Postcard from the Slope

AL GORE AND THE UN’S INTERGOVERMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE WIN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Al Gore shares the Nobel Prize with the UN’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of thousands of scientists.

Al Gore appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary, An
Inconvenient Truth, in an effort to focus the public’s attention on the dangers of global warming. Here’s what the Nobel Committee said:

"His strong commitment,
reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has
strengthened the struggle against climate change.

"He is probably
the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide
understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

Other Bloggers

ON BEING A RABBI: ANDY BACHMAN

Another great post from Rabbi Andy Bachman’s blog, Notes. Here’s an excerpt:

My last Spring in Madison before heading off to rabbinical school,
we threw a party at our house for all the guys who were moving on to
their next stage in life.

One roommate was off to New York City
to pursue music; two others were off to law school; another was going
for a business degree; and I was off to rabbi school.

At the party the music was loud, the beer was cold, and the atmosphere was generally festive.  There was even dancing.

Feeling lucky, I ventured to the middle of the dance floor and started trying to talk to a girl. 

“What do you do?” she shouted over the music.

“I’m going to rabbinical school!”  I offered.

“Medical school–cool!” she said.

“No, rabbinical school,” I said.

“Huh?”  she asked.

The music died.  The bodies stopped moving.

“Rabbinical school,” I explained, one last time.  “I’m going to be a rabbi.”

Well that killed that conversation.

This
is often the way I feel at weddings or bar mitzvahs. Mind you, this is
not a plea for sympathy: more an anecdotal snapshot of reality. Because
these days, the affairs are a complex combination of celebrations: both
religious ritual and material indulgence. And honestly, no begrudging
here whatsoever: my God–Celebrate! L’Chaim!

But I’ve noticed over the
years that my presence is kind of, well, a bummer to a lot of people
(guilty glance if I see someone piling on the shrimp at the banquet
table); hostile or passive aggressive comments (usually about organized
religion ‘causing all the trouble in the world’); or, simply
indifference (’nice ceremony, rabbi, but pardon me while I party hard!’)

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Our pal Pete, an OTBKB reader and psychotherapist, sent word of this article in New York Magazine.

This is major – in this week’s New York Magazine on the effects on kids of not getting enough sleep. Once again – given the choice between that extra hour of homework or an extra hour of sleep, it’s a literal no brainer for the health of a kid’s brain. Put those kids to bed!
Here’s an excerpt:

"It has been documented in a handful of major studies that children, from elementary school through high school, get about an hour less sleep each night than they did 30 years ago. While parents obsess over babies’ sleep, this concern falls off the priority list after preschool. Even kindergartners get 30 minutes less a night than they used to.
"There are many causes for this lost hour of sleep. Overscheduling of activities, burdensomehomework, lax bedtimes, televisions and cell phones in the bedroom all contribute. So does guilt; home from work after dark, parents want time with their children and are reluctant to play the hard-ass who orders them to bed. All these reasons converge on one simple twist of convenient ignorance: Until now, we could overlook the lost hour because we never really knew its true cost to children.

"Using newly developed technological and statistical tools, sleep scientists have recently been able to isolate and measure the impact of this single lost hour. Because children’s brains are a work-in-progress until the age of 21, and because much of that work is done while a child is asleep, this lost hour appears to have an exponential impact on children that it simply doesn’t have on adults.

"The surprise is how much sleep affects academic performance and emotional stability, as well as phenomena that we assumed to be entirely unrelated, such as the international obesity epidemic and the rise of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A few scientists theorize that sleep problems during formative years can cause permanent changes in a child’s brain structure: damage that one can’t sleep off like a hangover. It’s even possible that many of the hallmark characteristics of being a tweener and teen—moodiness, depression, and even binge eating—are actually symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation."

Postcard from the Slope

A COOP CART WALKER, A HIGH-STRUNG MEMBER AND ME

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My Coop fun really started when I left the store. I went outside with my shopping cart, one of the cute carts that holds a a small, green plastic basket, and looked for one of those orange suited Coop  cart walkers. 

A Coop cart walker is a member who basically accompanies the cart to your house and takes it back to the Food Coop. They are not supposed to push the cart and it’s optional whether they even need to help you lift your bags when you get to your destination.

Today there were no Coop cart walkers outside. There was, however, another member waiting for a walker.

"I was here first," she asserted as I rolled out of the Coop.

"I know," I said.

The woman had a wiry, high strung look. She looked toward Sixth Avenue and spotted a Coop Walker pushing a cart up the Slope.

"You think she could move any faster," she said.

"No reason to break a sweat," I said not sarcastically.

"I’ve never seen anyone move so slowly," she said.

High-Strung Member had just completed a work shift at check-out—and she was very tired. She complained that she’d had to deal with a lot of attitude and a lot of pushy, obnoxious people. "I’ve never seen anything like it," she said.

We waited quietly for the Coop Cart Walker to make it up the hill. I ate one of the vegan wraps I bought. Lentils and spinach. It was tasty.

Then I had an idea. Since there was only one Coop Cart Walker I thought, maybe, we could share her.

"Hey, which way are you going?" I asked. High Strung Member pointed toward Sixth Avenue and President. She seemed open to the idea of me putting my small box and three Amy’s pizzas in her large green shopping cart.

She seemed to like the idea. I asked the  Coop Cart Walker, a very good natured, attractive woman. She was game.

We loaded up the cart and headed toward President and Sixth Avenue. The Coop Cart Walker happily pushed our cart. High-Strung Member and  I chit chatted.

"Do you live around here," she asked. "Do you know where I can find a Notary?"

I told her about Neergard. Then we realized that the Coop Cart Walker was PUSHING OUR CART.

"Hey, you’re not supposed to be doing that," I screamed and ran up next to her.

"Well, you were eating your lunch and she just finished a long check-out shift," Coop Cart Walker said sweetly. She continued to push.

When we got to President Street, High-Strung Member said,

"I’m not here," she looked slightly embarrassed. "My car is actually parked in the other direction."

Without a moments hesitation, we all redirected ourselves and headed toward Berkeley Place. Why not, I thought, it’s just a few blocks out of my way…

"Where do you live," High-Strung Member asked. "I can drive you home."

"That’s a great idea," Coop Cart Walker said. "That way I can get back and there won’t be, like, people lined up waiting for cart walkers."

That was fine with me.

The three of us chatted all the way to Berkeley Place.High-Strung Member was still smarting from her unpleasant check-out shift. I told them about my shift, which was fairly uneventful.

High-Strung Member slowed down in front of her Subaru station wagon.

"I have a dog car," she said ominously "I hope you don’t mind."

I was in such a "whatever" mood I didn’t mind at all. Coop Cart Walker actually loaded the car and wished us both well.

"Omigod, this was so unusual. I am going to write an article about it for the Linewaiter’s Gazette," she said referring to our unusually cooperative way of getting our groceries home.

"And I’m going to write a blog post about it," I whispered to myself.

Postcard from the Slope

MY FIRST TIME WITH MY DEBIT CARD AT THE COOP

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My experience with the debit machines was very positive during my first time shopping at the Park Slope Food Coop since their installation.

Wednesday afternoon is usually a fairly easy time to shop. My work shift is on Wednesdays so I always shop there every fourth Wednesday. D-Week as we like to call it at the Coop.

Sometimes the Coop is almost empty. But there are always a lot of workers stocking shelves and it can be a little congested.

Today aisles at the Coop were very crowded with workers and shoppers and there was quite a long line on the no-express check-out line.

But the express line wasn’t crowded so I made sure to keep my shopping to 15 items or so.  3 Amy’s Cheese Pizza’s, herb salad, tomatoes, two vegan wrap sandwiches, guacamole, free range chicken thighs, lemon cookies, Havarti cheese…

I waited no more than five minutes on the express line and was easily checked through. I used my Citibank debit card and voila it was oh so easy to pay.

I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the screen of the new check-out computers. Big, bold, bright. Easy to read.

My card went through quickly. No fuss, no muss. It felt miraculous. They take NYCE and Cirrus and one other one. Someone on line complained that her card hadn’t gone through a few days ago. It was a non-NYCE or Cirrus bank card from out of state that she said, "Usually works at NYCE locations."

I packed my food in a box and went straight to the door, where a member looked at my receipt and let me go…

Civics and Urban Life

TEENS FOR DARFUR: OCTOBER 13 AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE

On October 13th at at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, join Cool
and Unusual Punishment for their annual benefit concert. This year’s
concert, Teens for Darfur, features a great line-up of local teen bands.

The Cool and Unusual benefit concert is an annual event. Teens for
Darfur follows last year’s Teens for the Phillipines, which raised
money for an orphanage for Manila street children, and 2005’s Teens for
New Orleans, which raised money for musicians after Katrina.

This year’s concert features: Cool and Unusual, Dulaney Banks, Post
No Bills, Banzai, and the newly re-formed, The Floor is Lava (Google
their MySpace pages for info on all bands).

It should be a great, great show. The minimum donation for adults is
$10. For kids: $5. There also will be refreshments for sale and plenty
of information about the situation in Darfur and the American Jewish World Service  Refugee  Relief Effort in Darfur, where the band is sending their contribution.

The show starts at 6 p.m. at the Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue and
3rd Street. For more information contact
louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dotcom).

ONLY THE BLOG KNOWS BKLYN RESTAURANTS

BROOKLYN SCORES BIG IN ZAGAT’S

This from the Daily News:

Customers and food critics alike have raved for years over the
Middle Eastern dishes served at the Bay Ridge restaurant Tanoreen.

Now chef and owner Rawia Bishara can claim even bigger bragging
rights. Zagat’s 2008 survey has just named Tanoreen the top Middle
Eastern restaurant in all of New York City.

Tanoreen scored 27 out of a possible 30 points for food that was
described as "extraordinary," "fantastic" – and considered a bargain at
an average of $26 a head.

"I’m speechless," said Bishara, who opened the restaurant 10 years
ago. "You work 14 hours a day, not thinking about it. It’s great."

Five other Brooklyn restaurants got top food ratings and made the
top 50 in the 29th Zagat Survey of city restaurants, meaning diners
considered the food somewhere between extraordinary and perfect.

The Peter Luger Steak House in Williamsburg was proclaimed "the No.
1 chop shop for the 24th year running," with a score of 28. DiFara of
Midwood got a score of 27 for creating pizza pies that are "pure
heaven."

Saul in Boerum Hill scored 27 for "sophisticated," "unpretentious"
New American dishes. Over in Park Slope, Al Di La scored a 26 for its
"superlative" Italian cuisine. The Grocery in Carroll Gardens and the
River Cafe in DUMBO were both once again on the top 50 list.

But getting a good meal in Brooklyn doesn’t always mean a big bill.

Also considered a good value were Lucali and Zaytoons, both in
Carroll Gardens, and both charging $18 per customer for mountains of
food.

Tenzan in Bensonhurst was saluted for its sushi sliced in "huge
slabs for modest tabs" while the Garden Cafe in Prospect Heights was
cited for its $32 prix fixe dinner. Henry’s End’s $23 prix fixe made
the cut, too.

In downtown Brooklyn, lunchtime standby Hale & Hearty was noted for its "variety of hit-the-spot" soups and salads for $11.

Serving "excellent roast beef sandwiches," Roll-n-Roaster in
Sheepshead Bay is considered "an institution." At $14 a person, it’s
also a "quick bite at a good price."

Among dessert spots, the Chocolate Room in Park Slope scored 25, the highest-ranking citywide.

"We’re thrilled," said Naomi Josepher, who shares ownership of the
decadent treat shop with husband Jon Payson. "It makes our staff and us
want to continue to be creative and strive to be the best."

In Cobble Hill and Park Slope, Sweet Melissa also tempted with "delicate" deserts, tea and sandwiches at about $16 per customer.

Newcomers PT in Williamsburg and Cheryl’s Global Soul in Prospect Heights also scored well.

"I hadn’t even thought that we would get into the Zagat for a
while," owner and chef Cheryl Smith said as the restaurant gets ready
to celebrate its first anniversary next week. "It’s thrilling."

No Words_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford

PHOTO OF THE DAY: 6,697 POLAROIDS BY JAMIE LIVINGSTON

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When Jamie Livingston, photographer, filmmaker, circus performer,
accordian player, Mets fan, and above all, loyal friend, died
on October 25th (his birthday) in 1997 at the age of 41, he left behind
hundreds of bereft friends and thousands of  photographs neatly
organized in small suitcases and wooden fruit crates.

Jamie took a Polaroid once a day, every day, including his last, for 18 years.

This
photographic diary, which he called, "Polaroid of the Day," or P.O.D.,
began when Jaime was a student at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson.

The project continued when he moved to apartments in New York City
including the incredible circus memorabelia-filled loft on Fulton
Street, which he shared with his best friend. That loft was the site of
many a Glug party, an "orphans thanksgiving," a super-8 festival of
Jamie’s lyrical films, and a rollicking music jam.

An exhibition of this work, will be on view Bard College in honor of the 10th anniversary of his death. The show opens on Saturday October 13. The opening reception is on October 20th(see below).

PHOTO OF THE DAY
1979-1997
6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence
Exhibition runs from October 13-28, 2007
Reception: October 20, 2007

Bard College
Bertelsmann Campus Center
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
organized by Friends of Jamie
Sponsored by the Bard-St. Stephens’s Alumni/ae Assocation
For more information, contact info@photooftheday.net

Postcard from the Slope

BETTE MIDLER: ONE MILLION TREES

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Unlike Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, Bette Midler is a super cool, classy celebrity who uses her celebrity to do really good things.

She’s even married to a German performance artist named Martin Von Haselberg.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the press was obsessed with her rather than say, Paris, Lindsey or Britney? Bette  is the founder of the New York Restoration Project, which in addition to many other activities aims to plant one million trees in and around the NYC area by 2017.

The City Room reported yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg and Bette Midler, formally initiated the
Million Trees NYC campaign yesterday with lots of hoopla and folderol. 

"When I moved to New York, I was very disappointed in how parts of the
city looked. I was so upset, I didn’t sleep for weeks. I love New
Yorkers, and I’m like them—I’m noisy, I have my opinions—but I’m not
used to the kind of carelessness and waste that I was seeing. People
were throwing their garbage out the window, leaving their lunches on
the ground. Finally, I realized I needed to actually do something—even
if I had to pick up the stuff with my own hands." Bette told Good Housekeeping Magazine when she first started the project.

Bette  believes that green neighborhoods are essential components to the quality of life and community. She considers NYRP, a
"conservancy of forgotten places," particularly in New York City’s
underserved communities.

One million trees? Here’s why (from the NYRP website).

Trees curb carbon emissions and water pollution, cool our streets, have
been shown to reduce crime and asthma, raise property values, and
improve the overall health of city residents. Yet over the past 25
years, American cities have lost up to 30% of their tree canopy to
development. NYRP and the City of New York are leading an initiative to
plant one million trees in public and private open spaces throughout
the five boroughs over the next decade. Million Trees NYC is a citywide
collaboration with community, non-profit, government, and corporate
partners, and the citizens of NYC. We will focus on communities with
the greatest need for green. Other core elements of the initiative will
include tree maintenance, urban forestry research, community outreach,
public education, and advocacy.

Other Bloggers

POWER DAY OFF: NEW BLOG

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Check out this new blog, Power Day Off. It’s about ways that you can do less. For the planet. One day at a time.

My friend came up with the concept as a way to give her house and herself and her family a real rest. On this day, they keep the lights off, go outside,
spend a quiet day with loved ones, and don’t use any fuel.

She writes, "Religious
people call it the Sabbath, and while we are not ourselves religious,
we think that the best way to do something free and immediate for this
planet is to do Nothing. Once a week. This blog is about doing: Nothing."

Welcome
and tell us about how you are helping the planet by doing LESS, not
making some new thing or some old thing some new way. One day a week
let’s not make stuffJanuary 2007, I and my family decided to try to power down for one
day a week. We would give our appliances and lights a rest, and spend a
relatively quiet day as a family. We were motivated by a desire to do
something about climate change that would be simple, free, and readily
available to anyone.

It would be an ecological practice and a spiritual practice.

Since
ancient times, those who observe the Sabbath or other holy days have
refrained from working, using electricity, using money, and/or driving.
We think there’s something to be learned from that practice.

If the entire U.S. gave power a day off once a week, how much would we save?

Postcard from the Slope

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULA AND ELYSE

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A good time was had by all who gathered to celebrate the birthday and the book of these twins, who were separated at birth.

Their book is called Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited.

It must have been surreal for the twins, who  were deprived of so many birthdays together, to hear a huge crowd of friends and family sing Happy Birthday at Le Gamin in Prospect Heights. This one had to be one of the best birthdays of their lives.

The birthday cake, white cake with creamy chocolate icing, was delicious and sweet, too. It was made at Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope (the new Two LIttle Red Hens on 8th Avenue near 12th Street).

I met Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein two years ago at a Brooklyn Reading Works event about adoption. They were just setting out on their journey of writing this memoir.

My sister and I were interviewed by Paula and Elyse at Sweet Melilssa’s. That interview is included in the book.

Now the book is done, it’s getting raves and the twins are about to set off on a national book tour.

They’ve already been on Good Morning America, Fox News, and 60-Minutes.  They’ll be in People Magazine later this week. Even Wired Magazine had this to say:

This absorbing chronicle, written by recently reunited twin sisters who
had been unaware that they were subjects of a 1960s study on heritable
mental illness, casts a decisive vote for nature over nurture. — Joanna Pearlstein (Wired)

A heartfelt congratulations to Paula and Elyse. Thanks for including me and my twin sister in your book.

Postcard from the Slope

PARK SLOPE ATHIEST TO SERMONIZE AT JUDSON CHURCH

Park Slope’s Nica Lalli, a member of Community Board 6 and a former PTA president, is the author of Nothing: Something to Believe In, a memoir about atheism.

This Sunday she’s speaking at the Sunday service of the famous Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South in Greenwich Village). You can read her recent recent Op-Ed piece in USA Today by clicking here.

Nothing: Something to Believe In
Join guest speaker Nica Lalli, the author of Nothing: Something to
Believe In,
a memoir that tells the story of her life outside of organized religion
and chronicles her experiences while confronting the broader issues of
faith, tolerance, and respect in the confusing religious landscape of
America. Nica Lalli is an art educator working with the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and is also a member of her local community board and a
former PTA president. 
Sunday Service begins promptly at 11:00 a.m.

 

New York Times

MORNING ANIMATION: GRAND CENTRAL BY JEFF SCHER

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As part of Sightlines, a TimesSelect visual series, filmmaker Jeff Scher created a filmic homage to Grand Central Station and its commuters. It’s quite beautiful. The music is by Shay Lynch.

The are other films by Scher at the Times’. The artist’s portrait of his son, from birth to the age of four is also gorgeous. Music
composed by Sam Bisbee.

Take a minute to enjoy.

Jeff Scher is a New York-based filmmaker, who defines himself not as an animator, but as a painter working in motion. He is fascinated by the human mind’s ability to create the illusion of movement from disparate images. His montages are dizzying arrays of color, light, figures and forms that flit about like unruly thoughts, tricking the eye and revealing unexpected visual harmonies.

Scher gave up his pre-med studies for film while at Bard College in the mid-1970s. He still makes use of rotoscoping, an old animation technique in which film frames are blown up and traced individually onto animation cels. In Scher’s case, he painstakingly hand paints and shoots each frame of film, sometimes substituting clay, paper models or found materials for his paintings.

His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Academy Film Archives, Hirshhorn Museum, Pompidou Centre, Musee d’Art Moderne, Vienna Kunsthalle and the Austrian National Film Archive.

 

Civics and Urban Life

EXPLORE OUTER SPACE AT BROOKLYN FRAME WORKS

This sounds very cool:

Brooklyn Frame Works Custom Framing and Art Gallery,
is celebrating its new location and 10 year anniversary with a show entitled “Outer Space.” The show opens on Friday, October 19th at 7 PM in Brooklyn Frame Works’ brand new location:  142 5th Ave., Brooklyn NY 11217 (between Douglass & Baltic Streets at St. John’s Place).

Join us for a journey into “Outer Space”:
Human beings have long been intrigued with what lies beyond our own planet. Dating back to ancient times, our interest in astronomy, astrology and space travel have spawned legends, science fiction books and movies as well as real life ventures into the outer reaches of the universe.

“Outer Space” features antique astronomical prints, sci-fi movie posters and paperbacks and posters from space missions all brought together to stimulate the imagination and celebrate our fascination with the unknown.

Opening night party: Friday, October 19th starting at 7PM.  The show runs through November 19th.

About Brooklyn Frame Works:
Owned and staffed by artists and artisans, Brooklyn Frame Works is a full-service, custom picture framing business and art gallery; offering conservation framing services, art conservation consultations and the sale of antique prints. For more information about the “Outer Space” event, or our art gallery and conservation framing services, please contact George Winter at 718-399-6613 / BFW2@verizon.net.

Brooklyn Frame Works Gallery 142 5th Ave., Brooklyn NY, 11217

Store hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11-7, Sunday 12-6. Closed Mondays

Civics and Urban Life

BETWEEN THE LINES: EMERGING VOICES IN AMERICAN LIT AND FILM AT BAM

Presented in Partnership with A Public Space 

WED, OCT 10 AT 8PM
       
Imagined hookers, the odds of getting a date in Belfast, and all
manners of literary hijinks are only the beginning when BAM and
Brooklyn cultural journal A Public Space kick off Between the Lines.

The night opens with Meehan Crist as she charts the intersection of neuroscience,
philosophy, and memoir. Wells Tower evokes the darkness and light that lie beneath the veneer
of convention with a style steeped in Southern story-telling tradition; and John Wray (Canaan’s
Tongue) plunges into the mysteries of the New York night with only the Kid Estados Unidos as
a guide.

Complementing these readings, artist Brent Green’s handmade animation of a singular family
history—screened with live narrative performance—shimmers with rough beauty; Sabrina
Gschwandtner creates new nonlinear forms combining video and textile art; and sculptor and
video artist Mac Premo shapes a portrait of Belfast from the city’s forgotten industrial fragments.

AT BAM. GO here for more info.

Atlantic Yards

WALK DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN THIS SUNDAY

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The Third Annual Walk Don’t Destroy Walkathon Fundraiser is coming up on October 14th. All funds raised go towards the two eminent domain lawsuits.  Walk Don’t Destroy Walkathon fundraiser
                   

Walk Don’t Destroy Brooklyn 3 on Sunday, October 14th, will be an
opportunity to put your feet in motion to help fund the DDDb legal
campaign against Bruce Ratner’s megadevelopment proposal and eminent
domain abuse. DDDb seeks to raise awareness to unite our communities
instead of dividing and destroying them. Keep involved, everyone’s
voice is very important during this important struggle.


You can register here.

                        

Atlantic Yards

APPEAL OF THE AY EMINENT DOMAIN CASE IN COURT TODAY

In the courts today, the oral argument on the appeal of the "Atlantic
Yards" eminent domain case, Goldstein
et al v. Pataki et al, this Tuesday, October 9th at 10am.
The owner and tenant plaintiffs are asking the 2nd Circuit Court to simply permit them to prove their
Constitutional claims at trial in the Eastern District Court.

Where:
United States 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal at 500 Pearl Street, Manhattan [Map].
Ceremonial courtroom on the 9th floor.
Please enter the building at the Pearl Street entrance.

When:
Develop Don’t Destroy suggests arriving by 9:45am in order to get through security in a timely manner.

Civics and Urban Life

WHEN BRUCE DAVIDSON PHOTOGRAPHED ISSAC BASHEVIS SINGER

For fans of the great Yiddish-American literary giant and this terrific photographer of NYC, I found this on Flavorpill and it sounds like a worthwhile show at the Jewish Museum:

Bruce Davidson’s 1972-73 documentary photographs of Polish Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer,
in his apartment and around town, capture old Manhattan. Singer on his
sofa, Singer in his study, Singer feeding the pigeons on Broadway —
these, along with Davidson’s photos of storefronts, merchants, and
denizens of the LES, tell the story of emigrants and Holocaust
survivors as they rebuilt their lives in New York. Next time you walk
down Orchard or Ludlow, think of the feet that once tread those streets
— which certainly weren’t clad in limited-edition Nikes. (EJ)

Note: Admission is free on Saturdays.

Postcard from the Slope

RACHEL’S TAQUERIA HAS ADDED A BAR

For the last few days, Rachel’s Taqueria, on Fifth Avenue near 7th Street, has been closed for renovations. I walk by there every few days on the way to Hollywood Video.

I saw the owners cool red vintage pickup truck parked across the street night after night. Finally last night, the door was open and I peeked in to see a shining new bar. It looked nice from what I could see.

Not sure what this means. I am guessing that Rachel’s will still be the great take-out, eat-in burrito place that it is (it is related to the California Taqueria on Seventh Avenue near Berkeley Place, which is ALWAYS PACKED at dinner time and many other times of day).

But now they’ve got a bar. Margarita’s anyone?

Postcard from the Slope

WHY DID BESO CLOSE?

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Gowanus Lounge reports that Beso, the Latin fusion bistro and  beloved brunch spot on Fifth Avenue has closed. I don’t question that it might have closed but I do think the reason he gives is incorrect. 

GL writes, "It closed
yesterday, reported because the landlord jacked up the rent
significantly. (We hear it was by many, many thousands of dollars a
month.)"

I happen to know that the one of the owners of Beso owns building and that’s why it’s been able to function at minimal capacity during the week.

Some people I know work at Beso and I will get the word from them.

My guess is: the owners of Beso sold the building or the owners of the building sold the business. Does anyone know the real story?

GIFT GUIDE

IT’S GARBAGE BUT IT’S ART

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GARBAGE COLLECTION Exhibition

On September 26 Greenjeans (Homemade for Conscientious LIving), a shop at 449 Seventh Avenue near 16th Street, celebrated the opening of their fall exhibition "Garbage Collection" with artists Anders Bergstrom and Matthew Eskuche. I got this dispatch from the Greenjeans Newsletter:

"The shop overflowed with guests enjoying savory treats from our fave Brooklyn eatery applewood, beer (in cans, of course) and Jae’s famous white sangria. Guests also got to take a free copy of the newly relaunched American Craft Magazine and meet new editor Andrew Wagner.

Here is a slide show with pix of the work and the opening!

"Most works in the show are for sale, with
Bergstrom’s ranging from $40 for a screen print to $1000 for a framed
painting, and Eskuche’s from $550 for the limited edition sculpture
"Call It and Early Night" (see below) to $12,700 for  his signature
piece "Damn Squirrels".

On view thru November 7."

Other Bloggers

BLOG OF THE DAY: THE WRITTEN NERD

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The Written Nerd is the nom de net of a blogger who works in an independent bookstore in New York City’s SoHo
neighborhood. She writes:  "Someday I will have a bookstore of my own in Brooklyn. I
love reading books, talking about books, and being where literature
hits the streets. I think independent bookstores can be a source for
culture, community, and social justice. I live in Brooklyn’s Park Slope
neighborhood with the ALP (Adorably Literate Partner), who reads
everything that I don’t. You can reach me here: booknerdnyc at
earthlink dot net."

Check out her Brooklyn Lit Life interview with Sarah Weinman…

I’m a freelance writer and wear a number of hats. I co-edit GalleyCat, mediabistro.com’s publishing industry news blog; I write monthly crime fiction columns for the LA Times Book Review and the Baltimore Sun;
I contribute to a number of other publications including the
Philadelphia Inquirer, Poets & Writers and Time Out New York; and I
blog about crime and mystery fiction at my own site, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

Serving Park Slope and Beyond