will be built for at least another five years. The issue is stabilizing, fixing and keeping Coney Island viable so that it does not become a total victim of developer and bureaucratic blight. The “redevelopment” of Coney Island is fast becoming a case study in an unfathomable and moronic failure of city government of the highest order.

[Photo courtesy of me-myself-i/flickr]

[Photo courtesy of Captain Nemo/Magical Theme Parks]

[Photo courtesy of nifty pete/GL Flickr Pool]

It the “Culver Viaduct” between Smith-9th Street and the Fourth Avenue Station.

Tips, photos and information from readers are the lifeblood of GL, just like other blogs. So, send us your tips. We always love hearing from our readers when they see or hear something interesting of get an interesting photo of something going on in their neighborhood. We like to span Brooklyn so all neighborhoods are of interest to us. All tips are absolutely confidential, unless you specifically want to be credited, in which case, please say so. You can reach us via thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com or the handy contact form you will find under the GL banner. We try to specialize in original news rather than copying what’s already been posted or published, so your help is ultra-important!!! Thanks for reading, thanks for helping and thanks for being part of the online community we trying to build.

[Photo courtesy of bklynpolar/flickr]

Of all the photos of the December 27 Polar Bears Club swim at Coney Island, we were drawn to this one for obvious reasons. Love in freezing cold water. It moves us. There’s a full photoset here.

Yes, it’s Sunday, which means it’s time for our absolute favorite GL Feature, CL Missed Connections. Correspondent E.C. Stephens tracked this down for us and we’ve been sitting on it for days. Read it and you’ll know why we love it:

you tried to run me and my suitcase over with your bike – m4w – 26 (Williamsburg)

It was snowing and freezing-cold around midday. You were on your bike, a little out of control, careening down Driggs. You were really cute, small, petite, brunette, dressed almost entirely black with a black fleece headband on; you also looked a little miserable (in an adorable way). It was really cold. Your bike also didn’t look like it was in great shape, squeaky brakes and what appeared to be an unplucked chicken in the makeshift back basket. Me: Blond hair, 5’11”, green jacket looking very confused trying to find the Metropolitan G-Train with a huge suitcase and a slice of pepperoni.

I stepped out into the street, and forgot to look in the direction you were biking. You almost ran me over, I yelled “holy moly” (really lame, I know) and fumbled my pizza, you skid to a stop 50 yards ahead. It was really cold. You turned around and glared, I said “sorry” and waved my pizza at you. I’m sorry I waved my pizza at you, I should have tried talking to you. Unfortunately, I was on my way to JFK and back to California. And I’m assuming you’re still in New York, careening down Driggs. I’ll be back soon and maybe we can meet up for pizza.

We sense nothing but potential soulmate love here, people.

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/GL Flickr Pool]

This used to be the John Street Pier in Dumbo.

[Photo for Gowanus Lounge by Deborah Matlack]

We’ve been so busy the last week running photos of the depressing goings on in Coney Island that we didn’t have space to post this gorgeous shot sent to us by contributor Deborah Matlack from a week ago when the boardwalk was covered with ice. Aren’t those winter sunset gorgeous?

Green Grape in Fort Green is offering some champagne tasting tomorrow. Here’s the email they sent us:

As in champagne (and, this year, 5 sparkling wines under $30). We are having our sixth annual pre-New Year’s champagne tasting on Monday, December 29 from 5-7pm at the Brooklyn wine store at 765 Fulton between South Portland and South Oxford in Fort Greene. The event is FREE! We open all of our champagnes for you to try and will have a champagne-friendly cheese to taste as well. This year’s bonus event is a separate FREE tasting of five sparkling wines under $30 on Tuesday, December 30 from 5-7pm at the Brooklyn wine store. More info on our blog: blog.greenegrape.com or on our website www.greenegrape.com.

Gotta’ love the bubbly stuff.

[Photo courtesy of mikkime/GL Flickr Pool]

Yes, this is the way it looked in the Burg yesterday looking toward the city.

[Photos courtesy me-myself-i/flickr]

Some people have started a small memorial “shrine” for Astroland on what was the main boardwalk entrance gate. We got this email from Tricia Vita of the Coney Island History Project:

Today a friend and I made a shrine on Astroland’s Boardwalk gates. In the photos you can see our collage and a bouquet of flowers. There’s also a banner, off to the right, that people can sign. Feel free to contribute photos, drawings, letters, poems, flowers and mementos…All items should be weather proofed with plastic sheet protectors! If you cannot go to Coney, please post your virtual contributions on the thread on the Coney Island USA Message Baord. Many of us will be going to Coney on New Year’s Day. We will try to print out as many as possible and add them to the shrine at Astroland’s gates.

Yeah, it’s been a great winter so far in Coney Island. We’re afraid to see what summer is going to bring if the city and developer Joe Sitt don’t their acts together quickly.

We turn this week to Sean Casey Animal Rescue, which does remarkable work, and present Louis. Here’s the info about him:

Louis is a five year old Poodle/Lhasa Apso…he is neutered, dewormed, treated with Revolution to prevent fleas, ticks, ear mites and heartworm and is up to date with vaccinations. His adoption fee is $200.00 and he’ll get one free exam at our vet’s office, one free month of pet health insurance and a microchip. If you’d like to adopt Louis please email us at nyanimalrescue@yahooo.com for an adoption application. Our organization offers 24PetWatch microchips, which include free registration into the 24PetWatch pet recovery service. For more information visit www.24petwatch.com or cal 1-866-597-2424. This pet also comes with 30 days of pre-paid ShelterCare pet health insurance. For more information please visit www.sheltercare.com or call 1-866-375-PETS.

Louis’s Petfinder number is 6149660. How about giving Louis a home?

[Photo courtesy me-myself-i/flickr]

The work crews taking Astroland apart and putting it storage containers continue taking it apart. Yesterday, after taking a break for Christmas, they got to Dante’s Inferno. The devil’s head on the ride was on of the more popular Coney photos.

[Photo courtesy of Captain Nemo/Coney Island Message Board]

WNYC’s Scheurman on AY Timetable Oversight: “Generous” Deadines [AYR]
City Reliquary Celebrates Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th [Brooklyn Ramblings]
Bikes vs. Cars in Brooklyn Heights [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
No Recession at Target [Brownstoner]
View From the J [Buckwick BK]
Thor Equities #1 in Statement Signage [Curbed]
Forest City Enterprises Whine [Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn]
Lundys Gets to Continue Construction [GerritsenBeach.Net]
Coney Island Aquarium Wave Video [Kinetic Carnival]
Piccolo Cafe is Real not Fake [Lost City]
Tacos and More is Open! [New York Shitty]

–Compiled by Lauren Fairbanks

[Photo courtesy of Aonghais MacInnes/GL Flickr Pool]

We missed this when it was posted a few days ago and we realize it’s raining and it’s supposed to be near 60 tomorrow, yet there is something compelling about this shot. Apologies for the delay in posting it.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

This was the way sunset looked on Christmas Day in Coney Island for those of you who didn’t happen to be there.

[Photo courtesy of jackszwergold/GL Flickr Pool]

Presented without comment, but perhaps with tears.

A little something for lovers of our Brooklyn bridges.

Let’s just say that while this thread on Brookynian about the unfortunate Flipsters on Seventh Avenue at the corner of Ninth Street involves more, what caught our attention was glass of Three Buck Chuck for $3.50 at Happy House. WTF? Are they insane? Here is the full rant:

Duffy’s Sis and I decided we needed booze after a long week, and since it was so crappy on last friday evening we didn’t hit our usual spot (the hoff <3 <3) and instead decided to try flipsters. Lets just say- we had to wave down the bartender multiple times to get refills of what I discovered was actually THREE BUCK CHUCK (which, at half price, was $3.50 a GLASS) and then had to wave down the bartender for our check after spending quite a few hours and quite a few dollars on food and booze. I am semi mortified that the only white wine they sell is $3 chuck and they have the balls to not even put it in a carafe or something (AND it's normally $7 a glass!) As a wino who usually hits the hoff for a delish $3 glass, Im kind of appalled that THIS was their happyhour special (and Duffy's burgers were nothing to write home about.) The music also sucked. We might return, but only when it's sleeting. And now we know what we're in for.

Jesusjosephmary.

[Photo courtesy of jackszwergold/GL Flick Pool]

These are some way cool pics of Coney Island in 1991. There’s a full slideshow of them on flickr, but unfortunately no way to embed it, so you’ll have to click here to run through the whole series of pics.

And, now, our weekly advise about dining from the good people at Eat It: The Brooklyn Food Blog, who take on Teresa’s in Brooklyn Heights this week:

I was doing some Holiday shopping last weekend in Brooklyn Heights and suddenly had a craving for some Pierogis and Potato Pancakes so I met up with my boyfriend (who was doing shopping of his own) at Teresa’s (80 Montague St. between Hicks and Columbia Heights, 718-797-3996), a Polish restaurant that my family and I used to order delivery from when I was in High School. I’m so glad it’s still there, as so much has changed over the years.

Teresa’s is all light wood floors, tables and chairs, and kind of feels like a Perkins or some kind of place like that. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s great like a great diner can be – you know what to expect, it’s comfort food and then there are little surprises that make it rise above the regular crowd. The coffee keeps coming and the wait staff is on top of things and efficient. There’s also a little bar counter in the back, near the TV. We started out with a salad, knowing that the rest of our meal would be all things greasy, heavy and fried. The salad was perfect with crisp Iceberg lettuce, wedges of not-mealy tomato, shredded carrots and thin slices of red onion. The Thousand Island dressing came in a little dish on the side and was delicious. We went on to get Pierogis, Potato Pancakes and the best Kielbasa and Sauerkraut! Click here for more descriptions & photos!

[Photo courtesy Meg Groome]

Our contributor Meg Groome writes of this lovely scene: ” I found this small shrine in Concert Grove of Prospect Park, tucked away but obviously cared for.”

The intrepid Captain Nemo spent some time on Christmas Day in Coney Island and found that some of the overnight winds were not good to property owned by developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. The pics were posted on the Coney Island Message Board with the title “At least Mother Nature is on our side today.” Some fences are coming down and one of those “Future of Coney Island” banner was somewhat ripped apart, again revealing the original signage for the batting cages that were demolished two years to create a vacant lot.