City of Lost Clothes (or Greenpoint’s Merry Piper)

A couple weeks ago Mr. Heather and I were waiting — and waiting— for the G train at Bedford Nostrand. The reason for this inconvenience was the mighty Crosstown local elected to run in two sections. Luckily, we struck up a conversation with the Conductor during our wait. He was a very funny guy, and as you can imagine, he had a number of of very interesting stories to tell. This one is my personal favorite

So our Conductor is charged with driving the E train to the World Trade Center. As he heads to his booth, he notices a rather intoxicated gentleman nodding off. He advises this besotted gentleman against falling asleep because someone might try to pick his pocket. His caveat having been said, he commenced with his work. When the train finally reached its destination the Conductor checked in on this chap again. Someone had stolen all of his clothing save an undershirt and boxer shorts. They also took the liberty of removing his hat, placing it on the floor and spitting in it.

I mention this above story because it sort of reminds me of this tale from the September 21, 1898 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Except instead of pants and shirts a set bag pipes and a kilt were among the numerous items purloined. Enjoy!

This story makes one wonder why someone would want to steal— much less wear— a full Highland get-up. But then again this is Greenpoint and if a man wants to wear full the garb of a Scotsman its no one’s business but his own. Unless, of course, he happens to steal it. In which case the local constabulary will get involved.

Miss Heather

P.S.: Speaking of lost clothing, be sure to check out this post on Bed-Stuy Banana. It’s hilarious.

Good Times At 95 Clay Street

I do not know how many of you, dear readers, bother to read the Greenpoint Courier. I would hazard to guess very few of you do. This is understandable given much of its rabidly right wing content. You should not, however, throw the baby out the with bath water. There is one reporter under their employ who has been doing some fantastic work; his name is Matt Wolfe and follows is a story from this week’s edition about 95 Clay Street. This tale of slumlordery has a little something for everybody: no Superintendent, holes in ceilings, water in the basements, hallways filled with clutter… and a brand new apartment building being built behind it without any permits whatsoever. Enjoy!

I can hardly wait to see who is going to want to rent an apartment whose only means of egress is through another building’s basement. I am no expert, but wouldn’t this be a violation of fire code or something?

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photos du Jour: Mordred’s New Hoodie

Today I had the honor of bumping into one of Greenpoint’s most stylish citizens: none other than Miss Mordred (of Greenpoint Ten renown) herself! She was looking sharp as always and was kind enough to model her new hoodie for me.

With a little “help” from her “person” of course.

She didn’t seem to be very into the whole fauxhawk look.

Or having her picture taken for that matter. Smart girl.

Does this rear pocket make my butt look big?

Miss Heather

Bedbug Workshop Coming To Greenpoint!

You know we are living in desperate times when someone (in this case, me) is excited about HPD coming to his/her neighborhood to raise awareness about bedbugs. And this is exactly the news I received from Ann Kansfield (the Co-Pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church) this very afternoon. She writes:

Great news in the bedbug world. I called HPD and they are going to be doing their bedbug community seminar at the church on May 6th from 6:00 -8:00 p.m. They are going to provide me a bunch of fliers and I’m hopeful that we might be able to find some volunteers to help put them up and get the word out to the neighborhood. It isn’t for two months, but at least the city is going to be offering the seminar in Greenpoint.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering to help get the word out about this workshop (granted, it is a ways off still) or wishes to thank Ann for making this (finally) happen can contact the Greenpoint Reformed Church in person, via telephone or email at:

Greenpoint Reform Church
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383-5941
pastor (at) greenpointchurch (dot) org

To close on a related note, I’d like to remind everyone (Greenpointer and otherwise) that HPD’s upcoming workshop in Bushwick is just around the corner: Wednesday, March 12 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. For more details (including the phone number to R.S.V.P. for this event) please click here.

Miss Heather

Happenings On Franklin Street And Beyond

As anyone who has walked down Franklin Street lately will attest, there is a lot going on there nowadays. I did a little (and by “little” I mean just that) investigating. Here are my findings.

Jan & Aya is setting up shop 99 Franklin Street. This store is purported to sell housewares made by local artists. I have no word as to when they will open, but I have been told this establishment’s hours will be Wednesday – Sunday.

Being on of the drinkingest ‘nabes in New York Shitty, I suppose it should hardly be surprising that 153 Franklin Street is slated to be a wine store. No word on what it will be called but they look pretty far along in terms of outfitting the space so I imagine will learn soon enough.

While I am on the subject of alcohol, it looks like The Habitat at 988 Manhattan Avenue is well on its way to completion. Per their flier, the Grand Opening is slated for this month and micro brews, local wines, cocktails and spirits; good eats and happy hour specials will be in the offering.

The Habitat
988 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 383-5613
www.habitatbrooklyn.com (NOTE: this site appears to be parked at the moment)

Lastly, I noticed yesterday that the storefront at 126 Franklin Street has been vacated and is in the process of being gutted. Given the general trend on Franklin Street my educated guess is this space is being converted back to commercial use*. One can only hope it will not house (yet) another bar, as I suspect I speak for many when I say Greenpoint has enough of those already. I also suspect I echo the sentiments of many a Greenpointer when I say I am going to miss the residents who were ousted from this space. I always treasured the sight of the old shirtless man** who made it a practice to sit in the front window and sip tea, but I suppose such change is inevitable.

Miss Heather

*Word has it a pizzeria will occupy this space. 4/20/08: it will be an office for a contracting business. *sigh*

**Note: during the cold winter months he did wear an undershirt.

The Greenpoint Hotel, Revisited

Love it or hate it, there’s one thing we Greenpointers can agree about in regards to the Greenpoint Hotel: it never ceases to entertain. Last night as Mr. Heather and I were headed to Acapulco Restaurant, I spied something affixed to the front door.

Not wishing to miss out on another morsel of Greenpoint Hotel goodness, I simply had to take a look.

Yes, it would appear that this venerable institution has been served a Stop Work Order. As a matter of fact, it has been hit with two. They are as follows:

February 5, 2008

CALLER STATES UNSAFE CONSTRCTION BEING DONE ON BUIDLING/TURNING THE BUILDING INTO SRO/BATHROOMS BEING WORKED ON FOR THE LAST 8 MONTHS/

February 25, 2008

CALLER STATES CONSTRUCTION WORK IN-PROGRESS CONTRARY TO STOP WORK ORDER

Here’s the deposition for the latter:

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH SWO. WORK OBSERVED; NEW SHEETROCK WALLS AT 2ND AND 3RD FLS IN REAR BATHROOMS ALSO PLASTERING

Some of you might remember this post I published February 26. Contained therein was a link to story from Metro New York dating from February 26, 2008 about the latest incident to transpire at this establishment. Follows is an excerpt to jog your memory:

A cop was injured yesterday after a man who had nearly set himself on fire got violent with rescuers. Employees at the Greenpoint Hotel in Brooklyn called cops at 10 a.m. after smelling smoke. Frank Johnson, 47, a custodian, kicked down the tenant’s door to find him passed out in the smokey room. Burning incense was singeing the bedsheets, he said. “There was feces all over him, and he started fighting me,” said Johnson.

It goes on to state that Mr. Johnson’s attacker was taken to Bellevue for psychiatric evaluation. Given the ineffectiveness of the Department of Buildings in serving —much less enforcing— Stop Work Orders in north Brooklyn, I have my doubts as to whether this man is indeed mentally imbalanced. Rather, I think he simply got tired of calling 311 and decided to have a s(h)it in.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Green Street

Even I have to admit Green Street is look pretty brown nowadays.

Miss Heather

The Small Fluffy Dog Plot Thickens!

It would appear that the gentleman I wrote about in this post is now offering a reward for his lost pup. He has also seen fit to add a picture on his flier. This is a big, big improvement.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Speaks Out About The Media

Today, dear readers, I have the pleasure of getting some dental work done. I’ll be upfront: I am no lover of needles, drills and the like. In fact, they terrify the bejesus out of me. Wishing to mitigate the anxiety I was already experiencing late yesterday afternoon, I popped out to purchase a bottle of wine. This is what I found as I was coming home.

It is moments like this that make me proud to be a Greenpointer. So much for the New York Post— they’re Garden Spot’s bitch now!

Miss Heather