Daily Bloomblight: 164 West Street

December 1, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Bloomblight, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Anyone care to guess as to when the rest of the fence gracing this shit heap (as photographed by yours truly today) collapses?

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: Out With The Old, In With The New

November 10, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Criminal Activity, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Mediterranean Shawarma is now— or will soon be— Four Seasons Closeout 2.0!

Where there was once a travel agency comes a(nother) pharmacy.

And those of you requiring, um, tailoring will be delighted to know Sastreria San Miguel is in effect across the street from its former location.

Albeit in the basement. Which is where I saw these men working last night.

Given there is a Stop Work Order for an illegal basement apartment at the above-listed location I find this, to say the least, interesting. Especially since the word on the street is that Sastreria San Miguel is paying $500 $600 a month to rent this space and a number of men clearly not desirous of haberdashery are hanging around there. Hmm…

Miss Heather

Spotted On Greenpoint Avenue: Apology

November 2, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

It would appear that Vacate Order— while curiously absent from the front door— is still in effect at Coco66.

Hmm…

Miss Heather

P.S.: It would appear Coco66’s lack of a Place of Assembly permit has not gone unnoticed as well.

From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part II: Closed For Renovations?

October 27, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

The above item (which hails from the Village Voice and is a follow-up to their breaking story about the closure of Coco68 last Friday) was brought to my attention by my buddy over at Brooklyn11211. He writes:

I see they’re still closed down – but they have a perfectly logical explanation. It was just less confusing for all involved to reschedule their shows at other venues.

You can read this article in its entirety by clicking here. Otherwise I’ll leave you with yours truly’s favorite passage— with a little New York Shitty analysis thrown in for good measure!

Apologies for the confusion yesterday. Briefly: after you and I spoke we had a meeting at Coco’s and we all decided that since some shows were already moving to other venues this week, just because they were worried (rightfully so given your establishment saw fit to cram 400 people into a space allotted for 74, this can hardly be construed as “professional”), we would take this time now to take a couple days off and make some renovations to just kinda move forward and become a better venue with more space for people. So we are taking a couple days to do that. We were doing construction all night last night (I can personally attest to this. I can also attest that neither Coco66 nor Coco 68 have permits for any of the work they are doing.) , and all day today (more work without a permit, is the Department of Buildings reading this?), just in the back to have more space and do bigger and better shows (which we are not in fact legally entitled to conduct given we have neither a Cabaret License nor a Place of Assembly Permit*).

Miss Heather

*As someone in the know explained to me:

They absolutely don’t have a cab license. Must have zoning use group 12 on the CO and the description must read “eating and drinking establishment with no restrictions on entertainment.”  Not even a PA. Hence the 74 max occupancy.

This is rather curious given the owner of Coco66 and Coco68 seems to be operating a construction company out of the latter.

One would think Mr. Kelleran would be aware legalities such as these. Hmm…

New York Shitty Day Ender: Under Construction

October 25, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

As of 9:00 p.m. this evening it would appear* that Coco 66 is installing a little dry wall. Hmm…

Miss Heather

*And sound

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Trouble At The House Of Vans?

This week, dear readers, I have the honor of passing along a rather dubious Greenpoint first. Plenty of noise and quality of life complaints find their way to my inbox, to be certain— but regarding an establishment that is not technically open to the public yet? Well, this has indeed come to pass and the honoree of the hour is House of Vans. Anonymous writes:

As you probably remember, Vans (the skateboarding shoe company) took over that old Odwalla warehouse on Franklin next to Pop’s Popular Clothing at 25 Franklin. They had their grand opening Saturday night, and it was a mess. People parked illegally, people doubleparked, people parking their cars in the middle of the street, tons of honking as cabs & car services attempted to drop people off.

It was also very loud. I appreciate that there is no residential on any side of them, but the space clearly has no kind of insulation or soundproofing. We could hear the bass in our living room with the windows closed.

The biggest issue was kids who were congregating on the street corners near us afterward. But there’s nothing they can really do about that and I don’t expect them to, but a “Please respect our neighbors as you make your way home” wouldn’t kill them.

What I’d like to see from Vans for future large events of this nature:
–Have a security guard out front directing traffic and dealing with cabs and pickups/dropoffs. Everyone seemed to arrive in a cab or car service. It’s not that far away from public transportation and it was a nice night. And these were skaters?!
–Check the volume down the block in the residential area; if it’s too loud, drop it to 11 please

I have no objections to this being a skatepark. In fact, I think it’s a great reuse of a building. I don’t even have objections for it being used for the occasional live event. I would, however, like to know how many of these large loud parties they plan on holding each year. The Vans spokesperson described it as “a hub for doing grassroots skate events”* but it didn’t look that grassroots to me on Saturday night.

Funnily enough I cannot find anything about 25 Franklin St. on DOB BIS. Says it is not a valid address. Pshark.com doesn’t have it either. Curious about permits. You understand.

I for one am curious as to what the FDNY would have to say about this. Obviously if this warehouse is going to be repurposed as a public venue it will have to be complaint with fire code. If anyone reading this has an expertise in this respect I would love to hear from you be it via comments or email at: missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com. In addition, I would think a Place of Assembly permit may be in or order— or at the very least an amended Certificate of Occupancy. Finally (and in closing)— taking into consideration what my tipster observed last Saturday in regards to traffic, double parking, etc. and the fact Kent Avenue has less traffic capacity— I have to wonder how these events are going to impact the surrounding residential community in terms of vehicular congestion. In my opinion the outlook isn’t very good.

Miss Heather

UPDATE, 10/21/10 3:36 p.m.: I have received an email from a very nice chap from Vans. You can look forward to a follow-up post (about this missive) in the near future!

*E.g.; (according this site)

  • 25,000 square feet; 15,000 indoors and 10,000 sq. ft outdoor enclosed patio and skate plaza
  • raised indoor flowing concrete bowl with numerous contours, shapes, banks & transitions
  • outdoor skate plaza with steps and railings
  • permanent, removable professional stage, lighting and sound system
  • performer “green room”
  • installed custom art by Mike Giant
  • will serve as Vans’ East Coast marketing headquarters with two full time employees at launch
  • home to Vans’ East Coast touring RV


New York Shitty Photos Du Jour: CAUTION

October 1, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Bloomblight, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

This vision has been brought to you courtesy of 174 West Street.

Miss Heather

From The New York Shitty Inbox: (Speechless)

September 27, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

I am certain many of you have already seen this— but here it is anyway: a plastic play shed for rent in Greenpoint for $500 a month. Don’t believe me? Go to Gawker and read the whole sad story (replete with Craiglist advertisement) for yourself. Special thanks go to Stephen for bringing this item to my attention.

Miss Heather

Photo Credits: Gawker

New York Shitty Day Ender: 95 Norman Avenue Gets Tiled

April 21, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

There would appear to be signs of life at GreenTree’s old digs!

Miss Heather

Spotted On Franklin Street: An Open Letter From Ray

April 18, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11222, Culture War, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Now this is just plain cold. If the complainant in question is reading this: please cut the guy some slack. It sounds like he has enough on his hands already.

In addition I would like to make it known that when I walked by his property today it was spotless. Besides, how can you harbor a grudge against a man who loves cats?

Miss Heather

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