Open Thread Wednesday

By on November 17, 2021 7:13 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • CassieVonMontague

    ENR.com wrote up two local construction projects for their annual awards.

    Best Renovation/Restoration And Best Safety: The Watermark

    The project was designed and built to preserve the original interior design and layout where possible. That included reclaiming the hotel’s original two-story ballroom space by reopening a 2,109-sq-ft hole in the first-floor concrete slab, which had been sealed in the 1970s to create a mezzanine area.

    The worksite had zero accidents despite more than 300,000 work hours.

    https://www.enr.com/articles/53005-best-renovation-restoration-best-safety-the-watermark-at-brooklyn-heights

    Best Highway/Bridge: Brooklyn Bridge Park Squibb Bridge

    To design the steel replacement bridge, the project team used 3D modeling technology to create a lightweight, low-maintenance structure that could be safely supported by its predecessor’s concrete piers.

    https://www.enr.com/articles/52997-best-highway-bridge-brooklyn-bridge-park-corporation-squibb-bridge

  • CassieVonMontague

    I’ve noticed a few Blackhawk helicopters buzzing our neighborhood recently. Is the US Army getting into the sightseeing business too? I don’t think official business would require them to hover over Central Park and then swing by our neighborhood on their way back to the other side of the harbor to hover over the Statue of Liberty.

    https://imgur.com/a/pDINkX9

  • CassieVonMontague

    I’ve noticed a few Blackhawk helicopters buzzing our neighborhood recently. Is the US Army getting into the sightseeing business too? I don’t think official business would require them to hover over Central Park and then swing by our neighborhood on their way back to the other side of the harbor to hover over the Statue of Liberty. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f794625c0ad7dc7fb6ff54961ee96ed2f0052626159425213d185e46890ed3c.jpg

  • WSGilbert

    With all due respect, what do you know about Army official business?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    She is the very model of a modern Major General.

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

    Clearly they are spraying us with mind-control drugs.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Brilliant connection you picked up on, Claude.
    In 1980 I saw Pirates of Penzance 5 times in the matter of two weeks and enjoyed it thoroughly every time. Cheap date also considering it was being performed at the outdoor theater in Central Park, the Delacorte Theater, for free. Linda Ronstadt was lovely, Rex Smith handsome, Kevin Kline hilarious, and the star, for me, was Mr. George Rose. What a great place to see a play on a beautiful summer evening. Thanks for bringing back great memories of my youth.

  • Andrew Porter

    A little late this week… Courtesy the Municipal Archives, here’s the view NW from the St. George Tower. Biggest changes are the demise of the Hotel Margaret and the ramming through of the BQE which vastly changed the north Heights (click to enlarge):
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2156eec740e3154cafd1b6386414d2b39bb0810cbda84ca3d955b4c7bf79465.png

  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter
  • Jorale-man

    (Cranky old man post alert:) It appears the fume-y ice cream truck that parks at Clinton & Livingston every afternoon is here for the long-haul. I was hoping it would take its noisy compressor and sugary snacks and move elsewhere for the winter but the kids from Packer must keep the demand up.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    My first G&S was HMS Pinafore, which I saw performed by an amateur but very talented group, the Blue Hill Troupe, to which one of my fellow law firm associates belonged. It was staged at Pier Six of the South Street Seaport Museum, on the decks of the lightship Ambrose. It was a slightly foggy evening, which made the ambience perfect.

  • KDHicks

    Ok…I know this comes up all the time, but just walked by the Bossert and it seems somewhat open or ready to open? Did a Google search and they pop up as an IHG property on Hotels.com, but you can’t book it. Anyone know what is going on there or when the scaffolding will come down?

  • RickP

    I’ve been trying to understand what the warehouses reportedly built into the hillside along Furman St. looked like.

    This links to a lithograph of Furman st looking north to the bridge.
    The picture may be too new.

    https://onlinecollections.syr.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/28495/preview

    Anybody have any idea if pictures of the warehouses exist?

    Or how deep into the hillside they went?

  • Andrew Porter

    Didn’t you (or someone) already ask about this? Here’s a photo (not an artist’s impression) of Furman Street (courtesy the Municipal Archives) showing some of the buildings. My impression is that these backed up on the cliffs, and were not built into them.

    Do you really think the owners of the mansions above would be okay with structures undermining their foundations?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7841c587bbc8569e86fbc2d12c75ef752608f61e30a12888012feaababa9d92b.png

  • Andrew Porter
  • RickP

    I appreciate the reply. I had asked before about where they were and if those buttresses were the fronts. I recall your reply.

    Then I read something more about it and wondered if there might be a picture. Thanks for this one.

    Early artist’s renderings show a slope, not a cliff. So, perhaps they did some earth moving with the building functioning as a retaining wall? And, that’s what the early reports are referring to? Just speculation.

  • WallBull

    As you’re looking, here’s a possible clue of what to look for. There are photos from the 2018 press tour of the interior of the cantilever, some of the Furman St. warehouses were left intact under the BQE because it was determined to be easier to build over them than to tear them down.

    https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2018/09/22/bqe-rehab-plan-would-replace-brooklyn-heights-promenade-with-6-lane-highway/

  • WallBull

    Here’s a nice reverse angle shot of that same strip:
    https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2012/01/11/furman-street

  • Andrew Porter

    I have that one in my files, cropped and enhanced.

    This whole subject, frankly, is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about…

  • WSGilbert

    My first and second G&S were “The Mikado” and “HMS Pinafore” both in City Center in 1968 and performed by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company on one of their US tours. The tickets cost a remarkable $3.25 each and they were fairly good seats.
    Blue Hill Troupe, Village Light Opera, NYGASP and even some concert performances at the Heights Unitarian Church were all great.