NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_A Whole New Ballgame
The shops and restaurants on Seventh Avenue used to have a "captive audience" attitude: you’re stuck out here so we can damn well be as nasty as we want, serve as lousy food as we want, sell what we want, and charge what we want.
It’s a whole new ballgame now. But that’s how it used to be.
I’m not naming name but there were quite a few nasty shopkeepers on Seventh Avenue back in the day. Some shops didn’t exactly have the vaunted "Customer is Always Right" ethos. Wacky return policies, bad stock, unhelpful service: some of the stores were downright unpleasant.
It was a commonly held belief that Slopers didn’t spend their money on Seventh Avenue (except for books, groceries, toys, teacher gifts, etc.) They’d go into Manhattan to really buy. And I think this created a kind of bitterness; the sense that nobody appreciated the shops nearby. The Clay Pot was always an exception: a home-grown business that Slopers always felt comfortable spending lots of money in.
But there wasn’t money then like there’s money now in Park Slope. In the past, a few brave souls tried to bring good food and merchandise to the nabe – but it rarely worked. There were all those doomed restaurants in the doomed restaurant spots. Before Yamato, there was one restaurant after another. Boom, boom, boom. For years and years. Same with the Maggie Moo spot. Years ago, tragedy struck there when a news dealer was shot and killed. And it’s been a doomed restaurant spot ever since.
On Seventh Avenue until fairly recently, there was no where to buy basic clothing items like nice jeans and t-shirts. For the most part, it was a desert here and everyone felt it. ‘Why don’t they open a Gap here?.’ was and still is a common question. Well, the answer is: there just isn’t the weekday street traffic to support it. That may not be true anymore: Aersoles and other national chains seem to be raking it in. Here’s hoping Seventh Avenue doesn’t become a "mall" of national chains.
The Slope was without decent food for so long that no one really considered going out for special dinners around here except to Cucina.
Well, Al Di La changed all that.
When someone does the history of the Park Slope/Fifth Avenue restaurant scene, they will probably point to the hour and the day that Al Di La opened their doors, and when a few weeks later they got the rave review in the Times.
Now, Park Slope seem to be the food capital of New York City, it’s where the adventurous, non-corporate restauranteurs want to be. There’s passion, there’s taste, there’s great talent out here now.
Who would have thunk it back in the day when Tutta Pasta, Snooky’s, Aunt Suzies, and Two Boots were the only games in town. But boy are there options now: 58 restaurants on Fifth Avenue. Sette, Miracle Grill, and Toast on Seventh Avenue.
Retail is also coming into it’s own now. There was a time when every store on Seventh Avenue was a cutsey gift shop or a real estate firm. There are still too many real estate places on Seventh. But who hasn’t noticed all the trendy, stylish, and smart retailers out here like Loom, Living on Seventh, Lolli, Bird, Baby Bird, Nest, Shangri La and more.
Fifth Avenue is filled with interesting shops like Matter, Diana Kane, Kinara, Nancy, Nancy, Scaredy Cat, Eidolan (one of the first quirky, home-grown retailers), Flirt, Goldy and Mac, and Romp, a very stylish, design-centric store for children’ s toys and furniture.
Not that there aren’t wonderful old-time Park Slope establishments. Little Things certainly fills the birthday party needs of the neighborhood and has the most comprehensive selection of Yuppie toys for miles. There’s the barber shop between 3rd and 4th Streets that seems to be loved by many. New Prospect certainly persists on Flatbush with its 1970’s style healthy, comfort food. And Cousin John’s is an excellent, if excessively buttery bakery that’s been here forever. Community Books, in its latest incarnation with Catherine Bohne at the helm, is beloved. As is Soundtrack, which is owned by a born-and-bred Park Sloper, and has a good selection, is willing to order anything, and has prices that beat Virgin and Tower.
So I’m not knocking anything here. I’m just saying, I’m just saying. There’s more money now which means the merchandise is higher quality, which means the shop keepers are a little more competitive, and the stakes are higher. Better for the shoppers of Park Slope, better fo the merchants. We’re not a captive audience anymore…
I’m just saying…
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
WANTED: A FEW GOOD WRITERS
OTBKB is looking for a few good writers to write POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE while she’s away on vacation.
I can’t pay. But OTBKB photogarpher, Hugh Crawford will take a portrait of you or someone you wish to have a picture of.
Please e-mail OTBKB at louise_crawford@yahoo.com and tell her what you’d like to write about.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_FIREFLY
Excuse me for ranting. And I don’t mean to "flame" Firefly, the off-price European children’s clothing shop on Seventh Avenue between 4th and 5th Street.
No, they’ve got some gorgeous stuff. Just the kind of things my daughter loves. Sophisticated. Tasteful. High Quality. Some glitter and bling.
It’s what we used to call "Grandmother Clothes." That is, clothing a grandmother would buy as a gift – sweater sets, matching pant and shirt, party dresses. The kind of expensive Euro stuff a mom never buys. Not a mom who shops at Target or
Children’s Place. It’s the special stuff.
And they have great sales. I’ve been known to wander in when they have their big 50% Off Summer Sale sign in the window. It’s hard to resist when my daughter needs just one more summer item, another bathing suit or something.
Well, I did it again. I was lured in by the promise of something really nice and European for a good price. So off I went. Doh dee doh doh…
But there is something about that place. The owner is, well, a little… let me put it this way, she’s really IN YOUR FACE when you shop, which always makes me a tad uncomfortable. "Have a look at this. How about this? What size are your looking for? Isn’t this adorable…"
But she was pulling out some really nice stuff.
Then, I saw a bathing suit and a matching cover-up and decided, y’know, my daughter really does need one more swimsuit…
Big Mistake. Once I got it home, I discovered that European swimsuits run on the small side. A size 10 was way too small for my petite 8-year old daughter. And the striped cover-up was way too short. "Too small, too small," my daughter said handing me back her freshly bought swimwear.
But me worry? The owner had urged me (as part of the hard sell) to take the suit. "Have her try it on at home. You can always bring it back and exchange it," she said. But I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention. She must have said something like: "You can always bring it back and exhange it for something else…that’s on sale." The part about it having to be an item on sale is what I missed.
Well, I went back the next day with my too small swimwear and a saleswoman (not the owner) warned me immediately that I MUST choose something that’s on sale. "Oh, I’m going to exchange it for another suit, I said cheerily. "But what if I don’t find anything now, can I come back?" No, you really need to buy it now," the saleswoman said.
Okay…
Easier said than done. There were hardly any cover-ups left, and certainly none that matched a swimsuit. Finally I settled for a larger swimsuit and a non-matching cover-up. And they were even cheaper than yesterday’s purchases. Woo hoo. I was a happy shopper. For a moment, at least. And when all was said and done the store OWED ME $12 dollars.
I assumed they’d give me the cash. But how wrong I was. "I’d like to do it," the saleswoman said. "But I’d get fired."
Then she suggested that I see if there was anything I’d like to buy for $12 dollars. At this point, it felt like I’d been in the store for what felt like an hour. There was a cute set of rubber duckies I’d had my eye on for my sister’s baby Sonia. But noooooooooo. "You can’t buy that," the saleswoman snapped. "You can only buy a sale item!"
Another saleswoman, she may have been a manager, looked really embarassed, "Oh I think it would be okay." But then she took it back. "No, you better not. It’s store policy. We might get fired."
Well, now I had to search the store to find something for $12 dollars that was ON SALE. And this was no easy task. I did manage to find a pair of French pants for my sister’s baby Sonia for $7 dollars but I still had $5 dollars to go. Then they sent me off to the $5. basket in the front of the store. Gritting my teeth, I was able to find a cute t-shirt with cherries on it and the French word: Cerises. Tres chic, goddamit (I WAS SO ANNOYED BY NOW I COULDN’T CARE LESS).
I brought my items over to the saleswoman and she did the complicated arithmatic on her little calculator.
"You owe us $1.50." she said without any humor.
I was fit to be tied. I didn’t say anything. The aforementioned and embarassed saleswoman said something like, "I think it’s a wash. Just let her have it." She was rolling her eyes as if to say, "This is so stupid." I appreciated that she shared my point of view.
The other saleswoman put my items into a bag and said, "Well, you had to look around a lot." By way of explaining why she was cutting me a deal on that $1.50.
The clothes are pretty nice. I think my sister will like Sonia’s new pants and cherry (excuse me, cerises) t-shirt. Hopefully the other suit and non matching cover-up will fit my daughter.
And if it doesn’t, that’s it.
You won’t find me shopping at Firefly no more, no more. You won’t find me shopping there no more.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_LONG LOST FRIEND
A friend I haven’t seen in 14 years turned up in Park Slope on Monday. I was walking down Third Street and saw him standing on my stoop. He just stared at me until I figured out who he was. I knew immediately – he looked exactly the same – and yet it took a moment to register. Then we embraced and laughed. And then embraced some more.
He and his partner moved to Findhorn, a utopian community in Scotland all those years ago. They lived in a trailer for ten years until they got a house on the outskirts of Findhorn. Nine years ago they had a beautiful daughter, who is visually a perfect blend of them both; she attends a Waldorf school there.
My friend is an artist with a remarkable gift for life drawing (see above). At Findhorn, he is developing an arts and exhibition space. His partner heads up the Foundation’s weaving department.
We used to work together in the corporate media business. I was a video producer and he was a designer at a small, creative company in the West Village called Zacks and Perrier. It wasn’t the most interesting work in the world but the pay was good, the projects were good, and the people were great.
Even then, my friend was visionary: he only freelanced six months a year and spent the rest of the year traveling and painting. But even working just six months a year, it was obvious that he longed for something more in his life. He said that with humor-tinged seriousness practically every day. So many people do. Few actually do something about it.
When Zacks and Perrier merged with another company a lot of people’s lives changed direction. I know mine did. I hated the new company (it was called: The Partnership Works) and couldn’t wait to be released from working there. Eventually, I was laid off with severance and began to do work that really mattered to me, which eventually led me to writing. My friend hung on for a while but then moved to Scotland. "I never looked back," he said the other day. "But I did think it was strange that I just walked away from all those years at Zacks and Perrier and never saw anyone again."
But he had a great influence on me. For one thing, he was the first person I knew who lived in Park Slope. This was back in the early 1980’s and I was very Manhattan-centered then. But my friend was religious about this neighborhood. He bought a small coop on Garfield Place between Sixth and Seventh Avenues for $9,000, was a member of the Food Coop, and talked up the Brooklyn Museum, the Library, the Botanic Garden, and Prospect Park. He was the first to use the term "stroller gridlock" and he encouraged me to move out here and not, say, Carroll Gardens or Cobble Hill. "There’s nothing to do there. In Park Slope we have so much cultcha."
I’m pretty sure he used a thick New Yawk accent to say culture. He’s a funny guy full of Yiddish phrases, with a light, sarcastic, sometimes ironic approach to things. Yet, he is also extremely serious about life – someone you can have long conversations with about spirituality, art, the meaning of life, the silliness of things.
Seeing him the other day brought back a flood of memories, jokes, people I hadn’t thought about in years. And I’m sure my friend rarely thinks about that stuff in Findhorn.
But talking together, these small bits of remembered moments were like tiny gems we were finding on the floor. It felt good to honor that time, that place where we devoted so much energy.
I can see that my friend has found a place to live that truly suits him. His family can exist on practically no money there (he who used to dabble in day trading). The quality of life is good, the healthcare is free, his daughter’s school is inexpensive, and they can stay where they are for the rest of their lives.
And it’s a very unique place dedicated to to the sacred, deep listening and personal sharing, the spirit of service, and the opportunity to work alongside community members. He said that when he moved there he found out there was another way to exist, another way to look at life and oneself.
Park Slope seems really foreign to him now. Life is so much more simple where they are. I found myself feeling very conspicuously Park Slope-ish with my iced coffee, my cell phone, my Netflix envelope in my purse, my date book scribbled with too many appointments, my incredibly Brooklyn-centric view of things.
My friend and his family return to Findhorn in a few days. He’s invited me to visit and it’s something I might do. Just to have the chance to see this former Park Sloper in the place he now calls home — the place he is really meant to be.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Alternative Films for Kids
Because it’s summer and a hot and humid one at that, we’ve been to the movies an awful lot in the last few weeks. We saw CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY,which all of us, passionate fans of both Tim Burton and Roald Dahl, enjoyed thoroughly (critics be damned). We managed to avoid Herbie. And I actually enjoyed Madagasgar and The Fantastic Four (okay I was prepared to hate both and my expectations were rock bottom).
There were several films this summer that I wasn’t sure would be appropriate for my 8-year old daughter but actually turned out to be right up her alley.
BEWITCHED is good, post-modern fun. A trip down memory lane for me, my daughter enjoyed all those snippets of old Bewitched episodes. Plus Nicole Kidman. She loved it.
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS is a well-acted and entertaining look at four teenage girls that I found to be simultaneously fascinating, clawing, funny and tear jerking. Okay, we both loved it.
MAD HOT BALLROOM, a documentary about competitive ballroom dance teams in the New York City public schools delivers on every level: it’s a smart, feel-good film that’ll have you laughing, crying, thinking about social injustice, and enthralled by raw talent. We both loved that one too.
Perhaps you’ve reached the point where you’ve seen everything worth seeing that’s in the theaters and you don’t know which DVD’s to rent from Netflix anymore. My friend Nancy Graham has created an ever-expanding and useful blog site called Alternative Films for Kids. She describes it as "a browser’s guide to some independent films, world cinema and
animations that will add welcome variety to a Disney-based diet. Not
all were produced with children in mind, but all may be enjoyed by
children."
An expat Park Sloper, Graham is a writer and animator with a master’s degree in Cinema Studies from NYU, who really knows movies (both experimental and mainstream). She’s also a resourceful homeschooling parent who, with her husband, is bringing up two kids in a big house in upstate New York with as little contact with mass culture as possible. The kids make their own movies, read a great deal, and watch from a hand-picked selection of alternative films like those mentioned on her site.
And their taste in film is by no means boring or safe. NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is a family favorite as are Ingmar Bergman’s MAGIC FLUTE and Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Alternative Films for Kids includes reviews of: MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, The FILMS OF CHARLES AND RAY EAMES, THE PUPPET FILMS OF JIRI TRNKA, KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, AND THE COSMIC EYE a collection by animator Faith Hubley.
Graham’s site will turn you on to films you never heard of, as well as films you may never have thought to share with your children. Her comments are always informative and thought provoking, even if you don’t hate post-1960 Disney as much as she does. There are recommended age ranges here, but Graham reminds parents to pre-screen for sensitive young viewers!
The site is being added to constantly and should grow into a large resource for parents in need of alternative viewing options. Graham went looking for a site of this kind on the web one day, couldn’t find one, and decided to start her own. Born out of need is the way a lot of good ideas happen. Luckily, Graham decided to act on it and Alternative Films for Kids is the result. Check it out.
SCOOP DU JULY 28_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today? Check here for Brooklyn weather.
OTBKB SPECIALS:
HOT TIP THURSDAY: CONCERT: JJ Byrne Park hosts a concert series. Tonight: Buzz Universe
plays an ecle ctic blend of rock, jazz, reggae, funk and groove. 6:30
pm. Fifth Avenue, between Third and Fourth streets. (718) 768-3195.
Free. Bring a picnic and sit on the grass.
–Check out the OTBKB Store for "Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn" and "It’s Only Natural" T-shirts. More designs coming soon.
CITY NEWS
HEAT WAVE/ Con Edison and the city’s Office of Emergency Management are asking Harlem residents to curtail usage of non-essential electrical appliances for the time being. Crews are working in the area to correct feeder cable problems. The affected areas are from the East River to the Hudson River between 110th and 115th streets, and along Harlem River Drive to West 163th Street. This evening’s conditions come after a citywide request by Con Ed for everyone to conserve energy. The utility says so far there are no reported outages Wednesday. There were scattered outages in Brooklyn and Queens Tuesday, but Con Ed officials say all major power problems around the city have now been fixed. Con Ed reduced voltage to thousands of customers in northern Brooklyn while it repaired problems with three feeder cables. Temperatures rose into the mid-90s today, following two days of 90-degree temperatures so far this week. All New Yorkers are being asked to save power wherever possible by reducing air conditional use and turning off lights and televisions when not in use.
BROOKLYN BEAT
CAR CRASH IN CATSKILLS DANCE CAMP/ A Dodge Neon ferrying a group of young people from a dance camp along a rural highway in the Catskills veered into oncoming traffic shortly before noon yesterday and slammed into a dump truck, killing all six of the car’s occupants instantly, the authorities said. The driver of the dump truck was slightly injured. Pieces of a mangled Dodge Neon were removed from the highway Wednesday in Mongaup Valley, N.Y., after it collided with a dump truck. Six people in the car were killed.The driver of a dump truck was slightly injured after his vehicle and a Dodge Neon collided yesterday in Mongaup Valley, N.Y., killing all six people in the car. The crash was near a Catskill vacation area for Hasidic families. "The only word you could use is horrific," said Stephen Lungen, the district attorney for Sullivan County. The car was being driven by a counselor from the Atlanta Dance Camp in South Fallsburg, N.Y., who was bringing the others to a nearby lake to go swimming, teenage counselors at the camp said last night. The camp is owned by a woman from Brooklyn, Anna Kapitannikova, whose 16-year-old son, Ilya, a dancer, was among the dead, they said. The small Neon, whose occupants ranged in age from 7 to 25, was "totally destroyed, totally torn apart," Mr. Lungen said.The accident occurred on State Route 17B, a two-lane highway with a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, in Mongaup Valley, about five miles west of Monticello and about 80 miles northwest of New York City. Read more at the New York Times.
ATLANTIC RAIL YARDS/ The Metropolitan Transportation Authority was scheduled to announce who will win the rights to develop the Atlantic Rail Yards in Brooklyn today, but the agency instead gave the favored bidder more time to sweeten the deal. At an MTA board meeting Wednesday in Manhattan, instead of making a final decision between competing bids from Forest City Ratner and the Extell Corporation for the property, the agency announced it is entering into an exclusive 45-day negotiation period with developer Bruce Ratner to see if he will agree to pay more money to build his planned development over the rail yards. Ratner’s plan calls for a sprawling commercial and residential development anchored by a new basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets. Ratner offered $50 million in cash for the development rights, in addition to other investments, while Extell offered $150 million in cash.The MTA has a mandate to get as much for the property as it can, and several board members said while they preferred the Ratner plan over Extell’s, his price was too low. “I think that the bid that we did get from Forest City, while complete and well thought out, frankly was not as high as I expected,” said MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow. “I expected the MTA to receive more money.”
On Thursday, the "Today" Show continued its series called "Christmas in July" at the Urban Assembly for Law & Justice High School in Brooklyn, New York. Principal Elana Karopkin has worked tirelessly to make this a strong academic environment for her 200 incoming students (9th and 10th grade) was thrilled to receive the donations,which ranged from furniture, school supplies, and other much-needed supplies for her 11 classrooms
HAPPENING/TODAY/THURS JULY 28:
Thursday July 28: STAY COOL at BAM Rose Cinema: Rize (PG-13) 85min. 2:30 (Fri-Sun only), 5, 7:15, 9:20pm. Me and You and Everyone We Know (R) 95min. 2:20 (Fri-Sun only), 4:40, 7:30, 9:40pm. March of the Penguins (G) 80min. 2:10 (Fri-Sun only), 4, 5:50, 7:40, 9:30pm
Thursday July 28: DANCE: Young Dancers in Repertory offers a free dance class for children ages 4 to 14. 10:30 am to 11:30 am. Sunset Park, 44th Street and Sixth Avenue. (718) 567-9620. Free.
Thursday July 28: R&B CONCERT: Metrotech Center hosts a summer music series. Today: Sharon Jones, "Queen of Funk." Noon to 2 pm. Jay Street entrance to Metrotech Center. (718) 636-4100. Free.
Thursday July 28: TRANSIT MUSEUM: Toddlers, ages 2 to 5, are invited to a session of transit stories, songs and a tour. $5, $3 children under age 17 and seniors. 1 pm. Schermerhorn Street and Boerum Place. (718) 694-1873.
Thursday July 28: BAMCINEMATEK: presents "After Vigo" series. Today: "Kes" (1969). $10, $7 students, $6 members. 4:30 pm, 6:50 pm and 9:30 pm. 30 Lafayette Ave. (718) 636-4100.
Thursday July 28: CONCERT: JJ Byrne Park hosts a concert series. Tonight: Buzz Universe plays an ecle ctic blend of rock, jazz, reggae, funk and groove. 6:30 pm. Fifth Avenue, between Third and Fourth streets. (718) 768-3195. Free.
Thursday July 28: STORIES IN THE GARDEN: Annual event hosted by The Hoyt Street Garden. Kids and parents invited. 7 pm. Atlantic Avenue and Hoyt Street. (718) 237-0145. Free.
Thursday July 28: TWILIGHT TOUR: Enjoy an evening stroll and cruise around the Prospect Park Lake. Boat ride on the electric boat Independence, followed by a guided exploration of the park’s nature trails. $25. 7 pm to 9 pm. Enter park at Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenue. Reservations needed. (718) 287-3400.
Thursday July 28: MUSIC: Freebird Books and Goods presents The Poison Lovers in a live music performance. 7 pm. 123 Columbia St. (718) 643-8484. Free.
Thursday July 28: SALSA BY THE SEA: 27th annual Seaside Summer Concert Series features La India, Wisin and Yandel. $5. 7:30 pm. Asser Levy Park, West Fifth Street and Surf Avenue. (718) 469-1912.
Thursday July 28: CELEBRATE BROOKLYN: Summer performing arts festival presents Milly Quezada in a merengue program. $3 suggested donation. 7:30 pm. Prospect Park band shell, Ninth Street and Prospect Park West. (718) 855-7882.
Thursday July 28: PLAY: The Sackett Group presents its premiere season as the resident company at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse. Production is Tennessee Williams’ "Suddenly Last Summer." $19. 8 pm. 126 St. Felix St. (212) 868-4444.
Thursday July 28: IMPACT THEATER: presents "The Institution," a comedy by Gerald Zipper. $15. 3 pm. 190 Underhill Ave. (718) 390-7163.
Thursday July 28: ART, BEER & MORE: New York Like a Native hosts a tour of Williamsburg. Visit several galleries and end at the Brooklyn Brewery. $16. 1:30 pm to 4 pm. Meet in front of the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Broadway at Bedford. (718) 393-7537.
Thursday July 28: MOVIES WITH A VIEW: Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy hosts an outdoor film festival – displayed on a 2-story inflatable movie screen – with the theme of "water" in honor of the NY harbor. Tonight: "Dr. No." Music begins at 6 pm. Film begins at sunset. Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. (718) 802-0603. Free.
Thursday July 28: PLAY BALL: Brooklyn Cyclones play against Hudson Valley. $5 general admission, $10 box seats. 7 pm. Surf Avenue and West 17th Street. (718) 507-TIXX.
Thursday July 28: BARGEMUSIC: Classical music concert features a program of Bach, Beethoven and Mussorgsky. $35. 7:30 pm. Fulton Ferry Landing, Old Fulton Street at the East River. (718) 624-2083.
Thursday July 28: OPERA: The Opera Company of Brooklyn will perform Pasatieri’s "La Divina and Signor Deluso." $10 in advance, $15 at the door. 7:30 pm. Voorhees Theater at New York City College of Technology, 186 Jay St. (212) 567-3283.
THIS SOUNDS COOL/UPCOMING, ONGOING, MISC. EVENTS:
Through August 14: The play "Walk on Two Moons," based on the book by Sharon Creech, follows a girl on a road trip with her eccentric grandparents as she and her best friend tell stories about life back at home.The play is a production of Theatreworks/NYC, which provides theater tickets to children who cannot afford them; paid tickets benefit the organization’s outreach programs. It is directed by Melissa Kievman, with music by Lucas Papaelias. Through Sunday, August 14, Monday and Friday, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Tuesday, 1 p.m., Wednesday, 7 p.m., Thursday, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m., Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St., between Bleecker and Grove streets, 212-279-4200, $35.
Through August 1: The Williamsburg gallery Pierogi 2000 presents its summer group show, with works on view by Dawn Clements, James Esber, Kim Kimball, and others.The latest edition of the gallery’s biannual literary and arts journal, Pierogi Press, was edited by author Rick Moody. Through Monday, August 1, Thursday-Monday, noon-6 p.m., Pierogi 2000, 177 N. 9th St., between Driggs and Bedford avenues, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-599-2144, free
Mondays in August: SOUL MUSIC IN BROOKLYN The second installment of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert series features crooners Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle (Monday). Upcoming concert highlights include the O’Jays (August 1), Hezekiah Walker (August 8), Chaka Kahn (August 15), and the Mighty Sparrow (August 22). Mondays through August 22, 7:30 p.m., Wingate Field, Winthrop Street between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues, Brooklyn, 718-469-1912, free.
Through August 13: My Brooklyn: The Winners. 4th Annual Photo and Essay Contest Brooklyn is both a geographical reality and an emotional landscape, enriched by the stories, memories and dreams of the 2.5 million people who live here, and the millions of others who’ve come before. It is a place that inspires profoundly personal feelings, and yet Brooklyn is also an experience we share. Central Library. Grand Army Plaza.
July 4-29: AFTER VIGO: A festival of films by and inspired by the great French filmmaker, Jean Vigo. When Jean Vigo died in 1934 at age 29, his legacy consisted of two shorts, one featurette, and one feature. Yet in the years since, a second legacy has blossomed; disciples of Jean Vigo—ranging from François Truffaut to Lindsay Anderson—have acknowledged and quoted from his work. In tribute to the centennial of Vigo’s birth, BAMcinématek presents the works of Vigo with a brief sampling of films inspired by or capturing the revolutionary and emotional spirit of his work.
At the BAMCafe: Listen Up, Brooklyn! Jul 8—30 From burlesque to Barbara Streisand drag to "dirty-gospel" to country western to salsa music. Spend July with the hometown kids, celebrating the amazingly diverse array of Brooklyn’s native musical talent.
Thursdays in July and August: BLUES CONCERTS at the Old Stone House. Located in JJ Bryne Park. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.
NOTICE
Brooklyn Free School has a few openings still left for the 2005-2006 school year for children ages 5-15. BFS is an independent, non-profit democratic school that empowers students to become the key decisionmakers of their own learning and how their school is run. There are no standardized tests, homework, report cards, or mandated curriculum at the school. It is the only program of its kind now operating in NYC. Here’s what parents are saying about the school: "Before my 13 yr-old son entered BFS, he was not reading at all. Now he’s not intimidated by reading and what’s more, he’s reading at an adult level." And: "Before we came to this school it was a daily struggl to get my sons to go to school. Now they wake me up to go." If you’re interested in learning more about the school or would like to arrange for a tour, reply to me at bklynfreeschool@msn.com. Also, please take some time to visit the Brooklyn Free School webstie to get a better idea of the exciting community we’re building. Alan Berger, Director
FYI:
City pools are OPEN. The Parks
Department offers free swimming lessons at many of the department’s
53 pools. The pools will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Labor
Day.For more information, call 311 or visit the city’s website at
www.nyc.gov.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
ONLY THE BLOG KNOWS BROOKLYN RESTAURANTS_BROOKLYN FISH CAMP
by Paul Leschen
Mary had a little Fish Camp whose
clientele was…OK, I won’t go there. A certain blogger and I met
for lunch last week at Brooklyn Fish Camp, a bright baby-blue beacon
of the seafaring life on the formerly raunchiest block in Park Slope.
It is an offshoot of Mary’s Fish Camp, in the West Village, and
because of its proven track record, is an instant classic.
Along with the Blue Ribbon restaurants
and the brand new Night and Day, Fish Camp is part of a West Village
migration to Fifth Avenue. These dining spots have an advantage over
the homegrown competition in that they have already played the game
on even more dangerous turf and won. To pay West Village rent and be
able to afford to build a second home in occupied Brooklyn is a hell
of an accomplishment. It can also mean a shrewd business sense…but
no matter what corners Fish Camp cuts (small wine list, only one type
of oyster, small cramped space) they’ll make it up to you by
providing fresh, generously-portioned and dependably tasty seafood.
Dinner on a crowded night proved
impossible for me the first time I tried to eat there. 
The line
couldn’t fit in the small bar area, and fists were flying. Lunch
was another story; the room seemed calm, the pace relaxed. I was able
to appreciate the cool black and white photographs on the walls that
serve as an NYC-stylized replacement for ropes, anchors, and wooden
steering wheels.
Start with a beer; the tap selections
are perfect for clams and fishes. The wine list is small and
familiar—I’d rather a more varied selection of whites, maybe a
Gruner Veltliner or something austere from France. Appetizers lean
toward the unkosher. We shared a half dozen firm, saline Malpeque
oysters—nothing wrong with ‘em.
I had to get the lobster roll. It’s
famous round these parts. Maybe a lesser-known lobster roll would
cost less than $23. The trick, I think, is that the lobster chunks
are removed from the shell and tossed in a relatively light
mayonnaise-based sauce right before being served. The roll itself is
fresh baked and holds up to the salad. I can imagine paying $15 up in
Maine somewhere for a scoop of premade lobster salad atop a dry
commercial-quality roll. Still, Brooklyn Fish Camp’s lobster roll
is the most expensive sandwich I’ve ever had and many of you,
despite the unquestionable deliciousness, will feel ripped off. It’s
a sandwich. Served with a mound of fries. Which are addictive.
My highly literary and congenial dining
partner ordered the Mako Shark BLT. There weren’t any flaws, it was
well built and the shark filet was expertly grilled. But I didn’t
see stars. 
Maybe more profound bacon like that available at Stone
Park would have put this one over the top. The spicy onion rings get
an A for effort, but onion rings are greasy and there are only so
many square inches of them that I can ingest without having visions
of myself splayed face-down on the floor of a small rural house while
photographers point wide-angle lenses at me for my photo spread in
the supermarket tabloids as “world’s fattest piano player.”
Everyone’s food looked better than
ours, especially the catch-of-the-day entrees, and yet we both
enjoyed ourselves. I can trust these guys, at least during off-peak
times. And I’m finding more and more that dining in the
neighborhood is all about trust (when it’s not about being
adventurous).
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Strange Day
Disasterous things happened to a friend of mine on July 27th for three years running. It was many years ago when we were both teens. But I still think of her every year on that day. No matter where we are. She’s always in my thoughts on that day.
This year she is in the south of France, one of her favorite places
to be. You can bet that she’s taking it easy. After the third incident
all those years ago, she vowed never to even move on July 27th;
I’m sure she doesn’t take it that far any more. But I’ll bet she
doesn’t fly on airplanes or do anything risky. I just have a feeling.
The day has that kind of power over her. And me too.
The first incident occurred on a hosteling trip in Camden, Maine. The group was hiking when the group-leader fell off a mountain to his death. That’s all I know. The teenagers had to find their way out of the park to get help. I remember she told me about it a few weeks after it happened and I was stunned that something so dramatic, so real could have happened to her. And it seemed unspeakably sad.
The second incident came a year later. Also on a hosteling trip. A friend of hers fell into a glacier lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. He couldn’t get out for more than an hour and nearly died. Fortunately, he was saved and lived to tell the tale.
The third incident occurred in a national park in Washington State. Again she was on a hosteling trip. This time the group was poncho sliding down an icy pass. My friend went flying into a tree and broke both of her legs. She had to be helicoptered out of the park (strapped to the outside of a helicopter) and taken to a hospital in Port Angeles where she was wrapped in body cast; she couldn’t leave the hospital for three months. Eventually, she was able to fly back to New York having missed three months of eleventh grade.
The year after that, we were together on July 27th, which felt sort of exciting and scary, too. We didn’t do anything on that day and joked that we were just going to sit very still. Afterall, the day was cursed. We were in a summer arts program in North Carolina feeling far away from home and family and spent the day in a local park having a picnic, swimming, taking it very easy.
When I was a teenager, I really looked up to this friend (and still do) for her sense of adventure, her fearlessness, her drive. Some people might say that going on hosteling trips three years in a row was pushing it a bit. Strange to say, I think I actually envied her these disasters: they seemed so dramatic even if they were tragic. Isn’t that what teenagers live for: drama, the real stuff.
I imagined losing someone I’d only known for a few weeks but had grown quite attached to and even called by a cute nickname. I pictured her trying to save her friend who nearly died in that icy Colorado lake. And her stories about the park ranger who visited her at the Port Angeles hospital…It was all so…grown up and, dare I say it, exciting. My life paled in comparison.
Ah, the strange logic of a teenage girl. But that’s how I thought about things then. And I still take it easy on July 27th, try to anyway. I wouldn’t want my life to take a dramatic turn. Not now anyway.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_The Anti-Camper
My daughter is loving Kim’s Kids Day Camp and that’s a good thing. At the beginning of
the summer she was vehemently anti-camp. She tried a day camp two years ago and
said, "Never again," It was a gymnastics day camp and I guess she had big
expectations: she probably expected to spend the entire day jumping on
a trampoline and doing cartwheels.
Turns out, the kids had to
do quite a bit of exercise in the morning. Warm-ups. And my daughter wasn’t
too crazy about THAT. One time they went to a public pool on Douglas
Street in Brooklyn and OSFO claims the water was really, really
shallow: "Two feet high, Mom. Not so great for swimming." She didn’t
much like the kids either.
Okay, okay. So I let her quit
after a week and she happily hung around the house. I tried not
to think about the hundreds of dollars wasted.
Last summer,
day camp was, of course, out of the question. We spent
afternoons at the pool in the Mariott Hotel in downtown Brooklyn, where we enjoyed the sauna, the whirlpool, and a chance for my daughter to take
swimming lessons.
As this summer approached, I wasn’t sure what my daughter would be up for. When I found a chess camp at a
place called "Let’s Play Chess," a small storefront on Fourth Avenue
between 8th and 9th Streets, I was surprised when my daughter said yes. For
three intensive hours a day, it was chess, chess, and more
chess. I signed her up for one week as an experiment and my
"anti-camper" seemed to enjoy it.
At the end of the week,
the teacher gave my daughter a trophy because "she improved the most of
everybody this week." That was a big thrill. But there were no girls at
the chess camp. My daughter was
itching to hang out with girls and to go swimming.
That’s when
she asked if she could join her best friend at a camp called Kim’s Kids
where they do swimming, hiking, and special trips.
"But you
hate day camp," I said. "I know. But I want to try this one," she replied. "Well, if I’m going to pay the money, you have to promise
not to quit. You have to make an effort to like it," I said
firmly. "I will," she said.
I had to jump over hoops
to get her into Kim’s Kids which is run by a fifth grade teacher at
PS 321 who really knows what he’s doing. But I
was able to do it. I begged, I pleaded, I filled out the forms
and handed over a check for $475 dollars.
After the first day
at Kim’s Kids, I knew it was a go. "It was great!" my daughter exclaimed, still wet from the beach with swatches of sunburn under her
eyes. "And my counselor is really pretty," she added. All the kids look
exhausted but like they had enjoyed themselves. From that day on, I knew we’d found a camp that even a avowed "anti-camper" like my daughter could enjoy.
