North Crown Heights: Part 2

(continued from yesterday)

turn on east new york avenue, walking south towards eastern parkway

maybe my favorite stretch in the neighborhood

i left out a couple of really run-down buildings...i'll cover those in a future post

below is one of the most interesting buildings, a large seventh-day adventist church/school



the following three are all of the streets surrounding lincoln pl and new york ave

i was so amazed by the houses in this area the first time i ever walked through it

what do you think? leave comments, please, if you have thoughts...

bonus post, no. 3

a spirit (st marks at new york ave)

as i took my photo, an older gentleman stopped and asked me if i knew what this was

i said no, expecting a story about its origin or background

'a gargoyle', he said

...

sha-zam!!

North Crown Heights: Part 1

i've taken to short phototours; pick a street (or two) at random in a particular area, and walk down those without deviating from the path.

i'll feature north crown heights over the next couple of weeks; you may remember that i consider this area the most interesting (and beautiful) i've yet seen in the city.

begin at st marks and franklin, going east



mostly earth-toned buildings and brownstones until bedford



at which point things get more interesting; more varied architecture, more colors, more decoration

lots of these peak-roofed buildings around bedford and nostrand

ending at new york ave with two very different buildings:





tomorrow the 2nd half, from new york avenue to eastern parkway

Jazz Gallery 3/29

tony malaby/william parker/nasheet waits

tamarindo

three shots:

nasheet



then william

then nasheet



didn't get a good shot of tony...

GREAT show. check out their album.

Flushing Ave

from the brooklyn navy yard to east williamsburg

rothko on the subway?

pretty kittens

HELLO!!



how could i resist?

afternoon walk in crown heights

and we welcome spring to (my view of) downtown brooklyn...beautiful day!


i live in the most interesting neighborhood in nyc


as you walk down eastern pkwy, or wander the sidestreets of crown heights, i don't see how you could avoid it. it's beautiful. i'll try to feature the architecture of the row houses more in the next week, but i'll say for now that i think it bests anything in park slope, the villages, or brooklyn heights. it's much more diverse and colorful (only bed-stuy rivals it, to me).


proof of spring? check the buds on the trees...



it's such a diverse neighborhood, dominated by two very different groups (the caribbean sections and the hasidic section). they've had their problems in the past, and perhaps still do, but now we can savor the experience of walking nostrand, or kingston, or utica, soaking in the sounds just as i might in a foreign country, letting my eyes wander from the island colors to the hebrew lettering...


i even saw a car covered in 'barbados' towels and flags parked right behind a mitzvah tank

(photos: eastern pkwy, at various spots between bedford ave and utica)

bonus post, no. 2

found this today walking home from the a train station at nostrand ave

corner of bedford and st marks

this is the second example i've found of these unusual figures posted on currently abandoned buildings in the area; there's also a vignette of two people and an identical bird on a franklin ave building. they both use a similar type of material, which appears to be very thin metal (?). the birds, above, extend to the three visible sides of the building in question, and are actually ABOVE the scaffolding currently on the building (slated for destruction? we'll see...)

you know what? i'll post the other building, since i have an old shot of it:



I recently learned that this building (a 19th century brewery, franklin ave at bergen st) was purchased by a development group, and will be preserved (though renovated) and turned into apartments. It's apparently one of this group's projects.

i've noticed a lot of gang-related graffiti in the neighborhood lately, mostly on franklin and classon. bloods and crips, red and blue paint. it's always nice to come across something more creative. i'll be looking for more from this particular artist...

bklyn is beautiful, nr. 2

this is the ugliness that i can't find ugly

but there's something beautiful about the trash, the decay, the ruined buildings. see my nyc photoblog links if you don't believe me

here are some more pictures of my neighborhood--we're sticking with prospect/crown heights until the gold mine has been exhausted.






most of the above from (near) the corner of underhill and dean st