A Greenpoint Blind Item: Vice

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

Since we have already established that the local YMCA is the place to indulge one’s taste for illicit substances I thought it only appropriate that I close out today’s offerings with this tantalizing bit of goodness from the Greenpoint grapevine.

Which Greenpoint restaurant is reputed to serve breast and thighs of a very human variety in its basement?

Yes, I am talking about an illegal “massage parlor”.* I have heard a lot of buzz about this establishment from a number of different people. Having seen the activity around this place with my own two eyes I have a very difficult time dismissing it as mere rumor.

Miss Heather

*Which by the way, if true, would NOT be Greenpoint’s first one. There was another. Anyone care to guess where it was?

Williamsburg Photos Du Jour: Gusher

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Williamsburg 

From Wythe Avenue.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Bar Watch: The Alligator Cometh

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg 

On December 16 yum1 wrote (in regards to this post):

According to Eater, L&F is about to reopen under yet another name. Free pizza with drinks (a la Alligator Lounge) this time around.

This does in fact appear the be the case. The Alligator Lounge is expanding into this space. It will be interesting to see how it fares in light of the crappy economy and the fact there are no less than eight bars along this strip (including The Production Lounge which is located on the same block). Then again, when a lot of folks are out of work and/or low on funds the offer of free pizza (as promised on the above-depicted, albeit illegible sign) may very well prove to be a draw.

Alligator Greenpoint
113 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Miss Heather

P.S.: As of January 7, 2009 it is open.

Reader Contribution Du Jour Part II: Montrose Avenue Dog Doo Sign Gets Another Upgrade!

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Bushwick, Dog Shit Signage, Williamsburg 

Michael writes:

I was walking to the store by my job . This was spotted on Montrose avenue and im sure u would appreciate this photo….

I have been a fan of this man’s (who I call “Super”) work for some time. This is by far the best sign he has created to date. Thanks for passing this along this great find Michael!

Miss Heather

Reader Contribution Du Jour Part I: My Oh My At The Y!

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Dung of the Day, Greenpoint Magic, Other Shit 

Very few topics are verboten for discussion at the junk shop. This was certainly the case at the junk shop last weekend when the subject of the stomach bug floating around here came up. Larry da Junkman got it. I did as well.

It was a less than pleasant experience. I could go into the particulars using color commentary but quite frankly I’d like to put the whole thing behind me (no pun intended). Besides George Diaz, a local celebrity of sorts and the brains behind Latino Laughter (as seen at the far left) gives a better description than I could ever hope muster.

What I found fascinating about George’s testimony about the havoc cumin wreaks on his digestive system (and rest assured the previous footage is but a fraction of it) is that none of the customers seemed to mind. They went about their quest for knick-knacks on the cheap undeterred. As I was filming the following gentleman recounting his worst gastronomical ailment one chap even asked me for the price of a small vase.

Yes, the ailment I have dubbed the “Greenpoint Gut Wrencher” is quite something. Perhaps the only thing worse than having it is encountering its aftermath in the men’s bathroom at the local Y.M.C.A. Which brings me to this.

Noel writes (in an email entitled “YMCA Accident”:

I came upon this delightful scene the other day it the Greenpoint YMCA gym basement.

I could extol upon the many fascinating (and downright repulsive) elements of this photograph —but I won’t. It pretty much speaks for itself. Rather, I would like to share an experience I had at the women’s bathroom at this very same establishment.

The year was 2001— or was is 2002? I had just completed my regimen of weight training and twenty minutes on the stair climber. Those of you who engage in this kind of routine on a regular basis can attest to the importance of proper hydration. To this end I had consumed well over a liter of water. I very much needed to go to the bathroom afterward.

The women’s dressing room at the Y.M.C.A. is for the most part no different than any other dressing room to be found at any other gym. Save perhaps it is disproportionately patronized by older Polish women who fancy water aerobics. The previous along with the fluorescent lighting, institutional green walls and stench of chlorine gave the place a curiously pre-Perestroika feel. As did the woeful lack of the following necessity: toilets. The Greenpoint Y.M.C.A.’s women’s locker room had two. One of which was usually desecrated beyond the point of any possible usefulness.

Call me a self-hating feminist. It has been my experience that women are the WORST offenders when it comes to dawdling in the bathroom. Sorry ladies. I don’t know what some of you do in there —and for the record I don’t want to know— I simply wish you’d do it a little faster. Some of us need to visit the bathroom for its intended purpose: to use the toilet.

Which is what I very badly needed to do on that fateful day. I stood and I waited. The sound of children splashing in the pool, showers running and sight of water puddles on the floor did not make this task very easy. The sight, sounds, and yes, smell of water were all around me. What’s more, I had a good liter more of the stuff in my bladder.

Someone was in the stall. This I knew. I heard the rustle of toilet paper. Things were looking encouraging. I heard the toilet flush. I became flush with excitement. Then nothing. I hear rustling. Then a little more rustling. I was getting fed up.

It takes a lot to move yours truly to snoop around the cracks of a toilet stall. Some people pay good money for this kind of thing. I am not one of them. But sometimes in the course of human events one needs to know what the fuck is going on no matter how distasteful the means might be. Yeah, I looked.

What I discovered was this: a 40-something woman whose physical description would be best described as “soccer mom” pulling a baggie of cocaine out of her purse. Then out came a plastic Bic pen cap*. Into the baggie it goes and up this woman’s nose it went. Whether or not this was a pre or post workout pick-me-up I do not know. In any case it strikes me as sort of being counter-intuitive to the concept of patronizing a health club—ACROSS THE STREET FROM A POLICE STATION. I could contain myself no more:

WOULD YOU PLEASE HURRY UP IN THERE SOME OF US NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!

I bellowed. Eventually she came out and I experienced sweet relief. To this day I still cannot get this image out of my mind. It is now and forever, for better or worse, ingrained in my memory.

Miss Heather

*Whatever happened to having the proper accoutrements for one’s drug of choice? This is tantamount to swilling Dom Perignon out of a Dixie cup. Don’t do the vice if you can’t pay the price (of keeping up one’s appearances).

TONIGHT: The River Barrel Rolls Out Their Dinner Menu

January 7, 2009 ·
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

I do not appreciate people “aggregating” my work into their “for profit” web sites. Hence why I have yanked this post. You can see the new version here.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Lost And Found

January 6, 2009 ·
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

Regrettably the opening for this has come and gone. However, I took a look-see this evening and I have to tell you: these photographs are pretty darned neat. By all means give this show a whirl. It is completely worth contemplating over a cocktail (or two)!

Greenpoint Lost And Found
(Large-scale photographic prints by Chris Randall)
January 3-31, 2008
t.b.d. Brooklyn
224 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Man Contemplating Discarded Lotto Ticket

January 6, 2009 ·
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

From Norman Avenue.

Miss Heather

TOMORROW: Saying Goodbye To Casa Mon Amour

January 5, 2009 ·
Filed under: Williamsburg 

As some of you might have noticed Casa Mon Amour has been shuttered since January 2nd. After a number of bureaucratic hurdles and tough financial times (of which anyone operating a business in Greenpoint can attest) Beatrice has decided to call it quits. Those of you who had the pleasure of knowing Beatrice (as I have) and wish to thank her for the laughter, good times and (what is by all accounts) the best sangria ever to grace the Garden Spot should swing by tomorrow, January 6th, and tender your kindest regards.

Goodbye, Beatrice. You will be missed!

Casa Mon Amour
162 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Miss Heather

Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: Semantics

January 5, 2009 ·
Filed under: Williamsburg 

From Berry Street.

Miss Heather

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