Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: For Sale

September 14, 2015 ·
Filed under: 11222, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Building For Sale NYS

You can’t say I did not see this one coming, gentle readers. I did. Now let’s see if the owners of 977 Manhattan Avenue (next door, whose property surrounds 981 on two sides) make them an offer they can’t refuse. I would not bet against it anyway….

UPDATE: 9/15/2015 12:17 AM:

981 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11222 - Mid_High-Rise Property for Sale on LoopNet_Page_1
We have a listing!

Spotted At 981 Manhattan Avenue: Closed…

July 3, 2015 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

977 and 981 Manhattan Avenue July 3 2015 nys

Closed until further notice NYS

It would appear after a visit and thorough inspection courtesy of New York’s Bravest*, the Salvation Army is closed until further notice. UPDATE, 3:41 pm: word on the street is the Salvation Army’s space experienced flooding. Once this is remediated they will reopen. We’ll see…

*It is my understanding that 977 Manhattan Avenue was inspected as well. Why does this stuff always happen while I am on vacation?

From The New York Shitty Inbox…

August 20, 2014 ·
Filed under: 11222, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

A fellow named James writes:

Hi Heather, this is James Jones. I’ve lived on Green St. for a very long time and I’m a big fan of Newyorkshitty.com. I am a filmmaker and a few months ago I had a chance to interview Steven Goldsholle, of Goldscholle plumbing on Manhattan Avenue,  a few days before he closed his business down. I made several film shorts from the interview. He talks about how Greenpoint has changed, the store’s history and his plans for retirement. If you think any of this may be of interest to your readers, please feel free to provide a link to this channel or one of the films. Either way, I’ll keep reading! Thanks.

Naturally I am not going to pass up a chance to share this. Without further ado, let ’em roll!

Mr. Goldscholle and Greenpoint #1 from myfavoritethingy on Vimeo.

Mr. Goldscholle and Greenpoint #2 from myfavoritethingy on Vimeo.

Mr. Goldscholle and Greenpoint #3 from myfavoritethingy on Vimeo.

Mr. Goldsholle and Greenpoint #4 from myfavoritethingy on Vimeo.

Thanks so much for sharing this with me, James! A great many of us, including of course the local canines, miss us some Steve.

Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: One Day Later…

April 10, 2014 ·
Filed under: 11222, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Wow, WTF 

April 9, 2014, 5:00 pm

April 10, 2014, 11:00 am

As you can see, someone has seen fit to divest 977 Manhattan Avenue of its sign. Steve, the owner of Goldscholle and Garfinkel (and therefore, if one wants to be a stickler, said sign is as well), was surprised by this. Not that he was the one who discovered this has come to pass: he was not. He opted to take today off from cleaning out the space. He heard about it from a Greenpoint citizen. Speaking for myself, I am not the least bit surprised. Let’s face facts: $3,000,000 $3,900,000* (or even a 6% commission thereof) is a pretty strong motivator to have such an item removed. Just sayin’.

Here’s what has been learned: per the fine folks at the Fresh Stop (which is located next door) two men arrived between 8:00 and 8:30 am with a ladder and commenced to take the sign down. These two men, per the folks from Fresh Step, were not familiar faces from the neighborhood (and trust me: if anyone is in a position to know, it is someone who operates a produce stand). In any case, I serious doubt these fellows wanted this item— at least in its “new” state— to grace their home. It is was really, seriously, UGLY. It was intended to be as such.

It’ll be interesting to see if their “handiwork” damaged the Bronx cable which provides power to the gate.  I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow…

UPDATE, 7:31 pm: it was intact when the Mister left for work this morning at 8:10 am.

*Per the listing at Miron Properties:

The building will be delivered vacant. Trust me. The “new” owner has done everything imaginable to make that happen.

Ms. Segal was the lady who not only asked Mr. Goldscholle to ask me to refrain from my “artistry”, but she later admitted to him (as he turned the keys over) that she had the sign removed. What’s a little petty larceny when there’s big bucks to be made, right?

 

The Word On The Street: PROGRE$$

Many of you are probably not aware of this but after a business calls it quits it is required by law to paint over its sign. Such is this fine city of ours: if you can imagine it, there’s probably a law on the books pertaining to it. As you can see, gentle readers, some artistic license has been taken here by yours truly. Yes, this is my handiwork. I volunteered to do this for Steve Goldscholle. He is a friend of mine. You are probably thinking this sullen utterance of revolt garnered a great deal of attention and curiosity (being as it is located on Manhattan Avenue and all). It most certainly did. Without argument the most amusing was an agent from the real estate office across the street (which has a listing for this building, the asking price is $3,000,000) running over and imploring Steve to make me stop. He replied that he was simply obeying the law.

This one’s for you, Steve.

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Goodbye, Goldscholle & Garfinkel

A very nice fellow named Matthew writes on March 21st:

I spoke to the gentleman who owns and operates Goldsholle and Garfinkel Hardware on Manhattan Ave today (I believe his name is Steve), and found out that he’s closing the store and retiring after 30 years. He told me the store has been family owned since the 1920’s. I do not know the man well, but he has always been friendly and helpful whenever I’ve gone into the store. I thought people might like to stop by and wish him well in retirement. He likes dogs and has always been happy to give my dog a treat when I’ve brought him in. Canine-centric bon voyage?

As it would happen I am friends with Steve. I can attest that he is not only a very nice fellow, but a gentleman as well. His establishment has long been a community cracker barrel of sorts. The panels vary, as do the subjects discussed. The latter usually are sports, local events, news and whatnot. Today’s “subject matter” would fall under the lattermost. And being a gentleman, Steve wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. No worries, that’s where I come in.

I have met a number of wonderful people at Steve’s. One of them is a fellow who is a landlord hereabouts. For reasons which will soon become clear he did not want his name used. It’s not really important anyway. Those of you who are familiar with this blog are well aware that I feature landlords quite frequently and it is usually not for “good” reasons. In the interest of “equal time” I will now endeavor to feature one of the “good guys”. A fellow who, upon discovering a tenant had left something of— how shall we say— a highly personal manner, has seen fit to store it in his basement for safe-keeping. Before I proceed I offering the following observations/caveats:

  1. If you find stuff like this offensive, do NOT watch the following video.
  2. Measures were taken to ensure no one who finds such accoutrements offensive was not present at the, um, “unveiling” of this item.
  3. If you are at work, you should probably not watch this unless you want a visit from the HR Department.
  4. It was quite fortuitous the following came to pass at a hardware store as a tape measure was required so as to establish its size. All I’m sayin’ is a woman knows.

Without further ado on with the show!

Thanks for the memories, Steve. You will be missed!

Spotted At Goldscholle & Garfinkel Hardware: Love!

Sean, Aide-de-camp and son of the inimitable proprietor of the above-listed establishment, Steve, shows of a little love to our very own Shit Tits— and yours truly! Once again, you can order this poster by clicking here.

Otherwise (and on a somewhat-related note) my buddy Mitch over at The Newtown Pentacle will be conducting a tour around our very own creek this upcoming weekend. Here are the deets from his Facebook announcement:

I’ll be doing a walking tour around the Brooklyn side of Newtown Creek on Saturday the 24th, starting at 10 am in Greenpoint. This one will be a small group, around 10 people. $10 per head. Want to come? Bring a camera…

You can RSVP for this event by emailing Mitch at newtownpentacle (at) yahoo (dot) com

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Steve & Sean

January 27, 2012 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Taken January 27, 2012.

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