Culture
May 9, 2008
BKLYN Designs 2008 Kicks Off
We just got back from Dumbo where we were checking out Day 1 of the annual BKLYN Designs show of furniture and accessories by, you guessed it, Brooklyn Designers. There are 70 exhibitors this year, so our slide show is just a taste. The event will be running all weekend.
March 25, 2008
Closing Bell: Speedo Sighting at Northside Piers
Several well-chiseled men were spotted wearing only air-tight speedos and, in some cases, designer tank tops at the Northside Piers parking garage last weekend. Toll Brothers, always creative about getting people out to their projects, donated the garage to BK Fashion Week{end}, which brought 1,500 people to the waterfront construction site five long blocks from the Bedford L Train stop. (There were six designers, with outfits ranging from unsightly to wearable, but the speedos definitely stole the show). In suburbia, Toll Brothers model homes host coloring contests, cooking shows and even Santa Claus, according to the company newsletter "Bricks & Sticks." But Williamsburg buyers are a little more discriminating, so here we get speedos. GMAP
'Burg Throwdown! The Edge Versus Northside Piers [Brownstoner]
'Everywhere You Don't See High-Rises, There Are Places To Build' [Observer]
July 13, 2007
In the Artist's Studio: Daniel Dens
Since yesterday's Food & Drink Round-Up got such a positive response, here's another Brooklyn Record spin-off that might interest the interior decorators out there. One of the ways to keep Brooklyn feeling artsy is to keep some artists around — and it goes without saying that the best way to support local artists is to buy their stuff. We're always on the look-out for Brooklyn artists who have affordable work for sale, and when we visited Daniel Dens's Manhattan Beach studio (pictured above), we wanted to give you a peek inside. If there's enough interest, we could keep this feature going — but again, if it's too off-topic, let us know in the comments. For more photos and info on Daniel and his Warhol-esque paintings, keep reading. —KZ
June 22, 2007
Dumbo: Gallery Openings Can Be Very Tiring
On a lighter note...All the excitement at the opening for street artist Shepard Fairey at 81 Front Street in Dumbo last night must have been too much for this gallery-goer—he was passed out with some of his liquid sleeping aids on the floor of the temporary art space this morning at 7:30. For more pics of the show, check out Streetsy.com.
Photo by the real janelle
April 25, 2007
No Norten for BAM?
In what can only be described as a big setback for the much-hyped BAM Cultural District, fundraising efforts for the Enrique Norten-designed Visual and Performing Arts Library have come up well short of the $135 million required to build the glass-and-steel structure. Word of the shortfall, which originated in (password-protected) Crain's on Monday, reportedly came from an insider at the Brooklyn Public Library. Barring someone from the private sector stepping up in a huge way, it looks like Brooklyn will have to wait a while to get a piece of this starchitect. How big a bummer do you think this is for the BAM Cultural District?
BAM Library Project Stalled? [Gothamist]
The Book Stops Here [NY Post]
December 28, 2006
When Fiction Is Fact and TV Reality
In a fiction piece in the current issue of The New Yorker entitled Demolition, Louise Erdrich describes a particularly loathsome (and cuckolded) contractor:
Ted had built many of the newer houses in Pluto. He was also responsible for most of the least attractive buildings in town. He bought up old properties — graceful houses just beginning to decay and churches that had consolidated their congregations or lost them to time — then he stripped them of their oak trim or carbed doors or stained-glass windows and sold it all as salvage to people in the cities. He tore down the shells and put up eightplex apartment buildings that were so hideous — aluminum-sided or fake-bricked, with shingled mansard roofs or flimsy inset balconies — it was a wonder the town council couldn't see it.
Sounds like Ted would fit right in here in Brooklyn!
Photo by MaRkoP
November 29, 2006
Williamsburg Movie Theater Update
The photo at top is the exterior of 136 Metropolitan Avenue, the site of the future Williamsburg movie theater from about six weeks ago; the bottom photo was taken of the interior this week by the intrepid justiNYC. We can't imagine a scenario in which this venture would not be a smashing success. The burgers are jonesing for their own theater.
Catching Up in the Burg: Movies and Manufacturing [Brownstoner]
The Future Home of Cinema in W'burg [justiNYC]
May 22, 2006
Art (and Architecture) on the SONYA Studio Stroll
The Brownstoner brood hit Day 2 of the SONYA Studio Stroll yesterday, taking in a bunch of artists' studios before the rain forced a rapid retreat. In addition to meeting several artists, we were particularly excited to see the studio spaces themselves, since Brownstone Brooklyn isn't known in the way Northern Brooklyn is for its industrial lofts. In particular, we got a chance to go inside 122 Washington Avenue, a four-story loft building between Myrtle and Park Avenues. The exposed wood beams, old painted floors and creaky old stairs were straight out of West Chelsea (the old West Chelsea). Eight studios in the building were open to the public--and there were a handful more that weren't. We also got a kick out of the fact that the landlord appears to be a collector of architectural salvage, judging from the collection of old doors and shutters on the ground floor.
Studio Stroll 2006 [SONYA Online]
September 21, 2005
West Indian Day Parade 2005 Photos
Don Wiss, whose encyclopedic documentation of the houses of Flatbush we featured back in August, serves up a great batch of photos from the West Indian Day Parade that took place over Labor Day Weekend. This is the craziest bunch of costumes you've ever seen. There seems to be an insect theme going on. What's up with that?
West Indian Day Parade Photos [Don Wiss]
Houses of Flatbush by Don Wiss [Brownstoner]
August 5, 2005
Free Art & Events at Brooklyn Museum Tomorrow
Tomorrow the Brooklyn Museum is holding its monthly First Saturday program, with free art and entertainment all day long. Watch a performance by the Young Dancemakers Company, construct a West Indean headdress, or stick around for the reggae dance party in the parking lot. Details on the link.
First Saturdays [Brooklyn Museum]