Welcome to “Meet Your Neighbor,” a new photo series with Greenpointers and local photographer, Michael Abramson.
We spent a beautiful summer afternoon at McGolrick Park on August 20, getting to know our neighbors. Below are just a few of the friendly folks who help make Greenpoint great!
Bryce and Julia
Greenpointers: What is bringing you to the park today?
Bryce: We’re here to slack line and hang out in the park.
Have you been slacklining for a long time?
Bryce: On and off over the years. We both are rock climbers and it’s kind of a common rest day, fun activity to do in the downtime.
Do you rock climb around here?
Bryce: Yeah, both of us work at the Cliffs at LIC in Queens and we try to get outside and elsewhere wherever we can.
Do you live in Greenpoint?
Bryce: Almost going on one year. I like it, it’s a nice neighborhood, I feel very fortunate. I kind of dropped my finger on a map based on where I was working and going to school, and it’s worked out really well.
Did you already go to the farmer’s market today?
Julia: Not yet, I went last time and got an empanada, and I plan on walking around later.
Jared
What brings you to the park today?
Dog. And the farmer’s market.
Is there anything from the farmer’s market that you’re excited about?
A friend of ours actually works for the Brooklyn Grange farms, so we always grab a bunch of greens from them.
How long have you lived in Greenpoint?
10 years.
Do you have a particular favorite tattoo?
I do have a portrait of my dog. That’s probably my favorite. This one’s from Good Luck, on Greenpoint Ave and Franklin.
Sophie
What brings you to the park today?
We’re here distributing our zine, which is a community DIY project called Zinepoint, based on the neighborhood of Greenpoint. We’ve lived here for quite some time — I’ve been here for 10 years. We just wanted to create something that was different from our 9-5 jobs and was creative and allowed us to connect to the community.
So this is the second volume?
Yeah, we released the first one in April. And it was just sort of something that the four of us did for fun. We really didn’t think much of it. We dropped it off at cafes and made an Instagram and started getting some DMs. We really kind of pumped volume two and added more pages. There’s a lot more content. We actually have an interview with one of the owners of Peter Pan Donuts, which was a super fun interview. We have some art, playlists. It’s been a really fun project, and it’s been a good way to meet the community and neighbors.
What’s your usual job?
I’m in fashion. That’s my Monday through Friday job. I’m in sales, I work for Levi’s and am a wholesale manager there. I was just looking for a creative project outside of that, so the zine has been that for us and it’s been pretty fulfilling.
Colin
I’m an illustrator as my normal job…We’re all from Greenpoint, we’ve all lived here a long time. It’s just a good way to get the community a little more together.
I’ve lived in the neighborhood for six years, and I’ve lived in New York about a decade. Greenpoint’s still the best. It’s a magical town.
Larry and Bianca
Tell us about this zine.
Bianca: We created the Greenpoint zine and we wanted to start handing it out to the community. It’s totally free and we’re hoping to connect with our neighbors more this way and get the word out.
Larry: Everybody works and lives in the digital world so it’s fun to do something that’s a little bit of a throwback and a little bit slower and handing it out in person kind of falls in line with that. It’s fun. It’s a refresher.
How long have y’all lived in Greenpoint?
Larry: I’ve been here since 2007. I moved here when I was 19.
Bianca: And I’ve been here since 2015.
What do you usually do for work?
Bianca: I’m an ESL teacher.
Larry: I’m a software engineer.
Francesca
What brings you to the park today?
I live around here. I am a Greenpointer as well. It’s a gorgeous day outside. I really like to hoola hoop and do yoga and just be outdoors.
How long have you been in the neighborhood?
Two years.
When did you get your start hula hooping?
I think probably around three or four years ago. I was self-taught. I took a few hula hoop classes, but mostly self-taught. I took a few classes from the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. I did some contortion classes there too — trapeze, silks.
What do you like about being in the neighborhood?
That’s a tough question! [laughs] Everyone is so chill and lax here, everyone’s really friendly. Very family-oriented. The parks are amazing, the food’s amazing. New York is just great. I feel very safe in this area, for sure.
Max and Katie
What made you start wanting to get involved in this volunteer work (composting)?
Max: Doing something for the community is a plus, right? Great to say hi to everyone. Good way to start your day on a weekend. You get a definite sense of satisfaction from crushing up the compost [laughs].
How long have you been in the neighborhood?
Max: Just a year.
What do you usually do as a job?
Consulting
How did you first get involved in composting?
Katie: In the early stages of the pandemic, when all of the composting programs that were run by the city as well as farmers’ markets were shut down, we really wanted to fill the gap. So this is kind of an initial by NBK Mutual Aid, and we’ve just kind of sprung up trying to fill in where the city wasn’t picking up scraps. We started just collecting on Sundays, on a really small scale, then we were able to partner up with Big Reuse, part of the NYC Compost Project, to pick up and process everything, so all of what we collect here goes back to the community in the form of finished compost, for community gardens, schools, parks, and individuals.
How long have you lived here?
Katie: I’ve been in Greenpoint for 7 years. I love it here. It feels like home.
What do you do as a day job?
Katie: I am a product designer.
Marcia
What brings you to the park today?
To get out of my little New York apartment [laughs]. It’s such a beautiful day. This is great. To hear the insects, watch the people in the breeze…
How long have you been visiting Greenpoint?
I came in May, to start treatments at Sloan Kettering.
Is there anything in particular that you like about the neighborhood?
It’s a great little neighborhood. I like this part of it better than the part I’m on which is just next to where the warehouses start, about a block over. I walked down to Cooper Park yesterday, I had never been. That’s a nice neighborhood too.
I think it’s harder to live in New York City than it is in the small town that I came from [Ashland, Oregon] just because things are less accessible here.
I retired there from San Diego. And I retired from being a full time mom.
These are so interesting!
Nice to have some personal touches here to Greenpointers
A great celebration of the people of Greenpoint! Great photos! Thank you!