Gawker: fort greene

Fort Greene Flea Market Is A War On Christianity

Michael Weiss — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:17:54 EDT

There's nothing like a flea market to bring out the religious sectarianism in people. Last night, the Queen of All Saints Church in Fort Greene held a meeting — the third of its kind — to discuss how the Brooklyn Flea was destroying the community. Racked's Paul Caine was there (he wasn't supposed to be; see picture) and reports that the issues before the house included the pile-up of garbage, parking and bathroom headaches, and the strange fact that Jews never seem to get inconvenienced on their days of rest. Kathleen Walsh, one church parishioner said: "Sunday is a very special day for us, [and] we look forward to that day. It is a day that has been impeded on by the commercialism and hubbub of the flea... I muse aloud, would such an entity be allowed across from a synagogue?" And then they came for the antiquers, and I did not speak because I wasn't an antiquer. More seething Bronze Age hatred couched in Brooklyn gentrification worries after the jump:

The religious double standard meme returned with a vengeance soon after this moment of civility. A commentator called the Brooklyn Flea "abjectly disrespectful to the Christian sabbath," and then declared that "You better not believe this would happen with Hasidic Jews." Boos. She ignored them, though, and raised her voice. "If it can't happen on a Jewish sabbath, it can't happen on a Christian sabbath!" A combination of boos and cheers followed. A man stood up and said he'd been in the neighborhood since 1987, when he "was attending Pratt and saw a fellow student get shot in the face in front of [his] dormitory." He called out the previous commentators for antisemitism, said he loved the flea market, and then began to sit down. Someone shouted, "where do you live?" He didn't say anything, and the shouts got louder. "Where do you live? Tell us where you live! Do you live around here?" It was absurd. Finally the guy stood up and said, "I live three doors down from here," and everyone grew quiet.

In Field of Dreams Iowa, you get called a Nazi cow for threatening to ban a 60's peacenik novel. In the outer boroughs, for harshing on the tchotchke vending.

[Racked]

Touré Has Lost Any Possible Street Cred

rebecca — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:46:20 EDT

Fort Greene is not gentrifying fast enough! At least that's the experience of cultural critic and dude about town Touré. The single-named author was living right across from a crackhouse on South Oxford street in Fort Greene, only a block away South Portland, Time Out New York's most desirable place to live in 2006. But even with a sushi place on the next corner, there was still a crack house across from his apartment. After a bout of black liberal guilt, Touré tried to get the po-po to clear the streets, but they ignored his calls. We don't judge Touré's conflicted anti-neighborhood crack house stance—since the advent of Google Maps, Mole Edition, we are all snitches now. [NYT]

Ben Karlin: Bad Neighbor

Pareene — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:21:00 EST

Former Daily Show executive producer Ben Karlin seems like a decent fellow, right? He was responsible for some of the smartest comedy to air on American TV since basically ever, that Daily Show book was pretty funny, Deborah Solomon couldn't make him seem like as much of an asshole as she does most of her interviewees. And, as he said last August, when announcing his HBO production deal, he is a man of ideas. Hundreds of ideas. "At least initially, he said, he planned to revisit some of the half-formed notions in his notebook, which he likened to the aging Russian nuclear arsenal. 'Many of the weapons I have may still be good,' he said. 'Others may not go off.'" Apparently the idea which did go off was the one he borrowed from a guy in his building!

The Billionaire's Vinegar, New York writer Benjamin Wallace's forthcoming book has already been optioned for a film by Escape Artists. It's the story of "Hardy Rodenstock, who tricked a really rich man into paying him half a million dollars in 1985 for a case of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux wine that was purportedly, but not actually, once stored in the wine cellar of Thomas Jefferson." When Wallace moved into Karlin's building last summer, they talked all about it. Karlin decided he wanted to make it into a movie! But "dicussions fell apart" and then Wallave sold the book to someone else. So Karlin optioned a related New Yorker article and went to work!

Wallace refused to comment about how much of a dick he must think his neighbor is, but his agent cracked a joke about it. A joke we will steal:

The living situation sounds like the makings of a great sitcom.

(As always, we would love to hear arguments with compelling anecdotal evidence for or against the basic "Ben Karlin is a dick" thesis laid out here. Comment below or send them here.)

Oenophile Row: Brooklyn Stoopmates Race to Produce Wine-Fraud Flick [NYO]

Sexy Lounge Threatens Brooklyn With 'Details' Crowd

Hamilton Nolan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:19:54 EST

Details Magazine executive editor Greg Williams was caught by a Times reporter sipping Snow Mosquitos, twee blueberry/ mint/ vodka drinks, at a terrifying den of yuppiedom called The Hideout in the already teetering hood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn . Look how precious:

It's the kind of place where the neighborhood's aggressively coupled recent transplants can forget about astronomical housing prices and in vitro fertilization for a few hours while nibbling on chocolates from Dean & DeLuca or watching a mixologist squeeze fresh juice for a Blackberry Caipirinha. The sole beer is Grimbergen, served in a snifter. On this night, a student with a messenger bag peeked inside, then promptly left.
"I want to attract an international crowd," said Asio Highsmith, a model and one of the owners, adding, "This bar could be anywhere."

Like... HELL.

Keri Russell has officially taken up residence ...

Doree Shafrir — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:11:34 EDT

Keri Russell has officially taken up residence in Fort Greene, which is why you keep sending in stalker sightings from there. She drinks coffee! She does her laundry! She holds her baby in a sling! And so on and so forth. [Set Speed]