Open Thread Wednesday

By on December 16, 2020 8:16 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Concerned
  • Jorale-man

    Brooklyn Bridge Park has broken ground on the plaza underneath the bridge: https://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/places-to-see/emily-roebling-plaza/

  • W.R.

    On Monday night we had three mid century planters and plants stolen straight off our stoop on willow place. They were large and heavy. What’s this neighborhood coming to? Time for squeegee men to complete the time warp.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn
  • Andrew Porter

    Memories of snowstorms past: here’s one of my photos from 1983, back before they plowed all the streets, all the time. Far northern Hicks Street:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15e6c7435bcac9b32dfd5b9e8f6d1825a0804c01ce4b57eab28f9ed2b46f50eb.jpg

  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter

    Originally where the Purchase Building was. That was proposed as an iceskating rink, then was used by Brooklyn Flea, then a staging area for the work on the bridge overhead.

    The area was part of the set for Gangs of New York. Here’s one of my photos from after filming, before they tore everything down:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/17089a79225fe5934bf6eaf53f3d5b6f4e2019acfad8ecb7a9f639b62f7d3886.jpg
    Photo © Andrew Porter

  • Andrew Porter

    I remember in the Bad Old Days when all loose metal objects and railings were liable to be stolen. The ornate Art Nouveau railings in front of 93 Hicks were stolen, never replaced.

  • Andrew Porter
  • Jeremy

    Sounds intriguing. Where were these railings? I looked through some old pics from the 40s and 50s, and the metalwork didn’t look significantly different than today.

  • CassieVonMontague

    I did too. Maybe Andrew means the waist-high brass or bronze railings on waiter side of the entrance that show up in the 40s and 80s tax photos. The sconces on either side of the entrance in the 40s tax photos are much nicer than what they have now!

  • Andrew Porter

    Brooklyn Heights in 1898 is visible in the background in this tip-of-Manhattan photo on Shorpy:

    https://tinyurl.com/yaxg6rm7

  • Andrew Porter

    Yes, it’s the ornate bronze railings on either side of the entrance that were stolen, and never replaced. Also, the metal downspouts on the building were replaced with plastic ones.

    The rear of the building has cables over the window guards, and there’s a hole in the stained glass in the lobby window that has been blocked by cardboard for over a decade.

    I wonder what a DOB inspection might find.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Oh yes now I see what you mean. Not sure I would’ve noticed them in those grainy photos, had you not mentioned they were missing later…

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    That photo is better than the movie.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Jeremy, please find it in your heart to allow for a little hyperbole in this Christmas season.

  • KXrVrii1

    Great picture, but I am still a bit angry with you because I had never heard of “Shorpy” and I think I’m now going to be spending a decent amount of money with them…

  • Andrew Porter

    Just sign up for the daily e-mails. Then you can click on full-size versions of the images you receive. No money need be spent!

  • KXrVrii1

    A follow up question on the off chance you’ve actually purchased prints from Shorpy.

    What first appealed to me was they listed the negative type and size, which made me think the prints were actual B&W photos, which in my old fashioned brain means light projected through a negative onto actual photo paper.

    But they note their prints are “made in-house using top-of-the-line, piano-size Epson SureColor printers with 11-color Ultrachrome inks and premium papers.”

    So I feel these are not prints as I think of them. But maybe I am just behind the times and the piano-sized printer may be as good or even better than the old fashioned way?

  • Andrew Porter

    Sorry, no, never actually bought prints. My walls are already covered with artwork, bookcases, etc.

  • Pierrepont

    FWIW, as of Tuesday Dec. 22nd, the NYT has a map of COVID ICU capacity at hospitals, and some numbers surprised me: 1) NY Methodist in Park Slope shows up at 105% of ICU bed capacity, and, 2) even NYP Cornell on the UES is operating at 89% of ICU bed capacity, with more than 400 Covid patients currently in-patient. Yikes! Stay safe. And wear masks properly, please, when you are out!