Some rules are meant to be broken: A radical hawk shows the Park Department who's boss at Union Square.  The May Day Immigration protest was taking place nearby. Photo by Tom Martinez

A laid-back, upstairs music shop on a lazy, Saturday morning.        Photo: Tom Martinez

Katia Kelly, who runs the great Carroll Gardens blog, Pardon Me for Asking, decided to take some out-of-towners to Two Toms for that real Brooklyn food experience. Read her story. Here's an excerpt: Fully aware that one doesn't just walk into the place without a reservation, my husband called days ahead. Now, getting a reservation … Continue reading Pardon Me For Asking: Two Toms Restaurant →

I just  heard from Joseph McCarthy, who happens to be the development director of the Irondale Center, and he wrote of this interesting cultural event: This Could Be Weird, Could Be Wild, Likely To Be Wonderful. Check out what's happening at the Irondale Center, the new performance space on the second floor of the Lafayette … Continue reading Tonight and Tomorrow at Irondale: Anthony Braxton and The Walter Thompson Orchestra →

Another great installment of Brownstone Voyeur, a joint project of CasaCARA and OTBKB. Tomorrow: Small space, big ideas in Cobble Hill. Stay tuned…

Soccer afficionado Hermann practicing on the beach with the Coney Island pier in the background.

It's supposed to rain. But that's not going to stop the 200 volunteers of the Bed-Stuy Meadow project to show up and "throw seed" all over abandoned land in Bed-Stuy. In fact, the rain is great for the process and organizer, Deborah Fisher, is enthusiastically recruiting more people to come to Bed-Stuy Saturday morning at … Continue reading Bed-Stuy Meadow Project: Tomorrow →

Brownstone Voyeur is a joint project of casaCARA and OTBKB taking you behind Brooklyn’s intriguing facades to see what’s inside (admit it, you’re curious!)  Look for it every Thursday on both sites. This week: from dull to dazzling in Prospect Heights. See the boring before and the gorgeous after.

  Hagi Mohammad Hussain offering a traditional sung prayer during Friday services at the Al-Mahdi Foundation mosque (on Coney Island Avenue). Photo: Tom Martinez

A firefighter contemplates a crushed bike after its rider was knocked down by a MTA bus (the 23, which runs along Cortelyou Road).  The bike's rider walked away without any major (visible)injuries. Photo to Tom Martinez

A young daredevil balances precariously atop a huge mountain of snow in the parking lot of the Staten Island Mall. Photo by Tom Martinez

Photographer Tom Martinez left Brooklyn for a few days and came back with this picture of a tiger at the Miami Metro Zoo. Tom writes, "The tiger eyes its prey, an annoying paparazzi." Today's headline comes from the first stanza of William Blake's poem. The TygerTyger! Tyger! burning bright, In the forests of the night, … Continue reading Tom Martinez, Witness: What Immortal Hand Or Eye Dare Frame Thy Fearful Symmetry? →

Tom Martinez writes: "Don't know quite what to make of the jogging banana but was out shooting hawks and couldn't resist.  It's a little blurry, but that only puts it in the "did this really happen" category, along with Bigfoot sightings, etc.  Never a dull moment in Prospect Park."

 photo by Tom Martinez

Times Square Gaza Protest on January 3rd. photo by Tom Martinez 

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brookyn Paper: They had a little fight about it. Smartmom said they couldn’t afford to go. But Hepcat prevailed. It had been two years since they’d spent Christmas in California and Hepcat wanted to go. Ultimately Smartmom gave in. She knows that Christmas means a lot to Hepcat and … Continue reading Smartom: Christmas in Cali →