WGPA

Upcoming: NAG Holiday Party Thursday Night

2009-12-09T05:08:39Z

This Thursday (10 December) from 7 to 10 pm there is a benefit for NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth - the second G is silent) at the Woods on South 4th Street. No cover, but donations are welcome. There will be plenty of booze, and a silent auction featuring goodies from a ton of local institutions, including:

Word Bookstore
The Brooklyn Kitchen/The Meat Hook
Alter Clothing
Southside CSA
Third Ward
Mast Brothers Chocolate
Treehouse Brooklyn
Teddy's Bar & Grill
The Lecture Series/Book Thug Nation
Sodafine
The North BK Compost Project
Eyebeam Atelier
Three Kings Tattoo Parlor
Franny & Rooey
Cafe Grumpy
Enid's
The City Reliquary
The Gym Park
Miranda Restaurant
Charm School Design
Transient Pictures
Kingsland Printing

and even some Polish and ESL lessons!

Rose Plaza: Then

2009-12-05T04:09:06Z

Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Co. (between South 10th Street and Division Avenue)
Source: King's Views of Brooklyn, 1905

The photo above (click for a larger image) shows the Rose Plaza site as it looked 105 years ago. The building the "M" on the smokestack is the main refinery of the Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Company, and was located on Kent Avenue between Division Avenue and South 11th Street. The shorter building to the left on the river (technically on Wallabout Channel), a warehouse for the sugar refinery, was between South 10th and South 11th Streets.

The tall building beyond the warehouse is probably part of the Brooklyn Distilling Co., which once occupied the site where Schaefer Landing now sits. To the right of the Mollenhauer refinery is a building with a small tower and a mansard roof - that is one of the buildings of the former McLoughlin Brothers printing company. The building still stands on Wythe between Division and South 11th (it is now artists live/work lofts).

Engine 212: Raise the Roof Benefit

2009-10-26T01:43:48Z

Wednesday night (28 October) is the big benefit for the Northside Town Hall capital campaign. In what the Onion's AV Club is calling "the Gen X concert of the year", Charles Bissell of the Wrens, They Might Be Giants and Nada Surf* will be playing a benefit at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Doors open at 8, and tickets are $25 (for $75 you can get VIP tickets with special seating, free wine and food). You can buy tickets at Teddy's or online at TicketMaster.

The benefit supports the capital campaign for the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center, a joint project of two longtime North Brooklyn neighborhood groups, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) and The People's Firehouse, Inc. (PFI). Located in the former Engine Company 212 firehouse in Williamsburg, the Town Hall will serve as a home for these organizations to continue to serve, organize, and advocate for the community. The building will also feature a flexible cultural exhibition and community meeting space on the ground floor.

* The postcard says acoustic - they've changed their minds and are now doing a full electric set.

Photography Show Focuses On Brooklyn’s Industrial Past, Toxic Present

2009-10-26T01:07:26Z

The Brooklyn Lyceum is exhibiting a solo photography show focusing on the "legacy of Brooklyn’s industrial past and the spectrum of pollution in which we live". The exhibition of photographer Robin Michaels' work features "30 photographs of sites in Coney Island, DUMBO, East New York, East Williamsburg, Gowanus, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Sunset Park and Williamsburg where historic uses have saturated the soils and groundwater with a lasting toxicity".

Now through 8 November at the Brooklyn Lyceum (227 4th Avenue).

237 Powers Street

2009-09-26T17:04:40Z

237 Powers Street, 1923
Photo: NYPL via Re-Brooklyn

Re-Brooklyn has a then and now comparison of 237 Powers Street. According to the caption on the original photo (which came from the NY Public Library), the house was built in 1855. If that's the case, we'd wager that the entry hood (and flagpole above) were a later addition. As you can see at Re-Brooklyn, the house doesn't look anything like this today, though what you see in the 1923 photo is probably somewhere underneath the lovely vinyl job.

118 Greenpoint Avenue - Cornice Do Over

2009-08-26T02:42:35Z

118 Greenpoint Avenue, April 2008
Photo: Brownstoner

A while ago, we unnominated 118 Greenpoint Avenue for an Building Brooklyn Award on the basis of its horrific - and horrifically out of place - cornice. Turns out, the Landmarks Commission felt the same way. We have it on good authority that the cornice that was installed bore no resemblance to the cornice that was approved. Violations were issued, and a year or two down the line, the owner was forced to fix the problem. As seen in the photo below, the work has been ongoing for a while.

A good lesson for would be developers - it's cheaper to do it once.

118 Greenpoint Avenue, June 2009
Photo: WPA

Dreamland Closes

2009-08-24T20:24:32Z

Thor Equities, the outfit responsible for the demolition of the Revere Sugar factory in Red Hook (and the ongoing demolition of a Civil War-era warehouse on the same site) has padlocked the Dreamland Amusement Park in Coney Island. (Dreamland only exists because Thor shut down Astroland last year.)

The Wonder Wheel and Cyclone are still running (Thor doesn't control that land). But with two weeks of (official) Summer left, Coney Island is "closed now".

Thor Equities, blighting Brooklyn's waterfront.

Town Hall Comptroller Forum

2009-08-05T13:16:30Z

Town Square is hosting a forum for the four Comptroller candidates tomorrow evening in East River State Park. So far, three of the four have confirmed (Melinda?).

Date: Thursday, August 6th
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: East River State Park (North 8th and Kent)

The Ruins of New York

2009-08-05T13:09:23Z

A 10-minute video touring NY's industrial ruins - notably the Glenwood Power Station in Yonkers and the Red Hook Grain Terminal. The video - which is a rather subtle advertisement for Palladium boots - starts in the remains of Greenpoint Terminal Market. (There is also a slide show of photos here.)

Gravesend Then and Now

2009-08-03T04:28:18Z

Gravesend Neck Road, 1879
(Photo: courtesy of Joseph Ditta)

Joseph Ditta, writing for the Brooklyn Historical Society, has a quick glimpse into Gravesend's past. You never what is lurking behind a crappy facade.

Atlantic Yards Lite

2009-07-29T02:26:49Z

Photo: NY Post

MAS has commissioned a rendering of what a Gehry-less Atlantic Yards might look like. It probably won't look anything like this, but that doesn't mean it won't suck any less.

via Animal

Council Vote on Coney on Wednesday

2009-07-29T02:20:19Z

The full Council is expected to vote out the Concey Island rezoning tomorrow. The question is, will they make they rezoning any better before they do?

MAS is hoping they do.

Demolition Permit Issued for Last Revere Building

2009-07-28T02:21:06Z

The Revere Sugar factory, including its iconic dome, was mostly demolished in 2007.
Photo: lifeadored on flickr

Down in Red Hook, the last relic of the Revere Sugar factory appears to have a death sentence hovering over it. It's not clear why the building - which dates to the early 1880s - was left standing when the rest of the site was demolished, but there it is. For now.

The 1880s warehouse, today.
Photo: Amy Langfield

33rd Council Debate

2009-07-28T01:25:17Z

Tomorrow night, NAG will host a forum for the candidates for the 33rd Council District seat. You can submit your own questions for the candidates here. Come out tomorrow and hear what those would succeed CM Yassky have to say for themselves.

When: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 7:00-9:00 pm
Where: Willamsburg Northside Preschool
152 N 5th Street between Bedford and Driggs

India Street Mural

2009-07-16T02:43:43Z

India Street Mural Project is complete, and they're having a party to celebrate. A day of art, music and food.

Music provided by Japanther, Dilian, Ninjasonik, Small Black.

Food provided by Cookie Road, Cafecito Bogota, Green Pirate, Plates & Records.

And an after party at t.b.d. with drink specials from 6-8.

When: Saturday 18 July, 2pm to 6pm
Where: India Street between West Street and the East River