Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
A Very Greenpoint Thanksgiving: Ragamuffin Day
Although I have featured this item on my site numerous times before, I cannot resist posting it again on this Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy!
Thanksgiving is already proving to be a one for yours truly. There will be not Macy’s parade watching for me; I’m too busy preparing a feast of chile rellenos, beans, rice, and salsa! For this reason today’s offerings will be decidedly lite. However, I have enough time to resurrect an oldie but goody from Greenpoint’s yesteryear for your turkey day enjoyment: Ragamuffin Day.
What was Ragamuffin Day, you ask? This is an excellent question. Imagine if you will trick or treating— but on Thanksgiving Day. On this day children throughout our fair city (Greenpoint in particular) smeared their faces with charcoal, put on the tattiest apparel and went door to door asking:
Anything f’ Thanksgiv’n?
If the man or woman of the house felt charitable he or she would throw them candy, fruit or change for their efforts. And just like the trick or treating we know today there was ample latitude on both sides beggars and beggees alike for mischief. Do you know what a red penny is? You will after reading this article from the November 27, 1931 edition of the New York Times…
Those of you who want to learn more about Ragamuffin Day from a distinctly Greenpointian (and firsthand!) point of view should point and click your way to Greenpt.com. There you will find a number of amusing firsthand accounts of this long gone tradition. Check it out!
Miss Heather
Happy Thanksgiving From New York Shitty!
As you can imagine today’s selections will be most decidedly lite. However, I would like to bring it to everyone’s attention that Pablo Airaldi and a number of his fellow inmates at the Hudson County Detention Center have gone on hunger strike. You can follow how he is doing (and get the date and location for his upcoming hearing) via this web site.
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: North 4 Street
Kicking off this holiday weekend a tad early I leave you with this shot from North 4 Street.
Miss Heather
The Word On The Street: Diiva
Something I have become increasingly fascinated with are the missives people see fit to inscribe on our fair city’s sidewalks (walls and so forth). For this reason I am inaugurating a new item: the word on the street. Kicking things off I submit for your edification “Size 0 Diiva Bitch!” which hails from Dunham Place on the Southside.
Miss Heather
Reader Contribution Du Jour: Greetings From Maspeth
Adam (who took the above photograph) writes:
Hello Miss Heather,I’ve been following your blog for quite some time and I must say that I really enjoy it. I live in Maspeth and I come across a lot the things you document in my daily travels.Attached is an a picture I took of the Kosciuszko Bridge. It would be cool if you can feature it on your site.
Duly posted— and thanks for forwarding me this nifty shot! While many will probably find this unfathomable, I am rather fond of the Kosciuszko. I will miss it when it is gone!
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: Fallen
Filed under: 11222, Dog Shit, Dung of the Day, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
From Greenpoint Avenue.
Miss Heather
Spotted In Bed Stuy: The New World
It has been a rather eventful week for yours truly. While I could go into a blow by blow account methinks the following statistics will suffice. NOTE: save the first bullet point all incidences have come to pass in the last six days;
- Number of days without heat: 55
- Number of visits from HPD: 2
- Number of individuals found smoking heroin on Chez Shitty’s stoop: 1
- Number of times the NYPD has been summoned: 1
- Number of times my upstairs neighbor has called the landlord: 2
- Number of times the landlord called the previously-mentioned woman “pretty”: 1
- Number of electrical outages in the public areas of Chez Shitty’s building: 1
- Number of visits from the Fire Department: 1
The latter most came to pass at 10:30 p.m. Monday night. Yours truly awakened yesterday morning more than a little dazed and confused. I needed some peace and quiet— so I headed to Flushing Avenue without delay. It has been my observation that a walk around Woodhull is therapeutic on such occasions. It is peaceful? No. Quiet? Hardly. But it does makes one feel better about his/her condition, e.g.; it can always be worse. It was on Park Avenue that I spied the following.
I imagine some explanation of what you are looking at is in order. Here it is.
Ahoy!
the chap you see at right exclaimed
Would you be happening to be doing laundry? I have happened upon this pair of pants. (holding them up, so as to showcase the hind parts which revealed, um, some not-so-gentle wear and tear and “added value”) As you you can see they have a hole in them. Would you perhaps like to fix them?
The gentleman agreed, threw down a skein of yarn and, well, you can see the rest for yourself.
Just as you are probably are, I was wondering what the fuck was going on. As I was walking away I got my answer:
Welcome to the New World. It is conveniently located next door to Paradise.
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
You must be logged in to post a comment.