Photographer Nathan Kensinger got inside the nooks of the landmark Williamsburgh Savings Bank recently. Brooklyn's Tallest (also known as One Hanson Place) is now home to luxury condos, of course, but Kensinger notes that "few have seen the interior of the bank since it was closed in 2005. Over the last four years, the building has been renovated into a luxury residential complex. Work is still not finished and many residential spaces remain empty, including Penthouse A, with its two private observation decks. Soon, though, the building will be completely filled and permanently closed to the public." more ›

Always wondered what life is really like under the Coney Island Boardwalk, but never wanted to risk a dirty syringe in the foot to find out? Photographer Nathan Kensinger (friend of Gothamist) recently tied up his combat boots and went exploring down there for the benefit of all. What he found was just what you'd expect: rusty urban flotsam and jetsam, homeless living in tents, and poetic shafts of light. Oh, and a prop shark that one Kinetic Carnival commenter alleges was stolen last fall from the Surf & Turf Grill on Surf Avenue. Well, guess we can close the file on that one! Nice work, Kensinger. more ›

Nathan Kensinger is an urban explorer, filmmaker, location scout and photographer. Illegally accessing areas that normal folks don't usually see, his photos give everyone a glimpse at what's inside the restricted areas. His work has landed in the Brooklyn Museum and Library in the past, and now he has a new show about to open at Union Docs called "Abandoned Brookyn," which shows "the rapid pace of development along the waterfront has been reshaping many old industrial neighborhoods" in the borough. more ›

Opening tomorrow as a counterpoint to the Red Hook Ikea kick-off is a photography exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library that chronicles the disappearing industrial sites along Brooklyn's waterfront. Called "Twilight on the Waterfront: Brooklyn's Vanishing Industrial Heritage," the photographs are the work of Nathan Kensinger, who has compiled an impressive body of work over the last five years by sneaking into dilapidated properties around Brooklyn. more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 155th Ave. and 79th St. in Queens, a bank robbery at the Chase branch on De Kalb and Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at Hunts Point and Lafayette Aves. in the Bronx. The Guggenheim sent out a postcard inviting people to a seminar about Andy Warhol. The message on the reverse side is expletive-laced and describes Warhol and his fans in derogatory terms... more ›

The Domino Sugar Refinery might be Brooklyn's signature building representing the borough's industrial history. Looking across the East River from Manhattan while below the Williamsburg Bridge, its presence on the Brooklyn waterfront is dominating. That Manhattan vantage point surrendered its industrial heritage of gasworks and docks more than a century ago, to tenements followed by high-rise apartment housing complexes. Now the factory is an icon of the battle to convert Brooklyn's waterfront from an industrial setting to a residential one. more ›

So this is how borough presidents wield power: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has flexed his BEEP muscles by dismissing five members of Brooklyn's Community Board 6 - and their common quality was that they were vocal opponents of the Atlantic Yards project. And City Council members David Yassky and Bill DeBlasio also didn't reappoint four other members who opposed the massive $4 billion project that has been the source of community tension. Gowanus Lounge calls it "The Atlantic Yards Saturday Night Massacre." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned auto on Christopher and New Lots Aves. in Brooklyn, a scaffold collapse on East 166th St. and Sherman Ave. in the Bronx, and a fire with evacuated animals on Greenpoint Ave. and 46th St. in Queens.
• If you're the head of a major corporation that wants to make a mark on the New York skyline by occupying space in a tower that comes with all the cachet of being above the Port Authority Bus Terminal, you may be in luck.
• Limousine company Attitude New York sued one of its former drivers for setting up his own company, E-Z Ryder Limousine, and allegedly poaching celebrities from its client list. The plaintiff wanted E-Z Ryder banned from ever soliciting a client he'd driven while with Attitude, but the judge thought that was a stretch and the case was decided in favor of the defendant.
• Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara was arrested for drunk driving this morning and upstate police are thorough. Not only was Camara witnessed weaving through traffic doing 65 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone, but he smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words when the cops pulled him over. Then he was given several field sobriety tests, each of which he failed. He refused to take a breathalyzer test, however, so he still has the tiniest shred of plausible deniability.
• Nathan Kensinger found his way into the tunnels underneath Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards and, thank goodness, remembered to bring his camera.
• Trailer for the street art grafitti vandalism movie Bomb It. It's about paint in public places.
• Incredible slideshow of pictures of the aircraft carrier Intrepid in a Bayonne, NJ drydock.
• The five-judge panel that refused convicted terrorist helper Lynne Stewart's bid to resign from the bar after her conviction was apparently just waiting for an opportunity to disbar her themselves.
• SHORPY, The 100-Year-Old Photoblog, has a great picture of workmen building the Manhattan Bridge taking a break in 1907, back when New York was cool.