Beach, Bridge, Shawarma

Our long-dormant EZ-Pass got a workout towards the end of August, when we borrowed a friend’s car to go to and fro. First stop, Jacob Riis Beach in the Rockaways, which is actually not as nice as the City-run Rockaway Beach:

Later that day we got takeout at Karam’s Restaurant in Bay Ridge:

Traveling between Rockaway Peninsula and Brooklyn meant traversing another bridge, the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens:

Look At This Hipster

The first Jelly Pool Party of the summer took place on July 12 at a new venue, East River State Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn:

The setting on the East River with the Midtown skyline behind the stage was gorgeous, and it’s nice to see the park put to such good use — again, it seems like the State Parks Department is doing all the cool stuff these days. The only drawback with having the stage set up with that stunning backdrop was that the setting sun was a little bright behind the bands, but if you stood to the left of the stage (stage right?), it wasn’t too bad.

This is not a photograph:

One of the strangest, most loopy and generally awesome things I’ve seen in some time was Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz introducing headliners Mission of Burma (unfortunately, I missed the first part . . .):

June 7, 2009

Shut out of the 1 p.m. ferry to Governors Island because of the 2009 Jazz Age Lawn Party, we wandered around Lower Manhattan, wondering what to do. First went over towards The Battery and Pier A, which they seem no closer to renovating, except for some fancy signage:

So we decided to take the IKEA Express Water Taxi to Red Hook:

There’s the new Erie Basin Park there:

Truthfully, Red Hook was a little hot that day (83 degrees, 77 percent humidity), so we returned home via the B61.

In Greenpoint, a word of warning, and some good advice in general:

Not that we’re in the market for a new mattress or anything, but good to know . . .

Mets vs. Phillies, Section 538, Citi Field, May 6, 2009

We saw our first game at Citi Field, the Mets vs. Phillies.

First off, Citi Field is cool. And I say this as someone who appreciated Shea Stadium and feels that too much of our 1960s architecture is being decimated and that one day we will all regret callously tearing it down. But you can’t argue with the amenities and the general atmosphere of the new stadium. The food is much, much better, as is the beer ($7.50 for Danny Meyer craft brews definitely beats overpriced Budweiser — and believe me, I drink more than my fair share of Budweiser when I’m not watching baseball). And for the most part, the Mets’ home has been updated in a way that lends itself to the ballpark experience. Good for them. You step off the 7 train and walk into this fantastic new stadium that isn’t a dump. That’s cool.

That said, the view from the upper rows of Section 538 is, well, crap. That big out-of-town scoreboard in left field must be wonderful to consult, but when you climb up to your seat and see a fancy high-definition screen on the back side of it, it’s a pretty good indication that your view is obstructed; Citi Field features amenities, but they wouldn’t include some amenities unless they had to:

Keep in mind, these are not considered “obstructed view” seats — the face value of these tickets is $19. Which is fine, whatever, but it’s strange that a new stadium — any new stadium — has obstructed-view seats. We can kill a terrorist in Waziristan from a drone piloted by a person in Tampa but HOK can’t figure out how to make the upper rows of Section 538 not feel utterly claustrophobic? That disappoints! Another beef: our Section 538 tickets were the “best available” when we got them. So where was everyone? There were so many empty seats around the stadium that the Mets skipped the “Guess the Attendance” feature. (By the way, I see Mike Lupica already found a way to fetishize and Terkelize Section 538.) But at least it’s not New Yankee Stadium, because that place sounds insane.

OK, and speaking of New Yankee Stadium — and its absurdly ridiculous prices for the best seats — the Mets don’t seem to be doing much better. I know the weather was funky and it’s early in the season, but, jeez, it’s the Phillies — you’d think this would be a hot ticket. But check out the difference between the field level section behind the dugout and the field level section behind the on-deck circle:

So being that this was a Mets-Phillies game, we expected heated emotions, though we didn’t see much of it until the walk — the long walk — down one of Citi Field’s long stairwells (no ramps?) where Mets fans commenced with the customary “Ass-Hole” tomahawk chop at hapless Phillies partisans:

Yeah, yeah, of course “Philly Sucks!” But let’s just recap for a second: Sure, Johan Santana pitched really well, but then so did Chan Ho Park, who gave up only one hit through six innings. Chan Ho Park. Chan. Ho. Park. And the one run the Mets did score was off a terrible throwing error on what should have been just a single. You’re chuffed? I don’t know that I would be. What’s more, you’re still in third place.

And I can’t wait for more games at Citi Field.

Pertinent Link: New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies, Citi Field, Section 538, May 6, 2009.

April 2009

• 2 Lafayette Street, Lower Manhattan
• Christopher Park, West Village, Manhattan
• Cooper Square, Noho, Manhattan
• 69th Regiment Armory, Manhattan
• The Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan
• Steeplechase Pier, Coney Island, Brooklyn
• Vernon Mall, Hunters Point, Long Island City, Queens
• Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North Station, The Bronx

Coney Island, April 25, 2009

Coney Island is open but large sections of the Amusement Core are missing:

And Joe Sitt’s mark is there:

Coney Island wants you to know that all is not lost:

And you can still find entertainment for the “hole” family there (had to add that to the Misspelled page):

The early heat wave made it foggy along the shoreline down at the beach:

But nothing ruins the charm of a visit to Nathan’s (besides a 30 minute wait) like discovering that a large order of Chili Cheese Fries has 1444 calories:

Various New York City, February 2009

• Central Synagogue, 55th Street and Lexington Avenue
• Lever House
• Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
• The renovated Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center
• The renovated Duffy Square in Times Square

Alligator Lounge, Williamsburg

I’m not sure what the business model is for giving away free pizzas with every pint of beer, but it’s brilliant:

Another thing — when inanimate objects like bars give their “age” on their MySpace page as, say, 24 years old, is it a polite way of telling you that you’ve probably aged out of scarfing pizza there at 2:30 in the morning?

Our Lady Of Loreto

Many apologies to Our Lady of Loreto in Brooklyn . . . we mislabeled the church when we posted pictures back in 2005. Not sure how that happened — that was back before Google Street View — but we generally try to get it right!

That said, apparently parishioners and other interested parties are worried that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is thinking about letting the city demolish the church and have put together a petition to prevent that, in case you want to sign it.