Update: Oreo, Dog Thrown Off Building, Was Euthanized
People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
Emily and Sarah Kunstler, Filmmakers
Cheap Chicken Wing Deal Ruined by Gunslinging Teens
FIT Students Busted For Drug Dealing Get Probation
The Basics
Age and occupation. How long have you lived here, where did you come from, and where do you live now?
I'm 25 yrs and working in healthcare. I was bred, born and raised in Bay Ridge Brooklyn, where I currently live.
Three for Yous
1. Let's say you're a Brooklyn real estate agent and after ten odd years in Manhattan I'm finally looking to move out and settle down in a place with more room. Sell me on Bay Ridge.
Having worked in a Bay Ridge real estate agency, let me tell you one of the most popular sellers are the many brownstone houses. Many potential buyers always seemed concerned about the trees on the blocks with houses of interest. Bay Ridge has great public transportation, no matter what part of the Ridge you live in there's always a way to get around. Other highlights are the restaurants, bars and big parks, such as the many connected Shore Road parks, the biggest in the community. In 1995 the Narrows Botanical Garden was established which approximately takes up 4 1/2 acres of parkland. The newest edition is a very popular skate park, which is located in Owl's Head Park. If one has an interest moving to Bay Ridge, there's a variety of large houses, small houses, condos, Co-ops, and residential buildings with apartments for rent which all vary from decent prices to mega bucks.
2. Are there any urban legends specific to Bay Ridge, like haunted churches and shit?
I'm not familiar with any "urban legends" of Bay Ridge like alligators living in the subway. If there are any, maybe the older veterans of the Ridge would know. You can read about the real "legends" of the community -- the residents -- in the forums of the Bay Ridge website.
3. I was told you were kicked out and banned from the NYC public school system as a 16 year old. What does one need to do to warrant such an honor?
What one has to "do" to stay in school is the question. First off one would have to "go" to school in order to stay in school. When I first started my freshman year at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, I was a regular student excited to be there, very much into the activities the school offered and was even in the marching band which always performed at local festivals. I think most of my delinquency derives from the fact I went to a Catholic school, which I'm not using as an excuse, but personally feel victim to the small world in which it was. At the time everything was based on religion, in math class you had to multiply nuns, subtract priest, and learn to play church songs in music. I have no problem with having gone to a Catholic school, but it was shocking when I transferred into a public high school. I couldn't get over fellow students smoking in bathrooms, cursing in hallways, and ditching classes. It took about 3 months before I found myself doing the same things, only I pushed it to levels that would give any sweet mother a coronary. I met a crowd of serious graffiti artists who introduced me to the world of "bombing" NYC subway stations and tunnels. I was so addicted to the world of vandalism, I started bombing the school. It took some time for the school morons to figure out it was me doing damage, naturally one day I get sent to the dean's office in which I was busted with a can of black spray paint in my bag. I told the dean I had the can to touch up the scuffs on my Doc Martens, which obviously was a lame excuse but not hard evidence could be produced to make anything of it. Then one cold January afternoon while I was cutting with a friend we came across a stray dog which almost had frost bite, I decided it was a good idea to bring him into the school to warm up, that went over well. I was also a repeated offender of getting brought to school by cops who busted me for smoking pot and drinking booze near school for the next 2 yrs. As well as being in the fake report card business, and the list goes on and on.... However I have straightened my act out and enjoy going to college. I try to be a strong advocate to the teens of Bay Ridge: "Stay in school, don't be a fool."
Proust-Krucoff Questionnaire
Please share a personal (and hopefully interesting) NYC taxi story.
Traveling from Staten Island to Brooklyn with some friends, the guys we were with insisted on paying for the cab ride. As we reached a couple blocks from our destination, we were (myself and friend) surprisingly told "hope ya can run real fast." Real charmers, I know. I was really freaked out and pissed, but we had no choice at this point. We made a run for it up the block, while the other two fools ran down. Naturally the driver decided to go after my friend and I, driving the wrong way on a Bay Ridge side street. We outsmarted him for the moment by pulling a "Ferris Bueller," running through backyards. As we thought all was OK half an hr. later, we get spotted by the driver, we freaked and totally bullshitted the guy by pretending not knowing who he was. We felt bad, so we decided to tell him the truth and send him the money, the dude looked hurt rather than angry and left possibly trusting that we'd send it, but we did and even threw in extra money for all the trouble.
9pm, Wednesday - what are you doing?
Usually watching whatever good is on TV and (or) cleaning
Best celebrity sighting in New York, or personal experience with one if you're that type.
At a WWE event at Madison Square Garden, while on a beer run with my crazy brother, he spotted Steve Austin. As we were passing he pushed me into him, I think I literally bounced back off him. I was so shocked and embarrassed. My bro comments "watch were ya going you fool, you bumped into the nice man." They exchanged nods and both found it amusing.
Describe that low, low moment when you thought you just might have to leave NYC for good.
When I have an hour and change train ride to work, always feeling sick in the morning, and coming across the classic dirtbag who doesn't own a toothbrush. That's when I feel I need to flee to some area where you don't have to become acquainted with someone's breath.
Just after midnight on a Saturday - what are you doing?
Usually going home from an early night out, or just starting to go out to some local Bay Ridge bar like the Salty Dog.
Finish one of the four following sentences:
3) "I hate computers for replacing the card catalog in the New York Public Library and I hate the way..."
Our local public library in Bay Ridge has been temporarily closed for the past year or so, leaving a bus parked outside the library with cement blocks instead of wheels. Too ghetto for me. I thought the library was a place of learning and resources for the youngsters to keep them outta the ghetto. Well, the ghetto's come to them!!
Where do you summer?
Coney Island or Riis Park
Who do you consider to be the greatest New Yorker of all-time?
All New Yorkers, to be the greatest city has taken everyone who has lived here.
What was your best dining experience in NYC?
Somewhere in Bay Ridge, no not because I live here, well OK maybe. It's really a great place for diversity when it comes to the food, prices and type of places to eat. Almost everywhere has that "right at home" feel to it.
What happened the last time you went to L.A.?
I was with friends and we met an annoying guy at the airport who said he was from New York, probably was. He said he was there on business and didn't have a hotel room booked. So one of our lovable dingbat friends recommended the hotel we were staying at. The whole time we were there he followed us around. It took 3 days to finally ditch him.
If you could change one thing about New York, what would it be?
The Mayor
The End of The World is finally happening. What are you going to do with your last 24 hours in NYC?
In my final hours I would eat until I explode and spend it with friends and family, they can eat and explode too.
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You're scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. Bay Ridge is a little slice of hell right here on earth. You might as well just give up and move to Jersey if you've sunk this low.
I wouldn't say Bay Ridge is a little slice of hell since that is a tad snotty this to say. But as far as interview subjects go, this is really one of the weakest out there. But it's good in the sense it breaks away from the stereotype of these intreviews being "Young Manahattanite" interviews. Just find better subjects.
I'm sure your critique means fuck all to Marci. She probably can't be bothered with bougie snots like the two uh yewts. They'd eat you alive in Bay Ridge and wouldn't have to post it on a blog to make it worth their while.
This is the second smug interviewee in a row to flippantly toss around the word "ghetto."
What's up with that?
Man, it's a welcome change to see average New Yorkers who are proud of the neighborhood they grew up in, have regular jobs but not a creative or business endeavor to promote and aren't douche bags like the posters on this board. You all so hot, come and get me!
Ghetto is the new way yuppies can say things are ethnic or black in a cheeky/snarky kind of way. Face it. Gothamist is a yuppie NYC blog that appeals mostly to transplanted New Yorkers and those who want to be. So using the term ghetto makes sense, although quite insulting.
um, did you read the interview? this isn't a transplant. she grew up here, ran with a crowd who "bombed" subways with graffiti and got kicked out of high school. she didn't mention she also used to hang out with some of that Larry Clark "Kids" crowd. i believe she's allowed to use the word "ghetto" which is hardly offensive in context. but seriously, who the fuck are you people to be talking so much shit about someone you don't know? that's hilarious, in a sad way.
I disagree, Andrew. "Ghetto" is more than a little demeaning coming from any white kid who doesn't actually live in one. And, I'm sorry, but Bay Ridge is hardly a ghetto.
As for the interview itself, I do applaud your looking outside Manhattan and the trendier parts of Brooklyn for people to talk to. It's also refreshing to hear from someone not involved in some trendy new technology or quite so self-consciously hip.
I'd love to hear from folks in Belle Harbor, East New York, Sunnyside, The Grand Concourse, New Dorp, etc....
um, did you read the comment? Reading is fundamental! "Gothamist is a yuppie NYC blog that appeals mostly to transplanted New Yorkers and those who want to be." I never said she was a transplant, but that Gothamist in general appeals to transplants. Also please read "I wouldn't say Bay Ridge is a little slice of hell since that is a tad snotty this to say." meaning I am DEFENDING Bay Ridge. Geez, get a grip.
All I ever said is that the interview subject was weak as an interview subject and nothing more.
Oh, and I also said that the snarky use of "ghetto" was really a bit disturbing. It's a euphenysim for black and ethnic neighborhoods and while not as derogatory as the n*gger word it's quite bad.
This board is getting ghetto. I'm out of here.
Mr. Name, you sound so...strong. Please email me cause with your flawless logic and sharp mind I think you would make a fantastic interview subject. Please come out so we can all marvel at you!
Also, I'll leave the PC debate of "ghetto" to the social-scientists in the room.
Krucoff,
now don't get all honky on us, homey!
If your gonna bad mouth bay ridge come say it to a bay ridgite's face and watch what happens.
Bitchs get me a beer
Who's bad-mouthing Bay Ridge, except for the first poster?
Get your own damn beer.
I told you bitch
well, lets not forget, while ghetto can be a code word for whites (and blacks too!) to stick their noses up at "ethnic" things/parties/neighborhoods etc...some (white) people like marci are a bit ghetto themselves...not in her living situation, but in her provincial perspective on things...ghetto in my mind is an equal opportunity slur...but sadly, in most peoples minds it is for blacks and other ethnicities...which is completely racist.
What happened to the board?
Anyway, I loved the interview. It made me laugh.
MArci Hom Who said Marci was White she doesn't look like any old white girl to me! Her last name is Hom you ass!. For those who titled BayRidge a "little slice of hell" I pity you because your, well an ASS! Come on! have you ever been to BayRidge is wonderful and by no means does Marci think its ghetto nor would we want it to ever be ghetto thats whats so wonderful about this part of Brooklyn. SHe was clearly meantioning that the beauty of BayRidge is being boggled down by the torn down library. I was born and raised in THis little slice of heaven and I'll have you know that my parents worked damn hard to move in to this neigborhood just to live in a two bedroom apt so we could have a view of shore road. THey moved out of the ghetto of williamsburg with ius know occupied by hipsters and all so they can get the city experience and the smell of shit! Oh please, Marci gave a honest real life interview about her life in Brooklyn Mean while alll you so called "Transplants" are paying out the asshole just to live in some overpriced aptments.
*yawn*
Jen, why don't you go over to Williamsburg and just indiscriminately beat people up for liking to live in your parents' old neighborhood? I don't understand what Williamsburg has to do with anything. It's not like everyone on this board lives either there or in Manhattan.
In case you hadn't noticed, there was only one person who posted here who spoke negatively of Bay Ridge. So stop ranting already and wipe that chip off your shoulder.
theres some nice peregrine falcons that live in bay ridge underneath the verrazano. bay ridge is remote and provincial but cute and full of hot guidettes! mint!
hey pfft you ol' softie, perhaps you're not accustomed to new york attitude. shut up and get me a fuckin' beer.
How can you drink a beer with your lips blowin' out all that hot air?
And all this time, I thought it was just the wind comin' in off the harbor...
Hey pfft, wipe that shit off your face!!
wow.
what a clever reply.
you have a good night now (i'm goin' offline),
and don't let those hordes of marauding hipsters from Williamsburg drive up your rent tonight...
no need to bicker - Bay Ridge sucks, and this interview sucks. Please interview people who do something meriting an interview, other than being raised in the rich man's Bensonhurst.
Jen, you rule. You get the boroughs' voice in the mix. You beat the New York Times. Other mofos can get to the back.... Thank G for Gothamist!
yeah! what 'obvious' said! like, get some people who work in public relations and communications management firms! that would be so rad.
wow i wonder if half you people were even born in nyc cause some of you think bay ridge is not ghetto let me tell you half of the people that live there are crack heads. Come out here and see for your self. You might be running back to your nice little home some where in the mid west with your trendy BROOKLYN shirts. Bedford avenue is not a part of brooklyn anymore and is far from ghetto cause i know half of you commenters live there. please do us real newyorkers a favor and go back to where you came.
I am writing to comment a statement submitted by a "Mr. Name" (April 21, 2004 01:07 PM) Who ever said that Ghetto is synonymous to black and ethnic neiborhoods? Isn't that a large assumption on your part? I see such an assumption as racist in its self. I love the fact that you try to be so sensitive to racial issues while revealing the fact that deep down inside you are exactly the kind of person you hate. Way to go bigot!
Oh and by the way Ghetto is derived from an expression used to describe Italian neiborhoods.
The name came from Venetian dialect for the island ghèto where Jews were forced to live.
I only wish that I could sit home at this computer all day so that I could post worthless statements at 01:07 PM on a weekday, but unfortunately I have a job. If you would like to further this conversation, Mr. Name, maybe I can pencil you in. Peace.
Or is Peace too ethnic for you? Okay then, how about bye.
Im still waiting for my beer!
Get a grip yuppie hipsters! Who gives a rats ass if Marci says "ghetto"? I'd like to drop a couple of you snots on 4th Avenue @3am on a Saturday morning - then you'd see what ghetto really is.
Well, I think she's pretty and I like her sweater :)
Mr. Ghetto, please walk over to the Fulton Mall on Saturday afternoon and yell at the top of your lungs "This place is so ghetto!" and then see how people react.
Also, thank you for the definition of ghetto. Since the term comes from an "island near Venice where Jews were made to live in the 16th century", does that seem like a positive connation to you? Not to me. A ghetto is typically a place where people of a suppressed minority group is forced to live. The Upper East side is not a ghetto. East New York is a ghetto. Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong is a ghetto. The slums of Bangladesh are a ghetto.
Ghetto is not a neutral statement. It's very freely used by very yuppie white kids to describe neighborhoods that are "ethnic" (ie: black/hispanic). Get it? You know why few if any white yuppie brats live deep on the Lower East Side? The neighborhood is quite "ghetto".
So please, if you are so confident in what ghetto means, head over to West 26th Street in Coney Island or the Fulton Mall or even to the Gowanus Houses, stand there are yell "This place is so ghetto!" I assure you nobody would be laughing.
PS: Since the word ghetto is derived from Italians derogatorilly describing the place that Jews were FORCED to live in the 16th century, I am shocked that you yourself cannot see the inherent negative connotations of that word. The Italians did not lovingly placed Jews in a "ghetto"; the key word is FORCED.
Which is why it's somewhat funny to hear anyone from Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and such refer to any neighborhood other than their own as "ghetto" when it is run-down/trashy. They should know about "ghetto" and what it really means, shouldn't they?
Dont you think comparing East New York to Bangladesh and Hong Kong is a little extreme?
I mean really the amount of food someone in East New York eats in a day is like the amount someone in Bangladesh gets in a week.
East New York is the Upper west side compared to Bangladesh.
So stop your whinning and shut the hell up!
Mr name. Looks like I struck a nerve. I am not debating the connotation of the word. What I was simply pointing out was your association with the word Ghetto and black people. Yes it is a negative word, and that is why I point out that you are a closet case racist.
Mr History aka Mr Fulton Mall aka mr ghetto fab, then what do you think Ms. Bay Ridge was implying when saying "Our local public library in Bay Ridge has been temporarily closed for the past year or so, leaving a bus parked outside the library with cement blocks instead of wheels. Too ghetto for me. I thought the library was a place of learning and resources for the youngsters to keep them outta the ghetto. Well, the ghetto's come to them!!"
Mr Name, enough already. You are making ZERO sense. You're bat-shit crazy. Get some help. It's a new day, new topic. Please...
Nice to see an interview of a native New Yorker instead of usual 3-7 year transplants from Kansas wearing their hip New Yorkishness on their sleeve. No 3-7 year Manhattancentric transplant is going to have a clue about the many charming neighborhoods in the boroughs.
whoa. nerds.
Let's see, Bay Ridge is home to waterfront views that don't involve toxic waste, the highest concentration of bars and restaurants in Brooklyn, clean, SAFE streets, hard working people who've lived in the nabe their whole lives, hard working immigrants trying to grab a slice of the American dream, large apartments for a fraction of the cost of "BillyBurg" (which REALLY IS HELL and should replace Vieques as a target site for the navy). People are friendly and aren't as "chic" as the a--hole transplants from California/Alabama/Tennessee who are RUINING this city just as much if not more than the "ghetto" folks discussed above.
You enjoy your overpriced apartments and lack of convenience. I'll enjoy the independently owned bakeries and other mom and pop shops that you in McManhattan and McBrooklyn (Willamsburg, that's you) wish you had!
Got to agree with Mr Ghetto about Mr Name's narrow minded focus on race. Does make me question his own racial prejudices. I know ppl like that who take offense on my behalf at something that they think is racist.
Ghetto as an adjective (and even as a noun) has evolved so much that there are many meanings depending on the context. It could be used in a derogatory sense or in a positive sense. It also takes upon a specific meaning depending on the peer group you associate with. Certain ppl may use the term in the most generic way possible because they are too lazy, or it is not hip within their cricle of friends, to use other terms.
Mr Name is reading far too much into this. I have experienced real racism but this is not racism and is not worth wasting time on. Really it isn't. Find a better cause to champion please.
I've met a woman, a gorgeous woman where if she was disfigured she would still be gorgeous.
A heart so big, that it would take a hundred museum halls to hold.
A personality so sweet, you would have tooth decay just spending the day talking with her.
I feel for this woman (not in a bad way mind you), but I have an interest in this woman because her definition to me is: happiness.
I say these things hopefully not to scare her off but in my short time in her presence, to tell her what she means to me, what she has awakened in me, what she has given me. All by none of her own effort just by existing and allowing me to be present while she exists.
To this woman, if my affections for you are misplaced I am truly sorry. If my sorted past upsets you or makes you un-easy of me, once again I am truly sorry. For it is my past and my affections that guide me to your heart which I am not sure that you will let me have. The one thing that would have made me most sorry is never getting the chance to know you.
A truly gorgeous woman...
My atttraction to her is intense as flame to fuel.
When i look in to those eyes, I have to hold on to something its very easy to get lost in them.
Her skin; soft, at times it would have a cool warmth that was very pleasant to the tongue, warm, satiny, inviting to caress, its texture makes touching her feel like a privledge.
Her taste... must I say anything more?.
I've tasted her warmth, her fire, her lasciviousness her lust, her desire, her wants, her fervor, her zenith.
I've tasted it all and DAMN IT! I say!
I... need... more.....
I have witnessed something that I'm sure many men have over looked and the thing I dont understand. How any man could over look a flower blooming every time she smiled?
Others say that I am not the one for her,
They're are others who also say that because of my past the I am not the one for her,
They're are others who seek to interject their brand of intervention with visions of happiness, respect, and loyality.
But want nothing more to satisfy their own carnal pleasures, granted theres nothing wrong with satisfying ones carnal pleasures but when you have NO regard for the one you wish to have these carnal pleasures with then you are even more disgusting than originally thought.
To these nay sayers; I say do not be angered because your time has passed and you fouled away your one chance at happiness, also do not be angered that you are found letcherous and vile.
Do not spite me because the mirror gives you the truth about the sickening venom your heart pumps through veins.
For yet again as always,
A truly gorgeous woman...
Mighty FN Bacon!!
Loving this woman, in my opinion (F the rest) is the best thing in the world.
A truly gorgeous woman...
Mighty FN Bacon!!