No Comments

Lil’ Nugs: Nomenclature Wars, (Under)Waterfront Property

Every day around 4:20 p.m. we stuff your pipe with Lil’ Nugs, our late afternoon link dump.

LES Roof - 0167

(Photo: Joe Raskin)

The East Village, Alphabet City, Midtown South – seems that no one really knows what to call the area east of Third Avenue and north of Houston anymore. But it turns out that this ontological crisis is nothing new. Flaming Pablum traces the evolving nomenclature of, uh, whatever we’re calling this neighborhood now. [Flaming Pablum]

Massey Knakal Realty is marketing a parcel along the Greenpoint East River waterfront. Check that; it’s in the East River. It is literally underwater. But the good news is that “the lot presents a unique opportunity for waterfront development,” as the listing puts it. The price? A cool $2.5 million. [] More →

No Comments

Study: Rents in Chinatown and LES Still Cheaper Than City Median, But Rising

Screen shot 2013-06-24 at 12.33.21 PMA new study tells us what we might’ve guessed from the recent proliferation of ping pong-tabled “event spaces”: gentrification is on the rise in Chinatown and the Lower East Side.

Or so concludes a report studying Asian neighborhoods in Boston, New York and Philadelphia in order to analyze displacement occurring as a result of higher rents (and no, we’re not just talking about ).
More →

2 Comments

Watch a Bicycle Harvester Do His Thing With a Garage Queen

Watch a Bicycle Harvester Do His Thing With a Garage Queen

AJ Nichols, the bike mechanic who was repairing and selling bicycles out of a basement in Bushwick, is enjoying a new life above ground. The 26-year-old North Carolinian relocated his subterranean studio to a proper storefront and, after decorating it with woodworking scraps from an artist’s dumpster, grand-opened Harvest Cyclery at 606 Bushwick Avenue earlier this month.
More →

No Comments

Reel Psyched: Feminism, Punk Rock, Bloodshed and Free Pizza

Here’s what we’re really excited to see this week in local theaters (or, for that matter, at local bars and rooftops).

Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who believed wholeheartedly in feminism and punk rock, and fully embraced a DIY method of filmmaking. Before cancer cut her life short at age 32, she made some of the most influential underground films of the ’90s, including “I Was a Teenage Serial Killer,” “Road Movie (Or What I Learned In a Buick Station Wagon),” and a feature film, “Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore.”
More →

No Comments

The 20 Cutest, Coolest Things We Saw at Renegade Craft Fair

The 20 Cutest, Coolest Things We Saw at Renegade Craft Fair

The Renegade Craft Fair set up camp in Williamsburg’s East River State Park this weekend, alongside regulars Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea. We withstood the sweltering heat to show you a few of our favorite things, amass a collection of business cards, and to indulge in some ice cream from the Coolhaus truck (which, unfortunately, could not withstand the heat). We may have even come away with a purchase or two – because, indeed, one can always use another bloody tote.

If you missed out on the fair, don’t worry: all of the vendors also sell their wares online, and many of them are based locally in Brooklyn. You’ll find links to their online shops with each image, and the full list of Renegade Craft vendors can be found here.

No Comments

Motor City Bar Threw Itself a Going-Away Party

Image(3)Last night Motor City Bar celebrated “17 years of sex, drugs and rock n roll,” as the invite to its going-away bash put it. We stopped by the Lower East Side dive and got a few photos of the packed, humid room, presided over by the gyrating Anna CopaCabanna and — in the DJ nook — Dion Lunadon of A Place to Bury Strangers.

If you missed the official sendoff, don’t worry: the whiskey will be flowing for another week.

No Comments

Here’s Where You’ll Find Fun in the Sun This Weekend

Make Music New York. (Photo: Erica Smith)

Make Music New York. (Photo: Erica Martin)

It’s the first day of summer, in case ya hadn’t heard. Make Music New York (above) is winding down over on Astor Place, but don’t get your Brooklyn Surf Shorts in a bunch: there are plenty of after-parties, and the weather’s going to be glorious all weekend. If you’re too lazy to make it to the Mermaid Parade (King Neptune = Judah Friedlander this year) here’s where to soak up some sun locally. (All events are free unless noted.)

SATURDAY
Hillstock Festival Block Party
This Brooklyn-wide festival by the Never Break Down music collective features dozens of bands. Their block party on Saturday on the outskirts of Williamsburg is free and lasts all day. Afterparty at The Bishop at 8 p.m.
106 Emerson Place, nr. Myrtle Ave.
11 a.m.
More →

No Comments

At Northside Festival, Wondering ‘What’s Next’ For Brooklyn

Last week, after Petit Noir’s performance during the Northside Festival, Scott Stedman was lounging poolside at Williamsburg’s King & Grove hotel. Tanned, oiled legs circled the deck. Waiters brought menus to the white-cloth umbrella tables.

“In many ways, the essential player for our entire festival is the geography and psycho-geography of Williamsburg and Greenpoint,” he said.

By psycho-geography, he meant that Williamsburg is no longer just a place — it’s a brand. And it’s safe to say Stedman’s Northside Media Group — which owns L Magazine and Brooklyn Magazine, and produces the Northside Festival — has had a lot to do with that. “The entire goal of our company is to define and showcase Brooklyn as a national adjective for ‘what’s next’ through media and large scale events like the Northside Festival,” he said.
More →

Lil’ Nugs | Motorino Back in the ‘burg, New Bus to Rockaway

Every day around 4:20 p.m. we stuff your pipe with Lil’ Nugs, our late afternoon link dump.

Liza Thorn (Photo: Pearce Pics)

(Photo: Pierce Pics)

Lower East Side resident and author Royal Young releases an excerpt from his debut memoir “Fame Shark”, chronicling his search for identity (sexual and otherwise) and fame in NYC in the ‘90s. [The Lo-Down]

A newer, bigger (and more alcohol-rich) Motorino – Mathieu Palombino’s  beloved pizza-pie eatery  — will open at 139 Broadway, Williamsburg. The deceased outpost had shut down after it began to sink into its own swampy base. [Eater] More →