Gowanus A Go-Go: A Benefit for the Gowanus Canal Conservancy

GOWANUS A GO GO

Monday, January 25, 2010 6:30 PM 

a benefit concert to support the Gowanus Canal Conservancy

PLUSHGUN

PAPERDOLL

THE FLANKS

GRAMERCY ARMS

DJ SPIRITBEAR

The Gowanus Canal Conservancy will be hosting the first annual "Gowanus a Go Go" benefit concert. Gowanus a Go Go will feature some of the best bands of the New York City music scene, bringing them together to play at The Bell House in the Gowanus Canal district. 

All proceeds from the concert will go to the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2006, dedicated to the preservation, restoration and smart growth of the Gowanus Canal and its environs for the greater good of the community, to continue their ongoing work on the canal and the greater Gowanus neighborhood.

Direct link to tickets here.

Jonathan Lethem on Brooklyn. Through British Eyes.

Motherless Brooklyn Author Jonathan Lethem gave an interview to the Observer (a British paper), on subjects ranging from Manhattan to writing to Dean Street. I must confess that I've always found Mr. Lethem a bit whiny, and it is hard to find a hipster who does not enjoy his work, but it's interesting to read how another culture gets it information about Brooklyn. The article does also do some serious journalist felating of Mr. Lethem.

Some highlights:

"This whole neighbourhood has become centred on the kind of middle-class families that were just one very small minority element then,"

"The dirty word hovering over all this is gentrification – "a Nixon word", as his parents saw it. The mother in Fortress of Solitude teaches her son to be proud of calling the neighbourhood Gowanus, rather than the nearby, more chi-chi Boerum Hill"

"As a teenager, Lethem left. He went to Bennington College in Vermont"

And my favorite:

"I didn't set out to write a great Brooklyn novel, or a Brooklyn novel at all. I set out to write the great novel of Dean Street between Bond and Nevins, on a certain summer's day in 1972."

via Curbed.

Congresswoman Yvette Clark Leaves Community Waiting, Wanting

Last night Conresswoman Yvette Clark (D-NY) held a community roundtable last night at Christ Church, courtesy of the Cobble Hill Association. After showing up half an hour late, the Congresswoman gave updates on topics ranging from joblessness to health care to housing. After a short discussion on health care, the discussion moved to the topic that everyone knew it would, Superfunding of the Gowanus Canal.

Congresswoman Clark explained her (non) position thusly: The Superfund process is slow, and the EPA currently does not have enough money to complete the process (this is debatable). The Mayor's plan (which itself lacks many details), will be faster and will include private sector money. She claimed that she is still waiting for details to emerge on both plans before endorsing either plan. See some of her comments in the video at the bottom.

The vast majority of those there endorsed Superfund designation and peppered the Congresswoman with questions about why she refused to endorse Superfund status. She kept on repeating that in fact, she had no endorsed EITHER plan. What she failed to realize was that in fact, by not endorsing the Superfund designation, she was implicitly endorsing the Mayor's Plan, or, at the very least, supporting those who oppose Superfund designation.

The rest of the night was spent with the Congresswoman attempting to straddle the fence on the issue, and with her parrying the citizen's concerns. While composed and cool under pressure, at a few points, she and her staff did break down and begin bantering with residents.

Congresswoman, the issue is simple. It will soon be a year since the issue has been raised. On one side of the issue are residents, your voting constituents. On the other side, people who stand to make loads and loads of money.

Who will you support?

More detailed writeup at Pardon Me For Asking, with additional video.

The Beer Man of Bay Ridge

A friend and fellow fisherman recently authored an article for the Brooklyn Paper on a new specialty beer store in Bay Ridge. Although not directly Carroll Gardens related, it is still a fun read.
 
"Dharmesh Chokshi’s new BR Specialty Beer Store offers 500 other bottles of beers for the rest of us.

“All of our beers were rated 95 percent or higher on Beeradvocate.com,” Chokshi said, adding that he spent considerable time roaming around some of the borough’s best bars before putting together his own shopping list.

As a result, BR’s offerings extend well beyond the full line of popular alt-brews like Dogfish, Rogue and Chimay to add organic craft beers and Belgian ales, not to mention an extensive line of wintertime strong brews that come in at more than eight percent alcohol."

For more by Mike, check out Lines in the Street.

A Life In The Gowanus Houses

Many newcomers to Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill (and, lets face it, many of the natives) avoid the Gowanus Houses. Sure, they're projects, but as projects go, they're not that bad. The New York Times has a nice little piece on one life in the Gowanus Houses, and her impact on the Drill Team the "Gowanus Wildcats".

"Ms. Flowers, now 51 and a facilitator at an East New York post office, still lives in the three-bedroom apartment where she grew up. And a third generation is in residence: the apartment is also home to her son, Darryl, 31, who works at a consulting and technology firm. (Ms. Flowers is engaged to his father, a longtime friend.) 

Ms. Flowers, who pays about $1,000 in rent, is not sure how much her parents paid when they arrived, but she could check because she has saved all the old receipts. “I hardly throw anything away,” she admitted. “You name it, it’s around here somewhere.” 

Over the years, her life has been brushed by the sorrow and disarray that is sadly commonplace in many of the city’s public housing complexes. She does what she can to fight back." 

Sometimes we lose track of the fact that old timers live everywhere, even the pjs. Click through and read about a life that is so close and yet so far from the Carroll Street F Train stop.

Fear Not Landlords: Brownstone Brooklyn Rents Going Back Up!

In 2008 and some of 2009, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Height, Fort Greene, Park Slope and most of Brownstone Brooklyn were all affected by the down real estate market, with purchase prices and rents descending rapidly. Well, turns out that while purchase prices have yet to recover, rents are going back up. From Courier-Life:

"As the temperature dropped, rental activity increased markedly. “The hyperactive November and December 2009 are a true testament to the resiliency of the brownstone Brooklyn rental market,” the report states. “It is as if everyone had been asleep and then mid-November capriciously happened.”

While most of the year was hardly a cause for elation, December certainly impressed: 15.3 percent of all rental transactions for the year were completed that month alone, the report found.

...

Still, conditions are certainly more favorable for renters than they were at the irrational heights of the last real estate bubble. Over the last year, virtually all rental units decreased in price in comparison to 2008. Two bedroom apartments lead the general trend, renting for an average of $2,605 a month, shaving $225 a month from 2008. One bedrooms fell an average of $214 and three bedrooms on average were $141 cheaper in 2009, down to an average of $3,000 a month."

Is this a temporary uptick, in response to steady demand and reduced prices, or will we see prices rebound as we head in 2010? As Bob Marley says...

City Diving: The Urban Divers at the New York Boat Show

The Urban Divers have always fascinated. Although I consider myself an aquatic person, and hold PADI certifications, the waters around New York have never fascinated the diver in me. Maybe I'm not cold-blooded enough, who knows. Nonetheless, I have always taken in interest in the Urban Divers' affairs, and now word comes, courtesy of the Brooklyn Heights Courier, that the Urban Divers will be come out to the New York Boat Show, which yours truly will be attending as well.

"The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy will be wheeling its 48-foot traveling urban nature center and maritime museum called Enviromedia Mobile to the New York Boat Show.

The vehicle offers a host of exhibits meant to inspire discovery and learning about the urban estuary and watershed, as well as the chance to learn about diverse maritime heroes and history. Over the summer, the travelling museum touched down across the borough, from Bensonhurst to Red Hook as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River.

The Urban Divers, along with its youth urban marine explorers, will provides public activities in a hands-on way, teaching environmental investigation and scientific exploration."

The New York Boat Show is at the Javits Center, from January 20th - January 24th. For tickets, go to nyboatshow.com. See you there!

All In All: A Trolley Dodger's Wall?

The wall on Third and Third in Gowanus, which may or may not have been part of Washington Park (head on over to the Old Stone House for more history), the original home of the Brooklyn (Trolley) Dodgers, has drawn the attention of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. From Courier-Life:

"The Landmark Preservation Commission said it will review whether the 20-foot wall, which stands at Third Avenue between First and Third Streets, should be named a city landmark. “We are aware of it, and it is under consideration,” said Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokesperson for Landmarks.

Some believe the wall was once part of a clubhouse or carriage house in Washington Park stadium, where baseball teams that would later become the Brooklyn Dodgers once played. From 1898-1912, the Brooklyn Superbas, later known as the Trolley Dodgers and then the Dodgers, played in the stadium.

Reports surfaced last week that the historic value of the wall has now become suspect. Brooklyn historian and author Brian Merlis reportedly said that there is no evidence that the wall is original to the now-vanished stadium, claiming with “absolute certainty” that the wall was not a part of the stadium prior to the team’s departure in 1912."

If a real Brooklynite had Hitler, Stalin and Walter O'Malley in a room with a gun, but only had two bullets, who does the Brooklynite shoot?

More Super Fun Superfund Meetings!

The EPA is back again, with more informational meetings on the Superfund process. Pardon Me For Asking is reporting that the EPA's meeting will be held on on Thursday, January 21, 2009, from 7-9 pm at PS 32.

Lets hope that they have some new information about where the Gowanus is in the Super Fun Superfund food chain.

For more Superfund information, check out the EPA's website for the Gowanus.

Hey, Bloomberg: Keep Your Message Clear

There is fetid, putrid, contaminant-infested water body that surely needs some extensive cleanup, due to it's industrial past. However, this one isn't in an area that has high real estate value, or mega-developers bearing down on it, or high-paid lobbyists opposing it, so Mayor Bloomberg has decided to go along for the ride! From the Brooklyn Paper:

"The Bloomberg Administration has quietly backed a federal effort to list North Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek as a toxic Superfund site — though the city continues to fight the very same classification for the Gowanus Canal.

On Dec. 23, the city submitted its testimony in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Newtown Creek Superfund bid, citing the waterway’s pollution. Yet at the Gowanus Canal, which is similarly befouled yet is ripe for luxury development along its banks, the city is still moving forward with its own clean-up.

“They are different situations and we evaluate each one independently,” said Marc La Vorgna, a mayoral spokesperson. “Each situation is not the same.”

The pollution in both waterways certainly is. The main difference is that the city, with the help of developers like Toll Brothers, is hoping to turn the rundown manufacturing zone around the Gowanus Canal into a residential, commercial and manufacturing area with thousands of luxury units and $400 million in private investment."

Mayor Bloomberg, this rouse is very easy to see through. Don't disappoint us again keep on disappointing us.

Caputo's Bake Shop: A Carroll Gardens Haven

Caputo's Bake Shop occupies the first and second floor of a white-brick building at 329 Court Street between Sackett and Union.  If you live in Carroll Gardens, you know this bakery quite well.  In fact, the Caputos may even know you.  Their long, striped yellow bread bags with the bold blue capped CAPUTO'S font may be the most recognizable logo in the neighborhood.  And if someone sent you on a scavenger hunt to find it, you wouldn't be limited to the bakery alone.  Caputo's not only boasts of a successful retail business, but of a thriving wholesale business as well.  They distribute their breads, of which there are over 100 different varieties, to stores all over Brooklyn.  They are, without a doubt, the men with the bread. 

Meet John and James Caputo - father and son. 

Established in 1904 by John's father and grandfather, the bakery was originally opened for business on the southeast corner of Union and Hicks before it and adjacent buildings were demolished to make room for the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  John's father was the baker and he did everything by hand in an old-fashioned slow mixer.  They sold three breads: plain, seeded, and scalita (a dry Sicilian bread that goes best with soups, I learned).  Home deliveries were big then and so frequent trips were made by horse and wagon around the neighborhood, running up stoops with bread baskets.  "Families ate a lot of bread - five to ten loaves a day!" John says.

The clientele was noticeably different as it was a working-class Italian-American neighborhood.  "If you wanted to work behind the counter and be a salesgirl, you had to speak fluent Italian," John recalls.  "Our backhands? All Italian."  Those scalita loaves went fast.  "Today we only sell a couple of scalitas, but we used to make hundreds of them.  Meat was expensive and so the staple was bread.  You filled up on bread.  My father used to say 'You can't have a piece of meat without a piece of bread'," John reminisces.  James laughs and adds, "Our family still can't eat without the bread." 

In the early 1960s, right around the time the old International Longshoremen's Association building was being built (now torn down in order to make room for upscale housing), the business moved to 332 Court Street (across the street from its present location).  With bakery establishments on the rise, Caputo's saw competition from nine other stores.  "There was such a demand for bread that it was okay to have so many open though," John explains.  "Some did better than others but everyone, at least, made a living." 

Today, however, Caputo's is one of the two standing traditional Italian bread bakeries in the neighborhood (the other being Mazzola's on the corner of Henry and Union).  A day-to-day business with preparation beginning around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, there are doughs that need to be started one day and finished out the next and then there are some that are baked out in one day and put under refrigeration.  Some doughs take three days to prepare.  However, it's during the holiday season when the Caputo men really need and require the most help from their staff.  "Even then, it's not enough," the both of them agree.  

In 106 years, the business has been passed down amongst five generations of Caputos and we can only hope it doesn't end with James.  Years ago, when James was working in finance, John actually considered working his way out of the bakery so that he could retire.  James didn't like the sound of that.  "I decided it was a bad idea," he jokes.  "We were a family business and my Dad had put in forty, fifty years here.  I couldn't let him go that easily."

This father and son duo have a fairly straightforward business motto that has been around a long, long time: KEEP THE PEOPLE HAPPY.  They're a neighborhood bakery that caters to its inhabitants - always has, always will.  "One of the reasons why we changed our mix of breads was to accommodate all of the young, new people who were moving in," John explains.  "Fifteen years ago, bread was still a popular thing... but they came wanting the new breads - the kaiser rolls, the brioche, the olive."  He lets out a little smile and says, "They thought they were gourmets." [Side note: the olive bread is my favorite bread there.]  "But that's why we're still here," John says.  "We bake what the people want.  If we depended only on the basic items we sold forty and fifty years ago, people would pass right by."  And pass right by, they do not.  Not when you have baguettes and ciabattas, olive breads and onion loaves, rusticas and semolinas stacked warm and pretty in the window.

It seems that the bread attract the parents and the cookies beneath the counter attract the children.  "I see it, everyday," James says.  "A child will not allow his mother to pass the shop without stopping for a cookie." 





Caputo's Bake Shop
329 Court Street b/w Sackett and Union
718-875-6871 

More by Sylvie Morgan Flatow 
Photos by Max Flatow

Brooklyn House of Detention Clears More Hurdles

Outgoing New York City Comptroller (and ex-Mayoral Candidate) William (Bill) Thompson has dropped the Office's opposition to the reopening of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue. From the Brooklyn Eagle:


"An expected courtroom fight between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Comptroller Bill Thompson over a design contract for a Downtown Brooklyn jail was suddenly resolved on New Year’s Eve when Thompson, in an 11th-hour turnaround, agreed to register the contract on the last day of his term in office. 


The lawsuit, which sought to have the state Supreme Court compel Thompson to register the contract, thus became moot. It was withdrawn by Bloomberg shortly thereafter."

I understand those who are worried about their real estate values, however we need to recognize that as a society, we have a need for detention facilities. An existing complex, in close proximity to arraignment facilities, seems like a perfect situation for a cash-strapped city with over crowded jails.

Meet Your Congresswoman: Yvette Clark

Reported by Pardon Me For Asking and the Cobble Hill Association, Congresswoman Yvette Clark will be hosting a Community Roundtable at Christ Church (Clinton and Kane) on Monday, January 11th, at 7:30 pm. If history serves, one issue will likely dominate the night, that of Superfund status for the Gowanus. From PMFA:

"I believe that Congresswoman Clarke owes her constituents an explanation for her failure to take a stand on the proposed listing of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site. She has been tiptoeing around the issue for months claiming she is doing due-diligence. As opposed to Congresswoman Velázquez's strong pro-Superfund statement, Ms. Clarke's fence-sitting has been deplorable.

I had lengthy conversations with the Congresswoman's staff about this very important environmental issue and hope to have an opportunity to finally hear directly from Ms. Clarke."

I hope that the Congresswoman and her staff are prepared for the constituents' ideas.

CVS Crime Wave?

Over at the Brooklyn Paper, we learned this morning that the Court Street CVS (between 2st and 2nd Places) has been the site of at least two attempted robberies in the past couple of weeks. From the Police Blotter:

"One week after our Police Blotter crackled with a juicy item about a pushy shoplifter at the store between First and Second places, the manager told cops that a perp entered the store about 2:50 pm and tried to leave without paying for several items.

Employees wrestled with the villain and he gave back the items. But when workers refused to allow him to leave, he got violent, pulling a knife.

“I gave you your stuff back — get off me,” he said, brandishing the blade before making his getaway.

Cops are looking for a 6-foot, 230-pound bald man in his 40s."

Lets keep an eye out, Carroll Gardeners!

Throwdown: Bobby Flay Comes to Court Street

Tune into the Food Network on January 13th at 9 pm, to see Bobby Flay "Throwdown" at Fish Tales on Court Street. From the Food Network:

"John Addis, owner and chef of Fish Tales, is a self-proclaimed fish fanatic. He thinks his Manhattan Fish Chowder has earned him a spot on a Food Network special called "Hooked on Chowder." What he does not know is Iron Chef Flay will be showing up to serve him with a Throwdown challenge. Stay tuned to see who sinks or swims on this tasty chowder battle."