The new edition of the AIA Guide to New York Architecture is due out this Autumn, and it has room for Bob Scarano:

NORVAL WHITE, one of the great figures of New York architecture, was cruising around Long Island City a couple of months ago when he came upon an unexpected sight. On Jackson Avenue, in this still scrappy-looking section of Queens, stood a newish co-op sheathed in luminous squares of blue glass. Its designer, Robert Scarano Jr., is one of the less beloved figures among the city’s architectural cognoscenti, and much to Mr. White’s amazement, he didn’t actually hate the thing.

“It’s definitely a cut above his other stuff,” Mr. White, his lean, 6-foot-5 frame tucked into the front seat of a gray Subaru Forester, acknowledged in his plummy baritone. “It has some quality. We’ll have to include Scarano in the guide.”

Not sure which building he is talking about, but I can think of a few other Scarano buildings that deserve inclusion on design merits (and yes, there are certainly a few that deserve that deserve inclusion as poster children for the Architecture of Excess). That’s more that can be said (design-wise) for the Axis of Banal that is responsible for most what we pass by every day.

Several local merchants are railing against the second annual “Williamsburg Walks” event, saying that barring cars from a seven-block stretch of the avenue … every Saturday in June and July cuts into their earnings.

I’m skeptical, but Williamsburg Walks should be a boon to local business, particularly those on the avenue. If it isn’t, the organizers should make sure that it is.

WPA digs through the archives to find the story behind 165 Havemeyer.

The Times declares bicycling safe for grown ups (or at least for the well-dressed ones). Some people still refuse to slow down, though:

James Vicente, a court attorney at the Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn, knows the quandary. After a trip to Amsterdam five years ago, Mr. Vicente was inspired to ride to work in his suit and tie. (He converted his road bike to a fixed-gear bike, with detachable fenders.) … One day he collided with another rider, tearing a gash in his suit sleeve and another in his pride. Today his suits reside in an office closet, and he cycles to work in jeans and a polo shirt.

NPR on NAG’s seed ball project.

Image: Bon Appetit

In its May issue, Bon Appetit travels to “N.Y.’s Foodie Mecca”, Williamsburg. The article calls Williamsburg a “legitimate culinary hotbed”, and cites as evidence a pretty nice cross section of the neighborhoods dining experience. On the new side, there are write ups of Diner, Marlow & Sons, Bonita, Fette Sau, Egg and Dressler (briefly); on the old side, there are Bamonte’s, Peter Luger and Raymunds. For drinks, there is Spuyten Duyvil, and for shopping there is Marlow & Daughters and Bedford Cheese Shop (and non-food establishments Spoonbill & Sugartown, Brooklyn Industries and Earwax.

They left plenty of places out, but what they included makes a pretty strong case for culinary hotbed status.

165 Havemeyer Street

A lot of ugly buildings have been built during the past few years, and Williamsburg certainly has more than its share. But few buildings transcend ugliness in the way that 165 Havemeyer Street does. This soul-sucking beauty comes to us from the atelier of Philip Toscano Architects*.

For the record, the building will have 9 apartments and stores on the ground floor. The DOB permit doesn’t specifically say that there is a hellmouth below the cellar, but I have my suspicions.

*2009, and still no website.