May 14, 2008
All Posts Tagged: williamsburg
January 24, 2008
“Just before the turn of the millennium, on the soon-to-be gentrified corner of Berry and North 3rd in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, there was a bar called Kokie’s Place. It was the stuff of legend. Or, to put it more bluntly, it was a dingy Puerto Rican coke bar.” “The coke there was pretty bad, true, but it was such a pleasant place to be. A real positive atmosphere and community feeling. I even thought about hanging out there without drugs once or twice. Of course I never did.” [Vice]
December 18, 2007
Get Naked For Graffiti
The Lovely Brenda sent along some recent photos taken in Williamsburg and writes:
here are some shots i took of adahlia at my husband, qq’s recording studio last week in williamsburg. adahlia [NSFW] just turned 21 and came all the way from san fran to shoot. i have been shooting her for over 2 years now and she has always been covered with tattoos. i think she started getting them when she was 15.
i shot the outdoor stuff outside qq’s studio door and the stuff in the
metal shoppe is my friend johnny’s studio next to stone deaf.
April 12, 2007
Toxic Brooklyn on VBS.TV
Derrick Beckles has been hitting the streets of Williamsburg and Greenpoint for VBS.tv to document the oil, raw sewage, and other toxic hazards stewing in the ground. But with low level plutonium radiation at Radiac on Kent Avenue and the phthalates blowing out of smokestacks, the threat isn’t limited to the earth beneath your feet. Parts one, two, three, and four are available for viewing, and the final two episodes will go live in the next couple days.
Note that the boat’s wake on Newton’s Creek looks like Ecto Cooler.
March 13, 2007
Two Faced Oorah Boy
Last time we checked the Oorah billboard in South Williamsburg, it was to note the digital graffiti and alterations making the boy look more Hasidic. We’ve checked again, and it looks like the boy has given up on the old look, and peeled off the digitally altered, more Hasidic looking face like some sort of party trick. According to a local, the new text in Hebrew Yiddish reads “Happy Purim.” Somebody in Williamsburg is having too much fun in Paint Shop Pro.
February 5, 2007
After Faux Graffiti and Side Curls, Kid Stays in Picture
This simple billboard improvement on Lee Avenue in South Williamsburg had been one of our favorites since we spotted it last summer. It’s simple, direct, and best of all, manifesto-free. Except for the fact that somebody had beef with the little kid and crossed his face out completely, it’s a just a typical ad urging people to donate cars to charity .
It was a surprise this weekend to see the billboard had finally been replaced, although with with one very similar. Aside from the photo shopped peyos and Yiddish graffiti the ad is the same. Before we could look into it, the New York Times published the story yesterday.
The group advertises in Williamsburg, leaders of the organization say, because the Hasidic Jews of the Satmar sect, many of whom live in the neighborhood, are generous donors. But the original billboard was defaced last spring, apparently because it offended the religious sensibilities of some of the Satmars. It stayed that way until the boy’s makeover was revealed on Jan. 3.
“They don’t want to see a clean-cut boy without the traditional peyos that their own children have,” Chana Nestlebaum, the group’s public relations director, said, referring to the young Satmars’ side curls. “It’s of importance that the children portrayed in their community look like their own.”
In something of a pre-emptive strike, spray-painted graffiti was incorporated into the new billboard, which stands over the corner of Lee Avenue and Keap Street. The message reads, “Zeit menadev aer car,” Yiddish for “Donate your car.”
“We thought that injecting humor might also defuse tension,” said Rabbi Eli Mintz, the director of Oorah, “and perhaps even work to our advantage as a marketing tool, and bring in more cars as a result.”
It’s hoped that the faux graffiti will dissuade others from defacing the ad again, and even work as a marketing tool. If only they had staged video of the “graffiti” going up, this could have been as viral as Mark Ecko “painting” Air Force One.
