Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Category: Brooklyn

  • Alors, Les Hipsters

    Possibly the best blog headline I’ve ever written.

    From The Observer, an amusing account of French tourists flocking to Brooklyn:

    The tourists chuckled knowingly as Ms. Goujon went on to list a few cliché signifiers, which included bulldogs, graphic design and, of course, fixed-gear bicycles.

    Seriously, what is it with fixed gear bicycles? But more from the article:

    What Brooklyn did better than what we did in Franc is the cool aspect. In France, all those places exist, but they are not cool.

    Les hipsters indeed…

  • Dumbo Before and After

    This post from Brownstoner amuses me on many levels.

    First they state that the name DUMBO was meant to deter real estate brokers. The story I had always read was that the name was created by real estate brokers to turn DUMBO into the next SoHo. I now have no idea which story is correct. DUMBO would eventually become Brooklyn’s SoHo, as it last year became Brooklyn’s most expensive area.

    But the pictures on the post amuse me even more. The first one is the classic Dumbo shot.

    You can just google “Dumbo Manhattan Bridge” and the image search will show that picture a million times. You see in the picture a person standing in the middle of the street taking a picture. That spot is two blocks from my office and my daughter’s art class is in the red brick building on the right. During warm weather you literally cannot walk past that intersection without at least one tourist standing in that spot. Often multiple groups and often wedding parties. It’s a good thing there isn’t much traffic.

    But the next picture is super cool. From 1909 when the bridge was three years from completion. All you see is the Brooklyn tower, no actual bridge…

    And the last picture is from 1974 when the neighborhood was sketchy. Hard to believe every apartment in that picture sells for over a million dollars today…

  • Things I Won’t Be Doing

    Where to Meet in Brooklyn for the 2016 No Pants Subway Ride.

  • NYC to LA: Really?

    Today was a normal day in NYC. Not so much in LA.

    The reaction from NY?

    In New York, Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said at a news conference that there was nothing to suggest that the threat was credible, and plenty to suggest that it was not.

    “It was so generic, so outlandish, and posed to numerous school systems simultaneously,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Kids should be in school today. We will be vigilant. But we are absolutely convinced our schools are safe.”

    Stephen Davis, the top spokesman for the New York Police Department, said, “After an analysis, we have determined that the emails were the exact same wording with the exception of putting in the cities’ names and changing the number of people who were supposed to be participating in it,” meaning the threatened attack on schools. “Other than that,” he said, “it was a cut-and-paste job.”

  • Brooklyn is Gorgeous

    I only wish I took this picture of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden…

    Click to make more bigger…

  • Jehovah’s Witnesses About to Make Big Bucks

    The Jehovah’s Witnesses have long owned several large buildings in DUMBO Brooklyn. They decided to start selling them off a couple of years ago (one building went for $375 million).

    The headquarters building just went on the market (plus two other sites) and they aren’t even listing a price (as they say, if you have to ask…). They will just take offers. Brownstoner:

    The iconic HQ of the Jehovah’s Witnesses at 25-30 Columbia Heights has just hit the market, along with two other Witness-owned sites in Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights. “These kinds of properties are once-in-a-generation in Brooklyn,” Watchtower spokesman Richard Devine told Brownstoner. “Because of their location and size, we expect considerable interest.”

    Yes, we can practically hear the developers salivating.

  • Birthday Sunset

    We had Victoria’s birthday party at the relatively new Prospect Park ice skating rink.

    It was a great party and everyone had fun. But it was topped off with a freakishly good sunset. The pictures don’t do it justice.

    DSC05653DSC05654DSC05655DSC05656

  • Brooklyn Skyscrapers

    For a long time Brooklyn did not really have skyscrapers. Prior to 2009 the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower was the tallest at 42 stories.

    Since 2010 two taller high-rise buildings were built with the tallest 51 floors (590 feet). Tall, but not by Manhattan standards.

    That is apparently changing.

    Right next to Junior’s cheesecake (less than a half mile from our place), a 1,000 foot tower is planned.

    Holy crap.

  • Amazon Prime Now Rocks

    I’ve blogged about Amazon Prime Now before, but while cool, I haven’t used it much. Honestly, 2 day delivery is generally fine.

    Today was different. I get to my office and my wireless keyboard isn’t working. I assume it’s the batteries and get some new ones. Still toast. You would hit a key 30 times and it would register once. The mouse was fine, so clearly something fried in the keyboard wireless.

    I’m a developer. Typing is important. I can’t go two days without a keyboard.

    There’s a Best Buy 4 blocks from my apartment, but my office is in a funky part of Brooklyn. Nothing close. So at 9:30 I fire up the Prime Now app. The same keyboard I use is available for $20. Plus a $5 tip for the delivery person. The 10-12 window is available. Click Purchase.

    It arrived before 11. An hour and a half with the normal price plus the same tip I give the pizza guy.

    Can’t beat that.

  • Another Antic

    I’m very full.

    Food list this year:

    • Roasted Corn
    • Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Buttermilk Channel
    • Alcapurrias
    • Empanadas
    • Bratwurst
    • Oysters
    • Popcorn
    • Jerk Chicken

    Of course there was fun for the kiddos. Big slides:
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    Horses:

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    The NYC Transit Museum breaks out the old buses. That’s Tori and her friend Logan. No clue who the boy with his tongue out is.

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    One of the pizza joints had the dough thrower showing off (look closely, the dough is in the upper left hand corner of the picture):

    20150927_143408

    And a new luxury spa decided that this was a good idea…

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    A fun, if slightly random, Atlantic Antic.