Bushwick Photo du Jour: Himrod Street

Many are the civil servants who shoulder the onerous responsibility of protecting and serving us New Yorkers. I have issues with most of them, but there is one institution I have the utmost respect for: New York’s Bravest. Not only do these men and women risk life and limb in situations beyond my comprehension, they also have a wonderful sense of humor.

Case in point: Ladder 124 in Bushwick

They’re Tonka tough with Tonka Trucks…

and have mad Scrabble skills to boot!

I wonder if the windows qualify as double word scores?

Miss Heather

Bushwick Photo du Jour: Morgan Avenue

I found this pretty little porker outside the Morgan Avenue stop of the L recently.

Not only is he (?) beautifully rendered, but I was relieved to see that (unlike his unfortunate brother on Central Avenue) his head is still firmly attached to the rest of his body.

Miss Heather

Bushwick Photo du Jour: Speak Softly And Carry a Big Stick

I found this beautiful relic of Brooklyn’s autonomous past recently on Wilson Avenue.

Being a bit of a history nerd, I could not resist doing a little research. Here is very concise synopsis about its origin and iconography.

Een Dracht Mackt Maght was inspired by the motto of the United Dutch Provinces and means “In unity there is strength”. The rather frightening looking axe this young woman is wielding is called a fasces. Opinions as to what this symbolizes seem to be both varied and contentious, follows is what Wikipedia has to say about it. Draw your own conclusions:

Symbolic interpretation of the fasces suggests that the rods represent the authority to punish citizens whereas the axe represents the authority to execute them: an important concept in the concerns of a Roman ruler, whose authority over such matters carried greater consequences than typically in modern societies concerning capital punishment. For example Cicero, in his condemnation of Catiline and the others supposedly involved in the floridly exaggerated (or perhaps fabricated) “conspiracy“, lost his chances of further consulship for his act of executing Roman citizens without trial. Thus the one wielding the “axe”, ( meaning the power to execute) remained liable to the “rods” of his fellows.

Inventive moderns have also suggested that instead, rods in a bundle become simply harder to break, or harder for the axe to cut. While still a valid outlook, this tends to mislead one into thinking that that symbolism conveys a banal message like that of “united we stand”. The fasces served as the ultimate symbol of executive power and vulnerability in Republican Rome: more akin to the concept of “checks and balances”.

Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces as a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. Italian fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the 20th century. The British Union of Fascists also used it in the 1930s. However, unlike (for example) the swastika, the fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, have avoided the stigma associated with fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them.

Either way you cut this find is pretty damned neat. Methinks there should be an Idiotarod team next year comprised of  women dressed like our fair maiden of the county of Kings. We’ll cross the Pulaski Bridge and show those uppity folks in Long Island City what Brooklyn women are made of. Een dracht macht maght!

In closing (and for those who might be curious) this lovely lady is still with us. Both on the Brooklyn Borough flag and at City Municipal Hall.

Anyone up for a toga party?

Miss Heather

Bushwick Photo du Jour: Mum’s The Word

My lips are sealed as to where this photograph was taken, but I’ll give you a hint: it’s located very close to the Myrtle Avenue Stop of the J/M/Z.

Anybody out there care to guess the street?

Miss Heather

Bushwick Pay Phone du Jour: Irving Avenue

I am going to go out on a limb here and state that someone who resides on or near the intersection of Irving Avenue and Stanhope Street harbors a great deal of contempt towards public pay phones. Or someone’s receiver collection just got two new additions.

Damn.

Miss Heather

Bushwick Photo du Jour: Medici Meets Knickerbocker

I recently found this wonderful remnant of a bygone era at the corner of Knickerbocker Avenue and Stockholm Street. As I took the above photograph a pair of women stopped and asked me what I found so interesting. I pointed out the symbol gracing the top of this building and told them a pawnbroker once operated a business here.

When I got home later I realized that although I recognized the pawnbroker symbol instantly, I did not know (or more likely— forgot) its origins. Being a fan of this kind of worthless knowledge I thought it would be fun to find out. Most of what I found online was more or less the same. Here is Wikipedia’s take:

The pawnbroker’s symbol is three spheres suspended from a bar. The three sphere symbol is attributed to the Medici Family of Florence, Italy, owing to its symbolic meaning of Lombard. This refers to the Italian province of Lombardy, where pawn shop banking originated under the name of Lombard banking. The three golden spheres were originally the symbol which medieval Lombard merchants hung in front of their houses, and not the arms of the Medici family. It has been conjectured that the golden spheres were originally three flat yellow effigies of byzants, or gold coins, laid heraldically upon a sable field, but that they were converted into spheres to better attract attention.

Most European towns called the pawn shop the “Lombard”. The House of Lombard was a banking family in medieval London, England. According to legend, a Medici employed by Charles the Great slew a giant using three bags of rocks. The three ball symbol became the family crest. Since the Medicis were so successful in the financial, banking, and money lending industries, other families also adopted the symbol. Throughout the Middle Ages, coats of arms bore three balls, orbs, plates, discs, coins and more as symbols of monetary success. Pawnbrokers (and their detractors) joke that the three balls mean “Two to one, you won’t get your stuff back”.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers. The symbol has also been attributed to the story of Nicholas and the three bags of gold.

I for one find the location of this building rather serendipitous. As it would happen, an avenue bearing the name “St. Nicholas” is only three blocks away.

Miss Heather

Homeland Security

The one thing that continues to fascinate me about the real estate industry is the lengths agents will go to spin an unattractive property in an unappealing location. And as I learned on Stanhope Street recently, they are not above throwing in a bit patriotism for good measure.

Note the name: Homeland Realty. I am supposing this is designed to convey a sense of security to the potential buyer. I for one find this tactic to be ill-founded. The biggest selling point for this property, in actuality, resides right across the street!

Nothing says “gracious home” like a couple of skulls, a disembodied ass (wearing a thong, no less) and a homemade mace. Those drapes look familiar. I wonder if they bought them at Ikea?

Miss Heather

P.S.: Oh yeah, after you move into your new home you might want to make the acquaintance of another neighbor who lives around the corner on Evergreen Avenue.

I can’t wait to see what kind of housewarming casserole these folks whip up.

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Let’s pretend you are the landlord of the above property. How would you add value to an otherwise drab building situated only a bong-toss away from the J/M/Z subway line?

Hang some hubcaps in it. Duh!

In fact, why not throw in a tire for good measure?

Inasmuch as it pains me to say it, the hubcaps actually do make this mess of electrical meters more attractive.

Miss Heather