Philomena Marano and Richard Eagan at Tabla Rasa Gallery, October 12, 2011. © Amanda Deutch.

A couple of South Brooklyn neighborhoods are enjoying the spotlight right now in separate art exhibitions.

Coney Island Hysterical – artist discussion and movie screening – Tabla Rasa Gallery, Sunset Park

Brooklyn natives Philomena Marano and Richard Eagan of The Coney Island Hysterical Society will present a gallery talk and present a 15-minute film Under the Roller Coaster on Sunday, November 20.

Eagan and Marano formed their pioneering art collaboration in 1982 after discovering each other and their common fascination for their childhood playground at Coney Island. Throughout the ‘80’s, Eagan and Marano worked on projects in Coney, including sign and ride painting, a 2500 square foot mural titled Steeplechase Park – Come Back!, and ultimately Spookhouse, in which they transformed a derelict dark ride into a “Ride-Through Gallery in the Dark”, employing the talents of some fifteen artists and community youth.

The discussion with the Coney Island Hysterical artists and screening of Under The Roller Coaster will take place on Sunday, November 20 at 3pm. The Tabla Rasa Gallery is located at 224 48th Street in Sunset Park. RSVP at 718-833-9100.

Residential Landscapes – featuring artwork inspired by Bay Ridge – Bowery Gallery, Manhattan

Nagib Nahas has a solo show in Manhattan featuring paintings largely inspired by his Bay Ridge neighborhood. Says the artist: “The formal process of these paintings is guided by the representation of certain aspects of a setting’s appearance as perceived from a specific vantage. The design is meant to render the order of the setting’s arrangement, and the color, or tone, to denote the quality of its light and atmosphere. The aim is to arrive at a correspondence between the painted image and its reference: to establish a relationship between a pictorial statement and a transient state of physical appearance.”

Residential Landscapes from from now until November 26, Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 6pm. The Bowery Gallery is located at 530 West 25th Street, 4th Floor, Manhattan.

Kenneth Brown, former editor of Courier-Life, has been tapped to run both papers from their Bay Ridge office, according to the QC presser. The entire Home Reporter/Spectator staff has been retained, with writer Paula Katinas earning a promotion to managing editor.

If you were thinking that a community newspaper war could be brewing between the Schneps on one side and the News Corp/CNG/Courier-Life/Brooklyn Paper Empire on the other, there’s at least one person who agrees with you. Ed Weintrob, the founder and longtime publisher of the pre-Rupert Murdoch Brooklyn Paper recently wrote about such a scenario at Coney Media.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – A livery driver with a suspended license crashed his cab into a minivan in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon, setting off a chain reaction that sent a third car careering into a 21-year-old mother and her infant twins, one of whom was left in critical condition, the police said.

So this is basically what happened – a man who has recently had his right to operate an automobile revoked, probably for reckless and selfish driving, recklessly and selfishly ran a light and rear-ended a minivan, which in turn hit a pickup truck, which jumped the curb and hit a mother and her twin 9-month-old twin sons. All three were rushed to the hospital – one of the boys is in critical condition with head trauma.

I think I’ve made my position on hit-and-run drivers pretty clear. I probably don’t have to tell you I have a similar position on people who drive so dangerously that they have their license suspended, yet they choose to keep driving anyway. This livery cab driver has already been charged, and if anyone dies, will probably face a vehicular manslaughter charge. In my opinion, ANYONE caught driving without a license should face jail time, whether anyone gets hurt or not. It’s like catching a parolee with firearms – we wouldn’t turn them back out into the street, would we? That’s what I thought.

If someone does get hurt, then I support the death penalty.

Let’s start with the body; Sunset Park has attracted many new Asian cultures to its neighborhood. Within only a few years a barrage of acupuncture, facial spas, and massage parlors came onto the scene. Depending on what therapy you are looking for, walking along 8^th Avenue can solve all problems as you see posters and flyers in spa windows on services offered at great prices. Though the most talked about and best catch of the day is the Thai massage parlor Tai Shuang Spring Resort. Slightly off the corner of 54^th street and 8^th Avenue in Brooklyn’s Chinatown you will see a Salon store front with several steps leading up to the door covered in paper flyers with the massage promotions of the month.  When you walk in the door you are quickly approached by one of the young workers and are asked if you need a full or half body massage. All attendants and workers are very nice and helpful; the parlor is always well kept and clean. Tai Shuang may contain “Resort” in the name but it’s far from the Four Seasons, in actuality you are walked through an aisle of tables separated by curtains where you are asked to remove your shoes and lay down.  There are no worries on the shyness factor in Tai Shuang as you are asked to leave your clothes on, as the others lying on tables beside you.  Typically a few young women provides you with an intense 1 hour massage making your body feel almost like Jell-O at the very end. By request she can also walk on your back and/or change the pressure of the massage. At the very end you are finished off with a head massage with a shampoo/conditioning rinse to make you feel even more energized and relaxed. The head massage seems to be a favorite as it feels like all your follicles and scalp are being stimulated. At the end of most massages stress comes back quickly with the sticker price, but again unlike the Four Seasons, this one hour relaxation with only cost you an average of $35 ranging on the promotion (sometimes even cheaper). You will leave relaxed and your wallet will be happy as well. In addition to variety of massages and facials they also provide hairstyling services; a wash, cut, and blow dry with only cost you about $20.

Tai Shuang Spring Resort: 820 54th St, 1^st Floor (Between 8th and 9th Avenue)

To move on with the mind, besides walking around and exploring the neighborhood while pondering what could’ve been here before, go to the actual Sunset Park, where not much has changed to relax on the lawn.  As noted in Time Out NY, Sunset Park contains one of the best views in the city of the city itself. The first step is to grab a classic Vietnamese sandwich with a fruit shake (sometimes avocado lychee is available) at Ba Xuyen shop located on 8^th Avenue off of 43^rd Street. The sandwiches are fresh, hefty and filled with tasty savory ingredients. The main ingredient in most of these crispy baguette sandwiches is pork, ranging from meatball, roast, BBQ, grilled to shredded pork.  To top off the profusion of meat there is parsley, shredded carrots and other pickled veggies you can include. Once you have your lunch perfectly fitted in your hand you can take this one street up to the park and enjoy the view. Place your blanket on the hill that was deemed “dead man’s hill” (towards 44th street) where you can perfectly see the city with nothing blocking your view. Looking around you can see Manhattan, the bridges, parts of New Jersey, Staten Island, and of course the Statue of Liberty. Yet the most amazing part is yet to come, ranging on the season, the sunset is amazing, the purples, pinks and oranges light up the sky as the sun sets at the water level behind the statue. Here is where your mind can relax and enjoy the incredible colors bouncing off the buildings of the city. The reason for this is because we are situated in one of Brooklyn’s highest peaks. You can finish it off walking along 5th avenue where walking into many bakeries you can grab a very low priced cappuccino or latte.

Sunset Park: Entrances on: 40th and 7th , 6th, 5th Avenues; 44th and 7th, 6th, 5th Avenues.

Ba Xuyen : 4222 8th Ave (Between 42^nd and 43^rd Street)

As Sunset Park grows I feel more areas to relax will come about, some cafe’s, some lounges, and maybe we’ll get that waterside park (similar to the BB promenade) I heard about when I was in High School.

In Hot Pursuit (oil on paper) by Danny Simmons. Photo by Mark Blackshear. The Simmons painting will be part of the “Wheels Within Wheels” exhibit at Sunset Park’s Tabla Rasa Gallery.

The Tabla Rasa Gallery will be hosting a new art exhibition – Wheels Within Wheels, paintings and works on paper by abstract expressionist painter Danny Simmons. Simmons is the Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts. More about Simmons:

Older brother of hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph Simmons (“Reverend Run” of Run DMC), he is the founder and President of the Rush Arts Gallery. In addition, Simmons converted part of his loft in Brooklyn into the Corridor Gallery. Along with his brother Russell, Simmons established Def Poetry Jam, which has enjoyed long-running success on HBO. He received a Peabody Award for TV and a Tony award for the Broadway version of Def Poetry. Simmons is also the founder and Vice-President of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization.

The opening reception for “Wheels Within Wheels” is Wednesday, September 29, from 6:00-8:30pm. The exhibit runs through December 4.

Tabla Rasa Gallery is located at 224 48th Street in Sunset Park (near the corner of 2nd Avenue). R-train to 45th Street.

John Hathaway (left) and Andrew Aspromonte from the 1st Avenue (Sunset Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission. The “CHASING SANITATION: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest” project is raising funds for a fall photo exhibit through Friday – details below the fold.

In the debate last February for Simcha Felder’s open Council seat, eventual winner David Greenfield made a comment in response to a comment about affordable housing regarding the Sanitation garage on 19th Avenue. Greenfield said he wanted to force the City to give up that land so affordable apartments could be built there – because it’s a great piece of property and because “we can store garbage trucks anywhere in New York City, they don’t have to be in Borough Park.” (You can see Greenfield’s comment in video #7 of our debate roundup, starting at the 7:45 mark.)

I’m a little annoyed by that line of thought on two fronts. One, I think its misguided to think our neighborhoods can benefit from the City’s services without sometimes playing host to some of the City’s infrastructure. Yes, please keep picking up our garbage, yes, please keep plowing our streets. No, you can’t stay here.

And second, while the response played well with the YMHA crowd, I don’t think Greenfield asked the people who are actually employed at the 19th Avenue garage how they felt about the proposal to move their jobs elsewhere. (Actually, I did, about a month later.) (You’re welcome.) In both instances, this speaks to the people’s perception that Sanitation is at the bottom of the City’s totem pole.

It’s this poor perception about this critical service – and the men and women who are responsible for it – that I disagree with, and I’m happy to find that there are others who feel the same way. Namely Sunset Park writer Lisa Dowda and photographer Liz Ligon, the creative team behind the photo exhibit “Chasing Sanitation: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest.”

Mark (left) and Johnny Doz from the 19th Avenue (Borough Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission.

Jasmine Molina, Sanitation worker from Sunset Park. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission.

Lisa and Liz have been chasing New York’s Strongest with camera in hand for about two years. Lisa explained to me in an e-mail exchange, “it [started] with one SanMan making sure I was safe walking home from Park Slope to Sunset Park – which is a long walk at midnight!  Then that’s when I started noticing all of them moving around the City.  I thought about how visually stunning they were to watch, how people, kids, old men stopped to watch them work.”

“Then right before Liz and I went out on our first shoot to try it, I stopped to talk to Steve, who was standing on the corner of 45th and 4th reading the paper. I told him I was thinking of doing this photo project on the Sanitation Workers of New York, and his response, without thinking, without a breath, was, ‘Why? Nobody cares about us.’  And that sorta clinched it for me.  I told him, ‘I do.’”

Their first day started off at the Sunset Park garage, and it also brought them in contact with Johnny Doz. “Doz [is] from Borough Park’s garage,” Lisa explains. “He’s my official unofficial Sanitation Consultant.  Since the first day I met him, he’s returned all of my phonecalls, answered all of my questions, given me tours of Bensonhurst, Little Italy, Staten Island.   He’s got a good record and a great sense of humor and a pretty good attitude about life.   And this garbageman’s house is cleaner than your mother’s, I’d be willing to bet.  He’s never been quite sure what I was doing with all of this until we launched the website.  So he had faith in us, you know?  That’s amazing to me, in this day and age.”

CHASING SANITATION writer and Sunset Park resident Lisa Dowda (left) and photographer Liz Ligon. Photo by Claudio Papapietro. Used with permission.

Lisa and Liz are raising funds for a fall photo exhibit in Manhattan – they want a top-rate exhibit for the Strongest, the kind that’s usually reserved for the Finest or the Bravest of the uniformed services. They hope to get a book publisher to pick up the project as a coffee table book. Lisa describes their vision, “We are committed to an upscale, classy presentation and event…  We want the Mayor to come, we want art dealers to come, we want Sanitation Workers to come.   And the prints, we want richly and lushly framed. We’ve submitted our application to Chashama, who finds these cheap spaces all over the City and have some leads on other options, but we don’t just want to put up a show somewhere, anywhere.  We need folks to SEE THESE PEOPLE.”

“This is the World’s Best Sanitation Dept. This is a political football in economic-challenged times. These are 7,000 people keeping the City’s streets safe for the NYPD and FDNY to do their job. This is historically the people that set the standards for workers rights.   We have to get public, we have to garner support, comments, press and reviews – maybe it’s not a book, maybe it’s something else.”

You know what I want? I don’t just want the Mayor to come. I’d want it to be politically impossible for the Mayor NOT to come. And I’d like the Mayor to bring Councilperson David Greenfield along with him. With any luck, Greenfield will get to see Johnny Doz and the others from the 19th Avenue garage, and get to see them as a part of the community he represents instead of a political football to be punted to someone else’s backyard.

CHASING SANITATION is raising funds for their photo exhibit through Kickstarter.com. The total cost of the exhibit is $21,000 – Lisa and Liz are looking to raise $7,500 from individual contributors. All funds raised through Kickstarter are matched by the United Sanitationmen’s Association, so how awesome is that? (I’ll tell you how awesome – totally awesome) They have three days left in their fundraising drive – if you want to help out, you can check it out here.

Living in Sunset Park all my life I have had my fair share of every type of food. In the eighties and early nineties there existed a few remaining Norwegian spots and Irish bars, unfortunately I was too young to remember much besides the smoked fish, freshly baked bread and some Sheppard’s pie. With all the passing years and all the new neighbors came a new trend of food which was much more exciting to the palate.

To start the tour of good food at great prices in Sunset Park I’ll begin with Maria’s Bistro Mexicano, this cute bistro style restaurant opened first in Park Slope and then in Sunset Park. A major plus about Maria’s is the indoor/outdoor option for dining along with the strong sangrias. Maria’s ingredients are always so fresh and filled with flavor that I sometimes wonder if they grow the vegetables there. For starters the Elote del Mercado is the best corn I have had in years, it is corn on the cob with mayo, chili, cheese and finally topped with lime, the sweetness of the corn and the heat of the chili pepper make it a great starter. The nachos are some of the best I’ve seen around Sunset Park, the freshly homemade chips stay crispy till the very end of the huge portion, which is very unlikely for nachos. The portions are very large and the flavors rich, you can’t go wrong with their huge super tacos (chorizo is my favorite) or any of their burritos for a very cheap dinner. The Rotisserie Chicken is savory and succulent, the El Molcajete Norteño is a great combination of beef and shrimp with salsas that satisfy that urge for spicy Mexican food. To top it all off on Saturdays and Sundays they offer a prolonged brunch until 4:00pm which for only $10.95 you can get a very hardy meal along with unlimited Mimosas, Bloody Maria’s, Champagne, Coffee or Tea that will leave you so full you will definitely be skipping out on dinner.

Maria’s Bistro Mexicano: 886 Fifth Avenue (Between 38th and 39th street) (official site | map)

The next stop is Redang Island located in Brooklyn’s China Town. This Malaysian restaurant is a new addition to the line of Asian restaurants along 8th Avenue. I prefer it over Nyonya, which was the first Malaysian restaurant to appear on the strip, since I feel the service and quality of food is slightly better. The menu is filled with a variety of mild dishes along side items you might cringe at, luckily the vast variety gives every customer a wide spectrum of items to choose from. A classic start is the Roti Canai which is a crispy thin crepe with curry chicken & potato dipping sauce, I recommend to keep the curry around for dipping later on. The tofu, chicken or beef satays are also good sharing appetizers that are complimented with a spicy homemade peanut sauce. The Malaysian culture is known for their many seafood dishes, the best way to order is to ask for a whole fried or steamed fish, depending on the type you like, and pairing this with coconut rice and the Sting Bean, Eggplant, Okra And Petai with spicy shrimp paste plate. If going solo they have great smaller rice dishes available, the Hainanese Chicken is very light/plain and works well with the curry from the Roti. The Nasi Lemak is a very common Malaysian rice dish packed with flavors of coconut, pine leaves, and curry chicken. If you’re in the mood for spare ribs the Redang deep fries these in either Champagne, Guinness or tops them with a honey sauce all under $10 for a entree. The perfect sweet ending to all the spicy food is requesting the dessert Pulut Hitam ($2) which is a creamy black sticky rice with coconut milk served hot/warm. The Redang Island is very affordable and even has lunch specials for $4.95 on weekdays, and lastly the portions are large enough for tomorrow’s lunch.

Redang Island: 5112 8th Avenue (Between 51st and 52nd street) (map)

These are two neighborhood favorites in Sunset Park which will leave you full and satisfied with thoughts of coming back for more next time to try something new! bon appetit!

On Wednesday, July 21, starting at 6:30 pm, there will be an artists’ talk and panel discussion led by master printers Sheila Goloborotko and Agnes Murray on the subject of connoisseurship in printmaking and the history of creating the portfolio featured in the “Goloborotko’s Studio 20th Anniversary Edition” portfolio. Artists who created work for the project, Audrey Frank Anastasi, Ramona Candy, Mary Chang, Tami Gold, Robert Golden, Kathleen Hayek, Pearl Rosen, GG Stankiewicz, and Harold Wortsman will share their behind-the-scenes insights and participate in the question & answer session.

This is part of the “Rock Paper Scissors” exhibition at the Tabla Rasa Gallery that runs until August 14. I stopped off at the exhibition’s opening night on my way home from work. It was totally worth the trip. I have no idea what to expect from this panel, but if you haven’t seen the exhibition yet, this might be a good opportunity to go.

The gallery is at 224 48th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues (closer to 2nd, on the south side of the street). R-train to 45th Street.

Unless you work at the Sanitation depot, chances are you don’t get to see this side of the Sunset Park waterfront very often. Photo credit: Brian Hedden