Kensington Old Guard Protecting Neighborhood From Park Slope FateClinton Hill: Former Queer Eye foodie Ted Allen and his partner traded in their three-bedroom in Chelsea for a four-story house on Washington Avenue. [Brownstoner]
Kensington: Neighborhood veterans are blasting newcomers for wanting to turn their quiet corner of Brooklyn into Park Slope. [Kensington Blog]
Lower East Side: Protest the closing of Tonic by hanging out there after it’s closed. [Brooklyn Vegan]
Midtown West: Remember Hudson Yards? The city still has plans, which may involve demolishing part of the High Line. [NYS]
Park Slope: D’Agostino’s and Gothic Cabinet Craft are being displaced by, yes, another bank branch. [Gowanus Lounge]
Red Hook: A community coalition may be calling to get your opinion on the future of the waterfront. [The Brooklyn Paper]
neighborhood watch
Home Sweet Warehouse in Red HookBedford-Stuyvesant: A bus ride along Throop Avenue will show all the local sights, plus an outstanding “Wall of Fame” mural. [Bed-Stuy Blog]
Clinton Hill: Does anyone have information on the SUV driver who hit a local motorcyclist Saturday morning on Kent and Flushing — leaving her brain-dead? [1010 WINS via Clinton Hill Blog]
Coney Island: Thor Equities, which is leading the controversial redevelopment of the amusement park, has set up shop there with its own project trailer. [Kinetic Carnival]
Park Slope: Megadeveloper Shaya Boymelgreen’s bringing yet another condo project to the area’s southern flank, this one called the Heritage. [Curbed]
Red Hook: Looking to live in a 5,000-square-foot, red-painted warehouse? It can be yours for $1.4 million. [Brownstoner]
Soho: Prince Street might get a bike lane to alleviate unsafe traffic on Houston. [Streetsblog]
neighborhood watch
The Decline of West Village Sex ShopsBay Ridge: Sad to say, news of revived ferry service between the hood and Staten Island was simply an April Fools joke. [Bay Ridge Blog]
Clinton Hill: The city will take a noisy church to court for gathering in a building zoned as an art gallery and irritating neighbors for fifteen years. [The Brooklyn Paper]
Dumbo: A reward will be given to anyone who can identify this greedy mom who hoarded far more than her share of eggs at yesterday’s Brooklyn Bridge Park egg hunt. [Brooklyn Record]
Lower East Side: Madonna’s hung up on 179 Ludlow, which she may convert into a three-floor Kabbalah center. [NYO]
Park Slope: A falling glass shard from a decrepit brownstone nearly decapitated a prominent Windsor Terrace preservationist last week. [The Brooklyn Paper]
South Bronx: Will the city pay for parking decks at Yankee Stadium, encouraging more cars to visit this asthma-choked area? [Streetsblog]
West Village: Between the Internet and gentrification, it’s rough times for the area’s sex and fetish shops. [Manhattan Offender]
neighborhood watch
Giant Chain Store Priced Out of East VillageClinton Hill: Somebody lose a cat around Green and Washington? [Clinton Hill Blog]
College Point: The area will be the site of a new, 30-acre state-of-the-art police academy that will replace the cramped, LBJ-era facility in Manhattan’s Gramercy district. [NYS]
Dumbo: Bunnies get a bridge view at tomorrow’s Brooklyn Bridge Park Spring Fling Egg Hunt. Hop to it! Just don’t mention Easter. [DumboNYC]
East Village: The Barnes & Noble at Astor Place will close at the end of the year, making Manhattan too expensive even for giant chain stores. [NYP]
Norwood: Jenny from the block … across town? J.Lo went home to the Bronx this week — just not the side of the borough she’s actually from. [Norwood News]
Prospect Heights: The Atlantic Yards brouhaha has lent new oomph to the push to get the area, chock-full of Romanesque Revival architecture, landmarked. [Gothamist]
neighborhood watch
Parched Residents Demand Clinton Hill Beer GardenClinton Hill: Thanks to the advocacy of Clinton Hill Blog–master Robin Lester, you might not have to go to Astoria’s beer garden anymore. [Gothamist via Clinton Hill Blog]
Fort Greene: Will the guy who eats local fauna get a visit from the authorities soon? [Brooklyn Record]
Greenpoint: Do we detect just a touch of resentment from blogger Miss Heather now that someone else is stealing some of her anti-poop thunder? [Newyorkshitty]
Harlem: When the BBC shot in Sylvia’s last week, tempers flared over crime and gentrification. [Uptown Flavor]
Midwood: Poaching of Brooklyn parrots is on the decline, but it will take several years to repopulate the bird colonies. [Gowanus Lounge]
Rosedale-Laurelton: Denizens of this quaint stretch of Queens are fed up with zoning that allows for McMansions on small plots — and they yelled at a councilman to prove it. [NYDN]
Washington Heights: Someday, the gentrification chroniclers will look back and say it all started with the loss of the cheap roast-chicken place. [NYPress]
neighborhood watch
Greenpoint DIY Just Got EasierAstoria: Some days, it just smells like crap around here. [Astorians]
Clinton Hill: Forgot your Seder supplies? Catholic St. Joseph’s College is offering $1 Seders-in-a-box, with the necessary prayers and ritual items. Also good for Holy Thursday celebrations. Coming soon: kosher communion wafers. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Coney Island: No matter how nice the design, Thor’s proposed 40-story towers will look ridiculous on Coney Island. [Gowanus Lounge]
Dumbo: It’s up to you to decide what will happen to the Pearl Street Triangle. Or you can at least take a survey about it. [Dumbo Improvement District via Dumbo NYC]
Greenpoint: It’ll be easier than ever to make your own merch with the new Staples on Morgan and Meeker. [Racked]
Prospect Heights: There are naked men jogging or roller-skating through the hood, apparently. Very seventies. [Daily Heights]
Washington Heights: Drug agents bust an apartment cultivating 700 marijuana plants with stolen electricity. [WNBC via Gothamist]
neighborhood watch
Williamsburg Gets Its Own JeansBoerum Hill: Outraged tenants are battling a local landlord with a lawsuit and a blog called Bad Landlord, of course. [Daily Slope]
Brooklyn Heights Jehovah’s Witnesses are selling their Columbia Heights property, formerly the Standish Arms Hotel. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle via Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Clinton Hill: Who’s haunting that abandoned church on Clinton between Greene and Gates — ghosts or junkies? [Clinton Hill Blog]
Nolita: According to the Medici Foundation, it’s anti-Italian-American not only to dislike the San Gennaro festival but also to say “Nolita” instead of “Little Italy.” [Curbed]
Prospect Lefferts Garden: The altruism of a group of neighbors who cleaned up graffiti this weekend doesn’t stop certain meanies from calling them ugly. [Across the Park]
Williamsburg: Well, they once named a jeans line for Studio 54. Is it any wonder the Gap should name its skinny denims after the city’s most insufferably trendy hood? [Free Williamsburg]
neighborhood watch
Will Gramercy Succumb to High-Rise Condos?Clinton Hill: Cops will respond to the recent spate of thefts and break-ins around here, but only if you actually report them. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Gramercy Park: How long will it take for the abandoned buildings at 23rd Street and Second Avenue to go high-rise condo? [This Is What We Do Now]
Prospect Heights: Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project starts to become real as demos proceed within the project’s footprint — save those lots whose owners have filed suit, that is. [Atlantic Yards Report]
West Village: From top loin to Thom Browne? Yep, it looks like Barneys might be opening a new store in the meatpacking district’s former home of Western Beef. [Curbed]
Williamsburg: Government environmental honchos want City Councilman Tony Avella to know that everything is all right with that oil oozing out of the ground at North 11th and Roebling. How reassuring. [Gowanus Lounge]
neighborhood watch
Who Is That Unmasked Brooklyn Real-Estate Blogger?Brooklyn Heights: Could that mysterious, piercingly high-pitched noise on Montague Street be coming from the Pearle Vision shop? Some suspect. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Brooklyn: Brownstoner unmasked! He’s Jonathan Butler, a 37-year-old former Wall Street guy who lives in Clinton Hill. In a brownstone, natch. [NYO]
Clinton Hill: Lasse Hallstrom is shooting a television pilot around St. James Place and Washington Avenue. Show looks to be a hybrid of Law & Order and Heroes. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Coney Island: Megadeveloper Thor says that amusement parks are losing propositions, so only massive condos can support them. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle via Kinetic Carnival]
Greenpoint: Finally, a bookstore! Word Books has come to the corner of Franklin and Milton. [Newyorkshitty]
Harlem: Say a final ciao to long-shuttered Champagne-and-caviar joint Emperor’s Roe on Lenox and 120th. Some downtowners are expected to transform the space into a lounge in time for summer. [Harlem Fur]
Upper East Side: The NYPD’s creepy-looking SkyWatch tower has come to the absolutely crime-infested corner of 86th Street and Second Avenue. [Yorkville Blog]
neighborhood watch
Jim McGreevey Exercises Gay American Right to Protest
Chelsea: More glassy façades are replacing the old tenements of Eighth Avenue north of 14th Street, creating more reflective surfaces for area pretty boys to admire themselves in. [Blog Chelsea]
Clinton Hill: Trap-neuter-return. Those three magic words can help humanely manage the area’s feral cat population. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Cobble Hill: Is that boarded-up old building on Warren St. really a former Christmas-ornament factory? And whatever is to become of it? [Lost City]
Gowanus: Faster than you can smuggle out towels in your suitcase, it looks like another hotel is coming to the area. [Gowanus Lounge]
Greenpoint: The most awesome house ever is on Beadel Street and has a leopard-print door. [New York Shitty]
Times Square: As he promised yesterday, ex-Jersey guv Jim McGreevey turned out at the military recruitment center today (above) with about 60 other gays to protest a top general’s calling la vida homo “immoral.” [Towleroad]
neighborhood watch
Forest City Ratner Wants to Hear Your ComplaintsClinton Hill: Whoever thought that a bar-hopping query would be so charged with race and class drama? [Brooklynian]
Clinton: Thanks to Renzo Piano’s eco-swank Times tower, the legendarily scuzzy Port Authority district is now safe for top-line businesses. [Gothamist]
Gowanus: Park Slopesters want the Whole Foods megastore coming to 3rd Street and Third Avenue to swap its planned rooftop parking deck for solar panels. [Gowanus Lounge]
Harlem: A new luxury condo from architects Feder & Stia will soon cantilever boldly over the 116th Street mosque where Malcolm X once held court. [City Realty via Curbed]
Nolita: Sure, the billboard on Houston and Lafayette is for a clothing line, but what if “Come as you are” was the new neighborhood tagline? [Copyranter]
Prospect Heights: Come vent! Forest City Ratner, developer of Atlantic Yards, has opened a “community liaison” office. [Brooklyn Speaks via No Land Grab]
neighborhood watch
Chickens Further Brooklyn Gentrification
Battery Park: This funky glass carousel thingy could serve as a spot that links park visitors to the Coney Island aquarium via a ferry. [Kinetic Carnival]
Clinton Hill: Why go to a food co-op or the farmers’ market when you can raise chickens right behind your own brownstone? [Brownstoner]
East Village: A first peek inside (and through the windows of) the Bowery Hotel, where rooms start (for now) at $245. [Hotel Chatter via Curbed]
Gowanus: Oh, boy! It’s the four-part lecture on the history of the canal we’ve all been waiting for. [Brooklyn Record]
Morningside Heights: Columbia students use clever street art to strike back at their school’s real-estate takeover of the area. [Gothamist]
Prospect Heights: Have you met Sydney, Hudson, Jenny BiBabe, and Dakota on MySpace? They’re the new condos that want to be friends with you. [Gowanus Lounge]
neighborhood watch
H&H Bagels Completes Harlem GentrificationClinton Hill: What the hell is this Legos-meets-Mondrian thing that’s sprouted up on Reuben north of Myrtle? [Clinton Hill Blog]
East Village: Apparently only the “big” L-stations get those train arrival-time signs. So much for Third Avenue. [CitySpecific]
Flatbush: Seems like this ain’t the only Brooklyn hood the city has failed to provide with those free, slickly packaged condoms. [Flatbush Gardener via Gowanus Lounge]
Harlem: If only Bagel in Harlem had stuck it out another month or so. She could have picked up H&H bagels at the Saurin Park Café. [
neighborhood watch
Even the Raccoons Move to BrooklynAstoria: More and more folks are discovering the quiet charms of Hallets Cove, the East River tributary just a short walk from Vernon Boulevard. [Waterwire via Joey in Astoria]
City Hall: Ever wanted to know what the old City Hall subway station looked like? Prettier than most others. And that’s why it’s closed. [Gothamist]
Clinton Hill: Looks like the raccoons that have been plaguing outer Queens are now encroaching on Kings County, too. At least they’re not buying up all the brownstones. [Brooklynian]
Dumbo: Avant-tots, rejoice! A bunch of “old German hippies” will design a super-cool playground for the southern end of the waterfront Brooklyn Bridge Park. [The Brooklyn Paper]
Inwood: The kids are climbing the walls at Intermediate School 52! Or is it just a really cool artist-student collaboration? [Wooster Collective via Razor Apple]
Sunset Park: Locals force a stop-work order at 420 42nd Street, a site whose plans were “self-certified” by the twelve-story tower’s architect. But will it last? [Brownstoner]
neighborhood watch
Don’t Mess With Bill Moyers’s ViewRed Hook: The shady demolition of the Revere Sugar Factory is making the neighbors furious. [Gowanus Lounge]
Brooklyn Heights: Want a Mexican restaurant? It’s yours for only $389,000. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Chinatown: Some major street changes are in place, including a buffered bike lane on Grand Street, making it safer to eat sticky pork buns while cycling. [Streetsblog]
Clinton Hill: Looks like the topiary-stealing first reported two weeks ago by Brooklyn Record continues. Who’s the sticky-fingered horticulturalist? [Clinton Hill Blog]
South Slope: Developer Gregory Rigas has been quietly been buying up — and not so quietly demolishing — mucho property on Fourth Avenue between Prospect Avenue and 16th Street. [Brownstoner]
Upper West Side: Bill Moyers leads a pack of angry rich people against the New-York Historical Society’s plan for a high-rise condo off Central Park West and 76th Street. [Curbed]
neighborhood watch
Last Call at NorthsixClinton Hill: Lots of abandoned homes up for sale—for first-time homebuyers, that is, not folks looking to trade their tiny co-op for a spacious fixer-upper. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Coney Island: Developing Coney Island isn’t “financially feasible” without high-rise housing on Stillwell Avenue, says Thor Equities. [Kinetic Carnival]
Harlem: That empty lot at 1405 Fifth Avenue will soon be low- and middle-income housing. [What About the Plastic Animals?]
Prospect Heights: Turns out there are still five privately owned acres smack in the path of Atlantic Yards. [Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn]
Prospect Lefferts Gardens: Would expanding the historic district help prevent new development eyesores? [Across the Park]
West Village: Which fashion label will grace the N.J. Turnpike–size billboard being affixed to the Gansevoort Hotel? [Curbed]
Williamsburg: Catch the last show at Northsix before the space closes to magically transform into the Music Hall of Williamsburg. [FREEwilliamsburg]
neighborhood watch
In East Harlem, the Bohemians Can’t SpellBrooklyn Heights: Our compelling bocce coverage continues! Brigate Bocce almost beat the Old Dirty Barristers in the opening week of FloydNY’s winter bocce league, but then they didn’t. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Chelsea: Apparently unable to save his landmark mural Venus from being blocked by an imminent condo tower, artist Knox Martin will now save whales with a new mural downtown. [BlogChelsea]
Clinton Hill: Bank of America is throwing a grand-opening party to convince you that it’s just like all the other homegrown, mom-and-pop storefronts on Myrtle Avenue. [Clinton Hill Blog]
East Harlem: Attention, “Sophiscated [sic] Bohemians”! Prudential Douglas Elliman has a brand-new luxury tower that captures the “soul and lifestyle” of “the ‘New’ East Harlem.” [Uptown Flavor]
South Slope: The illegal demolition at 574 Fourth Avenue continues, according to the Concerned (and video-enabled) Citizens of Greenwood Heights. [Gowanus Lounge]
Tribeca: Could entrenched Tribecans actually not want newbies flooding into all those rising new towers? The residents of 49 Vestry suggest as much. [Curbed]
neighborhood watch
The Sky Is Not Falling (in Carroll Gardens, at Least)Bedford-Stuyvesant: Who’s this mysterious “Michael,” whose handwritten notes left on doorsteps offer to pay for Brooklyn homes in cash? [Brownstoner]
Carroll Gardens: Is the sky falling? Nah, it’s just corrugated steel from a condo conversion crashing down near neighbors’ windows. [Brownstoner]
Chelsea: On the 23rd Street strip that once hosted New York’s flagship Krispy Kreme, the newish Burgers & Cupcakes – complete with giant, spinning cupcake – draws mixed nabe reviews. [Chelsea.ClickYourBlock via BlogChelsea]
Chelsea: Will landmark 1971 Knox Martin mural “Venus” be eclipsed by sleek new Jean Nouvel condo tower? [Curbed]
Clinton Hill: Is Pratt planning to destroy these beautiful, boarded-up townhouses on Willoughby Street? [Clinton Hill Blog]
Prospect Heights: With stakes raised by Sunday Times coverage, the backlash against the street art–defacing “Splasher” intensifies. [Englishman in New York]
Red Hook: There are good places to eat in a nabe that’s “not just for crackheads anymore.” [Chow via Brooklyn Record]
neighborhood watch
Brooklyn Streets Unsafe for ArtClinton Hill: Attention all potential butchers, bakers, and, um, ice-cream makers: Some folks want to help you open the Myrtle Avenue shop of your (and their) dreams. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: Sounds like there’s some improper asbestos removal going on amid the demolition of a nineteenth-century warehouse at 205 Water Street. Councilman Yassky, are you listening? [DumboNYC]
Greenpoint: Mm-mm-mm! Who’ll be the lucky new owner of this old gem (complete with mucho parking space) at 155 Freeman Street? [Brownstoner]
Park Slope: Willie lives! Dearly departed black lab of longtime Slope couple becomes namesake for their soon-to-open Fifth Avenue hot-doggery. [Brooklyn Record]
Times Square: You’ll never again have to go to this tourist-infested zone to ogle the semiotics of the latter-day free market. This blogger shot every ad in Times Square! [Ironic Sans via Gridskipper]
Upper East Side: Yearning for nights at the sorority house? Move up here. [Upper East Side Informer]
Williamsburg: A price may soon be put on the head of “The Splasher,” who leaves behind pseudo-intellectual manifestos to explain his (her?) destruction of street art. [Gothamist]
neighborhood watch
Coney Island Goes to the Jocks
Carroll Gardens: Starting in February, you can find Smith and Vine at its new location, 268 Smith Street. [A Brooklyn Life]
Chelsea: How should the lovely General Theological Seminary develop its property at 175 Ninth Avenue? Comment at the community-board meeting tonight. [Living With Legends]
Clinton Hill: Want to open a wine shop? Cheese shop? Coffee shop? Bookshop? There’s some retail space available on Greene Avenue. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Coney Island: It’s nice to see new stuff on the beach (above), but why is it always fitness related? [Kinetic Carnival]
Union Square: It doesn’t matter that she can’t really sing. When Neysa belts out old Madonna songs on the L-train platform, people bob their heads and smile. [Gridskipper]
Williamsburg: Hipster music mecca McCarren Pool among roster of city pools to be considered next week at public hearing for landmark status. Beirut and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, step up and testify! [Gowanus Lounge]
neighborhood watch
It’s Official: Broken Angel to Live On as CondosClinton Hill: The son of the owners of the Broken Angel home says new developers will help keep his parents’ vision intact — and add an arts center on the lot next door! [Clinton Hill Blog and Gowanus Lounge]
Fort Greene: Watchdog says documents show that Empire State Development Corporation blew off Atlantic Yards enviro-impact concerns. [Atlantic Yards Report]
Midtown: Catch media artist Doug Aitkens’s film Sleepwalkers (with Donald Sutherland and Tilda Swinton, no less) on MoMA’s walls tonight. [The L Magazine]
Park Slope: High-tech activists in Greenwood have started filming potentially illegal demolitions and posting them on YouTube. [Curbed]
Upper West Side: Amid a Ben Stiller–inspired frenzy, sleepover nights at the Museum of Natural History are sold out through summer — except girls’ night on April 28. Come on, girls, embrace your inner geek! [
neighborhood watch
Video Stores Diversify in Carroll Gardens
Brooklyn Heights: Who’s that portly older gent who snaps at folks when they step around his little bichon? [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Carroll Gardens: Video stores (above) are dropping like flies — or repurposing to stay alive. [423smith]
Chelsea: Boho hotel residents receive belated, nagging New Year’s message from Patti Smith. [Hotel Chelsea Blog]
Clinton Hill:The nabe’s Myrtle Avenue gets its own event-listing blog, marking edgy, can’t-miss moments like a Bank of America opening. [Myrtle Minutes via Clinton Hill Blog]
East Village: Luxury-tower sales offices face off on lower Broadway. [Curbed]
Park Slope: Slopers worry that old-school sports bar Snooky’s may be history. [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
Williamsburg: Former Old Dutch Mustard building owner makes nostalgic site visit. [Gowanus Lounge]
in other news
Condos, Not Chappelle, to Save Brooklyn’s Broken AngelLast time we checked in with Broken Angel — the Clinton Hill building that sprouts a code-defying crown of striking annexes — its owners’ son was trying to line up Michel Gondry and Dave Chappelle for benefit shows, and Chappelle was saying he was willing to help. Now it seems like Chappelle’s help may not be needed. The answer to Broken Angel’s woes could be, well, the answer to absolutely everything these days: more condos.
The owners, Arthur and Cynthia Wood, reached a deal with a local developer who will convert the building into residences. The Woods will keep an apartment and an art studio in it, and the ground floor will house some sort of “community space.” The Broken Angel stands on a sturdy foundation of a former Brooklyn Trolley HQ; the big question, of course, is whether anyone will get to live on its upper floors, with their junkyard-Gaudi stained-glass windows, and whether those windows will even survive the conversion. Of course, maybe the Woods will get really lucky and Dash Snow will deign to ejaculate on the thing. Those condos would be worth a fortune.
An Angel Is Pulled Closer to Earth [NYT]
Earlier: Dave Chappelle Willing to Help Save Ill Brooklyn House
buy low
Room to Maneuver in Clinton Hill
Corcoran’s Eric Davis is the second broker to list this one-bedroom at 185 Hall Street in Clinton Hill, which previously sat on the market for months. Davis dropped the price to $299,000, and it might be time for a second look. The building has none of the glitz of a brand-new construction, but it’s pet-friendly and an easy walk to Fort Greene Park and the restaurants on DeKalb Avenue. The apartment itself is smallish in size, but it has an enormous terrace that overlooks an iconic brownstone Brooklyn streetscape. Davis is listing two other apartments in the building, so you might get a deal. S. Jhoanna Robledo
neighborhood watch
Toxic Plume Gets Uppity, Moves to Park SlopeBrooklyn Heights: Within a year, there will be clear signage for the Brooklyn Bridge footpath. [Brooklyn Papers]
Clinton Hill: Does actor Daniel London actually live here, or are we just spreading rumors? [Clinton Hill Blog]
Fort Greene: Neighborhood caroling tonight! [Brooklyn Record]
Gowanus: The toxic plume that started here is now gentrifying Park Slope. [Brooklyn Papers]
Prospect Heights: Bruce Ratner is watching you with 29 CCTV cameras. [Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn]
neighborhood watch
Chelsea Hotel Opens Doors to the Dull
Bay Ridge: At least someone is happy about Atlantic Yards. [Bay Ridge Blog]
Chelsea: The doors of the Chelsea Hotel (right) are slowly changing into a boring black. [Hotel Chelsea Blog]
Clinton Hill: Chicken and waffles comes to the neighborhood, but the fries aren’t so good. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: Reject the Swedes and shop at BoConcept, the Danish furniture store opening at 79 Front Street on Friday. [Dumbo NYC]
Gowanus: The Empty Vessel Project sells the boat for a buck; new owners want “alternative weddings.” [Gowanus Lounge]
Midtown West: In case you’re new, beat out the Amtrak amateurs at Penn Station by looking for your track listing on the monitors downstairs. [Inside Traveler via NewYorkology]
Williamsburg: Rumor has it that Galapagos might close soon, too. [Brooklyn Vegan]
neighborhood watch
It’s Not Just a Bus Shelter, It’s Street Furniture!
• Brooklyn: What was your worst meal in the borough this year? Complain away! [Brooklyn Record]
• Chelsea: Trying to catch the east-bound crosstown bus at 23rd and Fifth? Well, you can’t anymore. [Chelsea.ClickYourBlock via BlogChelsea]
• Clinton Hill: How did that hideous building get on Lefferts Place? [Brownstoner]
• Dumbo: Coming soon to Jay Street: a much-needed, independent pharmacy. [Dumbo NYC]
• Gowanus: Looking for as few windows as possible and a dreary concrete façade? There’s a new building on Bond Street just for you. [NYC.gov via Curbed]
neighborhood watch
Brooklyn Pinup Girls
• Brooklyn:Get the borough man in your life a Brooklyn Girls calendar (right). But only if he likes white girls. [Trendy Nation via Sunset Parker]
• Chelsea: The Limelight is resurrected as retail space. So instead of a “drug supermarket,” it will just be an actual market. [NYP]
• Clinton Hill: Find all the bars, restaurants, and stores on this new neighborhood map. [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Coney Island: Will Big Apple Circus get a permanent performance space on the boardwalk? [Brooklyn Eagle via Gowanus Lounge]
• Fort Greene: If the weekend’s “Merry Gridlock” event protesting Atlantic Yards is any indication of the traffic from Atlantic Yards, we’re screwed. Good thing the vote is delayed till next year. [Dope on the Slope]
• Williamsburg: Ride your bike to the Bedford Avenue L station. With wider sidewalks and new bike racks, there will be plenty of room. [Streetsblog]
neighborhood watch
There’s Graffiti Life After 11 Spring Street
Brooklyn Heights: We promised an update: Boccelism beat the Old Dirty Barristers to be champeens of the Floyd NY Bocce League fall season. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Clinton Hill: It seems the Pratt Area Community Council believes residents want an Applebee’s on the corner of Clinton and Fulton. Eatin’ bad in the neighborhood! [Brownstoner]
Gowanus: Looking for the World War II rescue boat known as the Empty Vessel Project? Now it’s moored between the Carroll Street and Union Street bridges. [Gowanus Lounge]
Lower East Side: If you missed the show at 11 Spring Street, there’s still a Jace mural (above) at Houston and Bowery. [Razor Apple]
Midtown: It’s Santacon! And if a pack of Santas storming Times Square, Central Park, and the subway don’t put you in a festive mood, nothing will. [NYCStories]
West Village: Shopsin’s shutters, but look for a smaller, less stressful booth in the Essex Street Market in a few months. [Gridskipper]
Williamsburg: Things got a little stabby at Kellogg’s Diner over the weekend. [Gothamist]
neighborhood watch
Hottest Art Museum at 11 Spring Street (Till Monday)
Brooklyn Heights: Join a pack of revelers on Saturday night and carol around the neighborhood. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Clinton Hill: All this time we had our very own Boiler Room? [North Country Gazette via Sunset Parker]
Crown Heights: Seen all that New York has to offer? Then it’s time for a Hasidic walking tour. [Brooklyn Record]
Dumbo: Foragers Market is hosting a holiday party. With everything 10 percent off, maybe you can afford to shop there. Oh, and free champagne. [Dumbo NYC]
Nolita: Visit 11 Spring Street this weekend for a last look at the graffiti before it goes condo. [Gothamist]
Red Hook: Plans to redevelop the waterfront inspire an afternoon protest. [Gowanus Lounge]
neighborhood watch
What to Tip in Prospect HeightsBrooklyn Heights: A pedestrian was killed this morning on Henry Street near Montague. [Brooklyn Record]
Clinton Hill: This holiday season, help Todd Lester save an endangered artist. [ClintonHillBlog]
Greenpoint: If you start thanking government officials for efficient service, Marty Markowitz may call your house. So be careful. [New York Shitty]
Prospect Heights: Tip your cabbie at least $3 if coming home from Manhattan. [Daily Heights]
Prospect Lefferts Garden: According to CompStat, this place isn’t nearly as deadly as Brooklyn blog readers seem to think it is. [Across the Park]
Upper East Side: What’s the best sports bar for the football novice? [The Upper East Side Scene]
neighborhood watch
Fake Beach Comes to Red HookChelsea: See NYC-themed gingerbread creations (CBGB, Empire State Building) at Chelsea Market. [NYC Stories]
Clinton Hill: No. 70 Lefferts Place was designated today by the Landmark Preservation Commission. Hooray! [Brownstoner]
Dumbo: Hey D.J.’s, there’s a holiday sale at Halcyon on Wednesday. For everyone else: free beer! [A Brooklyn Life]
Long Island City: Cops love it when artists put up unauthorized installations. No, really, they do. [SuckaPants via Razor Apple]
Park Slope: What’s with all the yellow signs that say “Sit Here”? More public art? [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
Red Hook: No need to be jealous of Long Island City. You can have your own fake beach. [Curbed]
neighborhood watch
All Hail the Hipster GymAstoria: You’ve hung out in Astoria Park. Now help take care of it. [Joey in Astoria]
Chelsea: What are they building in there? Find out at public forums tonight and Thursday on neighborhood redevelopment plans. [BlogChelsea]
Clinton Hill: Still looking for a scotch pine, but there are plenty of places to get a tree. [ClintonHillBlog]
Flatiron: Farewell, Shake Shack. We can’t wait to eat you again. [Joe Schumacher]
Lower East Side: Experience the awfulness of the hipster gym and work out at Ludlow Fitness. [Curbed]
Park Slope: A shopping guide to Fifth and Seventh Avenues gives you one less reason to visit Manhattan. [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
Wall Street: Rich? Rushed? Get to Newark airport in eight minutes for only $159. [NewYorkology]
neighborhood watch
Dear God, Not the McSweeney’s!Clinton Hill: Living in a storefront means big windows and your very own pull-down gate. [ClintonHillBlog]
Dyker Heights: You’ve never heard of this neighborhood, but you’ve gotta see the Christmas lights. [Gowanus Lounge]
Harlem: Finally, white people have a place to turn for answers about neighborhood real estate. [Bagel in Harlem]
Park Slope: Mail carriers no longer making it to the top of brownstone steps; issues of McSweeney’s lost to the elements. [Brooklyn Record]
neighborhood watch
Blockbuster Video Not Cool Enough for Carroll GardensCarroll Gardens: Indie nerds and porn lovers successfully close Blockbuster Video on Court Street. [Brooklyn Record]
City Hall: At a Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief rally this morning, those pushy walkers and bicyclers demanded fewer cars. [Streetsblog]
Clinton Hill: Buy a little piece of Brooklyn and help bring the Broken Angel up to code. [Artez’n via Brooklyn Record]
East Village: “Hot Dog” returns to Avenue A. This time she’s almost sober. [Neither More Nor Less]
Long Island City: All those new condo owners will need hospital beds. [NYP]