A blog about our Brooklyn neighborhood.
Send news, tips, gossip, and rants to ditmasparkblog [at] gmail.com.
February 8th, 2010 8:04 pm
The City’s Office of Emergency Management emails:
Emergency personnel are on the scene of an unstable antenna near Church Avenue and East 10th Street in Brooklyn. Church Avenue is closed to traffic between East 10th Street and Stratford Road.
(courtesy of the super-useful Notify NYC)
February 8th, 2010 5:38 pm
February 8th, 2010 10:35 am
On the corner of E16th and Cortelyou, will bring you your prescriptions home. Call 718 282 7600.
February 8th, 2010 9:58 am
Taxi of Tomorrow is not just a site designed by a local (Matthew Landfield), it is a place you can go to discuss what the Taxi of Tomorrow should be like. From the press release:
In 2014, only one type of taxi will begin to traverse through the streets of New York City and it won’t be any of the more than ten varieties of yellow taxi cabs at work today. It will be the result of a contract awarded by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and will be designed to meet the demands of the modern age. The question is: what does this mean?
Human Condition, an insight and innovation firm, launched www.taxioftomorrow.com on February 4, 2010 to allow the public to help answer the question. This venue is intended as a source of insight for the designers, developers, passengers, drivers and owners of the NYC Taxi of Tomorrow. The site’s goal is to crowdsource valuable ideas and data to help reinvent one of the most iconic New York City experiences.
taxioftomorrow.comVisitors to the site are able to voice their opinions and enter into dialogue with other users including pedestrians, taxi drivers, taxi medallion owners, motorists, designers/manufacturers, cyclists, persons with disabilities, taxi marketers and even visitors to NYC. Site visitors can upload videos or comments about their taxi experience and start their own discussions.
February 8th, 2010 9:39 am
We expect to discuss the city charter, the relationship between the mayor and the City Council, the roles of the borough presidents and the community boards, what’s going on at selected city agencies, and how City Hall, the economy, land use, transportation, and public schools all affect the size of the city’s middle class and the city’s viability. Our aim will be to look at connections and how government really works. If you have something to say about these things, we invite you to submit a comment or an essay. If we think your ideas cast more light than heat, we’ll publish them.
February 8th, 2010 9:27 am
No, not a co-op. Just last week we posted about the chicken coop designed by Drew Waters. Now it seems at least one neighbor is getting one:
“It’s not nearly as cool having chickens on your farm as in your New York City backyard,” Dan Feldman says. Feldman, a thirty-nine-year-old executive who lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, is about to get cool thanks to a chicken coop–the Chicken Ark–designed by Australian expat Drew Waters, a TV news employee by day and Noah-like chicken coop creator by evening/night.
Why chickens?
The rest of the story is here.
February 6th, 2010 12:47 pm
February 5th, 2010 1:49 pm
Sara Jaffe emails:
Sick of venturing to north Brooklyn for all your gay times? This is the revamped 2nd Thursdays Queer Night at Sycamore, the sweetest little bar in Ditmas Park. DJs Jaffe and Linton spinning mellow tunes for the earlybirds from 8-11ish, then the dance party DJ takes over. Whiskey specials, flower shop in the front, cozy times–just what mid-February ordered.
February 5th, 2010 9:43 am
February 4th, 2010 4:38 pm
Or, at least, the only one to get a makeover from the New York Times!
FOR Judith HoSang, a travel industry publicist, redecorating the bedroom she shares with her husband, Robert HoSang, a media buyer for a marketing company, had been an exercise in frustration.
“We really, really need some help,” pleaded Ms. HoSang, 29, in a short video she sent by e-mail to The New York Times in response to a message on its Web site (the message is no longer online) offering to pair people with small budgets with a professional designer willing to work free.
In the video, Ms. HoSang, a design enthusiast with a blog called “Better Home, No Garden,” described a series of attempted improvements to their Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, apartment: an inflatable headboard that refused to stay inflated; two color swatches that she and Mr. HoSang, 35, had painted on the wall before deciding they didn’t like either one; a $265 vintage dresser that broke every time she used it; and three roman shades hung with Mighty Putty, only one of which would stay up.
Ms. HoSang, who had just $1,500 to spend, was frustrated by her repeated failures and confused by the seemingly disparate styles she found appealing.
“I really love the Kardashians’ house,” she said on the video. “I know, I know, it’s the Kardashians. But I love that look of all white.”
February 4th, 2010 11:01 am
What do you like about Coney Island Avenue (CIA)? What don’t you like about Coney Island Avenue? What would you like to see different?
At the request of Church Avenue BID, Pratt Center for Community Development is planning to start work with the community to develop what’s called a “community vision” for CIA between Cortelyou Road and Parkside Avenue. Pratt will survey the area and its current conditions, and community will be invited to meet and discussions what works there, and what does not, with the end result will be a report on what are the options for making CIA better serve the needs of the surrounding communities.
Please contact Paula Crespo at the Pratt Center for Community Development (718.636.3486, ext. 6455 or pcrespo@pratt.edu) if you are interested in participating or want more information.
February 3rd, 2010 9:31 pm
Whether you are single or not, here are two events this Valentine’s Day weekend that promise to “mix exotic with memorable, be neither overly romantic or darkly anti-romance,” and they come to you via the Russian Banya (on CIA @ C) & Brooklyn Urban Sanctuary (Prospect Heights), courtesy of Gemini & Scorpio:
Our 8th Annual B-Day Bash: The Vault of Golden Vapors
Valentine’s Day, Sun Feb 14, 7pm-2am, 21+ (25+ recommended)
Brooklyn Urban Sanctuary loft, Prospect Heights, BK, RSVP on website for address
7pm admission with dim sum dinner: $40; 9pm: $20 adv/$25 door; 11pm: $15
Tix & details, FB
On Chinese Moon Year’s Eve, a dreamful night in an opium den of our making. Recline in languid repose and drift in the pleasures of intimate performance, golden-throated singers, tales told in glistening flesh, exotic cocktails and delectable dim sum. Featuring live vintage Chinese jazz by Shien Lee of Shanghai Triad and Dances of Vice, Chinese ballads by talented young composer Natti Vogel, Asian-inspired burlesque by Dame Cuchifrita and Grandma Fun, and your opium den madam The Flying Fox. Your late-night grooves delivered by DJ Nightshade, with his signature sexy ethno-lounge mix. And of course cocktails by The House Of St Eve (yes, t.h.o.s.e. drinks)…
This party is also the official launch of the newly redecorated Brooklyn Urban Sanctuary 2000sq ft loft that is now our home. Even if you’ve seen it before, you’ve never seen it like this.
Dress code: Asian opulence, sexy lounge, crimson + gold, trailing sleeves and dress trains, colorful kimonos, printed silks.
===+++===+++===+++===
OUR NEXT EVENT, 2/13
===+++===+++===+++===
Gemini & Scorpio
present
A Steamy Valentine’s Eve at the Russian Baths
Saturday, Feb 13, 7pm-2am
Banya, 602 Coney Island Ave bet Beverley Rd & Ave C, Kensington, BK
Details & tix, FB
Break out your bikini or swim trunks, and join our hand-picked crowd of artsy, funky (and nearly naked) New Yorkers for the glorious return of Gemini & Scorpio’s legendary Russian Baths party.
We will have the newly remodeled & sparkling clean baths to ourselves, with a few hand-picked professionals on hand for the optional platzas and massages. Enjoy: Russian, Turkish and Swedish steam rooms, jacuzzi and cold plunge pool; poolside dance floor; rooftop smoking deck; hookah lounge and chillout rooms; authentic and delicious Russian food in a private restaurant room with a view of the dance floor.
Raya Brass Band, the newest fiery Balkan band to come out of the village of Brooklyn, will get you sweating faster than the saunas with swirling, dynamic music of northern Greece, the southern Balkans and the Romany people, playing two sets,10pm and 12am. DJ Joro-Boro, former resident DJ of the infamous Mehanata (Bulgarian Bar), keeps the dance floor sizzling with his hot EthnoMesh Megalophonia mix till 2am as we dole out free pierogies for everyone. There will be an open vodka bar 9:30-10:30pm.
“Best (and Only) Russian-bathhouse Dance Party” – Village Voice “Best of 2006. “A night of steamy fun” — TimeOutNY “Your Perfect Weekend” pick. “Epic” — Brooklyn Based.
Only 100 tix on presale; 50 more at door. Three ticket levels: $85 (7pm entry + open vodka bar + multi-course Russian banquet) /$45 (9pm entry + open vodka bar) / $35 (11pm entry). More details on each ticket tier are on our website.
This is the kind of party you always imagine, but can never quite find in real life…and the only one where you’ll come out cleaner than when you came in.
Last year’s banya bash here.
February 3rd, 2010 7:42 pm
east 10th street nr church, originally uploaded by flatbushnelson. from the Ditmas Park Flickr pool
This is E. 10th Street between Church and Caton and east of Coney Island Avenue.
Listings
