Carroll Gardens Bike Thieves Not Quite Beat

I was so heartened by the recent reports that the 76th precinct had caught a couple rampant Brooklyn bike thieves, that I started locking my bike outside for the first time in weeks, instead of bringing it in my building.

That didn't last long. My son pointed out to me that someone had obviously been trying to cut through my U-lock bike lock. They didn't succeed. But it was enough to get me to start carting my bike indoors again.

Also, not this gripping Park Slope tale.

About As Pretty As Gowanus Gets

And for my last posting on "Positively Third Street," something that's actually on the eastern dead end of Second Street (close enough), where the pavement meets the canal. An almost completely unnoticed—and certain unvisited—effort of the Parks Department's Greenstreet program. Love the old painted boat. If you look closely, you'll see it was christened the Gowanus Monitor. I assume this is a humorous nod to the famous Civil War "ironclad" USS Monitor, which was built at the nearby Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, but who knows.

Graffiti, Weeds, Cement, Silence

It doesn't take too much imagination, does it, to imagine this empty, graffiti-and-weed-filled lot decades ago, crowded with trucks and hard-working, sweaty men loading boxes and sacks on and off the loading dock?

Squat Survivor

A squat little survivor on Hoyt Street just off Third. It says "carriage house" like nobody's business. Maybe a stables, actually. Nicely preserved, arched wooden doors on the second floor. Good for throwing a bale of hay through.

Death Is Upon You

Says the obsolete loading dock.

Two Stories of Ugly

This is actually on Third Place, not Third Street. But close enough.

I am guessing that, with the new Carroll Gardens downsizing rezoning is on its way to being a reality, atrocities like this two-story growth above a brownstone would no longer be allowed. Let's hope not.

The development alone is reason enough for having pushed for the downzoning.

Abandoned, But Dignified

There are plenty of remnants of the Gowanus' Canal's industrial past along the western blocks of Third Street—abandoned loading docks, weed-filled parking lots and the like.

This towering, abandoned warehouse—on Bond Street, just off Third—still looks rather handsome for all the neglect it's suffered over the years. The subtle brickwork shows what care went into the building of the most utilitarian structures a century ago. There's something vaguely Italianate about the vertical lines, the arrangement of windows, and the small arched windows toward the top.


Many of the old windows still have their wooden panes. Almost all of the openings have been bricked up from the inside, so I doubt the edifice serves any purpose anymore.

Mandate!

Yes. But for whom?

Style Matters—Just Not to Them

The is the unsightly, evolving reality of Third and Bond, a new housing development that is slowly eating up a good section of the block of 3rd Street between Hoyt and Bond. It looks to be a burgeoning piece of crapitecture like many another in the Borough of Kings. But then, look at this message whimsically painted by the developers upon the sidewalk shed. "Style Matters."

Well, sure it does. But does it matter to Third and Bond? Judging by the below rendering of the finished product, the answer would be no.

Positively Third Street

On Aug. 11, 2009, I will be posting only about Third Street, Brooklyn. Specifically, Third Street between Smith Street and the Gowanus—a very gritty, utterly unsung stretch of pavement.

Why? Because it's hot, and when it's hot, I keep my ventures local; because it's what I've got a bunch of pictures of; because it's a damn interesting piece of urban thoroughfare; just because.

I'll start with this message painted across the rim of a vacant warehouse near the Gowanus Canal. "No More Corporate Bullshit. Fuk Wall Street."

I like the way you talk, Third Street. Fuk them, indeed.