SBN STORE
Framed Brooklyn Photographs and NEW Brooklyn Shirts!

NEW PRODUCTS
in SBN STORE
Lights adorn the Empire Stores Building in DUMBO for the holidays.
Holidays in DUMBO
Framed Print
filler image
Brooklyn Tshirt with Gold Lettering
Brooklyn Gold
Tshirt
filler image
James Gandolfini prepares to play Tony Soprano during a scene filmed at Christ Church in Cobble Hill
Tony Soprano in Cobble Hill
Framed Print
Search our website
filler image

Click here
to launch our new interactive map! It is our new way to visit the neighborhoods of South Brooklyn.
DUMBO
Brooklyn Heights
Cobble Hill
Columbia Street Watrefront District
Boerum Hill
Carroll Gardens
Gowanus Canal
Red Hook
Park Slope
HAPPENINGS REAL ESTATE NEIGHBORHOODS BUSINESSES

GUESTBOOK

Ikea tent city

IKEA comes to town. Will anything be the same in Red Hook?

They came from miles away to line up for the grand opening of Ikea Brooklyn. TV stations did live shots and asked if this was the start of Red hook. It depends on what you want Red Hook to be.

Over a hundred people were lined up along the entryway to the blue behemoth with the reward being a sofa or a chair. The Ikea cult has come to town. A half dozen tents peppered the line with most people sitting in hard plastic seats. It better be a really good couch.

Sam Bowyer swung in a hammock and mused on his reasons for being on the line. He is new to New York and saw an opportunity for adding the couch to his apartment in Queens. His only complaint was the Port-a-potty, filthy beyond belief in the morning but cleaned out in the afternoon.

The best of them all was the father and daughter who arrived on Father's Day and became the first tent in Ikea village.

Bowyer
Sam Bowyer chills in a hammock / ©Mark D Phillips

Red Hook's new megastore is a major accomplishment. After an eight-year odyssey that saw lawsuits, midnight construction, and the loss of a historic dry dock, Ikea did what Wal-Mart could not; a major presence in New York City's marketplace. Elizabeth did not count.

With ferry service between Manhattan and the store, and two bus routes that were extended, Red Hook now has more public transportation than anytime in the last decade. And maybe the buses will run on time and as often as they promise. (The MTA?? Who are we trying to fool.) At least the ferry service is a private company.

The big question is cars.

How will Red Hook handle the stream of private vehicles on its narrow, truck filled streets? The Ikea website map keeps you off of Van Brunt Street if you come from Brooklyn Heights, but Columbia Street will quickly become a zoo. Passing by the Red Hook houses, the street is always crowded with pedestrians crossing just about everywhere. How soon will traffic lights appear in place of the stop signs?

For subway travelers, Ikea is providing shuttle service from Borough Hall and the Smith-9th Street stations every 15 minutes from 10am to 10pm. We'll see how that works.

Ikea has made an attempt to appease the neighborhood. On the site is art created from the remnants of the shipyard lost in the transition. Huge cranes were kept on the site, as well as a sculpture created from old tools found during construction, and stone blocks bear the names of historic ships that graced the Red Hook shoreline.

With unobstructed views of the Statue of Liberty from its restaurant, Ikea is bound to have a steady stream of visitors.

Red Hook will never be the same.

HAPPENING archive of stories ......

Angels and Accordions headlines OpenHouseNY

Angels & Accordions Finale at Greenwood Cemetary

View a PHOTO GALLERY from this year's Angels & Accordions by CLICKING HERE!

For the sixth year, Angels and Accordions brought Greenwood Cemetary alive.

With its unique presentation of accordions, singing, striking visuals, and creepy graveyard scenes, Angels and Accordions is a site-specific show, with the audience taken on a mile-long walking tour, punctuated by scenes of angels around different memorials.

Greenwood Cemetary is one of the most beautiful sculpture gardens in the world. With mausoleums structured from pyramids to Greek cathedrals and statues for war dead to cherished child, the stages for angels are designed by Martha Bowers of Dance Theatre Etcetera.

Martha's visions come to life within this unique venue. Angels sing from a vine covered path, bringing "Over the Rainbow" to a chilling feeling of sorrow.

Some of the simplest can be the most striking, such as an angel frozen on the steps of a grand mausoleum or reading names from an alcove in the catacombs. View these images in our online photogallery on SouthBrooklynInternet by clicking here.

As the premier event of Open House NY, Angels and Accordions has been a free event. Will it remain a free event? Probably not. But believe us, it will be worth the admission price.

View a photo gallery from this year's Angels and Accordions on SouthBrooklynInternet


 

Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge launches mybrooklynbridge.com

mybrooklynbridge.com
Order a copy of the Brooklyn Bridge's 125th Anniversary from SBN ©Mark D Phillips

In 2008, the Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its 125th anniversary, and this monumental occasion presented the Dumbo Improvement District the opportunity to unveil a new and improved pedestrian experience on the Brooklyn side of the Bridge.

Working with Emphas!s Design and artists Linnaea Tillett & Karin Tehve, the Dumbo Improvement District undertook this great project to provide a sense of direction and place to the one million tourists who cross over the Brooklyn Bridge each year. In the past when pedestrians reached the Brooklyn end of the Bridge, they frequently turned around and returned Manhattan when confronted with uninviting entrances, poor lighting and inadequate signage. Today, pedestrians are greeted with signage welcoming them to Brooklyn and a large map highlighting attractions within walking distance.

“This Way” serves as a grand entrance point to the fine borough of Brooklyn.

This Way light installation on the entryway to the Brooklyn Bridge walkway
©Mark D Phillips, 2008

mybrooklynbridge.com screen shot and linkThe Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge was formed by the Dumbo Improvement District to bring together the resources to maintain improvements made to the world's greatest bridge. The initiatives website, mybrooklynbridge.com, will be a major resource for the bridge. Share your memories of your favorite experience on the Brooklyn Bridge. Watch an 1899 movie by Thomas Edison Studios of a train travelling over the bridge, and read the history of the construction.

Contributions to Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge will be dedicated to the supplemental maintenance of this project. With donations of $150 or more, you will receive a framed image of your choice from our collection, including historical images of the bridge from our partner, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and new images by Mark D Phillips. They make great gifts.

For more details, visit mybrooklynbridge.com


Pier 1 sand box
Brooklyn House of Detention with abandoned sites are a blight on Atlantic Avenue -- ©Mark D Phillips -- (VIEW LARGER)
THE JAIL BATTLE
According to the NY Post's Rich Calder:

Foes of City Hall's plan to reopen and expand a Brooklyn jail scored a victory yesterday when the city agreed to temporarily halt work on the $440 million project and cap the number of overnight prisoners there.

Comptroller Bill Thompson, Councilman David Yassky and civic groups cut the court-OK'd deal just days after suing the city for "secretly" and "illegally" repopulating the Brooklyn House of Detention in family-laden Boerum Hill with 31 prisoners.

The agreement runs through Dec. 18, at which time the case is to return to court. Under the deal, the jail may accept up to 50 prisoners.

NY Post - Nov 21, 2008


The INTREPID Returns!

The USS Intrepid returned from its two-year restoration in Staten Island Thursday, October 2, to Pier 86 on the West Side. Two hundred fifty former Intrepid crew members took the short voyage, passing by the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero.

Intrepid sales by the Statue of Liberty
For more photos and larger click here ©Mark D Phillips


IKEA comes to town. Will anything be the same in Red Hook? -- They came from miles away to line up for the grand opening of Ikea Brooklyn. TV stations did live shots and asked if this was the start of Red hook.

GOING GREEN --- Movers Not Shakers brings environmentally friendly service to an age-old business.

THE WATERFALLS --- Were they good or bad?

Read our Archive of South Brooklyn Stories

Looking for unique Brooklyn Gifts?

The SBstore has neighborhood tshirts, Brooklyn art, and an everchanging lineup of items from our member businesses.

NEW FRAMED IMAGES AVAILABLE!
11 x 14, 12 x 12, and 20 x 30 sizes



Brooklyn Bridge 125th Anniversary 20x30 Print
(available framed or unframed)
Brooklyn Shirts
Hoodies and more

Brooklyn Shirts and Onesies
Cruise South Brooklyn Link Graphic

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

MazzoneTrueValue.com Hardware
Mazzone True Value

The online location for Sutherland Welles Tung Oil
Jerard Studio
They make the cow in "Spamalot" and the pigeons for "The Producers". Learn more about this incredible Red Hook business!
Dance Theatre Etcetera in Red Hook Brooklyn
Dance Theatre Etcetera

Bringing the Red Hook Waterfront Festival to life.
DUMBO Improvement District
Learn more about DUMBO.

The South Brooklyn Network is produced by South Brooklyn Internet,
a full service Internet Marketing Firm located in Cobble hill, Brooklyn, New York.
All material ©2007. No reuse without permission.