Here are photos and video of flooding that submerged parts of Fourth Avenue at Carroll Street in Brooklyn this morning. There's considerable disagreement in the comments section of Brownstoner as to what caused this mess, but apparently this happens every couple of years in this little part of Gowanus. Is this Marty Markowitz's Katrina? more ›

Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn will possibly be getting a major makeover sometime soon. Instead of the perpetually trafficked and dreary scenery, the six-mile stretch would be transformed into "a premier livable street" called Brooklyn Boulevard. Catchy, right? Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz enlisted students from NYU Wagner to contribute ideas to the project, and they produced these renderings of a future Fourth Avenue paradise, bringing Markowitz's dream of a "bleak stretch of road transformed into something reminiscent of the beautiful, tree-lined portion of Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side" one step closer. more ›

Yesterday, Gothamist attended the 34th annual Atlantic Antic along Atlantic Avenue between Hicks Street and Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. For the uninitiated, this not your typical New York "tube sock" street fair. Sure there are some of the typical food vendors (gyros, roasted corn and Mozzarepas, natch). But unlike most other street fairs, there is a strong neighborhood presence in both food (including freebees from the new kid on the block Trader Joe’s) and vendors, along with many Brooklyn community groups and a wide variety of live music. As an added bonus this year, the New York Transit Museum had free admission along with its annual bus festival. more ›

A con artist has been using Craigslist to scam gullible apartment seekers out of hundreds of dollars, according to the Daily News. Nothing new here, except this time the scheme so sketchy it’s hard to feel too sorry for the victims. Using the alias JoAnn Rinaggio, a compulsive check bouncer named JoAnne Smith has been posting listings for a fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This amazing place can be yours for only $950 – less than half the market value! more ›

What with Pacific Standard’s North Slope location, their blog, their robot blog, and their faux-formal alternative title (Jon & John's House of Starchy Living and Temperance Den), the Fourth Avenue watering hole seems determined to become the McSweeney’s of bars. Now they’ve taken their clever eccentricity one step further with a Frequent Drinker Card Program, which gives patrons something in return for their consumption beyond inflated self-worth and unwanted pregnancies. more ›

Riders hope that low grades for the G line will eventually lead to improvements, while plans are in place to make the G a more usable line. Despite being the two largest boroughs in New York City, there is only one train line dedicated to getting people from Brooklyn (2.5 million people) to Queens (2.3 million people). All other passages must make their way from one borough, through Manhattan (1.6 million people), and then on... more ›

Yesterday, Gothamist attended the 33rd annual Atlantic Antic along Atlantic Avenue between Hicks Street and Fourth Avenue. It is not your typical New York street fair with actual local groups, business and restaurants getting involved. Plus the New York Transit Museum had free admission as well as its annual vintage bus festival. more ›

With Labor Day weekend well under way, the season of block parties is about to come to an end. The NY Times has a story today on 4 of the 225 block parties that took place in the city last weekend (overall most take place in Brooklyn). more ›

A man driving a Ford Explorer fatally hit a 77-year-old woman crossing 22nd Street at Fourth Avenue yesterday afternoon. According to the Post, a minivan first clipped Jozefa Dzwiga, "but then, a Ford Explorer swerved around the van and ran over" her. more ›

#1 more ›

The ING New York City Marathon is just five days away, and many people are probably thinking about their viewing strategies. The marathon website has different suggestions for watching the professional marathoners and friends and family. If you're cheering someone on, the ING NYC marathon suggests:

Mile 8 in Brooklyn , where the three starts converge, is a great place to catch runners looking fresh for photographs. A variety of subways can get you there: the C to Lafayette Avenue; the G to Fulton Street; the 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Nevins Street; or the B, D, N, Q, or R to Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street. more ›

September 16: Waldemar and Nadia at Telepan - Late Summer Cheeses more ›

The Times has a good article about the traffic nightmare that occurs at the intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic, and Fourth Avenues in Brooklyn, and comes up with some great facts: more ›

So we were looking over the Gothamist Contribute and we noticed the photo to your left from kerfuffle & zeitgeist's flickr stream. Ever since we were first started going on urban hikes (not to mention when we started working nearby) we've found this incongruous sign, located on 27th and Park Avenue South, and it's many brethren strange. We'd just never thought of Fourth Avenue being a "real" avenue beyond it's tiny existance between Astor Place and Union Square. And it wasn't like our parents ever corrected us for miscalling Fourth Avenue Park Avenue South (unlike say the time we got hit upside the head for referring to Sixth Avenue as the Avenue of the Americas... lesson learned!) more ›

It's the city's greatest sporting event, but it does leave some people unhappy. Mainly storeowners on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, it seems, who have had to smell the pee stench from the many runners who urinated in alleys. The Daily News takes the medical approach, finding out that "[t]raditionally, bladders tend to break down at mile seven"; the NY Road Runners' Club apologized, explaining the logistical difficulties of thousands of runners and only so many portapotties on top of trying to get good times, but added, "In 26.2 miles, your body goes through a lot of phases, and sometimes nature calls." more ›

- And the G was suspended from Court Square to Fourth Avenue and the E was suspended in Manhattan.Also, here are this weekend's subway reroutings. more ›

While billboards generally attract complaints from area residents just don't want billboards period, many advertisers and building owners just ignore them, interested in getting their message out and keeping the coin respectively. But, sometimes the advertiser is willing to fold and take their signs down, even without intervention from the Department of Buildings: The strip club Flashdancers has a big sign up across from a public school in Brooklyn. The NY Times is particularly funny when describing it:

A new billboard went up on Monday across Baltic Street from Public School 133 on the western fringe of Park Slope, Brooklyn. The sign is aimed at the drivers going by on busy Fourth Avenue, but the students at the school, who range from kindergarten to fifth grade, can also learn a lot from it. more ›

Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter definitely makes a point of depicting the city in grand panoramic style, with plenty of overheads and shots on bridges. There are street scenes, as Nicole Kidman goes in and out of her apartment on Stuvesant and 10th, rides her Vespa up Lafayette Street and Fourth Avenue, and walks in and out of the U.N. building. There is even a few scenes in the outer boroughs, with nods to Crown Heights and Long Island City. But there is something blank and unfamiliar in the way the city is used as a backdrop. Almost as though it's an outsider's way of looking at the city. more ›

more ›

Gothamist can hear the longing strains of Carly Simon, as we anticipate the festivities to come this Sunday, September 26th at the 30th annual Atlantic Antic. more ›

The Domino Sugar Plant in Williamsburg has been bought. The NY Times reports that developers have not disclosed what the plant will be, but notes that one of the partners, Isaac Katan, is a "Brooklyn developer who has helped gentrify Fourth Avenue in Park Slope", while the other partner, C.P.C. Resources, has experience in rehabilitation of older apartments. The article also notes that when the plant stopped sugar production (but remained open) last August, City Planning department had wanted to keep the plant for manufacturing, but things might have changed. Gothamist knows this much: The views from the plant would be really spectacular, whether residential or a commercial property...it would be cool to put a museum there, the way the Tate Modern, DIA Beacon and Mass MoCA are in old plants. But that doesn't do much to ensure blue collar jobs, so we'll be curious to see how planning officials and developers address the issue. more ›

Are pigs flying? P.Diddy has entered the New York...wait, the ING New York City Marathon! The Post says that P.Diddy is looking raise money for a number of causes, including NYC school kids, an pediatric AIDS charity, and his own organization that mentors children (no, not Making the Band). The Diddy's sponsors include Nike, McDonald's, Foot Locker, MTV, Pinnacle Vitamins and Yucaipa book publishing, and while he did meet with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the Mayor, they will not be in attendance at P.Diddy's Niketown press conference. more ›

The New York Road Runners Club is contemplating taking on ING as a sponsor of the New York City Marathon. Part of the motivation may be J.P. Morgan Chase's withdrawal as a major sponsor; another may be to increase the purse and attract more talent. Gothamist always thought that New York was in the top marathons in the world: Boston more prestigious as its runner have to qualify, but New York City is New York City - no contest. But the ING New York City Marathon? We guess that's how literati felt when the Booker Prize turned into the Man Booker Prize. more ›