Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Williamsburg Pay Phone du Jour: Division Avenue
Filed under: Williamsburg
Sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please get another roll of packing tape and try again.
Miss Heather
Bushwick Barf-O-Rama!
Filed under: Fedders Friday
That’s right folks, it’s time for Fedders Friday! This week I had a hard time deciding which building to feature so I decided to feature three fine-ass Fedders from Bushwick for your afternoon enjoyment. Ready? Let’s go!
I like to call this architectural style Art Stucco.
Here’s a second view. Not only is aluminum siding thrown in the mix but if you look closely, you can count twenty Fedders boxes!
I’m a big fan of this building which (like the previous building) is located on Schaeffer Street. The architect got a little crazy here and laid out the Fedders in a zig zag fashion. Tres jaunty!
The addition of a security camera is a nice touch. It offsets the exposed gutters quite nicely.
Last, but hardly least for those of you who prefer your digs to have a more utilitarian lived-in look, this monolithic beauty awaits you on Jefferson Street.
Miss Heather
The Manifold Joys of Gentrification
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
I received the following email at 11:48 March 27, 2008:
Are you able to please help me? I am writing to you at 11:45 pm (aka MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT) Thursday night, 27 March. Construction happening RIGHT NOW outside my window is driving me NUTS. I have called 311, but have been advised some sort of non-helpful dodge about the appropriate agency being closed. I think that this CAN’T be legal, but I am SO SLEEPY and sleep-deprived that I am in no position to protest or research.
My bedroom window overlooks the North-facing yard of PS110 (corner of Driggs and Monitor). Some sort of elevator-shaft construction is happening to the building, and as I email screechy earth moving equipment is shuffling dirt from one mound into another. This totally stinks. Can you advise?
(Adding insult to insult is that this cacophony comes on top of what I already endure every day from 7:45 a.m. onwards coming out of Kingsland Ave.’s misguided condo projects).
Best wishes,
Anonymous
The benefactor of Anonymous’s late night torment is (in all probability) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY CO.
This entity is pre-qualified by the New York City School System too:
What does asbestos abatement and remediation have to do with elevator construction at 11:45 p.m.? Just curious.
Miss Heather
Bed Stuy Photo du Jour: Moron
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
From Halworth Street.
Miss Heather
The Balconies of Broadway
Filed under: Williamsburg
I have yet to get this fascination developers have with balconies. Perhaps I do not engender the proper sense of entitlement? Having a hefty balcony from which to look down upon my neighbors is not my cup of tea. What’s more, many of the balconies I see nowadays are for the skinny set. Very skinny.
Which brings me to 152 Broadway. This was a four story building. Four. Stories.
Now it will become a six story building. As. Per. Plan.
The poster to the far right reads:
Could an opera make us warriors for peace?
In all probability, no.
Can a piece of shit modification on an existing building make Miss Heather vomit?
Yes. When I look at the second floor balcony’s misalignment with the columns on the first floor I heave. And grieve. For the death of taste.
Miss Heather
Williamsburg Photo du Jour: Keep Off Flowers
Filed under: Williamsburg
From Division Avenue.
Miss Heather
Great Moments in Aluminum Siding Volume XV: The Gauntlet
I recently watched the trailer for this movie on Videodetective. Why would Miss Heather entertain herself with seventies schlock, you ask? Well, I took a walk down Eldert Street recently and thought of this movie for some inexplicable reason.
The owner of this house appears to be rather vigilant about being protected from the elements. Whether or not the aforementioned are his neighbors or merely inclement weather is anyone’s guess. I can almost hear Sondra Locke whining from here.
One thing’s for certain: beige is clearly this person’s favorite color. So much so that he elected to have his car match his house. Those are some pretty fierce rims. There’s no way in hell an army of sharp shooters are going to blow out this guy’s tires.
Miss Heather
Bed-Stuy Photo du Jour: Lafayette Avenue
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
Could it be?!? Has Bedford Stuyvesant indeed gentrified enough to merit an influx of stroller moms?
Miss Heather
Orient Avenue: Knocking On Scarano’s Back Door
As I mentioned in this post, I played “tour guide” last weekend. Any tour guide worth his/her salt knows where to take a bathroom break: Cooper Park. Second only to the privy at Fermi Playground in Bushwick. The latter is the only bathroom I have patronized that had soap, paper towels and toilet paper in abundance. At the same time. But that is the stuff of another post.
After relieving our respective selves I took my friends to Orient Avenue. We checked out the Munster House at 59, but found its neighbor to the west much more intriguing.
This is 11 Orient Avenue.
This is 11 Orient Avenue on crack. Any questions?
Apparently the Department of Buildings would like to ask a question.
Or two. They have issued summons but have yet to get access to the property.
Per the Department of Buildings complaint #625608:
When we walked by this building on Sunday, March 23, 2008 it was eviscerated. It sported cinder blocks for a front door, rat traps laid with total abandon and garbage dumped atop the few purple tulips which grace its soon to be deceased front yard.
Perhaps the no shoes in our house policy deterred the D.O.B. gaining entrance? Or to be Zen; if a New York City Building Inspector knocks on a pile cinder blocks does it make it sound? Not to his supervisors. So he sticks a notice on the fence instead. Twice.
Miss Heather
P.S.: It should hardly be surprising that this site is going to be razed for yet another Scarano masterpiece. Five stories, no less.
Crypt Keeper ’08!
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
I found this curious juxtaposition on MacDonough Street yesterday. This household is pro-Obama and very patriotic.
Yet they have Dick Cheney sitting in their window sill. Maybe they’re hedging their bets?
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
