BK Southie » Flatbush

Local Council Members At Masbia Soup Kitchen

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Flatbush, General News

Nov 222011

Photo courtesy Office of Domenic Recchia

The City Council paid a visit to the Masbia soup kitchen on Coney Island Avenue in Flatbush yesterday, including local Council members Mike Nelson (right), Domenic Recchia (second from right), and David Greenfield (second from left). They are joined in this photo by Jumaane Williams (third from… either direction I guess) and Speaker Christine Quinn (left).

As a brief aside: I don’t really put myself in positions where I’m going to meet a lot of politicians, yet I’ve met three of the people in this picture – Recchia, Greenfield, and Quinn. As you can probably tell from the picture, Recchia is kinda a tall dude. But Greenfield? Also pretty tall. And it doesn’t strike me as obvious in this picture. I think he must be standing in some sort of depression in the floor. But, I digress.

I haven’t checked with Masbia to see if the info is still current, but they have a call for volunteers posted on their web site. The dates are this Wednesday and Thursday. For more info, click here.

Anyone have plans to volunteer anywhere in South Brooklyn this Thanksgiving?

An Ounce of Pretension: A Friday Night Out in Ditmas Park

Posted by Arturo Tedesco at 3:54 pm Bensonhurst, Flatbush, Food & Drink, Kvetch, Northies, Not Brooklyn

Nov 292010

This past Friday night my girlfriend and I went out to dinner at The Farm on Adderley, located on Courtelyou Road near Coney Island Avenue. I had been to The Farm not too long after it had opened with family, and was drawn back by the allure of their primo 28 dollar steak.

The trouble started when my girlfriend ordered a ginger ale and expected well, a ginger ale. Now, I’ve had many artisinal-type ‘ginger beers’ such as Reed’s, and am used to their more intense ginger and less sweet taste, but this was a new extreme. It tasted downright medicinal. I took a piece of bread, which tasted like a sour-bread foccaccia without the dried tomatoes, and dipped it in the provided olive oil. The oil did not moisten the bread nearly enough and I immediately had a red-faced coughing/choking fit as my esophagus tried in vain to carry it down to my stomach.

We both remarked at the calculated snootiness of many of the patrons; we were surrounded by a sea of spandex-jeans and man-scarfs. The place seemed much more hipster-fied than I had previously noticed; maybe living in Bensonhurst the past half year had made me more aware of this? The only “normal” people seemed to be the middle-aged couples, God bless their presence. Okay, initial impressions were not great, but we were both willing to wait for the main course before passing final judgment.

Continue Reading at Wandering NYC

This Weekend: Russian film festival in Flatbush

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Events, Flatbush

Nov 122010

Quick note for an interesting weekend event: the Kris Waldherr art gallery at 1501 Newkirk Avenue (Gmap) is hosting a Russian film festival this weekend. The press release is below.

On the Road of Bones Film Festival

A film marathon for cineastes! Films by Kurosawa, Paradjanov, Mikhalkov. Films are projected. Popcorn provided. Suggested donation $5.

Friday, November 12, 8:00 pm

There Lived Kozyavin (7 min.), Andrei Khrjanovsky, 1966

A daring critique of Soviet bureaucracy, this animated short film was shown throughout the USSR but was never seen abroad until after perestroika.

The Legend of Suram Fortress (83 min.), Sergei Paradjanov, 1984

A visually dazzling surrealist masterpiece inspired by an old Russian folk tale. In ancient times, a young man must be entombed alive inside a fortress to fulfill a prophecy and save his people. In Georgian, with English subtitles.

“Deliriously abstract”—Chicago Tribune Continue reading »

Vox Pop Turns 5 (and how I didn’t exactly see it)

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Flatbush, Seen In Photos

Nov 132009

The Vox Pop coffeehouse on Cortelyou Road celebrated it’s fifth birthday last Saturday, same day I was in Flatbush for the art studio open house. Too bad I wasn’t able to stay for it (studio tour ended at 4pm, birthday bash didn’t get underway until 8pm), but I did stop in that afternoon.

You see, I’ve been in there a couple of times before, and haven’t been all that excited by it. But it’s the kind of place its many fans rave about, and I wanted to give it another try. Who knows, maybe the stars were just lined up the wrong way when I’ve visited in the past. Besides – I know there were issues with a temporary closing and reopening under new management since I was there last. Time for another visit.

Final verdict: I like this place.

Continue reading »

Crushing on Flatbush

Posted by Brian Hedden at 11:18 pm Flatbush, Seen In Photos

Nov 112009

House 2

In addition to enjoying the art studio open house last Saturday, I also spent a great deal of that afternoon crushing on the neighborhood of Flatbush. A few of my favorite pics are below.

Trees 1

Trees 2

Brooklyn has considerably more tree-lined streets than it gets credit for – certainly by outsiders who took A Tree Grows In Brooklyn to mean the only tree. But I was extremely impressed with the kinds of trees that were lining a couple of the blocks. It’s as if they combine the majesty of trees with the majesty of stone pillars, and come out with majestic-squared.

Flatbush Artists Studio Tour 2009

Posted by Brian Hedden at 6:48 am Events, Flatbush, Seen In Photos

Nov 092009

FAST Sign

The Flatbush Artists held their second annual studio open house this past weekend. I posted a few of my favorites below!

Levy-Plate 1

Levy-Plate 2

Levy-Plate 3

At the southern end of the open house footprint was the glass studio of Fran Levy. Pictured above are sushi plates. Sushi plates! I used to work as a junk mailer for a company that sold “collector” plates. Fran’s work is far more attractive, and they can be used as actual plates as well!

It’s going to be a Flatbush kind of week…

Posted by Brian Hedden at 6:46 am Flatbush

Nov 092009

I went out to Flatbush on Saturday for the art studio open house that took place there over the weekend. I have lots and lots of pictures, and lots more, not only of the artists’ studios, but also of the neighborhood in general and a couple from Vox Pop. I have plenty to keep me going through the week. Hope you enjoy!

This Weekend: Flatbush Artists Studio Tour

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:05 pm Events, Flatbush

Nov 052009

I am really thrilled to see the Flatbush Artists Studio Tour – the 2nd annual – on the docket for this weekend. I saw their flyers last year for the inaugural event in June 2008, but by the time I had seen them, I had already made plans for that weekend. “Next year,” I figured… but when June 2009 came and went with no Flatbush art crawl, I had assumed the 1st annual event would be the last. Not so! They just moved it to a different weekend.

Suits me just as fine anyway. That first weekend in June has about 5,000 different studio open houses going on. I’m willing to bet Flatbush has the open-studio monopoly this weekend. (Update I: I was wrong, there is one in Greenpoint as well.)

Where: Looking over the map, looks like there will be 14 open studios spread over roughly three stops along the Q-line (Newkirk Avenue, Cortelyou Road, and Beverly Road).

When: This Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, from 11am to 4pm.

BTW, FWIW, the weather forecast looks VERY promising. Awesome. Count me in!

Update II: Right after I hit publish, I checked out Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, and read that Vox Pop – the counterculture coffeehouse that sits square in the middle of the studio tour’s footprint – will be celebrating its 5th anniversary this Saturday, starting at 8pm. I’ve been there a couple of times before, and I’ve been a bit underwhelmed, but I’ve been meaning to check it out again in its post-revival period (long story – I’ll get to it later). Saturday will probably be as good of a day as any.

Bay Ridge and Cortelyou Road Greenmarkets Open For Season

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:05 am Bay Ridge, Flatbush, Greenmarkets

May 012009

The farmers’ market in Bay Ridge will be opening for its second season tomorrow from 8am to 3pm, running every Saturday until November. According to the Brooklyn Paper, the market will continue to operate from the parking lot of the old Key Food at 3rd Avenue and 95th Street – even after Walgreen’s opens up at the same site later this year.

The CENYC has a map of all greenmarket locations. The Sunday market at Cortelyou and Rugby will also be opening this weekend, while the Sunset Park and Borough Park markets will start up in July.