Brace Your Balconies, Greenpoint!

The fine folks behind the architectural splendor that is Belvedere gave us Garden Spotters a very special Valentine’s Day present recently: demolition permits for 607 – 609 Manhattan Avenue! No word on what Belvedere VII will look like (no plans are posted on Belvedere Partners web site), but I can only hope it looks like its cousins over on Powers Street: Belvederes III and V.

I don’t know about you, but how can eight units of paltry rental property possibly compare to having your very own phat balcony overlooking Manhattan Avenue and quaffing automotive exhaust from passing B61 and B43 buses?

I mean just look at the challenging piece of fine art that graces the front door of Belvedere III. I simply must get me some of that. This folks is what I call LUXURY!

Miss Heather

Bowery Bugs: Right Turn To Greenpernt

I received a most delightful nugget of Greenpoint goodness from a reader last night. She writes:

Thought you might find this interesting. It’s a brief reference to our neighborhood from the cartoon “Bowery Bugs” (1949). Steve Brody is off to Flatbush to find himself a lucky rabbit’s foot…

Tho the humor of Erster Bay and Greenpernt is lost on me, the idea of Flatbush being “the forest primeval” is pretty awesome.

xox,

Dead Nancy

Pete McGuinness (the namesake of my favorite thoroughfare in the Garden Spot) was often quoted as saying “Greenpernt” in the New York Times. At first I took it at face value, but as I have read more articles (in their archives) I came to the opinion that they took delight in making Mr. McGuinness look like a yokel by quoting him in broken English. Per a Forgotten New York commenter:

You might correct an error and at the same time make a small contribution to philology by noting that neither the late Peter McGuinness nor any other authentic representative of Greenpoint referred to the section as Green-pernt [TIME, June 21]. I knew McGuinness well . . . and I never once heard him or anyone else from Greenpoint mispronounce the section’s name. . .It is perfectly true that New Yorkers often render “oi” as “er,” and vice versa, but I can swear under oath that Greenpoint is called Greenpernt only by people from Coney Island, Croton-on-Hudson and Beverly Hills. [Time Magazine letter, July 12, 1948]

Perhaps it was because Pete was Irish? Perhaps it was because his political career survived the Seabury hearings and he was elected the Sheriff of Kings County in a landslide? A “yokel” he may have been, but he was also politically savvy— and the latter was probably what upset them most.

Nonetheless, I am certain “The Fighting Alderman of the 17th Ward” will get a chuckle out of this from his deluxe apartment in the sky. My only hope is it isn’t a Belvedere.

Miss Heather

#7 of the Greenpoint 10 is…

my buddies over at Belvedere Partners, Inc. The above-depicted Belvedere is currently under construction at 218 Eckford Street. I have no idea which “number” this one will be. Hell, I suspect even the evil masterminds behind this turd probably don’t know either: there are so damned many of them now even they occasionally lose track.

For better or worse, these tacky buildings (and their absurdly over-sized balconies) have become a defining characteristic of the Garden Spot’s landscape. What’s more, I discovered via Belvedere Partners’s web site we are set to get yet another one.

On Manhattan Avenue, no less. The above address for Belvedere VII sounded inexplicably familiar to me, so I poked around my ever-expanding collection of all things Belvedere and looked it up on the Department of Buildings web site. It didn’t take me very long to figure out why this address rung a bell. Which brings me to this week’s motivational poster.

The best (and only) thing I can liken the Belvedere phenomenon to is a hydra. You cut one head off and another one simply takes its place. Sure, Greenpoint lost one uglyass piece of illegal advertising, but consider what is going to take its place: a doublewide Belvedere. It’s sort of like trading gonorrhea for stage four syphilis.

Miss Heather

Halloween Decoration Du Jour

Inspired by the Gowanus Lounge’s daily dose of Halloween goodness, I have decided to follow his example and feature some cool Halloween decorations from right here in Greenpoint. Today’s offering hails from Leonard Street.

Perhaps he is contractor pooped after a busy day building Belvederes?

Miss Heather

Happenings at 209 1/2 Eckford Street

Saturday was one of those days when my husband and I could not agree on anything. Even the route for walking to Grand Street was the source of much debate. I wanted to use Kent Avenue, Mr. Heather preferred Diamond or Newel Street. My being pretty adamant about avoiding Karl Fischer’s giant green monstrosity forced us to reach a compromise: Eckford Street.

This street too has its fair share of eyesores, but for whatever reason I seem to find them a little more tolerable than their companions to the east. In fact, I find Crater Lake hilarious in its own dark way. But back to my story.

When we reached 209 1/2 Eckford, arguably one of the ugliest sights on this street, I noticed something was amiss.

Intrigued, I went in for a closer look.

Bridge Realty, part of the unholy alliance that has blessed Greenpoint with such monuments to fine architecture and good taste as Belvedere I (through infinity), has been performing a little work on this “fixer-upper”.

Slip shod work.

Is that hole supposed to be there? Just curious.

And in keeping with the pervasive atmosphere of lawlessness that is the Greenpoint development feeding frenzy, the previous came to pass without the issuance or posting of the appropriate permits.

But the story does not end here, dear readers. No sir. Upon crossing Norman Avenue— which is only a short distance from 209 1/2 Eckford Street, I beheld something I have only seen in Greenpoint twice before. Excited, I immediately started taking pictures of my discovery. My husband even tore himself away from futzing around with his new cell phone to see what the subject of all my fuss and photography was.

Me: Sam, this is the third time I have seen one of these cars! It’s like seeing Bigfoot, Sasquatch or the Yeti! I wonder what it is doing here?
Sam: Maybe the guy lives here?

Excellent point. The driver of this car may very well live in Greenpoint. It’s not like he (or she) performs much (if any) work here.

Miss Heather