Brooklyn's Williamsburgh
City Within a City
Williamsburg, one of New York City’s most fascinating and beloved neighborhoods, has the distinction of being Brooklyn’s gateway to New York City for nearly four hundred years. Beginning with the landing of French Huguenots and the Dutch, along with their African slaves, Williamsburg has welcomed newcomers speaking almost every language in the world...
Holiday Neighborviews
Happy New Year!
Well it’s December, and just like that 2005 has come and gone. But, while some reflect on the past, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick residents plan to celebrate this Holiday season with big smiles looking forward to another great year in North Brooklyn. Christmas and New Year’s are right around the corner and as the holidays approach some of our neighbors let us in on their holiday traditions, sentiments and resolutions for 2006...
New Year, Same L Train
With the specter of a transit workers’ striking looming over the city’s commuters, transportation politics have once again become a divisive topic for frustrated New York travelers. However, criticism of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its efforts to provide consumers with reliable, safe, convenient transportation has been undying from many North Brooklyn business owners whose commerce is largely fueled by weekend shoppers and leisure-seekers...
Condos Rise in the East
Ten Eyck, Maujer and Scholes...Oh my!
The past five years have seen rapid changes in the area around the Bedford Avenue L stop. Gradually, long-time residents and immigrant families were replaced by artists fleeing rising rents in downtown Manhattan. Then by young professionals pursuing their slice of the real estate pie.
Now, the focus of attention has moved from the Bedford corridor to the large residential proposals along the East River. But last spring’s rezoning and rising housing prices along Bedford Avenue have effects that extend blocks far beyond the waterfront...
Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
Caroling at the Greenpoint Reformed Church
Located on quaint and quiet Milton Street for over 150 years, the Greenpoint Reformed Church has been a haven for worshipers and the people of Greenpoint. For the past two and a half years its diverse and growing congregation has been lead by Pastor Ann Kansfield whose enthusiasm for worship, community, and having fun has guided the church in a type of renaissance. “People who come here are looking for ways to engage their questions about God, faith, and life…we have a lot of artists and creative types in the congregation along with lots of children and we welcome everyone.”
Skating in McCarren Pool
The legacy of the McCarren Park pool is one characterized by years of neglect and disuse. It took relocated Quebecer, artist and producer Noeme Lafrance to recontextualize the concrete pit as a performance space for the recent (and extremely popular) run of the performance piece “Agora,” marking the first time since the pool’s closing in 1984 that anyone had come close to realizing its potential. So too did visionaries and Greenpoint residents Katie Naplatarski and Katherine Thompson look at the pool and see, not a derelict swimming hole, but something else. And what they saw was…a skating rink.
Williamsburg Uncorked
Whatever the cause for wine’s growing popularity in America (the movie Sideways?), Williamsburg has not been left behind in the trend. The area plays host to many restaurants and bottle shops with superior wine lists, along with knowledgeable staff that can pair great wines with your dinner. Some of these establishments opened up to Block Magazine about their selections and the best values available in the Burg. So be sure to wine and dine with the following nine...
A Day at the Races with Proton Proton
There's a spectacle at the track today. Horse handlers leading the stray to the starting gate, ugly jockey's grabbing the reins, snorts from the animals, tension in the gamblers, there's an undeniable energy surrounding us. I'm quiet outside but inside I'm raining heartbeats at this scene. Suddenly, from the loudspeaker to the right, Proton Proton plays, shouting at us, grabbing our attention and turning the race into a damn mud-house. Bodies slapping up against each other, sweat-flying bullets through the stands, horses on two legs spitting blood, wine spilling from the mouths of the rich, lightening, thunder and boom!
Transcribing the Art of Mating
Apprehensive, face frozen in fear at no escape in sight, they slowly close in on her. Engulfed in the ensuing struggle, her attackers disappear and she emerges from this traumatic fashion metamorphosis dressed in an unflattering satin, white wedding gown. Downtrodden, she sadly mopes and cries around her new image in accompaniment to the oldies Rock n’ Roll classic, “Going to the chapel and we’re (gonna get married).” Just as soon as the confines of marriage restrict her former self, she indignantly expels random heavy objects from under her gown and, finally, the suit itself. New freedom reveals a girl dressed in a red, satin lingerie dress. Wait, hold on, there’s something…oh, just a left-over swimming cap stuck underneath...
The SIGNS of Things to Come in 2006
Your New Year's Resolutions
OPEN MAG: Short Fiction
The Lion One
The lion sat beneath a thorn-covered umbrella, gently sucking a zebra’s neck. The shade had been left there years ago by a group of jaundiced poachers, then quickly invaded by a large flowering, spiky plant. The vine was thick as a thin girl’s arm; it sprouted from the sand less than an inch from the base of the umbrella and then crawled up the faded blue pole, split into a hundred tiny fingers and wormed and wove its way through the pink vinyl fabric. The thorns had reduced sections of the cloth to lazy tatters. The blossoms were squatty little orange things kept pursed shut until they fell puckered to the sand...
