A memorial for Gowanus Lounge founder Robert Guskind was held on Saturday, April 5th, 2009 at the Brooklyn Lyceum. The event opened with a stunning video montage (edited by Blue Barn Pictures) comprised of interviews with Bob, footage of him reporting on the streets of Brooklyn, and videos made by Bob. It was a beautiful and haunting way to begin the event.

The first speaker was State Senator Velmanette. Montgomery. I had the feeling that she didn't know a great deal about Bob or about blogging. At first I wondered why she was there but she did, eventually, pose this thoughtful question to the group:

"How can we bring him and people like him to young people so that they can know about his work and be part of something that passes his legacy on?"

Jake Dobkin, co-founder and publisher of Gothamist, spoke next about the time he invited Bob out for drinks at the SoHo Grand, the kind of place that, according to Jake, "epitomizes everything that Bob hated. He squeezed himself into a tiny table next to two groups of bankers and I showed up late. But he took it in stride and within two minutes I knew he had a gigantic heart and a fierce intellect."

Lockhart Steele, publisher of Curbed, met Bob when he started sending in photographs with captions that showed his hilarious sensibility. "We invited him to office and this big jovial guy comes in." They hired him on  the spot and Bob, who called himself the fastest writer in the world, told him: "I can start right now."

" Bob knew what he wanted to bring to the table and he just started doing it with a complete focus on getting done what he wanted to do…Even looking at a horrifying building, he could bring humor, appreciation and even joy to create a narrative of the neighborhood," Lockhart told the crowd.

Chris Kreussling, who writes Flatbush Gardener, met Bob at the second Blogfest and came to relate to Bob as a fellow traveler on the road to drug and alcohol recovery. "It's something I recognized about Bob empathically, an important part of of him," Chris said. "For me, recovery is not about abstinence, it's about choosing life and there are a lot of ways to do that."

Brenda Becker, who writes,  A Year in the Park, discovered an interesting thread in Bob's work: "With his emphasis on Coney Island and the Gowanus, strange cats and stray pit bulls something connects all of it," Brenda told the group. "Bob could see beauty in that which was broken. And he could see what could be in it again. How a polluted canal could be Venice. A street couch could be absurdest theater. A broken, miserable Coney Island  could be turned into something great and not a greed-driven non-entity."

Nate Kensinger, a photographer and contributor to Gowanus Lounge, called Bob "The Blogfather" for the way he championed people's work and brought them into the Gowanus Lounge fold. "He was the single greatest supporter of my photography and he was enthusiastic about a lot of people."

Bob's coverage of the closing of a Fifth Avenue donut shop meant a lot to Nate. "He covered things the mainstream media would never have covered. The closing of that donut shop was the end of an era of an old school diner."

E.Cherilin Stephens met Bob last  fall after he took a brief hiatus and then reached out for help on his blog. She immediately pitched in and ran the blog on weekends, "So that Bob could have some time off."

Phil DePaolo of the New York Community Council, remembers the time he invited Bob to lead a group of Rutger's students around Coney Island. "Watching him with a group of young minds; they were like sponges. Afterwards we had a wonderful lunch on Mermaid Avenue. Because as much as Bob loved blogging, he loved food."

About Bob's writing style Phil said; "Anyone can write about stuff. But being able to take something hideous and give you a laugh. He could always inject some humor."

Heather Letzkus, a close friend of Bob's, remembered the first time Bob re-posted something from her blog, New York Shitty. He called her "an angry blogger" and she was furious about it: "I am not an angry person. How dare this guy call me an angry person," she ranted to her husband.

But it was anger at injustice that fueled both of their passions for development issues in Brooklyn. "Bob wrote Gowanus Lounge for the underdogs, the downtrodden, those who could not speak for themselves," Heather said.

Mark Farre, a musician and writer, met Bob when they were both students at Georgetown University. Echoing Brenda Becker's words he said, "Bob liked to find what was broken in beauty and what was beautiful in ugliness. This was a tension that followed him all his life. In that way, he was a poet as much as he was a journalist, a mystic, and an artist."

Marc described Bob's upbringing in Passaic County, NJ where he was born in 1958, the son of a truck driver, who left the family when Bob was 5 and a mother, who raised Bob  and his sister alone. He graduated at the top of his class at Georgetown and was immediately hired by his mentor, Neil Pearce, at the National Journal, where he worked for 16 years.".

Marc alluded to Bob's drug problems in the 1990's but emphasized that that was just one part of Bob's story. "An abundant soul, no one had a larger heart, laugh, body, voice, appetite and huge hole which he sought to fill with huge experience."

One of things he loved to experience was spicy food.  "He was always after more spice, more transcendence. Bob had a desire for more. He was a seeker," Marc said.

Finally, Marc was adamant that  Bob died "because he ran out of fuel. He gave everything he had…through the torment and shitstorms and the suffering, he loved his beat, he loved you. Bob did not want to die. But he died the way he lived and was unable to feel how much people loved him through the pain."

Marc was the first speaker to mention Bob's wife, a pre-school teacher named Olivia. "Without Olivia there would never have been a Gowanus Lounge." Bob discovered Brooklyn through Olivia after he moved into the apartment she owns in Park Slope. "Olivia often accompanied Bob on his long walks and drives through the Brooklyn streets…"

Norman Oder, the blogger behind Atlantic Yards Report considered Bob "a colleague, a friend, a peer." Like Bob, Norman worked for the mainstream media but came to blogging "through a zig zag path and found it to be a new place to go to another level."

Norman referred to Bob's workaholic tendencies: "He lived a lot, worked harder than most people, lived a lot of hours. But he still deserved to be here another 20 years. And whatever the technology would be – you'll probably be able to touch your tooth instead of typing – Bob would have been in the middle of it."

After the designated speakers mentioned above, people in the room were invited to join the "shout out."

Aaron Brashear, a self-described local hell raiser in Greenwood Heights, never actually met Bob but emailed him frequently. "Brooklyn is different without him. I keep thinking, 'Oh I want to send this to Bob.' He was one of the most intense people I didn't get to meet."

Deborah Matlack, a photographer and contributor to Gowanus Lounge, who has started her own blog, Brooklyn Rocks, also never met Bob in person. "I'm really sorry about that because he was a mentor."

There were others, too. Ward Dennis of Brooklyn 11211, a blog in Greenpoint, Gary Tilzer from True News, Lola Staar from the Coney Island shop and roller rink, Katia Kelly of Pardon Me for Asking, Kristin of Best View in Brooklyn and Triada Samaris of CORD.

The event ran a full four hours and included time to mingle and eat and drink. Food was provided by Rafael Soler of Bob's beloved Food Vendors of Red Hook
Park, who supplied the pupusas and Juventino Avila, chief/owner of Get
Fresh Table and Market. Chris Kreussling baked a huge number of
chocolate chip and pignoli nut and almond macaroons.

It was a wonderful celebration of a man, whose reputation continues to grow even, sadly, as many mourn his death.

The event was organized by a large, dedicated group which included Aaron Brashear (Concerned Citizens of
Greenwood Heights), Sam Coker, Nicole Davis (Brooklyn Based), Phil
DePaolo (New York Community Council) Jake Dobkin (Gothamist), Susan Fox
(Park Slope Parents),  Ann Kansfield (Greenpoint Reformed Church),
Katia Kelly (Pardon Me for Asking), Chris Kreussling (Flatbush
Gardener), Heather Letzkus (NY Shitty), Norman Oder (Atlantic Yards
Report), and E Cherilin Stephens (Gowanus Lounge).

Photo by Chris Kreussling/Flatbush Gardener

In honor of Bob Guskind, make a donation in his name to one or more of these four organizations that meant a lot to him. Empty Cages Collection, an animal and environmental advocacy agency, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, Greenpoint Reformed Church's Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen and the Coney Island History Project.

Since today is opening day at Coney Island, an event that Bob would have almost certainly attended, think about donating to the Coney island History Project, which aims to increase awareness of Coney Island's colorful past and to encourage appreciation of the neighborhood today. You will have to scroll down for the Bob Guskind Memorial Fund.

A memorial gathering to honor the memory of Robert Guskind will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm Saturday, April 4 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 4th Avenue between Union and President Streets in Park Slope.

Please RSVP if you can. (There is an opportunity to sign up to speak.)

.
Donations:

Bob
was passionate about many things, but the following four organizations
were very close to his heart. In lieu of flowers at the memorial gathering April 4 (please RSVP if you can), please feel free to contribute to these causes in Bob’s name. 

EMPTY CAGES COLLECTIVE 

MISSION: The Empty Cages Collective (ECC) is a New York-based animal
and environmental advocacy organization. ECC aims to cultivate a
culture where animals are recognized as fellow sentient beings worthy
of respectful and compassionate treatment. Through advocacy, education,
hands-on rescue and assistance, the ECC envisions a world free of
animal exploitation, abuse, and ecologically destructive behavior. 

Donation Link

Amazon Wish List

SEAN CASEY ANIMAL RESCUE     

MISSION: The purpose of this endeavor is to aid unfortunate animals
in the interest of a higher quality of life. We take in rescued,
confiscated, neglected, injured, ill, unmanageable, or otherwise
unwanted animals from private owners, zoos, shelters, and other public
organizations. These animals are cared for, and/or rehabilitated to the
best of our ability and means until which time they can be found
healthy, happy homes – whether it be through adoption to qualified
candidates or legally released into habitats suitable to the specific
species in conjunction with licensed wildlife rehabilitators. 

Donation Link: (Please put “Bob Guskind Memorial Fund” in the description)

 
CONEY ISLAND HISTORY PROJECT                   

MISSION: The Coney Island History Project, founded in 2004, is
a not-for-profit organization that aims to increase awareness of
Coney Island’s legendary and colorful past and to encourage
appreciation of the Coney Island neighborhood of today. Our mission is
to record, archive and share oral history interviews; provide access to
historical artifacts and documentary material through educational
exhibits, events and a website; and honor community leaders and
amusement pioneers through our Coney Island Hall of Fame. Emphasizing
community involvement, the History Project teaches young people the
techniques of oral history and develops programs in conjunction with
local schools, museums, and other organizations. 

Donation Link (The Bob Guskind Memorial Fund is at the bottom of the member and support page) 

 
GREENPOINT REFORMED CHURCH’S FOOD PANTRY/SOUP KITCHEN 

It is with thanksgiving that the Greenpoint congregation has grown,
both in numbers and in depth of spirituality. This year, we’re starting
a food pantry and free dinner program, developing programs to encourage
the arts and will be holding a teach-in on affordable housing. Our goal
is to grow into a self-funded congregation by 2010.

Donation Link

Go to Gowanus Lounge and read the beautifully written—and detailed—In Memoriam written by Marc Farre, with the assistance of Norman Oder, Heather Letzkus and Neal Peirce, and the approval of Bob’s family. Here's a brief excerpt…Go to Gowanus Lounge for more.

Dubbed by some “Brooklyn’s Blogfather,” Bob was a
talented journalist, author, photographer and editor whose deep interest in urban issues took root, right out of college, at the National Journal. Bob’s abundant journalistic gifts flourished throughout the 1980s and 90s at Journal, the Washington Post
and other periodicals, and were reincarnated, in this decade, through
the “revolutionary” (his word) form of blogging — where his own
“personal newspaper,” which he started almost exactly three years ago,
quickly stood out for the quality and seeming ubiquitousness of its
coverage.

Bob was found dead in his apartment in Park
Slope by his wife, Olivia Kissin, on Wednesday, March 4. (An autopsy
report is awaited; he had previously survived several severe health
problems, and well over a decade ago had struggled with addiction.) He
was 50. Bob had experienced a rough several months, and was struggling
on several fronts in both his personal and professional life. In
addition to working through some painful emotional challenges, he had
recently been laid off, for economic reasons, from his full-time job as
Brooklyn editor at Curbed, as well as from a side job he had considered
secure.

Here from Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Brooklyn's Community Board 6, a tribute to the late Bob Guskind, founder of the blog, Gowanus Lounge. Hammerman is also a candidate for City Council in the 39th District.

I remember when Bob Guskind introduced himself to me a few years ago after a Community Board meeting.  The first thing I asked him, which I now ask all serious bloggers, was how do you make a living doing it?  He laughed and explained that unless you set yourself up to receiving advertising money, it wasn’t an easy feat.  And there’s pretty fierce competition for the advertisers.

Over
time, and dozens of community meetings later, I came to learn that Bob
made his living writing for Curbed, and that provided enough (though
just barely) for him to pursue his avocation, writing the Gowanus
Lounge.  I enjoyed GL tremendously as a source of information, venue for opinions, and even for its entertainment value.  I
particularly loved the sidewalk sofa pictures; I remember one great
photo that showed how someone creatively set up some eclectic seating
inside one of the City’s bus shelters.  Priceless stuff!

Like any great artist, Bob was passionate about his work.  Blogging was his medium; a blinking cursor his blank canvas.  What I admired most about him was his dedication to getting “it” right.  He was an utter professional in that regard.  He wanted to understand it, so he could write about it, and help explain it to others.  We were kindred spirits in that regard as I, too, am in the business of accurately disseminating information to the public.

Probably
the moment that touched me most was when Bob decided to post an
announcement on GL when I was inducted into the New York City Hall of
Fame a couple of years ago.  In return for this
act of kindness, I made a point of attending the Brooklyn Blogade last
year at the Brooklyn Lyceum that was organized by my friend and Bob’s
fellow blogger, Louise Crawford.  Bob was one of the featured speakers on their panel of bloggers.  I wanted to show my respect to Bob and these local blogging giants.  And, finally, I’d get to sit back and listen to him talk.

I
hope someone picks up the mantle where Bob left off and dedicates
themselves to covering issues in the Gowanus community the way he did.  If
ever there were a community in need of coverage, if for no other reason
than to protect its neighborhood character and uniqueness, it would be
Gowanus.

The blogosphere is a bit quieter and emptier without Bob in it.  I miss him already.

The events of the last few days have gotten me thinking about how we mourn our dead in NYC and on the Internet.

The recent death of blogger Bob Guskind and the very public outpouring of grief and admiration in blog posts, comments, and other media has been incredible.

Sure, there were also unpleasant reports from certain media outposts that amplified the more tabloid aspects of the situation but sadly that is to be expected.

Still, it was the outpouring that moved me above all and got me thinking about death in the age of the Internet. It also made me sad for the fact that sometimes it takes death for people to take the time to acknowledge how much someone means to them.

I also thought about how 9/11 changed the way we mourn our dead in NYC. Who can forget the signs, the shrines, the messages posted in Union Square and elsewhere in those first terrible days after the attacks.

That was the first public outpouring of grief on that scale in NYC that I remember.

From that point forward, the Internet—and the streets of the city—made expressions of grief and remembrance even more immediate and far reaching.

In the last few days, I received comments from people who suggested that it was exploitative to write about Bob so soon after his death; that it was inappropriate to write about the man in a public way while members of his family were grieving.

I took these thoughts to heart and gave them some serious thought. But finally I concluded that one honors the dead by memorializing them. Indeed, in some cultures, people create shrines to their dead, which include written remembrances, meaningful objects and candles.

The living seek to keep the dead nearby. And we do this in any way that we can. As a writer, I find words when I want to make sense out of something sad and incomprehensible.

The day after my father died I found myself writing about him on this blog for the very first time. It came naturally. I didn't even think about it. I needed to reach out and send my words out there…somewhere. It was my way of keeping him close by. At the same time, connecting with others seemed like the natural thing to do.

Interestingly, I got a nice note from Bob Guskind on September 19th just  twelve days after my father's death. It was around the time that his blog was on hiatus and I sent him a note of concern:

Here is Bob's note:

When a public figure dies there is a longing by the public to connect and share what they are feeling. Bob was someone whose writing and perspective many had come to rely on. As one friend of mine wrote on Facebook, "I'm going to miss my daily dose of Bob's Brooklyn."

It is for this friend and others that I felt compelled to write about Bob, to post pertinent information, post a video and even one of his first posts on Gowanus Lounge from Spring of 2006.

The public grief has little to do with the private grief of loved one's. The two kinds of grief exist on parallel planes. Sometimes these two strands come together in comforting and compelling ways. Sometimes the public outpouring is just a disturbing encumberance to those closest to the dead.

Alas, the death of a public figure does not just belong to family members and loved ones alone. That must be understood. After 9/11 Park Slope mourned the loss of 12  guys from Squad 1 as if they were members of their own families. Those men had families, too. But the citizens of this community who didn't even know them by name felt the need to connect with them, to memorialize them, to walk with candles to the firehouse and share their sadness with one another.

This is how we mourn our dead in NYC: In blog posts on the Internet, with ribbons on churches for the dead in Iraq, with quilts on the Great Lawn for the dead from AIDs; with teddy bears on chain link fences for children killed in traffic accidents; with sidewalk shrines with Korean market flowers and Yartzeit candles; with artfully created white bicycles on street corners to remember bikers killed…

It is how we share what we are feeling with the world. It is how we keep the dead in our minds front and center.

Picture by Joe Holmes of Joe's NYC on Flickr

The Park Slope Civic Council met last night at Old First Dutch Reformed Church on Seventh Aveue for a forum on expanding the Park Slope historic district. The event called, A Question of Character: Expanding the Park Slope Historic District, included architectural historian, Francis Morrone and  Kate Daly, an executive at the  New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Ken Freeman, president of the Park Slope Civic Council, decided to dedicate the meeting to Robert Guskind, founder of the popular blog, Gowanus Lounge. I asked him why:

The forum was the culmination of months of work, research and outreach into the viability of expanding Park Slope's historic district, which was originally landmarked in 1973. Freeman said there is the sense among the Civic Council and other civic groups that significant portions of Park Slope were left out and may merit additional protection.

Freeman explained that there is no specific proposal on the table as to where and what areas should be protected. At this stage, the Council has been spending a lot of time and effort to meet with neighborhood leaders to sound them out. They've also  launched an informative web site called, Save Park Slope.

The purpose of last night's forum was to spell out the issues and bring the public in so that could air their questions and concerns.  Approximately 100 people gathered in the sanctuary of the church.

Huffington Post Blog Editor David Weiner wrote in to say that he wrote a piece about Bob Guskind "and It's now on the front page of the Huffington Post, so hopefully those
outside of New York will get a chance to discover Bob, if only too late." I include a link and an excerpt.

Here it is:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-weiner/the-death-of-a-blogger_b_172406.htm

Unfortunately, what reminded me this time around was not some genius
piece of writing or some clever mashup of videos. No, sadly this is one
of those moments that could only come to be out of profound loss. The
type of moment that can only be marked by death.

Bob Guskind, a journalist and the man behind the popular Brooklyn blog Gowanus Lounge, was found dead
in his apartment on Wednesday. Now, I know for the vast majority of
people reading this, that means nothing. Just another death on another
day. And I know for those who knew him well, who, I'm sure, are too
busy mourning his death to read this, it means everything. But then
there are the people like me, who lost a man we never fully realized we
had.

We were his faithful readers, his web compatriots, his audience, his
collaborators, and his neighbors, in our real and virtual lives. We
were touched by him, learned from him, and grew with him. Yet most of
us would never have recognized him if he were sitting across from us on
the train or behind us at the movies.

Indeed, I read Bob's work nearly every day, and I barely even knew his name.

Gowanus Lounge is up again:

With great sadness, a few of Bob’s friends, who were given access to his site, will try to update Gowanus Lounge with:

1) An obituary and other links

2) An announcement of a memorial service

Meanwhile, comments and questions are welcomed. They will be moderated. Please give us time.

Bob Guskind's last post on Gowanus Lounge was the Street Couch Series with a photograph of a brown leather—or as Bob says, a pleather couch on the streets of Brooklyn. As always it was written in the editorial we.

My daughter is reading The Wanderer, an adventure-filled young adult book about a brave girl's journey across the sea.

This Newberry Honor Book by Sharon Creech, tells the story of 13-year-old Sophie, a girl who sails across the Atlantic with her three uncles and two cousins. When they get to England she will see her beloved grandfather.

The book is told through the alternating journals of Sophie and her cousin, Cody, who is considered a "knuckleheaded doofus" by everyone but is really so much more. Sophie and the crew go through a lot of tough and scary times; there are near death experiences and gigantic waves that nearly kill them.

In this passage, Sophie writes about death.

Robert Guskind's reporting on Coney Island, a subject he was passionate about, may turn out to be his greatest legacy.

Members of that community who are actively fighting to save that historic part of Brooklyn from short-sighted developers are mourning the loss of this blogger/ journalist who cared deeply about that vital and historic area.

This morning I heard from Tricia Vita, who works for the Coney Island History Project. She would frequently email Bob with information abut Coney Island "and would of course hear back from
him in the wee hours of the morning."

She doesn't have a blog but she does post regularly on the Coney Island USA messsage board as "electrica." They now have a GL thread on the board; Tricia added this, which includes an email from Bob.

Xris Kreussling, the blogger who runs Flatbush Gardener, left the following note in the comment section of the Brooklyn Paper's article, The Death of a Blogger, about Robert Guskind's death. Kreussling, like quite a few other bloggers was outraged by the tone of the article by Mike McLaughlin. 

Thanks to Chris at Flatbush Gardener for compiling this list:

New York Sh*tty
Video by Miss Heather and Robert Guskind, 2009-03-01

In alphabetical order
66 Square Feet
Art in Brooklyn
Bad Advice
Best View in Brooklyn
BRIC Community Media
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn Heights Blog
Brooklyn Ron
Brooklynometry
Brownstoner
Bumpershine
Clinton Hill Blog
Cobble Hill Blog
Crazy Stable
Curbed (Bob worked at Curbed until this past January)
Dope on the Slope
Dumbo NYC
Fort Greene-Clinton Hill, The Local, New York Times
Gothamist
Living the American Green
New York Magazine
Not Another F*cking Blog
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
Pardon Me For Asking
Plasticblog
Pretty in the City
Reclaimed Home
Self-Absorbed Boomer
Vanishing New York
Washington Square Park
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-weiner/the-death-of-a-blogger_b_172406.htm

I just found Bob's introductory post on Gowanus Lounge, when it was on Blogspot.com, the free blog platform originally used by Bob. In his own words, he talks about his career in journalism and his plans for his blog. It is dated April 27, 2006.

Welcome to the Gownanus Lounge (Beta).
Gowanus Lounge is the culmination of months of rumination, if not
planning. It will seek to cover, through words and pictures, whatever
moves me, with a particular focus on New York City as it is today and
is becoming. The focus will be Brooklyn–and particularly Gowanus, Red
Hook, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Williamsburg and
Dumbo–with frequent excursions into Queens, especially Long Island
City. Manhattan, too.

Up front: While I am a realist about what
cities need in order to survive and thrive, I am not a fan of what is
happening in our communities, and particularly of the looming
Manhattanization of Brooklyn and of the ongoing Theme Parkization of
Manhattan. The blog side of Gowanus Lounge will be joined, some months
down the road, by a literary magazine intended to feature the work,
especially, of Brooklyn-based writers, and stories that feature a
strong sense of place.

At least, that is the plan.

For
now, Gowanus Lounge is in its beta version. I put it up with the
intention of getting feedback from my girlfriend and friends, but it is
together enough for those who click a link or stumble upon it.
Hopefully, you'll be curious enough to come back.

Although
I've got plenty of mainstream journalism experience under my belt, I've
edged into blogging, learning from my some of my favorite blogs and
sites: Curbed, Gothamist, City Rag, Daily Slope and others. Ironically, my photography and my postings on flickr, which were turning into an ersatz photoblog, nudged me into finally taking the plunge.

For
many years, I worked at National Journal in Washington, writing serious
policy and political stories before life took me in a different
direction. I learned at the side of Neal R. Peirce, the founder of the Citistates Group
and one of the great urban writers of our time. Neal is the smartest
and most thoughtful person writing about planning and development
issues that I know.

These days, I run a small community newspaper, and write short fiction which appears monthly at Cherrybleeds and creative non-fiction drawn from a previous chapter of my life, also monthly at Underground Voices.
I also take a lot of pictures. If I were to spend time with a writing
psychiatrist, he or she would likely tell me that I have several
personalities and that they are not well integrated.

I don't take myself as seriously as all this might make it sound.

I’ll never forget the day that a perfect stranger by the name of Bob Guskind called to say that he was starting a blog. He told me that he was a seasoned journalist and a reader of OTBKB—and that he planned on focusing on real estate and development issues in Brooklyn.

He was calling his blog, Gowanus Lounge, named after a shuttered bar on Union Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

I met Bob a few weeks later at the First Annual Brooklyn Blogfest at the Old Stone House. That was June of 2006 and I was very impressed with him. Serious, funny, he had a hearty laugh and a radio announcer’s voice. He told me that he’d worked at the National Journal in Washington for years. It was obvious that he was really excited about this blogging thing.

Clearly, he was smitten by the promise of the Blogosphere because it offered him the chance to pursue a lifelong dream: to be the publisher, editor, and star reporter of his very own Internet newspaper.

In the months that followed I was amazed at the scope of Bob’s reporting. At the time he had a day job at  community newspaper in New Jersey and a freelance job with Curbed, a real estate blog in Manhattan. But somehow he managed to put out numerous blog posts every day. How, I wondered, did he have the time for all the top-notch reporting he was doing in and around Brooklyn?

And, boy, did he get around: Gowanus, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Coney Island. Bob was an old style newspaper reporter. He walked the walk, made the phone calls, drove the car doing the real face-to-face reporting that few bloggers are willing or able to do.

Later he worked full-time for Curbed.com and he still managed to create a wonderfully dynamic blog that had its own distinct editorial voice and hard-hitting reporting.

I especially enjoyed Bob’s frequent Street Couch series, photographs taken by Bob of derelict couches that were abandoned on the streets of Brooklyn. Those posts exhibited a whimsical and creative side of Bob that I found compelling.

Last summer we were both interviewed on Brian Lehrer’s television show. It was a nice experience and Bob and I spoke afterward about the myriad ways that blogging had changed our lives. That’s when he told me that Gowanus Lounge was the best thing he’d ever done professionally because it was a dream come true to invent his own “newspaper.”

Many of us knew that Bob worked too hard. That, like many journalists, he had “workaholic” tendencies. He worked until he dropped. He would often regale me with tales of work days that began well before dawn and took him till the wee hours of the morning. It seemed that long hours were the rule not the exception for Bob, who obviously loved what he was doing.

In the summer of 2007 Bob married his longtime girlfriend. I was very happy for him when he told me that they were honeymooning in Hawaii.

In the fall of 2008, he alarmed the Brooklyn Blogosphere by taking a sudden hiatus without any warning. He left a cryptic note on his blog that few understood. Readers and fellow bloggers were concerned. He did, however, return a few weeks later seemingly rejeuvantated and ready to blog on. He added a roster of contributors as well, which seemed like a good sign.

And now this. Yesterday Susan Fox of Park Slope Parents emailed to ask me if I knew why Bob’s blog was inaccessible. Last night Hugh checked out the address of Bob’s main server and discovered that it wasn’t online. He concluded it was not a matter of a malfunction but that the server had been turned off (the IP address was not on the net).

And then this morning, I got word, later confirmed by the Medical Examiner’s Office, that Bob died on March 4th. That’s all they would tell us. No cause of death was mentioned.

It is too soon and sudden to write about the significance of Gowanus Lounge and the lasting influence he has already had on other bloggers, blog readers, activists, and those who are passionate about historical preservation, contextual architecture and affordable housing. Bob’s contribution to reporting on the Atlantic Yards, the building boom in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Greenpoint, Fourth Avenue and the destruction of Coney Island is vast.

Much will be written about the pioneering influence of Bob Guskind and Gowanus Lounge.

So let me simply say: This is a sad day for all who love Brooklyn and cherish its neighborhoods and the spunky, historic charm and faded beauty of places, like Coney Island, that loom large in the American imagination.

As a journalist, Bob was looking out for this borough and trying to protect it from the forces of money and development that have swept through these parts in the last few years like a reckless tornado.

Bob, you had Brooklyn’s back. And for that we will always remember you. Thank you for you hard work and your belief that change is possible in the form of good reporting, a well-crafted blog post, and photographs that speak volumes.

Rumors have been swirling around for the last 24 hours about the whereabouts of Bob Guskind, the journalist who runs Gowanus Lounge.

I found out yesterday that his immensely popular blog, which focuses on real estate and development issues in Park Slope, Gowanus, Williamsburg and Coney Island, was non-operational.

Readers and fellow bloggers were concerned that their phone calls, emails and texts were not being returned.

This morning, Susan Fox of Park Slope Parents received an anonymous text that Bob was dead.

His death is now confirmed. A communications official at the Medical Examiners Office told me  that he died on March 4th, 2009.

This is very sad news for the Brooklyn Blog community. My condolences to his wife and loved ones.

This picture was taken by Hugh Crawford at last year's Brooklyn Blogfest. I know the year of his birth because we talked about the fact that we were both
born in 1958.

New York Shitty posted an incredible video that she and Bob made one day in Greenpoint; an interview with a fascinating woman with great stories to tell.