WHEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE of a subject is so prodigious that you can expound extemporaneously for hours, there is probably a book in there somewhere. Such is the case of former borough historian JOHN MANBECK, a professor, an activist in public television and, of course, a writer with many books and articles to his credit. What..
Month: August 2008
PRATT STUDENT EMILY POTTER IS ONE of a few lucky young designers who General Motors is counting on to help make the auto giant “green.” Over the summer, 21 interns from around the world were divided into six teams by skill in a designated studio — a set each of designers, sculptors, color and trim..
ANYONE WHO HAS EVER TAKEN a set of stairs into a New York subway station has hurried past grimy walls and other surfaces unappealing to the senses. To change that, Brooklyn-based Groundswell Community Mural Project has expanded its community mural projects to subway stations. A new mural coordinated by the not-for-profit Groundswell, titled “New York..
MARCY PESNER has achieved that elusive balancing act — making a living doing something she loves with her hands. This was Pesner’s goal in establishing her Gowanus-based shop, Beagle and Pots Woodworking, formerly called Beagle Tiles. The shop initially made rare decorative wood tiles, but as interest grew, output has expanded to kitchens, built-in bookshelves..
THE LATE FRANK SPINNER, a decorated veteran who flew tail-wheel airplanes and invented a widely copied car-washing machine, was long-time president and supporter of the Society of Old Brooklynites (SOB). He, more than any other individual, gave financial and civic support to the refurbishing of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park. It..
WRITER/PRODUCER DANIEL NAYERI and co-directors BRENDAN CHOISNET and ADAM BROWNE have created a critique-laden tribute to Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Park Slope in “The Cult of Sincerity,” a film that highlights a hipster crowd and a spectrum of generational attitudes, and addresses the question, what does it mean to be good? Certain hotspots, such as Stain..
MUSICIAN, ARTIST, COMPOSER, DIRECTOR AND BIKING ENTHUSIAST DAVID BYRNE has designed nine bike racks for the city, eight of which are in Manhattan. Brooklyn’s rack — a shiny red guitar titled “Hipster” — was installed near North Sixth Street on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. According to the story told by the New York Times, Byrne,..
On Saturday, August 23, when the SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYNITES celebrates the centennial of “America’s First POWs” on the 232nd anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, it brings together several important pieces of Brooklyn history that many neighbors, particularly newcomers to Brooklyn, may not know. First, the Society of Old Brooklynites, affectionately called ‘SOBs,’ was..
LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL will celebrate its 150th Anniversary Gala on October 4 at Steiner Studios. Reps from LICH say the entire medical staff will be feted on this momentous occasion, but in particular, CATHERINE GALLOGLY-SIMON, VP and chief nursing officer, will be honored. Gallogly-Simon began her nursing career as a staff nurse at LICH..
BOERUM HILL RESIDENT MATTHEW KELLS has intimately experienced a world few people ever will: For five weeks he lived in a monastery, learning and adopting the routines of the Benedictine monks. With the abbot’s blessing, he returned over the course of half a dozen years to document their peaceful existence on film. The final product,..