Last Minute Weekend Suggestions

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Last Minute Weekend Suggestions

By Claude Scales on May 4, 2012 12:47 am in Arts and Entertainment, Events, History, Legal, movies, Nature, Theater

The Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) will present a screening of Nancy Buirski’s film, The Loving Story, a love story about a couple whose wedding set the stage for the Supreme Court’s decision, in Loving v. Virginia, that struck down statutes prohibiting interracial marriage.

The show begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, and there will be a discussion with Buirski afterward. The event is free with museum admission, which is free for BHS members; for non-members it is $6 for adults, and $4 for seniors over 62, teachers, and students 12 and over (college students must have ID; children under 12 are free). Continue Reading →

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Rosa Rugosa Returns

By Claude Scales on April 28, 2012 9:19 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Gardening, Nature

This past Wednesday your correspondent took his customary walk around Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and got this photo of Rosa rugosa in bloom again. With luck, they’ll be around through November. As reader Stuart noted in a comment then: “[T]he rugosas are tough as nails. They can take anything, even salt. [T]he rose hips they produce are the ones used in pharmacology.”

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Last Minute Weekend Suggestions

By Claude Scales on April 20, 2012 2:41 pm in Arts and Entertainment, brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Government, Nature, Photography

Senator Squadron’s Community Convention is Sunday afternoon. MTA head Joseph Lhota will discuss transit issues, you can learn more about new plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park and there will be discussion groups on many other topics of community interest. More details & RSVP here.

Learn about local bird life Sunday morning at Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Anytime you want, head to Brooklyn Bridge Park and take photos (see your correspondent’s contribution above) for BBP’s Bluebell photo contest. Continue Reading →

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Mulch for the Promenade Gardens

By Claude Scales on April 20, 2012 8:42 am in Gardening, Nature

The heaps of brown stuff you may have noticed distributed along the Promenade—or as in this photo at the Montague Street entrance—are mulch to be used on the Promenade gardens. Promenade Gardener Jonanthan Landsman advises us that it will be distributed Saturday morning by a large volunteer group. Continue Reading →

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Last Minute Weekend Suggestions

By Claude Scales on April 13, 2012 12:17 am in Arts and Entertainment, brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Events, Music, Nature, Weather

The forecast for this weekend is for temperatures reaching the 70s and little, if any, chance of showers, so it should be a very good time to see spring blossoms and foliage in Brooklyn Bridge Park (photo), in gardens well tended by Jonathan Landsman and crew beside the Promenade, or in window boxes and gardens along the streets of Brooklyn Heights.

On Sunday, April 15 (you get an extra ~~day~~ two days–thank you, Karl, and the District of Columbia’s Emancipation Day holiday–to file tax returns this year) the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra will present a concert at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, Clinton and Montague streets (enter from Clinton) starting at 3:00 p.m. The program includes Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death”, featuring bass-baritone Mark Peters; Greenhoe’s “Sojourn”; and Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony Number Two in e-minor”. Admission is free, but with a suggested donation of $15.

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Phenomenal Photography Of Heights Resident Rick Elkins

By Chuck Taylor on April 10, 2012 12:55 pm in Arts and Entertainment, DUMBO, Nature, Photography

Brooklyn Heights’ resident Rick Elkins, who works as an art director and editorial/advertising photographer, shared with BHB a series of eight stunning photographs from his portfolio. To see his Flickr photostream, click here, and here for a set of 131 NYC-centric pics. (See large images below the jump.)

Elkins tells us, “Six of these were taken in Brooklyn Heights proper. The ballerina is in DUMBO, but it shows the Brooklyn Bridge, which is a really big part of our neighborhood. And the one of the harbor taken from up on the Bridge shows the area we see from our neighborhood, just from a different angle.” Continue Reading →

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Image Of The Day: Sunny Sunday

By Chuck Taylor on April 8, 2012 10:55 am in Brooklyn Heights, Gardening, Nature, Photos

Enjoy this sunny Sunday! A high in the mid-60s is expected for the afternoon. (Photo: Chuck Taylor/Cadman Plaza)

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See Spring Plants at Pier 1 With Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Handy Guide

By Claude Scales on March 22, 2012 12:28 am in brooklyn bridge park, Nature

Brooklyn Bridge Park has created a guide to plants growing on Pier 1 (the pier accessed from the foot of Old Fulton Street).

Each year the vernal equinox heralds the start of the spring season. At Brooklyn Bridge Park, springtime is celebrated by the returning blossoms found in planting beds, along the edges of lawns and in the wide variety of trees planted just two years ago. Whether it is the large, fragrant flowers of the Saucer Magnolia, the small, buttery clouds of the Corneliancherry Dogwood, or the much anticipated first-bloom of our 8,000 Spanish Bluebells, spring in the park is exceptionally eye-catching and colorful. In homage to the start of spring and the beauty that it brings, Brooklyn Bridge Park is pleased to release our inaugural Spring Plant Guide. Continue Reading →

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Mockingbird

By Claude Scales on March 19, 2012 5:24 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Nature, Photos

Another harbinger of a spring that has arrived early, this migrant from the South was spotted between Piers 1 and 2, in Brooklyn Bridge Park, resting on a branch of what appears to be sumac, with drupes. Click on photo to enlarge.

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Bloomin’ Brooklyn Heights

By Claude Scales on March 18, 2012 2:56 pm in Gardening, Nature, Photos, Weather

Early spring-like weather has been propitious for flowering plants, both in gardens and window boxes, around the Heights. The flowers in the photo at left are in front of the residence of garden designer Catherine Fitzsimmons on Joralemon Street between Hicks and Willow Place. More photos and text after the jump. Continue Reading →

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Learn About Brooklyn Heights Plant Life Thursday

By Claude Scales on February 7, 2012 4:43 pm in Environment, Events, Gardening, Nature

This in from Promenade Gardener Jonathan Landsman:

This Thursday at 12:30 PM, the Promenade Gardeners are hosting the first of our winter gatherings: Plant Trivia from Brooklyn and Beyond. We’d love to invite interested members of the public to join us for this first class and snacks. We sit, chat, look at photos of plants, and Koren and I ask some tough and not-so-tough questions about plants we interact with in daily life in literature, medicine, popular culture, and our walks on the Promenade. Half of the 90 minute meeting is devoted to plants of the Promenade, with a special emphasis on what was bought and planted last year using funds raised by the Promenade Gardens Conservancy and through our bake sales. Joining the group will give one an early taste of spring and a little extra appreciation for plants in our day to day life. Those who’d like to come should RSVP to the hostess, Koren Volk, at volkkoren@hotmail.com and she will provide location details.

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Kiddie Hawk – Big Bird Hangs Out at Pierrepont Playground in Brooklyn Heights

By Homer Fink on January 29, 2012 9:15 pm in Nature

BHB reader “Alex” sent us this photo of what appears to be a City Hawk hanging out over Pierrepont Playground this weekend. Hopefully he’s more mellow than the big fella we spotted chewing up a pigeon last year and more like the laid back chap who came to visit in the snow back in December 2010.

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Henry Street Courtyard Serves As Filthy Garbage Dump, Buffet For Vermin

By Chuck Taylor on January 20, 2012 11:01 am in Brooklyn Heights, Environment, Nature, Streets

An open backyard on Henry Street has become an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord for rats and other vermin, with piles of trash, discarded furniture, construction remnants, bottles, bags and broken glass overrunning the one-time manicured outdoor space.

Located behind Montague Street’s Andy’s Chinese restaurant, Dashing Diva nail salon and the Heights Vision Center, and across from Corcoran real estate on Henry, the cluttered dump is easily accessed through an open iron gate. For years, residents have been complaining to landlords and business owners, to no avail, as it continues to accumulate garbage strewn & stacked at liberty. Continue Reading →

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Inventive Christmas Tree Disposal in Brooklyn Heights

By Homer Fink on January 10, 2012 10:15 pm in Nature

A BHB reader sent us this comment and photo:

It’s interesting that someone mentioned on the open thread last week that our hood could use a Xmas tree composting station. I was going to suggest that the dead end at Middagh St. would be a good open space to set it up. Well, apparently the neighbors have agreed to xmas tree disposal here as well, but this was not exactly what i was thinking!

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Sunset Serenade

By Chuck Taylor on December 27, 2011 11:02 am in Nature

Just because Christmas has faded to black doesn’t mean that the Brooklyn Heights Promenade doesn’t still offer some of the most organic beauty in all of New York. Taken Monday, December 26, just before dusk. Continue Reading →

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