Yesterday I went out to the wilds of Bushwick, Brooklyn, where all the hipster artists are said to be moving now that nearby Williamsburg is infested with condos. I discovered two very different neighborhoods.
One, on the west side of Flushing Avenue, was mostly warehouses and factories. The streets were empty and windblown, with aluminum cans tumbling along noisily and lots of graffiti. I spent literally hours taking photos, stopping only to visit a great little coffee house called the Archive in one of the few populated areas, along Bogart Street. I’m told this area is technically East Williamsburg, and not Bushwick at all.
Maybe Flushing Avenue is the dividing line, because the east side of Flushing was totally different -- very residential. The predominant language was Spanish, and every time I passed a church I could hear boisterous services coming from within. Drivers had the salsa music cranked up LOUD. It reminded me so much of Miami.
Given the beautiful sunny weather and all the graffiti and street scenery, it’s not surprising that I wound up with about 95 pictures! Keep an eye on Flickr -- though it will take me a while to get to them. I’m still working through lots of Manhattan shots!
Steve - Love your new pic/avatar! It's so YOU. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHey west of Flatbush Ave. sounds like the wild wild west, with aluminum cans instead of the usual tumbleweeds. Very cool description. I felt like I was walking around with you. 95 pics! YES.
Steve, that house and the old man in the picture could be a hundred places here in Tucson. I love the colors of the barrio.
ReplyDeleteFabulous photo and story - how fun! It's been great weather here in Seattle, too - sunny and in the 70's. I have gotten a ton of garden work done - ahhhh!
ReplyDeleteI live in Bushwick and no where in the entire neighborhood is there a house like that. In fact, that house is on St. Mark's between 1st and 2nd, the north side. I know because I pass it all the time on my way to Dumpling Man. I was just there a few hours ago and that same old man was outside taking out the trash.
ReplyDeleteOK -- I knew this would confuse people eventually.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Matt, that house IS on St. Mark's Place. That's why the title of my post is "East Village." When my blog started more than a year ago, I posted photos alone, and the location/date of the photo was the title.
I've kept that format even though I now write a little, and the text is often ENTIRELY UNRELATED to the photo -- just an account of what I've been up to. So I did not mean to imply that this photo was taken in Bushwick.
I'll try to be clearer in future posts. This is just a problem that's grown up of its own accord as the blog has matured.
a person!
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A fellow blogger pointed out that my first reference to "Flatbush Avenue" should have said "Flushing." So I corrected it. Sorry folks -- my bad!
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