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In Williamsburg, a New Zine Destination Snuggles Up With a Comics Store

(Flyer via Quimby's /Facebook)

(Flyer via Quimby’s /Facebook)

When Quimby’s opened up a few weeks back just off the Metropolitan stop, Williamsburg gained another hip little bookstore in an area where it sometimes feels like culture is on the way out. Thankfully, Quimby’s is the real deal, even if it’s a revival of a Chicago institution first opened by Steven Svymbersky in the ’90s.

But wait a minute, isn’t there already a specialty book store on the block? Yeah, there most definitely is: Desert Island, probably the best comic bookstore in the city, and maybe one of the most glorious shops dedicated solely to graphic novels and arty comics.

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Maeven Vintage Has Been Saving Up One Whole Year For This

(Photo: Maeven Vintage)

(Photo: Maeven Vintage)

It’s kinda hard to imagine that we’ll be wearing winter coats anytime soon, considering that it feels more like late August than almost-Halloween right now. Don’t be fooled, though–winter’s looming. Thankfully, there are ways to ease the shock and pain of the Ice Betch’s arrival, and not all of them involve a bottle of vodka and a death wish.

Actually, please don’t die. How could you possibly grip one of the super cool “statement coats” from the Maevan Vintage pop-up shop (coming to Greenpoint November 4 through 30) if you’re dead?

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Thrift, Browse, and Haggle Your Way Through ‘Question the Market’

(Image courtesy of Eric Schmalenberger)

(Image courtesy of Eric Schmalenberger)

The House of Yes has something of a problem with their shimmering, funky, newish venue in Bushwick– they have a surplus of space, which is sort of a unique issue when it comes to digs in post-industrial-squatting Brooklyn. But as the performance collective settles into what’s by far their most functional and fanciest home yet, they’re filling up their calendar with even more events. Soon enough they’ll have every inch of the space and their time occupied by cool happenings. Take for example, the first-ever Question the Market (Saturday May 28 and Sunday May 29), billed as a new pop-up “queer design and arts market.”

“It will be shopping as nightlife, nightlife as shopping,” organizer Eric Schmalenberger told us. “I feel like shopping can be more than shopping. When given the right space, it can be more interesting and engaging, and the great thing about flea markets is that you, often, can engage with the maker.”

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Roving Alt Citizen Crew is Back, Taking Over Signal Gallery With Tavi Gevinson

(Flyer via Alt Space)

(Flyer via Alt Space)

The last time we saw Nasa Hadizadeh of Alt Space– the IRL art and fashion hub of Alt Citizen– it was January and she and her crew were so, so ready to cram their stuff inside a baby blue short bus and escape winter early by way of an enviable jaunt across the country. That’s exactly what Alt Space did after closing down its Montrose Avenue incarnation. Now, after a few months and some bumps along the way (including a broke-down bus), they’ve returned to Brooklyn with a whole new lease on pop-up life.

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The Middle East Meets the Lower East at this Chic Holiday Pop-Up

Letternoon (Photo by Kavitha Surana)

Letternoon (Photo by Kavitha Surana)

You’re not sick of holiday shopping and pop-ups yet, are you? What’s that? You just started on your naughty & nice list? Then we’ve got another ephemeral place you should hit up ASAP to find those singular last-minute gifts to make your whole crew feel special and maybe even worldly.

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After You Return All Those Unfortunate Cardigans, Hit This Vintage Pop-Up in Greenpoint

(Photo via Amy Yee)

(Photo via Amy Yee)

Each year you politely implore your relatives to gift you “gift certificates only, please,” and each year they let you down. It might as well be a tradition at this point– that inevitable, subtly passive aggressive, five-times-too-large homely sweater, that was without a doubt harvested from the clearance section.

But suck it up and smile for the camera, even if the fabric vaguely smells of urine, and return the dang thing. Because if you pool your sweater money, you’ll be rewarded handsomely in the afterlife (i.e., I Survived the Holidays January 2016) with cash to spend at Maeven vintage, popping up in Greenpoint throughout the month of January.

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Holiday Shop So Your Neighbors Don't Drop: Support Local Bizz Tomorrow

If the Chinatown snowman doesn't come back this year, literally everything's ruined. (Photo: Angelo Fabara)

If the Chinatown snowman doesn’t come back this year, literally everything’s ruined. (Photo: Angelo Fabara)

It’s the time of year for spiked apple cider, festive but often indiscernible light displays above your block, and that priceless gift of a 311 call from your neighbors when you’re belaying a Festivus pole through your third-floor window. Amassing unique holiday gifts for your pals, loved ones, and others you’re obligated to feign closeness with for at least as long as you’re sharing a roof, is apparently all part of the fun too.
After all, what’s the holiday season without conspicuous consumption? Unless you’re in the business of being a total troll, then grabbing generic crap from J.Crew Wythe the day before is simply not an option. The least you can do to ease your capitalist guilt is patronize local businesses. Here’s how you can be nice (and not naughty) this holiday season.
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Two Home-Design Shops Add a Touch of Chic to Greenpoint’s Shopping Strip

Burson & Reynolds store front. (Credit: Joshua Alvarez)

Burson & Reynolds store front. (Credit: Joshua Alvarez)

Greenpoint’s Manhattan Avenue strip has always been a destination for affordable homewares, but in recent weeks a couple of young women have opened home design shops that stand out amidst the 99-cent stores and budget appliance centers. “Most of my clients are what I’ll call of the Williamsburg persuasion,” admits Erica Lewis, the 24-year-old who opened Copper + Plaid two weeks ago. Still, she and Ashley Burson, who last month opened Burson & Reynolds just a few doors down, hope to be embraced by the newcomers and the old-timers in their rapidly changing community.  

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Shows: Father/Daughter Prom Party and CMJ Without Agoraphobic Nosebleeds

(Flyer via Santos Party House)

(Flyer via Santos Party House)

CMJ is upon us, which translates to either the arrival of a complete shit show or (if you’re not really the observant type) venues suddenly appearing slightly more crowded with douchery than usual. Regardless of whether you’re in touch with the less-than-ideal reality for regular show-goers, or prefer to put on chakra glasses and render all those grayscale suits as rainbow zombies, you still gotta plan out this week just a little better than usual– having your friends drag you out of a cab, splash beer on your face, and carefully deposit your lifeless body at your favorite venue’s doorstep isn’t gonna fly. Instead, you’ll need PMA, advanced tickets, and whatever lies beyond this line.

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Spring Clean Your Face with Bust’s Beauty Market at Brooklyn Bazaar

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Brooklyn Bazaar is changing it up on Sunday, April 19 for Bust Craftacular’s Primped, an event dedicated to providing goods and services for the ladies and gents out there who tend toward grooming and elaborate face painting rituals. We’re talking about a full day of beauty of course.

If this sounds like exotic, unfamiliar territory then seriously listen up, you probably need all the help you can get. It’s like that Discharge song :“You got acne all over your face/ See a doctor/ What a disgrace/Get some face cream.” Solid advice.

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