After living in NYC my entire life, I found the strongest sense of community in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. My proudest moment as owner and editor of Greenpointers.com is raising over $11,000 for New Yorkers affected by Hurricane Sandy. It shows how neighbors can come together through one small blog and make a big impact.
The 61 Franklin St Garden is open! Ryan Watson, of GWAAP and Brooklyn Seed Company giddily unlocked the gate to show me the beautiful (and mugwort-filled) space this morning. Before the garden parties can begin, help is needed to pull up an entire lot overgrown with weeds. It’s super easy – just grab and pull, grab and pull.
If you’re looking for a productive morning in the great outdoors of Greenpoint, grab your gardening gloves and show up at the 61 Franklin St garden tomorrow – Saturday May 18 at 9:30am – and get to work!
Due to rain last weekend, the Electronic Waste Recycling Event was rescheduled to tomorrow,Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 11am-5pm.
Don’t just chuck your old cell phone and laptop into the trash. Help divert New York City’s electronic waste from landfills! Our own local Green Chip Recycling companyrecycles your old electronics so they never end up in landfill.
Drop off your broken and unwanted electronics for recycling to the Go Green! Festival at McCarren Park this Saturday. Spread the word about electronic recycling and help make every day Earth day!
All electronic waste will be recycled locally in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Green Chip Recycling is an R2/ISO14001 company with a zero landfill policy.
Any questions can be sent to info@greenchiprecycling.com
Greenpoint, you are so spoiled! Now it will be even more difficult to figure out where to go for dinner or a cocktail because there has been an explosion of new places! Can’t keep up? Here is a brief rundown of all the open and soon to be open bars, restaurants and coffee shops in the hood. It’s kind of insane, right?! Let us know in the comments if you have tried any of the new places and what you think. Stay tuned for in depth reviews!
Officially Open in Greenpoint:
Achilles Heel (180 West St) We saw it finally opened on Instagram via @mfade. Tarlow considered the history of the Greenpoint waterfront when he designed the menu and space. According to Grub Street, Achilles Heel is “a café and bar meant to evoke the always-open grocery and drinking spot that once sustained Greenpoint dockworkers at its West Street address between 1900 and 1960.” Grab a coffee and a fresh snack sourced from Marlow & Daughters on your way to the Ferry and enjoy an afternoon Hemingway Daiquiri or a glass of wine near the piano after a long day at the office. Coming soon… a New England Style Clam Chowdah!
Torst (615 Manhattan Ave) A fancy beer bar for beer nerds. This spot was great for an after work beer and a delicious cheese plate. The beer list is extensive and the tapping system is state of the art. As described on Gothamist: “Tørst offers a selection of 21 draft and 200 bottled beers, including rare, international brews not seen before now in the States … the guys installed a custom-built draught system called the Flux Capacitor, which allows individual draft lines to be temperature and pressure customized for specific beers, plus a system that allows for four different temperature controls.” Like I said, it’s for beer nerds.
Jimmy’s Diner (92 Calyer St) Formerly Calyer, Jimmy’s Diner #2 has opened up literally overnight! This photo sent to me by Paulie Gee. The menu will be similar to the Union Ave location. Get ready for mac n’ cheese, fried chicken and perhaps some key lime pie?!
Spina (107 Franklin St) It’s a flower shop slash coffee shop and get this -the coffee is BLUE BOTTLE! Spina’s main business is social event planning, but after a visit to Italy and San Francisco, owner Paul Tsang and his partner Vanessa Chinga-Haven decided to start serving coffee in the new Franklin St space because, “coffee is aromatic and flowers are aromatic,” Paul told Greenpointers. How lovely.
Broken Land (105 Franklin St) I have been spying on the shutdown Veronica People’s space and late one night last weekend we ran into the owner in front who said they were going to open that night for a few hours, even though they are still waiting on a few things like artwork and a huge terrarium to flank the door. Seems like it will be a chill bar with nice cocktails, beer and wine. Look out for a future terrarium class there!
Alameda (195 Franklin St) According to contributor Kerry it’s a “killer” cocktail bar by the Haslegrave Brothers, with a drink called The Roberto Burns she described as like “sex below deck,” and a pleasing edibles menu, with a $9 burger and roasted fruit and goat cheese baguette.
Propeller Coffee (984 Manhattan Ave) Open in the former Beata Delicatessen, reader @lizful sent us this photo and said, “The space is beautifully large and light-filled and the cappuccino was perfect.” We love that they preserved a little bit of Greenpoint history by keeping the old Beata sign intact. Really excited to sample an espresso! Can Greenpoint have too many coffee shops?
River Styx (21 Greenpoint Ave) – We snagged this menu sneak peek from @TheMeatHook on Instagram. The website says “See You Soon!,” but that’s not what the NY Times says… “from the team behind Brooklyn’s Roebling Tea Room, which opened last night on a quiet, riverside street in Greenpoint — is not: another neighborhood eatery that takes itself too seriously” The menu that features burgers, lamb wrapped in grape leaves, chicken liver tortillas and ramp raviolo, plus some really interesting cocktails.
The Bounty (131 Greenpoint Ave) A new seafood restaurant that according to the website is serving classic cocktails, small plates and a raw bar with a full menu coming soon. Back in April, The Bounty told Eater they’d be ”serving seafood from the North Atlantic region, made with a hint of Southern charm … like crab cakes, whole grilled fish, a raw bar (oysters, clams, etc), a burger, and eventually, when blue crabs are in season in the Chesapeake, Maryland-style steamed crabs.”
Coming Soon:
Little Dokebi (85 Driggs) Greenpointers on “the other side” of McGuinness are excited for this. A sign on the door reads: “Little Dokebi, Korean Street Food, June!”
Fornino (847 Manhattan Ave) Look out for this second location to open either this Monday or next Monday!
Due to rain last weekend, the Electronic Waste Recycling Event was rescheduled to this Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 11am-5pm.
Help divert New York City’s electronic waste from landfills!
So many phones, laptops and televisions end up on the curb when they can instead be recycled. Our own local Green Chip Recycling companyhelps prevent your old electronic junk from ever being sent to a landfill.
Drop off your broken and unwanted electronics for recycling to the Go Green! Festival at McCarren Park this Saturday. Spread the word about electronic recycling and help make every day Earth day!
All electronic waste will be recycled locally in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Green Chip Recycling is an R2/ISO14001 company with a zero landfill policy.
Any questions can be sent to info@greenchiprecycling.com
As if we need another reason to complain about reckless bicyclists on the streets of Brooklyn – not only do they put their own lives at risk in order to make the city a less polluted and traffic congested place, but they kill trees!
Not by crashing into them – this is a slower more painful death. Apparently trees, those things with green leaves, are mistaken for bike racks. And blame it on forgetfulness or rust or stolen parts, whatever the reason, many bikes are abandoned attached to trees.
As the trees continues to grow they literally get choked by the chains that becomes tighter and tighter around the trunks, a fatal process called girdling.
One Brooklyn man is sick and tired of seeing these soon to be suffocated trees and began the Treedom Project to save them. He needs your help!
If you see an old rusty clunker chained to a tree, report it. On Sunday May 26th, Rob and his team of DIY tree heros will be cutting the locks off reported bikes.
I met up with tree vigilante Rob Birdsong and his big hound dog Bo on the corner of Moultre St and Norman Ave in Greenpoint to take a look at a reported tree. A rusty bike with flattened tires, unrideable after a rough winter, was left chained to the tree. It’s clear this cyclist doesn’t care about his bike – or the tree. And right around the corner we found another tree choking bike.
Recently, I took an amazing Public Speaking Workshop with a fantastic teacher named Andrew Linderman and got so much out of the experience that I want to offer the class to Greenpointers readers.
If you want to communicate more confidently and convincingly, perhaps to make a presentation at work or to tell a great story in an effective way, then take this class! I promise that you will leave this workshop a better public speaker and you will learn a lot about yourself and maybe make some new friends. It was really a lot of fun, too!
Details:
Class: Public Speaking Workshop Date: Monday, June 6th 2013 Time: 7-10pm Location:Dobbin Project Space (50-52 Dobbin St, Greenpoint, BK, 11222) Price:$45
Course Description:
Need to feel confident speaking in front of group of strangers? Come across as more genuine and less robotic? Want to finally overcome your fear of public speaking?!?
In this 3-hour workshop, participants will get expert coaching and feedback on ways to strengthen their presentation skills, from techniques to calm frayed nerves to exercises designed to build confidence and improve focus. The class is limited to 16 people, so participants are guaranteed lots of time to practice and plenty of instructor feedback. Everyone will leave this workshop with experience speaking in front of a group and valuable insight into how to be a powerful communicator.
Preparation: If you have something short (1-2 mins) that you’d like to work on, bring it in! Otherwise we can generate some content in class.
Teacher Bio:
Andrew Linderman has a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley. Andrew currently teaches storytelling with the Brooklyn Brainery and The Moth, and is the executive producer of Local Stories, a monthly storytelling series featuring writers, comedians and performers from all over New York City. Prior to his work as a storyteller, Andrew trained as an actor and improvisor at the Upright Citizens Brigadeand the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City. Andrew has also worked as a city planner, a radio DJ and an economist and has lots of stories to tell.
While on a daily Greenpoint exploration I stumbled into the recently opened, 3 Roots (159 Franklin St). Not only did I discover a deliciously fermented beverage similar to Kombucha called Jun served in 3 test tubes, I met former investment banking slash fashion world survivor Samantha Hew, who escaped the corporate world and found her purpose in opening a juice bar in Greenpoint.
I don’t know if it was the Jun or the heart to heart with Samantha that left me with a pep in my step and a sense of inspiration. There is a particular electric-like quality in Samantha that I’ve noticed in others who risk it all and pursue their passion. And it’s contagious.
Samantha chatted us about dietary choices and life:
Greenpointers: What is your favorite comfort food? Samantha: My very own chicken soup. I put lots of spice and herbs so it’s the best soup that you can buy anywhere!
Greenpointers: Why call it 3 Roots? Samantha: I have two lovely sisters and we are three girls in the fam, hence the number three. As for Roots, that’s just a kool sexy word and I want 3 ‘ROOTS’ to be the place where my life can begin to unfold and grown deeply as a woman.
Greenpointers: What was life like before 3 Roots? Why open a health cafe? Samantha: I was in the corporate world, slaved for several fashion companies and investment banks, ten years of my life doing something I didn’t enjoy doing at all. Why not a health cafe? I have a culinary degree from the famous French Culinary Institue, 2005. My heart has always been with food and the kitchen.
Greenpointers: Is there a specific dietary philosophy behind 3 Roots? Samantha: I believe in moderation and balance. There is no one diet for anyone, much less one way to do anything in life. Simply put, you feed your body what it needs, it gives you what you want and 3 Roots is here to create that partnership. You and your body.
It is a big world out there. I am always inspired by all different kinds of cultural diets from French to Indian. 3 Roots definitely has ayurvedic influence, thanks to the manager of 3 Roots, Jess Lee. She has taught me all about ayurvedic teaching. Continue reading →
Missing since May 7th, “Kitty” was last seen on Norman near Eckford. She is a 12 year old, 8lb spayed female cat, with a pouchy stomach and a wandering eye. If found contact Oren at 310-415-3162.
Don’t forget that tonight, Friday May 10, 2013 is Greenpoint Gallery Night! From 6-9pm over a dozen galleries will be open for your art viewing pleasure.
The 61 Franklin St Garden is open! Ryan Watson, of GWAAP and Brooklyn Seed Company giddily unlocked the gate to show me the beautiful (and mugwort-filled) space this morning. Before the garden parties can begin, help is needed to pull up an entire lot overgrown with weeds. It’s super easy – just grab and pull, grab and pull.
