Remaking the Face of Brooklyn

08/07/2010 | Comment

The Times is out with a quick article on Karl Fisher and the Brooklyn condo boom. Fisher (along with Bob Scarano and a handful of lesser lights) are certainly responsible for changing the face of North Brooklyn. But with “only” 50 buildings to his name over the past 8 years, Karl’s output pales in comparison to his late 19th-century peers. Architects like Theobald Engelhardt would routinely design 50 or more buildings a year.

[It sure sounds as though I am hiding behind “what other people think”, but that was the question the reporter put to me. It’s always strange to see 15 minutes of conversation boiled down to one quote.]



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Vans Coming to Greenpoint and I'm Going to Tumblr

08/06/2010 | 2 Comments

Movable Type and SQL are annoying me lately, so I’ve (at least temporarily) set up shop at Tumblr – at least for the linked posts. My latest over there – Vans is opening up a 20,000 sf retail shop in Greenpoint – smack dab in the middle of what should be Bushwick Inlet Park (I hope its a short lease).

(PS – if you haven’t noticed, I’m also on Twitter. None of this social media stuff is aggregated yet, but I’m working on it.)



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Another Housing Fight in Brooklyn

Things might be heating up at the Greenpoint Hospital:

Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Williamsburg) is vowing to fight a plan to build housing at the site of shuttered Greenpoint Hospital after a private Bronx-based developer was picked to build the housing over the coalition of local nonprofits she favored.

Williamsburg’s ‘First Wave’ Restaurants

07/24/2010 | Comment

Inspired by the closing of Relish, Eater looks at eight neighborhood restaurants that are no longer. I’m not sure that I would include Coney’s among the first-wave Williamsburg restaurants, and Bonita only counts if you’re looking at Southside pioneers (2002 is way too late for “first wave”, no?). Still, some great old neighborhood restaurants, including Oznot’s (ca. 1994? – a true first waver) and Brick Oven Gallery (which happily has been reincarnated at Kenny’s Trattoria down the block).

So long as we’re strolling down memory lane, why not go all the way? What about the L Cafe and Planet Thailand (the Bedford Avenue one, not the bloated pan-Asian disaster on Berry)? What are the other true “first wave” Williamsburg restaurants – it’s a short list, but I know I’m missing some.

(And for extra credit – what was the name of the restaurant that occupied Diner before Diner? It was started, ca. 1995?, by a female chef from Manhattan.)



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Time for the Beast to Take Another Nap

As you’ve probably heard, Relish closed last weekend (we happened to be there for dinner the Wednesday before it closed, so we (unwittingly) had a last meal there). For many years, Relish’s diner was a ghost ship in the neighborhood – this cool old building that sat vacant and unused. I guess now it will go back to being a ghost ship.

Did Gothamist Stumble Upon the New JellyNYC Outdoor Venue?

Gothamist [via FreeWilliamsburg] has a new take on the future of the Kedem Winery site, or more specifically, the huge parking lot there. According to the post, JellyNYC is going to start a smaller Saturday concert series somewhere in South Williamsburg. The concerts would be outdoors, and the original Gothamist speculation was that the parking lot at Kedem Winery was the chosen location. JellyNYC has confirmed the new series, but – while not naming a location – has said that they won’t be at Kedem.

If the concerts are really in South Williamsburg (as opposed to the Southside), this would open a whole new chapter in the hipster-Hasid culture wars.

It’s ‘Hollywood on the East River’ for Kedem Winery Site

Aaron Short follows up on the CineMagic story at Kedem Winery.

Sort of makes you wonder about all those claims about manufacturing no longer being viable on the waterfront. This project will bring far more high-paying, good-benefit jobs to the waterfront than the eventual mixed-use residential/retail project will. The problem isn’t that manufacturing isn’t viable, the problem is that we haven’t changed our definition of “industrial” to match the changing face of manufacturing in 21st-century Brooklyn.