Celebrating Community
Upon entering Brooklyn Bridge Park, there is a big, gray building off to one side that says Iris Cafe Town Market at 125 Bridge Park Drive. Inside there is a restaurant with wooden walls and a great view of the waterfront, and a market in the back. The owners of the Iris Cafe, Radi, and Beatriz Hamdan were kind enough […]
The Red Hook Locals Softball League is back for the second season in a row after a long hiatus while waiting for the ballfields in the neighborhood to re-open. The Wobblies, Bait & Tackle, the Record Shop, and B61 have all returned this season, and Hometown has joined as an expansion team. Greg “Greggles” Fischer, who plays for Bait & […]
On a quiet July afternoon on Verona Street, near the corner of Van Brunt, Ken Marcelle sweeps hair from the floor before his next appointment. The incoming client is Keaton Tips, formally a resident of Red Hook. A 34-year-old animator and motion designer, Tips moved from Dikeman Street to an apartment in Ridgewood, Queens, in 2020. That year, many of […]
New York City’s experiment in rank choice voting applies to all municipal offices, but only in Party primaries, and in special elections, which are non-partisan. It does not apply to the main event; general election are still “first past the post.” Yes, you can argue that, in NYC, Democratic primary elections are, in fact, the main event. But, they are […]
The terms “summer reading” “beach reads” or even “guilty pleasures” are frequently tossed around in July and August. These terms conjure different images and ideas – the dreaded mandatory summer reading for reluctant students, the splashy / trashy cover of a romance with sand stuck in the pages or maybe the various media platforms where you can find lists such […]
Sunset Park has a history of things happening to it, rather than for it. In Thomas J. Campanella’s thorough history of the borough, “Brooklyn: The Once and Future City”, Campanella describes how the borough’s neighborhoods were transformed by Robert Moses-era construction projects. Working class neighborhoods were re-branded with names like Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. In Sunset Park, Third Avenue […]
A classic American drink, the egg cream is a true culinary invention of New York City, up there with chicken and waffles, the Waldorf salad, and baked Alaska to name a few. It was also deemed “Brooklyn’s official elixir since the 1920s” by former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz 21 years ago. Following the end of World War II before […]
I eagerly waited in line at the Coney Island Amphitheater to see the music royal, Skip Marley. Built in 2016, Coney Island’s Amphitheater is an awesome beach-side venue, built for live music. Hosted by Shani Kuture, the Summer Stage concert also included the likes of accomplished Caribbean musicians and DJs like King Cruff, Patrice Roberts, Sarkodie, Bobby Konders, and DJ […]
When New Yorkers take an airline flight, they go to one of three major airports – Newark, LaGuardia or JFK. But before any of them existed, New York’s first commercial airport was Floyd Bennett Field, in a still-underdeveloped area of southeast Brooklyn, just northwest of the Gil Hodges Bridge to the Rockaways. Never a commercial success during its era of […]
Actress, director, and on-camera coach Nancy Reardon, 81, has worked with St. Ann’s students for the past 50 years, engaging them in character development and strengthening their self-confidence for polished stage performances through theater classes and Shakespeare workshops. This spring, the “queen” of Saint Ann’s stepped down from her throne. “They called it a coronation, not a retirement, as they […]