eastern district

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Where an Armory Once Stood, Met Pool Swims Against the Tide of Gentrification

This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses.

Metropolitan Pool and Recreation Center on the corner of Metropolitan and Bedford Avenues (Nicki Fleischner).

Metropolitan Pool and Recreation Center on the corner of Metropolitan and Bedford Avenues (Nicki Fleischner).

It was a morning for nostalgia when Charles Hart won the bid to demolish Grand Army Hall on February 7, 1898. The building was a Brooklyn icon in sorry disrepair. Its roof leaked, its wooden floors had rotted, and the entire northern wall leaned over Metropolitan Avenue, threatening to collapse onto pedestrians below. Just 35 years ago the building had been constructed as an Armory during the Civil War, and now its very existence was a “menace to life and limb.”

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A Guide to North Brooklyn For Aspiring Twentysomething Female Memoirists

Now that you’ve read the with Ashley Cardiff, you’re probably thinking, “Hey, I’m in my 20s and all about North Brooklyn, too! How can I write a memoir. Ashley’s here to show you how.

Note: those kittens are more than just cute.

Note: those kittens are more than just cute.

So you’ve just graduated from a small liberal arts college — English major, art history minor — and the only way you can realize your ambitions of being a successful writer is paying some outlandish Brooklyn rents. Granted, you’re all of 22, have lived in no discernibly interesting way and haven’t even gained enough distance from your adult relationships to analyze them with any clarity. Most offensive of all, you’re a lady (people don’t really get outraged at dudes for writing about themselves).

…Lucky for you, though, you’re young, look great in selfies, and you’re more than willing to churn out 3,000 words about your first threesome. For those ladies who relish confessional writing as much as they love spending $12 on a jar of pickles — here’s a helpful guide from one twentysomething female writer to another.
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