Silver and gold are so last season, if you're a trendsetting criminal -- you know it's all about the copper these days. And where better to find it than in brownstone Brooklyn? The Brooklyn Paper reports:
At least four heists of the once-cheap electrical conductor have been pulled off in Brownstone Brooklyn since June, and a few others were foiled when the cops caught the bad guys red-handed before they could make off with their ill-gotten orange gold.more ›
Hmm, it must have been some dump truck that stole 500,000 pounds of concrete and brick from the site of the future Red Hook Ikea. The Daily News reports that the leftovers after demolishing 10 Civil-War era buildings is considered a larceny by the police. The 300 cubic yards of rubble had been there for months and was intended to be used as fill; if Ikea has to buy new fill, it may be very expensive. Still, Ikea doesn't believe the missing fill will impact the projected 2008 store opening.
Check out this set of eerie shots from inside the dry dock at the Todd Shipyards. The site is in the process of being razed and turned into the Red Hook Ikea, so these may be the last pictures of the dry dock that you ever see! [Related: Alexis' shots from the Ikea demolition, our panorama of the site, and the architect's rendition of the completed store].
On Saturday we led a streetart bike tour through the streets of Brooklyn with Mike and Will. At the far end of the tour, we stopped at an abandoned shipyard at the corner of Halleck and Columbia Street. It's filled with amazing graffiti, including this Gable piece-- but that's not the point of this story. Mike pointed out that if you look through the back fence of the shipyard, you can get a clear view into the giant lot where they are building the new Red Hook Ikea store. It's not much to look at now-- but some day soon, you'll be buying all your affordable Swedish furniture on this very spot. Weird!
