One word: Crispy. It is located on Fourth Avenue near Pacific Street and was still there as of yesterday evening. There is a sticker asking the Sanitation Dept. to get rid of it.

[Photo courtesy of E.C. Stephens]

A sign of the times? Well, yes, clearly. But in all fairness, this former mortgage office on Court Street has been on the market a loooong time. In fact, the last time someone posted about as being ironic, it had already been empty forever. The interesting thing, though, is that it seems to be proving to be impossible to rent. Who knows, maybe another broker will eventually come along in, say, 2025 and rent the storefront again.

Here’s another sign of love for Barack Obama from Williamsburg. Maybe we’re just not looking in the right places, but we’re seeing a lot more signs of support for Sen. Obama in the Burg than we are in supposed Democratic strongholds like Park Slope. Interesting.

There’s a potentially interesting event this evening (10/21) for anyone that’s ever feared for their life while crossing the street near Atlantic Terminal and might want to know what could be done make it less potentially fatal. It will be a DOT presentation to Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee at 6 PM at St. Francis College on Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights. Here’s a bit about it:

For anyone not familiar with this area, it is truly dangerous. The speeding cars and lack of amenities for safe pedestrian movement endanger thousands of pedestrians coming from the adjacent shopping centers and subway & LIRR hub. Atlantic Terminal is an epicenter of activity in Brooklyn, yet people literally run across the immense street rather than walk. Cyclists avoid the area because of high volume of bridge-bound truck traffic on the multi-lane Flatbush Avenue cross street. The Atlantic Terminal crossing is also where Atlantic Avenue widens (a throwback to the original plan Robert Moses had to make it an actual highway) and is the planned home of the new Ratner basketball arena among embedded in 21 acres of mega-development.

Read more, right ahead.

[Image courtesy of Adam “Slice” Kuban/flickr]

Well… all great things have to come to an end sometime. Fortunately, you have one more chance to gorge on tasty street fare this weekend (10/25, 10/26)! Because of the bureaucratic red tape, we along with the Red Hook Food Vendors were cheated of valuable huarache and pupusa time at the start of our summer. Fortunately, the folks down at the Red Hook Park stuck around well after Labor Day weekend to try and make up some of the time up. But… the chill is starting to creep in, and it’s time for them to bid addios until next year. We will refrain from talking about how badly the Department of Health and the Parks Department botched up what was a wonderful homespun affair and turned it into a something that lost much of its character (even though the food still rocked).
—Vaduz Uvunt

Read the email from Vendors Director Cesar Fuentes, ahead.

If you know Coney Island, you know shut down wreck known as the Shore Hotel. In its final days it was a notorious hot sheets/crack joint type of place. In any case, L Magazine had a wonderful recollection of the place when it was open that we found courtesy of the Coney Island Message Board:<blockquote>Me and my girlfriend spent the night at the Shore Hotel a couple years ago, in a grimy green-walled room on a bed with springs compressed unevenly from years of by-the-hour use, with my underwear hanging under the bare fluorescent bulb to cut its dirty glare. We went to hang out on the beach and eavesdrop on a concert at the baseball stadium, have a bunch of drinks at Ruby’s on the boardwalk, and hole up in a cheap hotel for a one-night vacation. It was romance, Coney style. Yes, there’s a hotel out there — not the kind you’d have a honeymoon in, unless the trick you’re with is the marrying type. I’m not talking about the former Shore Theater, the looming building with the enormous sign across from the Stillwell Avenue station, but the tiny hotel above the Kennedy Fried Chicken on Surf Avenue, with an entrance down the dumpster-lined alley called Henderson Walk. The second and third floors are a single room occupancy hotel, like those that used to be up and down the Bowery in Manhattan (the midway behind the Shore just happens to be called the Bowery)…</blockquote>Kids, they don’t make ’em like they used to. Could be Joe Sitt’s first hotel in Coney. Think about.

The trail of paint that the little girl in this new YouTube vid follows mysteriously appeared one night on Sixth Street in Park Slope about three years ago and it’s still there. It expires at the corner of Prospect Park West and Sixth Street. Watch her follow it. Watch mom’s stroller with baby roll downhill as she chases her paint trail chasing older daughter. Revel in the stroller drama and enjoy.

A GL reader wrote in to say that she found a small, black wallet near the northern end of Prospect Park’s Long Meadow. The wallet, which was found at around 8:45 this morning, contained a few dollars, a library card, MetroCards, and a couple of bank cards. Our reader turned it in to the 78th Precinct on 6th Avenue, but the officer who took it in said it’s unlikely its owner would contact the precinct, since most people who lose stuff in Prospect Park contact the park’s lost and found, rather than the precinct. (Who knew?) The initials of the person who owned the wallet appear to be “M.G.” Get in touch with the folks at the 78th (718-636-6411) if this is your property.

[Word Cloud courtesy of Wordle]

This is GL’s “Word Cloud” based on our RSS feed from yesterday. The Wordle tool, which can be found here, was brought to our attention by Sonja Shield, who had produced the Brooklyn Ramblings blog, which we sure wish we’d hear more from. In any case, the dude who produces this website demands that some code be inserted if you’re going to use a Wordle image or screencap, so we’re doing that, lest he sick a deranged pack of Cujo-like legal types on our poor little blog even though all we’re try to do is promote his product. So, dude, before you send the rabid staff people with the JD’s after us, drop us an email and we’ll pull the post and never give your any free PR ever again. Ever. And, we’ll also warn everybody else not to.

An old liquor store on Lorimer Street near Grand, east of the BQE, is going vertical in a major way. The store had sat there quietly for years, selling booze and lottery tickets to the locals and the (increasingly) the newly-arrived hipster. Ah, but no longer. They’re still selling PBR’s and Vladimir Vodka, but they’re also going to be selling condos. Per DOB, good old 494 Lorimer is going to end up as a relatively diminutive (for Williamsburg) four-story building with six condos. We tried to get confirmation they going to call it The Miller High Life, but couldn’t get the word. Also, there’s a small problem right now of a Stop Work Order issued late last week because of “failure to maintain,” which is something to which a lot of people can relate. (Dude, you’ve got a significant failure to maintain. Get your crap together, man.) In this case, there was no shed that could help keep you alive if something fell off the building and, you know, fell and, you know, potentially could have crushed your skull instead of landing on the roof of the shed. On the other hand, if it was just a bruise, they probably would have give you a free bottle of Vlad to ease the pain. The developer is said to have blamed the oversight on Frankie the Plumber. (Kidding.) The culprit was Joey the Roofer.

Barclays “Head” to Ratner: We’re a Wee Bit Worried, Old Chap [AY Report]
Bella Sicilia, Carroll Gardens Dirty Car-Style [PMFA]
Very, Very Spooky: Touring Atlantic Ave’s Tunnel [Gothamist]
Are Barry and Johnny Giving Cities Short Shrift? [Gotham Gazette]
Valet Bike Parking Coming to Slope’s Food Co-op [Eagle]
Maxell Dude Comes to Bklyn, Becomes Skelator [McBrooklyn]
Bombing the Burg With Dog Shit: Maybe Not So Cool [Animal]
Shocking News! Safer Streets Mean More People Will Bike [Streetsblog]
Awwwwwww. [NY Shitty]
This Makes Us Want to Have Breakfast in Ditmas Park [DP Blog]
Grimaldi’s is Kind of a Johnny Come Lately [Slice]
Court St’s New Grocery, Gourmet Fresh, is Open! [A Bklyn Life]
CMJ Starts Today, and Our Borough Will REPRESENT [Brooklyn Based]
Java War Percolating in Kensington [Eater]

Ongoing complaints regarding the Cobble Hill Super Service has neighbors in an uproar over the fact that AAA is still referring members to their mechanics. It seems that despite many complaints to the DMV, and to Triple A, drivers allege they are still getting ripped off. As recently as October this tale of woe was expressed:

I brought my car in for an inspection. I received a call from one of the “mechanics” telling me that I need to replace all 4 struts, the coolant, Oil change, 1 tire and wiper blades. I told him I would pick up the car and get it done. (I used to be a mechanic and I can take care of most of it.) The “mechanic” then back peddled and said all I need to pass inspection was a new tire and wiper blades. Now I was sure this was a scam. I went to pick up the car. I agree the tire was worn. My wiper blades were replaced 3 months ago and I had no problem with them. You are at their mercy at this point because the inspection forms have already been submitted to the DMV. I paid them for the inspection (37.00) and asked how much the re-inspection would cost. He said 10 or 15 dollars. I went and got 2 new tires for the price they were going to charge for ($200) and replaced the wiper blades. I then went back for the re-inspection. They refused to do the re-inspection. They said they only do inspections in the morning. ( This was a lie!! A woman came in while I was there picking up my car at 2:30 and asked for an inspection on the spot. They said OK to her?) They said the owner would be back in an hour and I would have to talk to him. I didn’t wait. I went to L & B on 4th Ave.

You know there’s more and we urge you to click and read it.

Need a place to take that special someone you just met at Union Pool when the bathroom or the creepy parking lot under the BQE just won’t do? Well, this is 218 N. 9 Street, a demolition site in the part of Williamsburg between Driggs and Union Avenue that we like to call the Triangle of Death because of the consistently horrifying condition of demolition and construction sites. It could be the perfect love spot. The fence offers privacy, yet easy access and as long as you don’t mind broken glass, twisted metal and the possibility of roof collapse if doing the nasty gets really hot and heavy and makes the earth move, it’s got Hotel Le Jolie beaten hands down.

Seriously, though, the problem is the Triangle of Death is the cheap fences that fall over when a late night drinker lets loose with a beer fart and the city’s seeming inability to do anything about it. Hence, anyone who desires or is stupid enough can play with construction equipment, climb piles of rubble, fall into deep pits or screw or play in buildings that can collapse on their heads. (We know, compared to a criminally corrupt crane inspection system that has murdered people, this is nothing.) The real problem are city regulations that allow developers of multi-million projects to get away with fences held together with gum and prayers.

In a city desperate to show that its Department of Buildings actually exists to keep people from being slaughtered by construction, the deplorable conditions in Williamsburg and the city’s inability to safeguard the public are indictments of a deeply flawed system that deserves a top-to-bottom overhaul by an independent blue ribbon commission whose recommendations would have to be accepted in their entirety and penalties that deeply hurt developers in the only way they understand: financially. The bad news is that the problem is about to become worse are large parts of the neighborhood become abandoned development sites and even great threats to quality of life. But we digress. This is 218 N. 9 Street, whose demolition started months ago and then stopped. Access to this horrendously dangerously site has been open for a long time and the city has done nothing to force the developer to clean it up. Then again, the developer is involved in the notorious Greenpoint Hotel, so one wouldn’t exactly expect a civic-minded approach to public safety here. Although you can’t see it in the photo someone has even written “Enter” with an arrow next to the hole in the fence. There’s nothing like some good semi-public sex, kids.

After years and years of debate, the question is still out there: are pit bulls are mean and dangerous? Some say pit bulls are gentle and sweet by nature, it’s all about the caregiver and how they raise and maintain the innocent creature that matters. Others just aren’t sure. Here, we find that it sounds like maybe the person involved is a bit more on the aggressive and hostile than the dog and that it led to an unfortunate incident. People know better… too bad they just don’t do better.–Dailyslope

[Photo courtesy Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

If this shot from Brit in Brooklyn blogger and photographer Adrian Kinloch is not the perfect combination of nature and manmade landscape, we don’t know what is.

If you ain’t already dressing up like a monster or heading out to carve a pumpkin or you just want to be a do-gooder on Saturday (10/25), then head on out to to Williamsburg for It’s My Park Day at McCarren Park. There’s more info about the whole day over at United Friends of McCarren Park. The event is from 10am to noon. Pass on thru the Driggs Ave and North 12th St. entrance, grab your complimentary bottled water and energy bar, garbage bag and gloves (and t-shirts for the occasion) and partake in picking up the trash those mean, nasty litterbugs leave behind. Also, we gather that, for those who want to booze it up after they clean it up, there’s going to be a happy hour at Enid’s from 4PM-6PM where one can imbibe and talk trash (literally and/or figuratively).
—Vaduz Uvunt

[Photo courtesy of Shield/GL Flickr Pool]

This image comes from Shield, who’s been posting great Brooklyn pics for a long time and started blogging about our beloved Gowanus around the same time we did in 2006. This image was taken through the viewfinder of an old Kodak Duaflex camera.

Want to roll around in someone else’s “Love Stain?” Well, for the unbelievers or the… (no, we’re not going to judge) head on over to Brooklyn’s Red Carpet Inn at 980 Wyckoff Ave, slap down $116 for the night (sorry, we too can’t confirm the hourly rate), and get grubby! One brave visitor found out the hard way. Where did they go wrong? Right about the start: “When I called back to tell him to cancel my reservations as I had found another hotel to stay at, he then told me that I would be charged for one night and that he now had an available room for me.” Yeah, you know, extortion really isn’t a good first impression. Also Pizza Hut refuses to deliver to the place. Bad sign.–Curbed

We’ve mentioned the many troubles of the future of Cobble Hill’s troubled Long Island College Hospital. Well, the threat of overall closure of the entire facility is now a big possibility. Not only will this be a huge change in the community and area in the sense of making the hospital’s land holdings available for development, but thousands of us will be effected in the lack of a near by medical facility, which in turn will effect the patient overgrowth for the neighboring area hospitals and medical centers. (One may think what one wants of the quality of care at LICH, but it is a local hospital and, as such, needs to be there.) City Council Member Bill de Blasio’s office is asking people to show their support and sign this petition to help Save Long Island College Hospital. Take a minute to sign, whether you want a nearby hospital or don’t feel like seeing the hospital turn into a village of luxe condos.
—Vaduz Uvunt

Below, are some musical choices for the next few days, and we will note that there are some interesting ones:

Monday 10/20/08
Jalopy: Country Blues Jam: Bring you fiddle, accordion, banjo, washtub, mandolin, guitar, or maybe even spoons and participate in an open jam session. Free!! 9:30pm

Union Hall: White Denim, Papertrigger, Wild Light (Indie) $10, 7:30pm

Tuesday 10/21/08
BARBES: Slavic Soul Party (Balkan/Jazz/Gypsy) $10, 9:30pm

Bar 4: Open Mike Night: Hosted by Tanya Buziak, sign up at 8:00pm, 8:30 showtime-Free!!

Southpaw: Magnetic Morning (Featuring members of Interpol, Swervedriver, and The Album Leaf), Springhouse, The Life & Times. (Indie) $12, 8:30pm

Wednesday 10/22/08
Jalopy: “Roots n’ Ruckus” w/ Feral Foster (Folk) Free!!, 9:00pm

The Bell House: Gothamist House (sponsored by gothamist.com CMJ 2008) presents: Emmy The Great, Bell, Nat Baldwin, Pattern Is Movement, Extra Life, and more. (Indie) Free!!, 2pm-7pm

—Dan Bennis

[Photo for GL courtesy of E.C. Stephens]

We are so used to seeing vile things in the Gowanus. Turds. Coney Island Whitefish. The heads of dead fish. Floating islands of runny crap. So, it is with pleasure that we bring you something more seasonal and uplifting, pumpkins and seeds in the Big G as photographed by GL’s E.C. Stephens. Bravo!

In recent weeks we’ve been impressed, but not surprised, at all the Barack Obama bake sales, posters and graffiti in Williamsburg. Yesterday, we came across this table set up on Bedford Avenue offering homemade Obama t-shirts with all proceeds going to the Obama campaign. This sort of enthusiasm could be one of the reasons that Mr. Obama raised an astounding $150 million in September, shattering records and indicating that one we are on the verge of an historic electoral event and an absolute paradigm shift in American politics, culture and governance. Now, if we could only get one in New York City and in Brooklyn.

You get two guesses as to which neighborhood in which we found this newly-altered sign. If you guessed that it ends in …burg, you’re right! And, why not, it’s the Sex Capital of Brooklyn. Sadly, it wasn’t across the street from Union Pool, but it was within a couple of blocks, making it extra meaningful. We’ve heard many people say that if you can’t get casual sex in the Burg there is simply something terribly wrong. Agree or disagree?

Aunt Suzie owner Irene LoRe is a neighbor of the Center for the Urban Environment (CUE) and the Executive Director of the newly formed 5th Avenue BID (Business Improvement District). She took time out of her busy schedule to talk to CUE about the Avenue’s past— and future.

CUE: Where are you from originally?

LoRe : I was born and raised in Borough Park, Brooklyn. I was born in 1942 and the Brooklyn I was raised in was very different from today. It was in many ways more ethnic, so many people were closer to their immigrant roots: language, food, religion and culture. There were mostly Eastern European Jews, Southern Italians and Irish in the neighborhood. There were very few Blacks or Hispanics— and I did not know any until college. That would be pretty unthinkable today. The Irish and Italians in the neighborhood were “united” in their Catholicism and the local parish. In those days, if someone asked you where you were from you would name your parish, not your neighborhood. Yiddish and Italian were heard everywhere and everyone rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

CUE: What lead you to the restaurant business?

LoRe: I was fired from a job in an insurance company….and yes, mid-life crisis. The one thing about Italians is that most of us believe we are born great chefs unlike so it seemed logical to me to open a restaurant. I love to cook and feed those around me. Having been in corporate life I was ready to try being an entrepreneur. My big mouth and opinionated nature made me a bad fit in the midst of corporate culture.

Read more of this fascinating conversation by clicking here.

These guys were out at Bedford Ave. and N. 6 Street on Saturday afternoon and we have to say that even if we didn’t capture them at their absolute finest moment, they were pretty f’ing good. Do ID ’em if you know.