Brooklyn greets me with small changes
So, took advantage of it being like fifty yesterday, an almost disturbingly spring-like day, and decided to just get out of the house and walk around, get the feel of the City (...and more importantly, of various parts of Brooklyn), back into me. Ocean Parkway, Avenue U, and then, because I come back, I *always* come back, Kensington.
Once I am actually gainfully employed again, I'm hoping that my next apartment will be basically on or very close to Church, between Macdonald and Ocean Parkway. Of course, given that hope, I'm sure it'll actually end up being on Albemarle or Caton or Fort Hamilton, but neither am I so dogmatic that two blocks will make a difference. Especially as there really aren't any apartment buildings that are *actually* on Church...Anyways, so, what better way to start looking for an apartment than to walk around the area just to get a sense of what apartment buildings *are* actually around. I mean, yeah, I remember some/most of them, but there are always pleasant surprises. The totally out-of-place twelve-story box that takes up the whole block on Beverley between East Third and East Fourth is still intriguing, but it's probably all co-ops anyways. On the other hand, make enough turns, and you come across something like this - decidedly *not* pre-war, so the individual apartments' layout is a lot more reminiscent of the one I just left than the one I was in two years ago, but what totally amazed me is that for once, here is a Brooklyn building (that didn't just go up in the law two years) actually letting the world know that there are plenty of apartments available there via the utterly low-class but totally effective method of a big 'apartments available' sign with the management company's phone number and website prominently listed! Well, and if not this, then hey, even taking down the phone numbers of the three or four real estate offices that actually are in the neighborhood is probably going to be a lot more effective than just placing my faith with Craigslist.
Oh, and, going back to this post's actual title - so, Brooklyn greets me with at least three small changes that I can't help but notice.
One - the old movie theater on Flatbush and Seventh, right above the 7th Avenue subway station is gone, except not just *gone* gone, but gut-renovated...and is now an American Apparel store. I'm really not sure if the more proper response should be 'what the hell, American Apparel, are you guys trying to be like the Rite-Aid of clothing shops, one to every seven blocks for two years, then they all close in a week?'...or 'well, at least the space is getting *some* use...'
Two - apparently, given that he doesn't have a whole lot else to do with himself, the Brooklyn borough president's big accomplishment this year is to launch a Williamsburg Shopping Trolley, with the laudable (...but also kind of cringe-worthy) objective of getting B-Burg hipsters to realize that there's an actual *neighborhood* there, too.
Well, and for three: there is now a Five Guys Burgers franchise open on Seventh, just down the street from the B&N. What the hell is this, Reagan Airport?
(...though what confuses me to no end about Five Guys is how they are supposedly *the* DC-area burger chain, yet, in five years of living all over the DC area, I never saw a single one, and to me, the real DC-area burger shop is *always* Fuddruckers)
Once I am actually gainfully employed again, I'm hoping that my next apartment will be basically on or very close to Church, between Macdonald and Ocean Parkway. Of course, given that hope, I'm sure it'll actually end up being on Albemarle or Caton or Fort Hamilton, but neither am I so dogmatic that two blocks will make a difference. Especially as there really aren't any apartment buildings that are *actually* on Church...Anyways, so, what better way to start looking for an apartment than to walk around the area just to get a sense of what apartment buildings *are* actually around. I mean, yeah, I remember some/most of them, but there are always pleasant surprises. The totally out-of-place twelve-story box that takes up the whole block on Beverley between East Third and East Fourth is still intriguing, but it's probably all co-ops anyways. On the other hand, make enough turns, and you come across something like this - decidedly *not* pre-war, so the individual apartments' layout is a lot more reminiscent of the one I just left than the one I was in two years ago, but what totally amazed me is that for once, here is a Brooklyn building (that didn't just go up in the law two years) actually letting the world know that there are plenty of apartments available there via the utterly low-class but totally effective method of a big 'apartments available' sign with the management company's phone number and website prominently listed! Well, and if not this, then hey, even taking down the phone numbers of the three or four real estate offices that actually are in the neighborhood is probably going to be a lot more effective than just placing my faith with Craigslist.
Oh, and, going back to this post's actual title - so, Brooklyn greets me with at least three small changes that I can't help but notice.
One - the old movie theater on Flatbush and Seventh, right above the 7th Avenue subway station is gone, except not just *gone* gone, but gut-renovated...and is now an American Apparel store. I'm really not sure if the more proper response should be 'what the hell, American Apparel, are you guys trying to be like the Rite-Aid of clothing shops, one to every seven blocks for two years, then they all close in a week?'...or 'well, at least the space is getting *some* use...'
Two - apparently, given that he doesn't have a whole lot else to do with himself, the Brooklyn borough president's big accomplishment this year is to launch a Williamsburg Shopping Trolley, with the laudable (...but also kind of cringe-worthy) objective of getting B-Burg hipsters to realize that there's an actual *neighborhood* there, too.
Well, and for three: there is now a Five Guys Burgers franchise open on Seventh, just down the street from the B&N. What the hell is this, Reagan Airport?
(...though what confuses me to no end about Five Guys is how they are supposedly *the* DC-area burger chain, yet, in five years of living all over the DC area, I never saw a single one, and to me, the real DC-area burger shop is *always* Fuddruckers)