Results tagged “greenpoint”

Though the real estate boom is over in Williamsburg, it's apparently still roaring in Greenpoint. A first time developer and former attorney to Donald Trump revealed his plan this week to construct a 47-story high rise on the waterfront that would tower over nearby North Brooklyn skyscrapers like the Edge and Northside Piers by 17 floors.

One Greenpoint mom is riled up after coming face to face with evil corporate sponsorship at this past weekend's Pumpkin Fest in McCarren Park. She tells Miss Heather:

       

As part of our continuing Open House New York coverage, we visited the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant this morning. It is enormous: dozens of buildings on 53 acres at the northern edge of Greenpoint. You've probably seen the huge silver digester eggs from the BQE— at night they're lit up with pretty blue light. An overview of what goes on there: "with a rated capacity of 1.2 million m³/d, this is New York City's largest wastewater pump station and serves an area of 4,162 acres of land, fed by 180 miles of sewers. " Polshek Partnership is responsible for the plant's design— check out their site for some cool progress pictures.

Cops were breaking out the heavy machinery again and revving up the chainsaws—it's bike removal time once again on Bedford Avenue. Greenpoint resident Ben Running started shooting video of the cops removing bicycles in another fiery scene on Bedford and North 8th in the heart of Williamsburg. Police make it clear that they don't want him shooting because as Running says, "They don't want you to videotape and put it on the internet." So like any decent citizen journalist, Running did just that.

Canine-owning football fans need not worry about how they'll watch their precious games out-of-the-house anymore! The Daily News reports that a doggy day care center in Greenpoint has a special package this football season, allowing owners to drop off their dogs so they can watch the games gult-free. Rob Maher, the 31-year-old co-owner of Unleash Brooklyn, told the paper, "People may want to go out to a bar, but they feel like they're neglecting [their dogs]. They're happy to drop them off with us so they can play with other dogs."

The saga of the Kent Avenue bike lane continues! First the Orthodox Satmar Jews in South Williamsburg objected to the old bike lane because of the influx of immodestly-dressed female cyclists, then local merchants complained that customers and delivery trucks had nowhere to park. Barricades were threatened, fake detour signs were put up, and clowns rushed to the scene. Responding to the whining, the DOT ripped up part of Kent and changed it to northbound-only traffic, creating a dedicated bike lane buffered by parking spots. And everyone was happy some were placated!

A Greenpoint couple living on Driggs Avenue near McCarren Park is attempting a novel approach at fighting off what they describe as "hipster creep." They're proudly publicizing their building's long history as the Dekarski Funeral Home from around 1900 until the mid-’70s.

Trattoria Cinque: It's all about the number five at this new 250-seat Italian restaurant, which, depending on your numerological stance, could signify the alchemist's five pointed star of quintessence or the Satanist's pentagram. We'll have to wait and see if owner Russell Bellanca's deal with the devil pays off, but it's certainly a good-looking establishment, with two fireplaces, spacious booths, and wooden tables that complement a grand Italian marble bar spanning the lounge area. Chef Mirco Grassini's rustic Italian menu includes just five dishes in each category (five small plates, five pasts, five desserts, etc.) and will change five times a year in tune with the, uh, four seasons. It's all priced under $25, and includes such options as Lasagna Bolognese ($18); Halibut al Guazzetto with roasted filet, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, olives ($24); and Pizza con Gorgonzola e Pere with pears, gorgonzola, white truffle oil ($12). 363 Greenwich Street; (212) 965-0555

The pigeon gangs of Greenpoint are still at it! After one baby falcon was rescued from a bird-on-bird attack, our photographer Katie Sokoler informs us the violence is still going on. She tells us, "I came out of my apartment this morning and saw a baby falcon sitting on the railing of my stoop. It was so adorable but then suddenly a group of pigeons came down and started attacking it! I spent the whole morning kicking pigeon ass and finally captured the hurt falcon. But as I was walking back to my apartment, a woman ran up to me and told me that she saw a grown falcon down the street at McGorlick Park and it must be one of her babies. The falcon got frightened and jumped out of my hands and hid in some bushes by a church and now I can find the hurt lil' guy." Greenpoint, it's time to start a pigeon task force.

Will the pigeon bullying story be a plot line in an upcoming 30 Rock? The NY Post talked to Morgan Pitts, who rescued the baby falcon from the gang of birds in Greenpoint; he's an assistant prop master at the show, and his first course of action was to bring the little one over to Silvercup Studios, where a friend's wife at the Animal Medical Center was called. The American kestrel has been named Alice Cooper for the markings around its eyes (a moniker that's bound to toughen it up), and it's sex is not yet known—one of the vets saying, "I love this bird. He or she is so cute." Agreed.

That's right, bird on bird violence is happening in our own backyard: Brooklyn. WCBS reports that a man recently rescued a falcon from a troupe of pigeon bullies! While an adult peregrine falcon could have taken them all out, this one was just a baby, being chased and pecked at by the larger birds. "Morgan Pitts says the falcon was either abandoned by its mother or fell from its nest in his Greenpoint. The frightened chick is now in the care of veterinarians at The Animal Medical Center in Manhattan." One day he'll encounter those pigeons again and the tables will be turned. Until that showdown, however, check out the baby falcons that were born at three different city bridges earlier this year.

Anyone who strolls along Greenpoint's desolate West Street—just one tantalizing block from the East River—is familiar with the frustration of finding many streets leading to the water gated off. It's not as if there's some waterside idyll waiting on the other end of the block, but there's still something refreshing about being able to stand by the river and watch the sunset or fish (shudder).

       

Hidden away at the end of Greenpoint Avenue by the East River in Brooklyn you'll find Le Grenier, an inviting new boutique that mixes a wide variety of "Industrial & Machine Age" antiques with contemporary housewares. Owner Maya Marzolf spent years renovating the late 1800s building and filling it with her eclectic collection, which her friends have dubbed "Apothecary Chic." Each of the antiques seems to tell a story, and many of them are refreshingly affordable, especially the dishware. We recently asked Marzolf to elaborate on some of the more intriguing items, her love for Greenpoint, and the riverfront park that's finally opened at the end of her block. (Click on the images above for more on the collection.)

With South Williamsburg supposedly still on their break from Hollywood, having been dubbed a no-film zone after too much action, the spotlight has turned to Greenpoint. But the NY Post reports that locals there are also getting riled up over the takeover, which brings a lack of parking spaces and too much traffic. A shopkeeper told the paper, "The thrill is gone. As far as I'm concerned, this is a nuisance. This is of no benefit to anyone around here."

Back in 2005, Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council rezoned a large swath of Williamsburg and Greenpoint to spark a boom in residential construction, and developers immediately raced in to begin work on luxury high rises. Then the economy curled up into a fetal position, and north Brooklyn is now littered with half-finished development. A team of building inspectors have found 143 stalled construction sites around the city, with the highest concentration in Brooklyn, which boasts a total 63 vacant lots and rusting steel building frames—18 in Williamsburg alone. Residents are increasingly outraged about the degentrication, which is attracting squatters and creating a fin de siècle atmosphere of urban blight. Philip DePaolo, who moved from The Bronx to Williamsburg in 1979, tells the Post his adopted neighborhood now reminds him of his old neighborhood: "It looks like I never left." And it's true—the artisanal cheese, the American Apparel, the burning buildings; life on the mean streets of Williamsburg these days makes the '70s-era Bronx seem like Greenwich, CT.

      

As the freelancer crowd was just rolling out of bed today and starting to think about where their post-holiday drunch would be coming from, many were hit this morning with a terrifying site: suits taking over their neighborhood! Not to worry though, skinny jeans are still here to stay and the fancy pants come in peace—it's all in the name of leisure.That's because Mayor Bloomberg, Marty Markowitz, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and a few other pols came down to the Williamsburg waterfront to break ground on Bushwick Inlet Park.

The cursed Studio B, a constant nuisance to neighbors in the past, has been opening and closing since the day it opened! At least, it seems that way with the help of rampant rumors. Brooklyn Vegan reported on the latest from the Greenpoint club/rumor factory, saying "word is that Brooklyn mostly-dance club Studio B is really closing this time—by the end of July." Their website currently lists events through July 12th, and an upcoming 2 Live Crew show on July 25th is being moved from the venue. We've contacted Studio B for a statement but have not heard back yet; last time around they told us: "Studio B is not closed and will be open at least until the beginning of February for sure. Mid February the decision will be made to weather or not the club will keeps its doors open." Raise your hand if you care either way!

Earlier this month it was announced that naming rights to certain locations around the city would be up for grabs to anyone with a few million bucks. Of course the city needs money, but is it right to strip away the history behind certain places? The Brooklyn Paper reports that there's some uproar over the re-naming of McCarren Park Pool, which might go on the block for $3 million, originally named for Senator Henry Patrick McCarren (D-Greenpoint). The Pool Aid folks have set up a petition, currently holding about 165 signatures, and the founder told the paper, “This is not a rootless community that just sprang up. We have a history, and we are seeing it just torn down before our eyes everyday. He is an important guy, he is a benefactor to this community, and he deserves to have his name on the institutions he worked to create." McCarren died in 1909, and you can learn more about his life and death in his New York Times obituary, as well as this Bowery Boys profile.

Papacitos, the wildly popular Greenpoint Mexican restaurant with the best vegetarian tacos in town, was the victim of a brazen robbery Saturday night. Co-owner Cody Utzman tells us that thieves broke into the establishment after it closed, hopping the courtyard fence and entering through the back. According to Utzman, the robbers smashed open the cash register and made off with a safe that had $10,000 inside, as well as the restaurant stereo and some employees' personal belongings. Police have dusted for fingerprints and are investigating the incident.

La Taverna: This unpretentious new Italian-Mediterranean restaurant, located in a former Polish bookstore, opened on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint over the weekend. Owner Robert Tripak, who doubles as the hotel manager at the Da Vinci Hotel in midtown, tells us he came to New York from Poland as a teenager, and his place is the fulfillment of a dream to own a restaurant "that can be affordable and still provide great service." No liquor license yet, but there is an espresso machine behind the bar, and the menu is definitely "affordable"; the only entree over $10 is the grilled steak served with roasted potatoes ($12.95). There is also a mussels marinara, sautéed in a marinara sauce over linguini pasta ($8.45); pork chops stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto, served with mushroom sauce ($8.95); and among the pizzas there's a Mediterranean Pie with spinach, plum tomato, kalamata olives, pesto, feta and parmesan cheese and basil ($6.95/$9.95). 946 Manhattan Avenue; (718) 383-0732

       

Earlier today the north end of Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint was shut down for a 4th of July parade! Allegedly the scene was being shot for a new Jennifer Aniston movie called Bounty Hunter (Miss Heather has pics of the parade preparation). They'll be filming tomorrow (from Freeman to Ash Street) as well, and there are promises of explosions, chases and even Bette Midler! Sadly though, even Hollywood won't be able to bring the 4th Fireworks to the East River this year.

T.B.D. Garden: True, we told you about the massive new courtyard garden at Greenpoint's T.B.D. in last week's big roundup of al fresco drinking options, but what we didn't know then is that they're also going to be barbecuing back there every weekend and on select weeknights. Cook Min Chen, who knows T.B.D. co-owner Allen Welch from when they ran Long Island City's Lounge 47, tells us she's working on an expanded menu that promises to push beyond the standard BBQ fare. To that end, last weekend's menu featured seitan pulled "pork" and house-made potato veggie burgers, in addition to the regular burgers and potato salad you'd expect to find. Still under the radar and open just a few weeks now, this is a sweet space to spread out and read the paper while drinking a hard lemonade or five, and on weekends there's usually an old-timey jazz band or slot car racing.

Tis the season for outdoor drinking, and it looks like some folks created a nice setup at 1071 Manhattan Avenue. Liquor within walking distance: check. Tree: check. Seating: check. Table: check. Tulips: check check check. Just be discreet. Miss Heather spotted the street furniture, and says, "whoever designed and executed this, the best tree pit in Brooklyn, deserves some real and lasting recognition be it from our municipal government or the design community as a whole." Agreed. In fact, perhaps the city should commission some creative folks to dress up more tree pits around town. If you want to take matters in to your own hands, here's the Parks Departments guide on how to care for tree pits, and maybe next year yours can be the greenest block.

There's no blood on the hands of the NYPD, as usual. On Monday night the 94th Precinct held a community meeting that touched upon the fatal hit and run in Greenpoint on April 27th. Streetsblog reports that the officers denied that a high-speed chase led to the death of 38-year-old local mom Violetta Kryzak.

       

When popular Greenpoint restaurant Queen's Hideaway closed last October, chef/owner Liza Queen told us she was pulling the plug because her "prick of a landlord" had "astronomically" raised her rent, adding, "I think we're the last of those kind of vaguely scruffy places [in the neighborhood]." Now a new restaurateur is having a go at the location, and true to Queen's prediction, her famously hostile hideaway has been transformed into the comparatively un-scruffy Anella, which embodies the elegantly decaying, urban rustic ambiance that's so ubiquitous these days. That the bar top is made of recovered piano wood from the Steinway factory in Astoria pretty much tells you all you need to know about the design.

A New York Shitty reader sent photographs of some spray painted words/symbols on Greenpoint storefronts to Miss Heather, writing, "i think we’re about to be thrust in the middle of some kind of ancient battle of monsters and magic folk… or just an itchy case of dork-rash. some uh- person- is tagging in what looks like elvish. i found the first set on leonard and norman and the second on eckford and nassau. i would have translated these myself with the power of the internet but im a 31 year old man."

According to a spiked Times article obtained by New York Shitty, a quiet little Greenpoint waterfront park (okay, it faces Newtown Creek, so we're not sure how much of that front is technically facing "water") was "substantially completed" back in 2007, and yet it's still closed to the public. Before the city started renovating it as a sweetener to the 2005 "condos galore" rezoning plan, this spot at the northernmost tip of Manhattan Avenue was just a humble little dock where locals would go "to fish, to boat, to lunch," according to Christine Holowacz at the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning. But nobody's been able to use it for years, even though to the untrained eye it looks pretty much complete, with new benches and a kayak launch. The problem is that a railing built to keep residents from falling into the creek and mutating into toxic avengers wasn't up to code, and, well, good parks take time! But now one city official tells the Brooklyn Paper that locals will at last get their park back during the spring: "We apologize. We understand the frustration. But it will just be a little longer."

As rumored, the hit and run in Greenpoint yesterday afternoon didn't end well. The woman hit while crossing Manhattan Avenue and India Street was 38-year-old Violetta Krzyzak, who later died at Bellevue Hospital. The Daily News reports that she "landed yards away, near the corner of Huron Street, the same block where she lived with her husband and at least one daughter." One shop owner on the street commented on the impact, saying, "Her handbag was in front of my store and her body was at the end of the block." It was 28-year-old Jose Maldonado who ran a red light in an allegedly stolen minivan and hit Krzyzak. Witnesses say an unmarked police car was tailing the minivan, and while they stopped after the hit and run, Maldonado kept going only to crash into the parked cars. His record includes other arrests for stealing cars and he currently awaits charges while at Woodhull Hospital with a broken toe.

An alert came over the newswire not long ago regarding an accident investigation at Manhattan Avenue and India Street in Greenpoint, where at least one victim has been transported to Bellevue Hospital. A reader has just sent in the above photo, and we're hearing rumors that "the driver of one of the vehicles struck a woman on Huron Street and was fleeing the scene, and caused this pile up. From what the police were saying, it appears that the woman in critical condition at this scene was an occupant of one of the cars on the bottom of the pile."

       

"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," the Smiths-themed speed dating event, had its fourth monthly installment at Greenpoint's Black Rabbit bar last night. And with just about every table in the place filled with daters, it's safe to say that the ironic brainchild of comedian Dave Hill may have transcended gimmick status and become something of a minor phenomenon. (When we say ironic, it's not due to involvement of hipsters, but rather the event drawing its inspiration from Morrissey, at one time the most famous self-proclaimed asexual.)