Walking in kindness at the Monastery of the Precious Blood
with some artfully placed gump.
Check out the driveway in the background at left, leading to the peeling garage door, in Street View. There are at least two things to take notice of: a very inconveniently located sidewalk tree and a blurred-out yellow blob — a taxicab? — that someone wants to keep hidden from the world.
Out in front of someone's house, this sidewalk display case (close-up) of "Fine Disposable Tableware For Your Affair" is aimed at potential Jewish customers here in Borough Park.
Check out these cute pictures of kids who lived here in the 1950s.
The market is still in operation, but the building pictured has been taken over by the Fire Department's Bureau of Fire Investigation.
"Watch out for the Tootsie Rolls!" he called out as I passed him on the sidewalk. I wasn't sure what he was talking about; I thought maybe he was warning me about dog poop on the ground. But when I turned around, I saw he had a handful of actual Tootsie Rolls, and some Dum Dums lollipops as well. He said he always carries candy with him because he likes to make people smile.
Mr. Esposito is 91 years old. We walked a few blocks together and he told me about his family and his time in the military. Seeing me wandering around on a weekday, he must have inferred that I was unemployed, because he asked on a couple of occasions if I was doing all right and wanted to give me some money to buy a sandwich. As we parted ways, he gave me his address and told me to stop by sometime to say hi.
Here we are again at the somewhat mysterious, elongated garden squeezed in between 62nd Street and the tracks of the N train in Dyker Heights, running from 10th Avenue to 11th (aerial view). As you walk the long block between the avenues, the garden seems surprisingly large; the plant beds just go on and on, interspersed with an occasional rickety-looking shack like the one pictured or like this dilapidated pile of shingles.
The Bay Ridge Branch freight line, with the Sea Beach Line (N train) visible at left
This post office preserves the otherwise vanished name of a late-19th-century real estate development that was long ago swallowed by the neighborhood of Borough Park. In its day, Blythebourne was billed as "a model suburban village . . . [with] 40 different styles of cottages," an appealing alternative to that era's overcrowded tenements, whose "physical and moral evils have been deprecated by political economists, reformers, and philanthropists alike."
Gotta get rid of all the chametz before Pesach (Passover) starts — just watch out for the "Passover Specials".
This is the setting of the robot-packed music video for "Hang Up The Phone" by Lipa Schmeltzer, "the Lady Gaga of Hasidic music". I didn't know anything about Mr. Schmeltzer until I saw an album of his advertised on a billboard by the BQE back in 2012.
From the Bronx to Manhattan and now to Brooklyn, the Royal Kingbee continues to push the frontiers of his mighty Rite Aid empire.
Modular Diet Spray, finally in kosher form — and it's only $99.99 per ounce! According to its maker:
Each bottle contains an 'Energy Profile' in multiple potencies (6c / 12c / 30c) imprinted onto a solution of Steam Distilled Water (80%) and Kosher Corn Alcohol (20%). This is a proprietary 'magnetic remanence' homeotherapeutic product.
There are dozens and dozens of colorful pacifiers hanging from the branches of the trees outside this apartment building. The collection was apparently started by a former superintendent, who would often find the things lying on the ground — there are lots of babies here in Borough Park — and it's since become a neighborhood institution, with local children adding their own binkies when they finally outgrow them.
Some text out of frame to the left identifies the musicians. From left to right, they are: Celia Cruz; Ismael Rivera; Ray Barretto; Arsenio Rodríguez; not listed, but clearly Marvin Santiago; Tito Puente; Héctor Lavoe; Eddie Palmieri; and Frankie Ruiz.
In its former life as the Borough Park Presbyterian Church, this structure (presumably without all the siding) was located on the corner of 46th Street and 15th Avenue, where the brick building at left now stands. In 1919, it was purchased by the Progressive Synagogue (a predecessor of the current synagogue), which decided to move the old church to this spot and sell the corner lot to help pay off its debt.
Now, almost a century later, Progressive Temple Beth Ahavath Sholom is the last Reform congregation left in heavily Orthodox Borough Park, making it an object of curiosity and/or disdain to some of its Hasidic neighbors.
Another privately owned Borough Park meter-maid mobile
This mostly finished-looking new park jutting out into the waters of Upper New York Bay behind Bush Terminal was formerly a brownfield site composed of crumbling piers and contaminated landfill (as well as an apple "orchard").
The view from Bush Terminal Piers Park. From left to right, you can see the Statue of Liberty, Jersey City, and Manhattan, with One World Trade Center dominating the skyline.
Don't stand or pass under these hoistways until the goods are landed!
