About Joshua D. Fischer

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As Williamsburg Gets Touristy, Pat Kiernan Finds ‘Real People’ at The Meatball Shop

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(Photos: Nina Westervelt)

(Photos: Nina Westervelt)

You’ve probably seen Pat Kiernan on NY1 delivering the early-morning news in his sincere yet slightly dry style. If you haven’t, then it’s very possible you’ve seen him in 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, or Broad City. In each, he plays himself informing terrified TV viewers that the world is ending by way of a super-villain or super-storm. To the world, the sharp news junkie has become the face of New York, even if that face (and that haircut) is so sweetly Canadian.
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Watch Andrew W.K. Bring His Own Jäger to Amarin Cafe

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Before he ascended to the divine status of Real-Life Party God, legendary party-rocker Andrew W.K. was just an anonymous regular eating Thai food alone at Amarin Café. From 1998 to 2001, he lived first in Williamsburg and then in Greenpoint, where Amarin opened in 1997 in a space that was formerly a Chinese restaurant.
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When He Isn’t Brewing Coffee at Strangeways, Eddie Cedeño Is Drinking Coors at Pearl’s

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(Photo: Nina Westervelt)

(Photos: Nina Westervelt)

Though he fears that Bushwick really is on its way to becoming the “Next Williamsburg,” Eddie Cedeño loves this Brooklyn neighborhood, and he really loves being a regular at Pearl’s Social and Billy Club. It’s part of what Eddie calls The Triangle, which consists of this bar, the coffee shop he owns called Strangeways Coffee, and his apartment, which are all within three square blocks of each other. Eddie used to live on famed and now overrun Bedford Avenue, but he says he was priced out of Williamsburg. (“Who can afford $1,000 for one room?”) And yet, Eddie is part of what changed his old ‘hood and what’s making his ‘hood of six years so popular.
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This Theater Kid Has a Thing For Skulls, and So Does Hair Metal

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(Photo: Nina Westervelt)

(Photo: Nina Westervelt)

In the two and a half years that Ariel Pellman has gone to Hair Metal in Greenpoint, she’s also gone through six hairstyles. See if you can follow along with just a few: When she first visited the six-seater salon, Ariel had some purple in her hair, “but it was mostly black,” she says. “We shaved the side and made that hot pink, so I had purple and pink. Then, we did the same and bleached the tips and did teal on the bottom. And then we shaved it again and did teal with a black skull on the side.” More →

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Anna Bloda Gets ‘Casual Freaky’ at Beacon’s Closet As It Leaves Williamsburg

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(Photo: Nina Westervelt)

(Photo: Nina Westervelt)

Anna Bloda first ventured into Beacon’s Closet around 12 years ago, when she was living in her native Krakow, Poland and visiting the States. With its giant Polish population, naturally Anna stayed in Greenpoint and soon found herself exploring Williamsburg. That’s where she came upon the essential go-to for hipster and vintage wear.
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Metalhead Paul Martino Doesn’t Get a Hangover, He Gets a ‘Bangover’ From St. Vitus

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(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

Can a metalhead also be a nerd? It’s an eternal question that 30-year-old Paul Martino destroys smartly. “I’m a huge nerd,” the friendly, long-haired metal fan declares from a booth in a dark corner of Greenpoint’s St. Vitus. “Whether it’s math, heavy metal music, video games, beer, professional wrestling, sports, everything I’m into, I go in full force. I really geek out on the things I love.”
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Something Magical Happens When This ‘Coffeetographer’ Goes to Café Grumpy

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(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

Coffee shops are very important to Chérmelle Edwards. As a freelance writer and “coffeetographer” (a coffee photographer), the passionate and too-pleasant-for-someone-so-caffeinated thirtysomething has made coffee her life. Her website, smdlr.com (an acronym for small, medium, and large), is a “cultural ode to coffee culture,” she says. The site is meant to be a “communal space for cultural revolution,” which sounds crazy ambitious. But Chérmelle truly believes in the power of coffee culture: “It’s about showing people that everything we love as a society: music, art, film, style, connection, community, all exists in the coffee shop.”
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Matchless Is ‘An After-School Program For Late-Night Comedians,’ Thanks to This Guy

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(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

“Beautiful” is not the first word that comes to mind when you step into the back room at Bar Matchless. But that’s how comic Nimesh Patel affectionately describes the dark, brick and concrete space that houses a small stage with the lonely bones of a drum kit and a couple guitar amps sitting silently on top. As host of the free Monday night show Broken Comedy, Nimesh tirelessly works the room every week.
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This Starving Artist Has a $5 Wine Recommendation For You

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(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

Raimundo Rubio has been buying his booze at Greenpoint Wine & Liquors for 13 years. The clean and well-lit, no-frills store is just a block away from his apartment where he paints nearly nonstop, save for going for a daily run in McCarren Park. “I drink wine every day,” he says. “Two glasses at lunchtime and the rest of the bottle at night.”
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This Actor-Comedian Doesn’t Want to Desecrate His Local With ‘a Particular Type of Woman’

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(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

(Photo: Ebru Yildiz)

The bartender at Brooklyn Star doesn’t know Seaton Smith. Perhaps he will someday soon, but not because Seaton’s been a regular for the past several months. Instead, maybe it’ll be because Seaton will be on TV. The 31-year-old comedian and soon-to-be sitcom actor keeps a low profile at the bar-restaurant he visits late at night after hitting the comedy clubs. On this night, he’ll perform two sets in Times Square. Then, he’ll likely do what he usually does: come back to his neighborhood and unwind here with his preferred drink, a Sazerac. Since a kitchen fire took out the original, this Williamsburg location is just over a couple years old. But it has quickly become a favorite go-to for late-night diners and drinkers.
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