In June, the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition, an advocacy group for historic preservation, earned a significant victory – albeit an incomplete one – when the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) agreed to calendar five buildings in Gowanus. This decision increased the likelihood that, in the form of longstanding anchors like the American Can Factory and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Powerhouse, some of […]
Day: September 8, 2019
A glimpse into Gallery Players’ upcoming fall productions
The Gallery Players, a 99-seat theater in Park Slope, has staged revivals of works first seen on and off Broadway for more than half a century. It’s also one of the few nonprofit theaters in the borough that operates with an all-volunteer staff. The Gallery Players’ mission is to nurture and provide opportunities for theater artists, to bring professional-quality theater […]
District 15 rezoning may overlook PS 676
PS 32, the Samuel Mills Sprole School, on a stretch of Hoyt Street that is sometimes called Gowanus and other times Carroll Gardens, has a new building sitting next to their schoolyard. It was built to address a growing shortage of educational space in what is defined as District 15, and will be open for business in a year. In […]
Last-mile distribution needs new rules
The trucks are coming, and Red Hook may not be ready for them. The good news is that the city could help, but it would require serious action by the City Planning Commission (CPC) and City Council. The increasing popularity of e-commerce, led by Amazon, has generated a new industry, “last-mile distribution,” which seeks to resolve the challenges that sellers […]
‘A View from the Bridge’ returns to the Red Hook waterfront
Back by popular demand after a sold-out run, Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge will be performed again in Red Hook through Brave New World Repertory Theatre. But unlike your conventional theatergoing experience, the play takes place on a floating barge. Claire Beckman, Brave New World’s producing artistic director and co-founder, explained that View was a play that she […]
‘A Dream Deferred’ spotlights frustration and hope in NYCHA
Any New Yorker who glances at the local newspapers knows something of the major inconveniences and outright horrors experienced by residents of the misgoverned and cash-strapped New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in recent years, but sometimes a visual aid helps. It’s one thing to read about a corroded pipe bursting; seeing the veritable waterfall gush – nonstop, for hours […]
Trapped Explosions: Sculptor Megan Suttles on her work, generalized anxiety, and the Red Hook art community
Megan Suttles’ sculptures have a way of seeming to transform as you look at them, a bit like how you can find different shapes in a passing cloud. The found objects that make up her sculptures (bobby pins, metal hose clamps, squiggly scraps of vinyl left r. The components form either great chaotic tangles or orderly fractal shapes. We talked […]
Dreaming of a Third Eye: Deborah Ugoretz on art and spirituality
When Deborah Ugoretz first came to Red Hook, in the year 2000, the neighborhood and its artists charmed her immediately. “I was just inspired by this whole environment,” she says. “This neighborhood exudes creativity and production.” It took some time, but Ugoretz eventually moved her own studio here in 2011 and has become a huge booster of Red Hook’s artist […]