Closing Bell: When Bushwick Burned
The Brooklyn Historical Society is hosting a panel on Bushwick’s 1970s arson wave, when the FDNY battled 100 fires a month, moderated by Jonathan Mahler, a New York Times reporter and author of “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning.” The panel, called “Brooklyn’s on Fire: Bushwick Is Burning,” will feature photographer Meryl Meisler, a tenant lawyer, an FDNY fire…
The Brooklyn Historical Society is hosting a panel on Bushwick’s 1970s arson wave, when the FDNY battled 100 fires a month, moderated by Jonathan Mahler, a New York Times reporter and author of “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning.” The panel, called “Brooklyn’s on Fire: Bushwick Is Burning,” will feature photographer Meryl Meisler, a tenant lawyer, an FDNY fire marshal, a community board manager and a displaced resident, who will recount their memories of a neighborhood scarred by fire, bankruptcy and urban neglect.
Meisler, who taught in Bushwick during the ’80s, recently published a book with photos of the ‘hood from the late ’70s and early ’80s. The panel will take place at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Monday, November 17 at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $5 or free for members.
Meisler will also discuss her book, “A Tale of Two Cities, Disco Era Bushwick,” at the Brooklyn Central Library on Grand Army Plaza from 7 to 8 pm this Wednesday, October 29.
Photo by Meryl Meisler
Been quiet in this forum all day. This sounds like it will be an informative panel. Along with todays Brownstoner links on: “Tenant Relocators” and “Real Estate Fraud Rings” it may shed some light on some of what else happened in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick -back then. Many people think “it was just criminal poor and uneducated people” destroying these neighborhoods. Others know better.