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I took a girlfriend to Dumbo last weekend. It was her first time off Manhattan! There is always something interesting happening on the street over there. This installation was a remnant of the recent DUMBO Arts Festival. Alexsander Macasev has brought into the public sphere two years of his "chromatweets," swatches of color he picks at the end of each day to best represent his moods and feelings on that day then posted onto his nano blog. The title of each post is the hexadecimal code of each color. No words, no explanation, just a block of color. This daily visual representation compresses everything into one piece of information: color. You can see the blog here. 

The project is currently 400 feet long and hugs a beautiful historic building. It looks like a glorious pms swatch sheet, as you see each daily "entry" next to each other and follow how the artist's mood changes over the days and months. His only rules? No black (000000) or white (FFFFFF)!

"Progress" in Brooklyn

Progress (DEF): Development or growth....steady improvement.

-The Free Dictionary

You may have read my post here about my walkabout in Brooklyn. One of the more memorable areas was 'Admiral's Row,' a line of wonderful if not dilapidated houses that date back to the Civil War. Part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, they have housed naval families over the centuries but most recently been left to decay due to government wrangles over ownership and conflicting development/preservation plans.

Well, all that has all come to a head now in the name of progress. The site has been handed back to the Navy Yards and approval has been granted for a mega supermarket, industrial space and car park!

Nothing like destroying a piece of history in the name of economics. Apparently one of the houses and the unique Timber Shed are planned for restoration and preservation. The rest of Admiral's Row will eventually be demolished. Let's enjoy glimpses of what were once beautiful architectural gems while we can. More images can be found at this website.

images: (1) mine, (2-3) brownstoner, (4) atlas oscura, (5) admirals row, (6) arch paper, 

Red Hook

Today we had brunch in the one area left so close to Manhattan but so far from everything else. It's called Red Hook and it is in Brooklyn. It has been relatively untouched and ungentrified because there is no public transport anywhere near it and because there is a dirty great highway that pierces its middle, thus severing it from the rest of Brooklyn.

It's only claim to fame is an enormous Ikea in its midst that I had the misfortune of visiting on my second weekend in New York all those years ago. I was looking for a round table to fit into a very small kitchen and at the time, it seemed like a good idea to take the "free bus on sundays" from Penn Station to Ikea (that's what you do when you don't have your own transportation). I think I lasted 5 minutes in the store and was so freaked out that such a huge retail space existed in pretty much the middle of nowhere that I promptly got back on the bus and hid my eyes until we reached the Brooklyn Bridge.

Apart from this blue and gold menace and a load of terrible housing projects, it does have a few things going for it:

It is right on the waterfront, which is priceless in this city. The fact that this particulart part of the waterfront has nothing to offer - yet - is irrelevant.

The hipsters and the artists have started moving in because DUMBO and Williamsburg are too expensive now. This means some cool little stores and cafes and a summer arts festival on the docks.

It offers an extraordinary view of the Statue of Liberty. You feel like you could reach out and touch her torch.

It has some stunning ready-to-renovate shipping warehouses - some of which are slated for the heritage sticker - that one day will become multi million dollar waterfront warehouses.

Other than that, there is really not much to say about the place! The anesthetist and I imagined trying to live there and make a fortune by buying a run down warehouse now and selling it in 10 years time. But by the time our feet were back in Manhattan, it seemed a very distant and reckless thought. This is absolutely the only place to live.

images: (1) gowanus lounge, (2) asmatickitty, (3) refinejchan, (4-6, 10-12) mine (7) flickr, (8) the l magazine, (9) the brownstoner

Ride a Restored Pony

Last summer, I had the great pleasure of meeting David and Jane Walentas. David is a big property developer and the owner of the Bridgehampton Polo Club property called Two Trees, and Jane is an ex Clinique art director and restorer of a beautiful carousel, known simply as Jane's carousel.

Jane found the dilapidated carousel down in Ohio. Apparently it had been part of an amusement park there for 62 years before the park burned down. Jane purchased it in 1984, and for the past two decades has meticulously restored it to its former glory. The carousel comprises of 48 horses leafed in 24 karat gold and encrusted in jewels, with 2 chariots and 1200 lights.

The carousel currently resides in the gallery space of an old warehouse in DUMBO, that super cool, arty enclave just on the other side of the Manhattan Bridge. As an aside, David owns most of the property there and was actually one of the founders of DUMBO. He wanted to make it into an artistic haven close to Manhattan, so rents out prime warehouse space to struggling artists, thus fostering a thriving and affordable artistic community.

At the moment, the carousel is for viewing only, as the space is too small to ride it. However, Jane and David are donating the carousel to DUMBO and have commissioned French architect Jean Nouvel to design a glass pavilion in which to house the carousel.  There are no images yet for what this will look like, but it will be positioned close to the waterfront under the Brooklyn Bridge where "generations of children" who visit the park can enjoy a ride on a impeccably restored pony.

Images: Jane's carousel, brooklyn papers, janes carousel, flickr

Chocolate Fiend

I have to admit that because the winters are so cold over here, I have become a chocoholic. Maybe it's the lure of the rich, warm chocalatey colors and delicious textures, or the comfort factor of hot, thick, milk-laden cocoa sliding down your throat and warming every inch of your body.  Whatever the reason, I find myself drawn to any store or cafe that can feed my obsession.

I have recently come across a little gem in Williamsburg; Mast Brothers Chocolate. It certainly isn't a secret - google it and you get pages of mentions - but it is a heart warming story in this age of big chocolate corporations being swallowed up by even bigger food corporations.

The Mast Bros came up with the idea of starting an artisan chocolate business in Brooklyn when they were experimenting with different recipes in their apartment. Rick Mast had already done a stint with the chocolate maestro Jacque Torres (who also has a divine store in DUMBO), so was no stranger to the complexity of taste and texture in chocolate. Now they are apparently the only "bean-to-bar" chocolate makers in the city. Using cacao beans from small family farms and coops in the Dominican Republic and other South American countries, they create 60 - 81% cacao delicacies in the form of chocolate bits and bars, all in a tiny kitchen behind the store. They add ingredients such as pistachios, sea salt or cranberries, depending on the cacao beans used at the time. This also means that each time you visit the store, the selection is different. And if you are lucky, you can see them sifting through the beans while you are browsing the choices.

Each bar is lovingly wrapped in gold foil and exquisite florentine-style paper, some of which are designed locally.

They are also so keen to remain local, that the sugar they use comes from Domino, once a working factory down the street. Ok, this factory has long been shuttered, but it's a nod to local enterprise and the Domino logo is certainly still a favorite icon of the city.

And whilst on chocolate, I have to mention Chocolate Celeste. Based further afield in Minnesota, I need to show you their most exquisite asia-theme chocolate assortments. They look like beautiful Mah Jong pieces. Not sure they deliver to Oz, but if you have a friend in the US who loves chocolate.......

Images: design files, bobguskind, morale agency, good housekeeping, gothamist

Vinegar Hill

I had brunch today again at one of my favorite haunts over in Brooklyn, Vinegar Hill House. It is situated in a once derelict carriage house in a neighborhood that is so tiny and obscure that not even native New Yorkers have heard of it. Vinegar Hill - the neighborhood and place of VH House -  sits snuggled against DUMBO, behind the Brooklyn naval yards and is only about a 4-5 block radius. It is a truly isolated 'hood full of 1800's brown stones and belgian block streets flanked by a power station and derelict warehouses and unfortunately now, ugly new apartment developments. There is honestly nothing here except a few closed store fronts, a notice board that I think is still used and now VH House.

According to the wonderful Forgotten New York website, the name Vinegar Hill had nothing at all to do with vinegar. In 1800, a certain John Jackson purchased this area of land and hoped to attract Irish immigrants, thus naming the area Vinegar Hill after the battle site of the Irish rebellion of 1798. In Ireland, the name "Vinegar Hill" was an English transliteration of a Gaelic term meaning "Hill of the wood of the berries". 
I don't think the owners of Vinegar Hill House have taken this into consideration with their less-than-Irish menu. However, I guess, like an Irish tavern, this space is wonderfully warm and eclectic, with mismatching chairs and tables, a worn copper bar, vintage wallpaper and an assortment of decorations such as a colonial flag, succulents, a random piece of stained glass and lanterns.

The owners are a husband and wife team who met when they worked at Freeman's (another super cool eatery in an alleyway on the Lower East Side). They serve yummy brunches on weekends and dinner only, during the week. In summer, there is a gorgeous courtyard out the back, to eat under the shade of a fruit tree. And when it's time to amble home, why not walk across the Manhattan Bridge and take in the sublime view!

Images: Yelp, Telegraph, New York magazine, we heart new york, mine

Over the Bridge and Far Away

In the two years I have been in New York, I can honestly say I still don't know Brooklyn at all well. It is 10 times bigger than Manhattan (not literally of course) and is full of neighborhoods that are all very different.
I have visited the obvious - Williamsburg, DUMBO and Cobble Hill - but decided to expand my repertoire this weekend with a meander across the bridge.
First stop was brunch at Five Leaves in Greenpoint. The brainchild of Heath Ledger (unfortunately he didn't live to see it come to fruition), it is just a really cool, laid back cafe offering a yummy brunch. Most of the waiters are Aussies or Kiwis and the interior has a very subtle maritime theme - bar shaped like a ship's prow, a porthole in the toilet door and wooden "decking". Apparently the name comes from the "Swan" cigarette papers that tell you when there are only five leaves left in the packet.

Then it was on into deepest darkest Greenpoint to visit Rooftop Farms. This is such a brilliant concept and reminded me of the permaculture I'd seen in Havana. Started in December 2008 by a couple who run a green-roof business, Rooftop Farms is a 6000 square feet organic veggie garden on the roof of a warehouse overlooking midtown Manhattan. The group who run it currently grow kale, radishes, nasturtiums, carrots, peppers and herbs. They supply their produce to local provedores and restaurants and have a public sunday market. So I bought some freshly dug up baby carrots and radishes which don't come cheaply at $7, but at least I am buying local produce!

After coming down off the roof, I wandered through Greenpoint towards Williamsburg. It is a long, lonely stretch between the two 'hoods and vastly different to Manhattan. Firstly, it is so quiet! There are no people. Well, there are, but they are all young and local and just "hanging" rather than "doing". Secondly, much of the area is an "Industrial Business Zone" which means a lot of junk yards, empty warehouses, building lots and streets.

But amongst this wasteland you stumble upon some fab "street art" and quaint little stores.

You are also flanked by the East River with both glimpses and fabulous views back to Manhattan. The local councils are slowly reclaiming chunks of waterfront from the US Navy to make it into public parkland - a much needed green respite on this side of the river.

Unfortunately, where the councils can't afford to buy up the land and the warehouses are too dilapidated to renovate, the ugly apartment buildings are going up.

Finally you hit glorious Williamsburg. A hip enclave full of quirky shops, fab foodie stores and achingly cool bars. The 'Burg deserves its own post so I will only give you a visual taste here.

Final leg of my Brooklyn wander; on to Dumbo past the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It's a spooky stretch of disused warehouses and dilapidated houses known as "Admiral's Row". Apparently some of these houses date back to the Civil War. The US Army Corps are fighting to restore them and place them on the National Register of historic Places. Personally, I think they would be the prefect place to set an urban version of The Blair Witch Project.

And then I arrive at Dumbo, a relatively new neighborhood in a very old part of town. It's a fascinating mix of artists' studios and multi million dollar apartments all on the edge of the East River. Why is it called Dumbo? I will leave that for another post.