Day 184

The perils of the sea

July 1st, 2012



The sailors' half of the Carroll Park WWI memorial

Day 184

Flortal of the day

July 1st, 2012


Day 184

Back at 108

July 1st, 2012



Here's a closer look at this house-mosaic.

Day 184



Day 184

Parked a few doors down

July 1st, 2012



This has to be the artist's car.

Day 184

Snow Shoes

July 1st, 2012



On display outside 75 and 77 State Street in Brooklyn is a collection of punnily named footwear-based flower planters made from discarded objects. (Others include a rollerblade with a piece of wood: "Skate Board"; a sneaker with a small adding machine printer: "Foot Print"; and a pair of boots with a laptop: "Re-boot".) They're the work of Nat Hendricks, the buildings' owner. Nat told me that, much to his dismay, some Type A New Yorkers keep coming by and tying all the shoelaces.

Day 184

And there’s Nat

July 1st, 2012



He's talking with Sherry the human and Saturday the dog, having just fetched that water and Coke for me. His block was voted the greenest commercial block in Brooklyn in 2007 and 2010, and is a semifinalist in the 2012 competition; you can see why (and you can also see the shoe planters on the doors and walls).

Day 184

A monumental addition

July 1st, 2012



to our collection of sidewalk vents

Day 184

Euphoria; Is you for me

July 1st, 2012



ESPO's Love Letter to Brooklyn

Day 184

FEAR LESS

July 1st, 2012



Part of this multi-gate message (and not related to the artwork in the previous photo, as far as I know)

Day 184

Transportation Building

July 1st, 2012



This now mostly vacant building was, until 2006, the headquarters of the Transit Authority. It was here, beneath street level, that the mysterious money trains would drop off the cash they had collected from token booths throughout the subway system.




This map, mounted on the side of the Transportation Building, lists every transportation worker who served in the war, with stars showing the locations where 24 of them died.

Day 184




The building in the center, behind the giant blue thingies, is currently owned by NYU-Poly (and known as the Wunsch Building), but it once housed what is now the oldest continuing black congregation in Brooklyn, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Day 184

Portals of the day

July 1st, 2012



Leading to the same house, the doors are labeled "Foul Weather" and "Fair Weather".

Day 184

Mezuzahprint

July 1st, 2012



Unlike some of its longer-lasting comrades, this mezuzah looks to have survived only one or two new coats of paint before being removed. I used to live in an apartment with a rounded, elongated bump on the doorpost — a mezuzah buried under about a dozen tenants' worth of repaintings.

Day 184



Day 184




I like to imagine her serving as a coat rack the rest of the year.



Day 185

Still thriving

July 2nd, 2012



The jellyfish has firmly established itself in the city's industrial ecosystem.

Day 185

Fire crackers

July 2nd, 2012


Day 185

False advertising

July 2nd, 2012



Damn! On a hot day like today, I could have really gone for some lemenad.

Day 185




A tone so deep and so pleasant (at least it once was — the bell is now just street-level eye candy)

Day 185

Looks like new!

July 2nd, 2012



Another perfectly good chair thrown out on the curb

Day 185

As the snow settles

July 2nd, 2012


Day 185

Portal of the day

July 2nd, 2012





Honoring the first US citizen to achieve sainthood (not to be confused with the first native-born American saint, whom we've indirectly encountered on two previous occasions)




That was the question posed to the children who attend Red Hook Playgroup. Their ridiculously cute answers are posted all over this street-facing window. Sylvie came up with another instant classic; her response begins: "That all my friends maybe love me".

Day 185

Home on the road

July 2nd, 2012


Day 185




A tribute to Red Hook's maritime heritage

Day 185

9/11 memorial #71

July 2nd, 2012


Day 185

Land of Enchantment

July 2nd, 2012


Day 186

Shortal of the day

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186

Gowanus beach ball!

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186

9/11 memorial #72

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186



Day 186

9/11 memorial #73

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186

Steamer of the Damned

July 3rd, 2012



Our second encounter with the Red Hook grain elevator

Day 186

No trapping allowed

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186

Erie Basin Park

July 3rd, 2012



IKEA wanted to put a store in Red Hook on the site of an old shipyard; as part of the deal, they had to build a park to preserve some of the area's history and provide public access to the waterfront. The sprawling park is quite beautiful, and incorporates many shipyard relics, including the massive crane you see here. I do have one complaint, though...

Day 186




So that's what carts are for? Fascinating!

Day 186

Wavy sun loungers?

July 3rd, 2012



With anti-skateboard logs?

Day 186

Water Taxi

July 3rd, 2012



Now boarding: the all-important rack of snack-size Frito-Lay products

Day 186

Brooklyn’s trolley

July 3rd, 2012



These cars are owned by the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association, an organization run by Bob Diamond (of Atlantic Avenue Tunnel fame) that hopes to re-establish trolley service in Brooklyn. They've struggled for more than a decade to obtain city approval for the project, and at one point were even laying tracks in the street, but all that now remains of their efforts are these three rusting trolley cars sitting behind the Fairway supermarket in Red Hook.

Day 186

Free barge!

July 3rd, 2012



The Waterfront Museum

Day 186




Manhattan's 34th Street Partnership BID may have outgrown these dinged-up old planters, but Red Hook isn't too proud to put them to good use. You can find quite a few of them livening up the waterfront around here.

Day 186

Some Walls Are Invisible

July 3rd, 2012



A head that is either exploding into facets or cohering

Day 186

Portal of the day

July 3rd, 2012


Day 186

Jaws!

July 3rd, 2012


Day 187

Truck bed garden!

July 4th, 2012


Day 187

Typical garden pests

July 4th, 2012



Walrus!