Feature - Bklyner

What’s The Latest in The Brooklyn Music Scene? One Artist Explores an Unconventional Sound

Adam Holmes playing in his music studio. Cai Pigliucci | BklynerAfter many years of trial and error, in his latest EP, Adam Holmes [https://adamholmesmusic.com/] , a Brooklyn-based musician and music teacher, finally landed on an experimental and percussion-based sound that gives a twist to the classical genre. Holmes grew up

Big Story

Post-Pandemic Recovery: What Does the Future Hold for Downtown Brooklyn?

As the coronavirus swept across New York, images of a deserted midtown Manhattan became emblematic of the pandemic’s devastating economic impact. Throughout the summer, journalists chronicled midtown’s uncertain future; even now, with vaccination efforts progressing, landlords of commercial offices and large retail spaces worry about midtown’s viability

Central Brooklyn

Fiefdoms or Gatherings – What Are The Precinct Community Councils The Mayor Is Giving A Say in NYPD Leadership Decisions?

A 2016 meeting of the 68th Precinct Community Council in Dyker Heights. (Photo by Benjamin Cohn)Among the bevy of ambitious but often vaguely-defined [https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2021/01/28/lofty-promises-but-few-details-in-de-blasios-final-state-of-the-city-1361089] proposals announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio at his State of the City address

Arts & Culture

From Bathtub to Laptop: Actor Plays with New Medium’s Possibilities

O’Loughlin in an early production of “My Heart Goes Zoom,” the flagship show in the Please Don’t Touch the Artist series. (Courtesy of Siobhan O’Loughlin)Since 2015, Siobhan O’Loughlin has performed in bathtubs across the country in “Broken Bone Bathtub,” an immersive show held in strangers’

Business

Trash into Treasure: A Vision for an East Flatbush Dumping Ground

A large, faded sign hangs on the graffiti-laden facade of Qualimax Car Wash in East Flatbush advertising its grand opening specials. It’s one of the many unkempt remnants of a business that long closed its doors, along with dozens of totaled cars and trash piled high in the unoccupied

Business

Immigrant-Owned Businesses Were Hardest Hit by Covid, but a Sliver of Hope Lies in Greenpoint’s ‘La Merced’

Founder and owner Ricardo Rodriguez Pacheco outside La Merced. Danielle Sinay/BklynerGreenpoint’s La Merced Juice Bar [https://www.instagram.com/lamercedbk/?hl=en], named after a marketplace in Mexico City, opened to the public in September— just weeks after dozens of neighborhood businesses had shut down for good. Founder

Feature

Winning The (Affordable Housing) Lottery And A Start To A New Life

The Fountains in East NY. Credit: Gerri HernandezJaneen Hurst went from having a small corner for her things in a friend’s basement apartment in Queens to getting her own apartment for the first time at 48 years old. She wouldn’t have a sea-blue accent wall and DIY walk-in

Business

Home Brewing Alone Together

John LaPolla (center) co-owns Bitter & Esters [https://bitterandesters.com/], the only homebrew shop in New York City, pictured here at a Breminaries gathering during more social times. Credit Renee Jonas/Courtesy of Brewminaries. My brother Dan spends a total of $3 to make a gallon of his quarantine hooch, which

Big Story

Remembering Shafiq Hussain, Taken Too Soon By COVID-19

Photo via Almas Shafiq.MIDWOOD – When Almas Shafiq, 23, got accepted into the NYC Teaching Collaborative [http://nycteachingcollaborative.org/] a few months ago as a partner teacher, her father was proud of her. She remembers getting the acceptance letter with her anticipated salary. She remembers her dad got up, hugged

Destinations

Brooklyn’s Accidental New Town Square

MLK quote at Barclays center. Norman Oder/BklynerWhen the Barclays Center was designated [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/nyregion/new-york-city-buildings-skyline.html] one of “The New Shapes of New York” by the New York Times in 2016, Justin Garrett Moore, executive director of the city’s Public Design Commission,

Central Brooklyn

What if… the Barclays Center Had Been the Jackie Robinson Arena?

Brooklyn Protest – George Floyd – By Adrian Childress/BklynerOn June 2, on the fifth day of protests against police brutality, activists [https://twitter.com/protest_nyc/status/1267961195048378371] hoisted a Black Lives Matter flag [https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R5pwGYe-s1g/XtksZZ4evKI/AAAAAAABA5Q/lFIn6-SNWz4HFhdLnN1bw1fsyBTE8R6bgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BLM+Flag+from+movie.jpg] up the

Arts & Culture

Don’t Talk To Me About Leaving: I Can’t Wait for Brooklyn to Welcome Me Back

Jamie Betesh Carter with her daughter. Family photo.Every night when I cozy up to my 11-month-old daughter, I bring out her bin of books and let her pick two for me to read to her at bedtime. Recently, without fail, she grabs “Good Night New York City” and “Good

Business

Essential Business: Ajwa Grocery Carries On

Ajwa grocery. Maria Newsom/BklynerOn ordinary days, the AJWA Grocery at the intersection of Coney Island and Foster Avenues in Midwood, does a lively business. Catering to a largely Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian clientele, and a growing Uzbeki community, customers come for the well-stocked shelves of grains, beans and basmati

Arts & Culture

Extraordinary Nonprofit Celebrates 20 Years of Serving Latinx Community

Occupational Safety and Health Administration Workshop participants at Mixteca’s mural. Courtesy of Mixteca.SUNSET PARK — Veronica Rosales was born and raised in Sunset Park. She first heard of Mixteca [http://www.mixteca.org/] when she was about 10 years old and her mom signed Rosales and her sister up

Arts & Culture

Seeing and Being Seen at a Bushwick Drink and Draw

Ladies Life Draw sessions featuring Lovejoy on the left and Adesina to the far right. Irina Groushevaia/Bklyner.BUSHWICK — On the third floor of a 1931 walk-up on Irving Avenue in Bushwick lives an abstract artist. The lavender-painted stairwell leads to an old wooden bench from a theater with a

Arts & Culture

Middle Eastern and North African DJs Create Space in Brooklyn Nightlife

People dancing at Yalla! Party. Fabian Gomez/Yalla!Middle Eastern and North African (MENA)-focused parties in Brooklyn are creating a wave in the local nightlife. [/the-category-is-bushwick-realness-locals-bring-back-accessibility-to-queer-ballrooms/] DJs and party-goers alike are now making their own spaces to celebrate their roots, and bring together communities where they feel safe to

Arts & Culture

BAM’s New Artistic Director Previews His First Next Wave Festival

David Binder by Jesse Winter/BAMThe Next Wave Festival at BAM has always been a showcase for new, exciting theater. Sometimes the shows are high-concept. Sometimes they’re intriguingly weird. Some might be politely called “challenging.” What the festival isn’t, ever, is boring. This year’s festival, which starts

Business

Stiefelwerk Brings Old-Time Shoemaking to Prospect Heights

Anne Marika Verploegh Chasse in her workshop. Ben Brachfeld/BklynerPROSPECT HEIGHTS – Even amid a crisis for small businesses in New York City, with sky-high rents and online shopping clobbering brick-and-mortar retail, some old-style businesses, like old-fashioned, hand-crafted shoemaking, manage to survive and to thrive. Marika Verploegh Chasse, originally from Switzerland

Arts & Culture

‘Criminal Injustice System’ Alive and Well: Wrongfully Convicted Crown Heights Man Discusses Biopic

The Black Lady Theatre serves as a cultural hub in Crown Heights for the arts, learning, sharing and experiencing Afrikan heritage. Nigel Roberts/BklynerCROWN HEIGHTS – It’s an understatement to say that there are significant problems with the nation’s criminal justice system. As of last year, 151 exonerated prisoners

Business

John Dewey HS Gets A New Student Kitchen

GRAVESEND – Five years ago, there was the talk of shutting John Dewey High School down. Last Friday was a celebration of how much can be accomplished under the unwavering vision and leadership of a strong principal, Connie Hamilton, with a dedicated team and strong support from local education councils, to

Arts & Culture

Looking For Respect: Crown Heights Celebrates Diversity, Talks About Hate

Hundreds of Crown Heights residents gathered at Brower Park throughout the afternoon. Nigel Roberts/BklynerCROWN HEIGHTS – Crown Heights is racially and culturally diverse, however, residents live their lives in largely segregated communities. But on Sunday, Sept. 15, neighbors came together to celebrate what’s unique about each community, and to

Business

Lips Cafe: Family, Community and Coffee in East Flatbush

EAST FLATBUSH – On December 15th, 2018, Jamane Weekes needed a haircut. It was late, around 7:00 pm, his regular barber was closed, so he decided he’d visit his old neighborhood, East Flatbush, where the barbershops are sometimes 24-hour affairs. The barber he used to see wasn’t in

Feature

A Long Labor Day Weekend in Hudson

Image courtesy of Emma Austen.FRIDAY EVENING: 10:45 p.m. First, stroll over to your hotel, AirBNB, or friends’ house to drop your bags. A couple of schmancy options include: The Wick [https://www.thewickhotel.com], a sweet new boutique hotel in a former candle factory just a block

Development

Protesters Continue Fight To Save Downtown Home Of Abolitionists

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN – In an effort to stall the impending demolition of 227 Duffield Street, activists are demanding the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission [http://www.nyc.gov/landmarks] (LPC) “calendar” a review of the house that they say belonged to abolitionists and served as a stop on the underground railroad. Michael

Arts & Culture

Michelle Zassenhaus: Images Of Gowanus

Michele herself in her studio by Matt Carr, photo courtesy of Michelle ZassenhausGOWANUS – When I first saw Brooklyn photographer Michelle Zassenhaus’ [http://www.michellezassenhaus.com/]s photos, I was struck by the lived-in desolation of her work. The pieces capture so perfectly the traces people leave behind. “I have always