The Williamsburg Nerd

You know that bling is out of style when any child can purchase it at a vending machine outside of a bodega! Photo taken on Keap Street and South 3rd Street.

Photographed on December 25th, 2008.

Radio City Music Hall, NYC. Photographed on December 5th, 2008.

Even though I've been living in Williamsburg for a few years I never grow tired of walking over the Williamsburg Bridge — there's a real magic to the structure.

I've always loved the intimate scale of Cinders Gallery (located at 103 Havemeyer St.), it's like a little candy store of art delights. Right now there's an enjoyable installation titled Unsung which is by George Ferrandi and John Orth and runs until December 28th.

Believe it or not Ortiz Funeral Home is a chain with several locations in the New York City area. Although looking at this neon sign you can tell that this location has been in Williamsburg for a long time. What's odd about he location is that it sits right next door to the ramp where the Williamsburg Bridge joins the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (this shot was taken on Havemeyer Street). On the other side is a parking lot and entrance.

Buffalo Cantina was one of my first discoveries upon moving into Williamsburg, I've sort of always thought of it as my "old reliable" spot for very veggie friendly Mexican. Shown here are their nachos.

Buffalo Cantina, 149 Havemeyer Street near South 2nd Street
buffalocantina.com

Niña's 2 Restaurant & Pizzeria (located at 486 Metropolitan Avenue) was always a decent place for slices, but sadly I went there today and they were closed. Their quality had up and down points, but they were pretty much the best place in the hood for slices. I also enjoyed ordering pasta from them too. I also noticed the trucking rental place behind their location was has moved, but I don't think it's related as there was a "For Rent" sign at Nina's.

Continue reading "My Pizza Place (for Slices) is History" »

Voting at PS 19 at 325 South 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the 2008 Presidential election. This shows the line in the hallway to get into the voting area. By the way the clock in this photo hadn't been reset it was in fact 6:05 am.

This is the entrance to the voting area where workers rather quickly pointed people in the right direction.

Voting begins: Things look like they're off to a slow start here, but at the entrance folks are starting to line up.

Election poll workers look up my name from the previous election.

The first time I watched Barack Obama speak was his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention — and I was blown away. I read his books and in 2007 went to the first meetups. And then came Iowa which surprised me in a refreshing away which was followed by a very long primary season. Then came the conventions, debates and at long last today!

This is the sticker that I wore during the New York primary on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008. I was upset that Barack lost in New York, but not surprised. Although on the bright side he did better in Brooklyn than most other places so I'm glad I was a part of that. While I had fun handing out flyers and the like, the highlight of that day was being able to go and vote for Obama in an actual voting booth. This was a big deal to me as the 2004 race was finished well before the NY primary when I was involved in the Wes Clark campaign - and of course the years 2000 and 1996 were non-events.

I'm looking ahead to returning to the voting booth on today and hoping for the best. By the way please be extra kind to those workers at the polls - they don't get paid much and for the most part they show up year after year out of love. They'll have their hands full on Tuesday so some extra kindness will go a long way...

The old Kellogg's Diner was a local landmark for one reason: it was the only place on this side of the river where you could find a diner that was open 24/7 no matter what. The flip side of this was everything else — the food was terrible, the service was non-existent, they had health code violations and even the shabby non-chic decor was hard on the eyes. That said beggars can't be choosers and it was what it was.

So on Friday my friend informed me that she visited the re-opened spot and her first reaction was that the interior design looked like a bad 80s diner complete with sad looking lobsters on display to greet you in the front. So starving on a Sunday night I decided to check out my old haunt, and things had changed a bit — but maybe not for the worst.

Continue reading "Kellogg's Diner Reopens" »