Icky in Brooklyn

Or, in Brooklynese, "So long, youse guys!"

Are we, as a society, completely programmed to feel when the calendar flips, changes are afoot? In my little chunk of Windsor Terrace, that truly has been the case. Blogging for me has always about self-expression, an outlet. Lately, however, some of my other long-term-goal outlets have come to fruition. That is, my outlets have exceeded my inputs.

What I mean to say is, I am retiring Icky.

More personally, I simply need the time and focus for other pursuits. As the second half of my life (the cozy, quiet, gloriously boring part) begins and the first half ends, I find myself making some changes, and needing time to get some of those geriatric pursuits pursued. (Namely, there's a run-down house in the mountains that my partner and I happen to own, and the old pile needs my attention.)

Have I run out of things to say? Perhaps. Probably more accurately, my mind is elsewhere, and these days I am more enamored of shingle styles, cedar stain, spruce trees, and a new pump for the well. (I'm not kidding.)

I truly have had a lovely time, learned much from my elders, and I am a much better educated New Yorker for my blogging experience. I hope readers will remember the good stuff. (And ignore the bad stuff.) My passion for Brooklyn history and the old days is well covered in other blogs - especially at http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/index.html - and I hope you'll visit them often. All the posts will remain here. I (humbly) think there is a good deal of Brooklyn history reporting in the archive.

As always, please keep up with my list of favorites over on the right of this page. For your Windsor Terrace fix, I heartily recommend my WT neighbor, http://brooklynometry.blogspot.com/. Amarilla does an excellent job and chronicles the neighborhood in a interesting and fun way.

And really, dear readers, sometimes there are signs. Check out the photo Brooklynometry posted today!

Go into the light, Icky.



photo courtesy of brooklynometry

As we approach the New Year (and our Half-a-Birthday), I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the ickiest stories of 2007. Many thanks to new friends, and the BK and NYC blogging community. As I am fond of saying, I love 'em for calling 'em like they see 'em. Ergo, I have listed the links to my fellow bloggers here, rather than links to my own stories. If you'd like to see the story, just follow the links through. Happy New Year, Brooklyn!

In the "Easily Irritated" department, I was pleasantly surprised when the New York Times linked to my Impassioned Open Letter to the Brooklyn Bead Emporium. See you in Hell, bead girl.

Speaking of irritating, the big story of the year was undoubtedly my healthy dislike of the Brooklyn Paper (Smartmom's column in particular). Funny how the cheap stuff sells, eh? Ah, well. I'm sure the Brooklyn Paper is familiar with that theory. Poor Smartmom. Smartmom is lucky that Rag Man likes poodle-poo-clucky-duck writing, isn't Smartmom? My Brooklyn Paper rant (and tons of responses, some from the Rag Man himself) was linked to by McBrooklyn in Icky Really, Really, Really Doesn't Like the Brooklyn Paper, and the Icky "Windsor Terrace Eleven" was reported many places, including the eminent Gowanus Lounge.



A frequent point of consternation here in Windsor Terrace is the half-a-neighborhood that was torn down to build the Prospect Expressway. Back in October, I found some old pictures of families that were displaced, and went on a total History Detectives thing. New York Magazine helped me out by wondering, "What would this fifties family think if they knew that the home they vacated to make room for the Prospect Expressway is now the site of a dumpy unused park? That's a shondah."



As readers know, there is a serious fondness for Brooklyn history here at Icky. Being of theatre-folk stock, the fate of the Flatbush Kings theatre prompted a research bender for a story about "The Subway Circuit," which as Curbed mentioned, "isn't something that is going to go wrong tonight with some signals to screw up the 4 Train." It's an old tale about how Broadway used to come to Brooklyn. The Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman" on Flatbush? We gotcha covered. Fugeddaboutit.

A great deal of scholarly fun went into a story concerning Neighborhood Name Rage and how fussy we are about our Brooklyn monikers. What did I find? That most of Park Slope used to be Prospect Heights, there really was a Greenwood Heights back in the day, and that Sunset Park was originally Bay Ridge. This post was much linked to, including Brownstoner discussion boards, and on NYC's very own Real Estate Bible, Curbed.



Puns are rife here at Icky, and among all the year's scholarly stories, my personal favorite recalled the "Shameful and Dirty" past of some of our venerated Brooklyn cultural institutions ... Edwardian era murder, adultry, elephant crap, and classic processional arcitecture, in Murder, Manure, McKim, Mead, & White.



Happy New Year, Brooklyn!

brooklyn museum photo courtesy of apium's photostream at flickr.com
prospect heights high school photo courtesy of brooklyn public library, brooklyn collection
deprisco family photo courtesy of brooklyn public library, brooklyn collection

Ah, the Holidays. Today was, morning to late afternoon, the second (and final) big shopping day of the Icky Holiday Season. Making an assumption that Retail Rage is better kept far from home, I skipped Windsor Terrace and Park Slope and hit the Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Atlantic for most of the day. My little old driver was sluggish and slow, but for the B67, that was quite apropos.

Down Seventh Avenue to Flatbush (or, "The New Seventh Avenue"), I am always interested in the state of the "Leaf Wall" at the corner of Flatbush and 7th Ave. The progression usually goes like this - Pretty leaves painted on the wall, graffiti, pretty leaves painted on the wall, graffiti. You get the idea. However, as of today, some sort of art installation has sprouted. Couldn't tell if it is photos or clippings, but either way, a Park Slope Wall of Ephemera is growing on the side of the Billiard Parlor building.





Further down the Avenue and further down my shopping list, fate dealt me a weird coda. For years, I have always wondered about a shop on Flatbush near 5th Avenue called, "The Silver Button." (Its distinguisinhing feature being its doorhandles ... giant silver buttons.) It is a sort of ghetto-chic place, expensive but in a weird strip, in an awful location ... with tons of people going in and out all the time. Odd. Being an avid Conspiracy Theorist, I decided something shady must be going on. If only today ... something shady was going on. Or maybe Bruce Ratner had them evicted. The Marshals showed up in an unmarked car, went inside, ousted everyone in the shop, and secured the door. Bye bye, Silver Button.





It is great fun being a Conspiracy Theorist. Mostly because it provides you with an arsenal of wacky things to say at parties, and certainly, there is a Conspiracy Theory for every occasion. However, dear readers, being a Conspiracy Theorist also tends to make you paranoid. Ergo, I did *not* ask the nice Marshals why they were buttoning up the Silver Button. Probably the best determination, especially considering what happened to Miss Heather this afternoon ...

"It must have been slow at the good ol’ 94th Precinct today. That’s the only reason I can conjure up as to why they saw fit to throw some holiday cheer my direction by detaining me and demanding identification. Was I trespassing? No. Was I loitering? No. Was I dressed in a manner that would be construed as menacing? After demanding to know why I merited their attention - at least three times - I was told “someone reported a suspicious person was in the area taking pictures”. Is taking pictures against the law? Not as far as I know. But the line of questioning the (male) police officer posited to me would certainly suggest it is ..."

As readers might know, Miss H is the Proprietress of one of my favorite blogs, and graces our Brooklyn bandwidth with a great deal of terrific photos and commentary daily. Please visit Miss H over at New York Shitty to hear the conclusion of the story, and to her credit, you'll see some great snaps of area halls that are totally decked.

Thought it might be fun to bring some favorite bits from Icky comments this past week to the Front Page. (Predictably, Icky commenters get right to the point.)




On Our Issues with the Brooklyn Bead Emporium ... "Ah, that bloody bead shop!"

On This Very Blog (and Beer, Evidently) ... "It's all negative and I don't really get the pint."

On Standing in the Rain ... "If you stuck around maybe they would've given you one of those yellow umbrellas..."

On Criticism ... "Screw 'em all."

On Icky vs. Smartmom ... "takes a lot of energy to dis at this level. sniffle-piffle-wiffle. too funny"

Also On Icky vs. Smartmom ... "You're the anti-Smartmom."

On Smartmom ... "Who's smartmom?"

Every so often, as Found In Brooklyn and I were just discussing, a blog receives a critical anon comment, usually along the "I am a total jackass" lines. Okay, more than every-so-often. And just like a Christmas present from the Universe, I received a list of snarky questions today, posted by a reader who declines to leave his or her name (and who evidently doesn't believe in question marks). In the spirit of fair representation, I've left the commenter's misspellings and syntax errors in tact. Enjoy!


"first time I read your blog. What do you really have to say."

This is not a Sunday morning news program, jackass, nor is it a public service or a newspaper. It is not paid for by advertisers, there are no commercial breaks, and your public funds do not support it. It's mine. I get to say what I want. Some people like it. Some people don't. Evidently you don't. Why are you reading it? I don't read things I don't like. I would suggest the same for you.

"IT's all negative and I don't really get the pint."

Actually, it is not all negative, but I would agree that you don't get the point. As for a "pint," I would recommend Farrell's on Prospect Park West. You can get a pint there.

"Plus wtf do you care what lanuage people speak, or really any of your other myriad annoyances."

The post you are referring to concerned a bus ride though Park Slope. If you do not understand the humor and irony of a bus full of nannys and post-toddlers practicing their French aboard a Park Slope bus, once again - Yes. You do not get the point.

And in closing, I would submit - "What exactly is it that *you* have to say, Anon?" Perhaps you should start a blog, creating your own platform on which you can pontificate. It is a great deal of fun, and I enthusiastically recommend it!

Smartmom doesn't like all of the kids of the block. Some of the kids are mean. Some of the kids are way too funky for Smartmom. Smartmom used to be funky, but one day, she misplaced her funk on the way to the co-op. Icky bets Smartmom's funk is on display at the Old Stone House.



Let's face it, "If it's too loud, you're too old." Or maybe in this case, "if it's too funky, you're too clunky." Here then, dear readers, is a list of the Brooklyn Blogs (quite eminent in my estimation), that did not make The Baroness' list of "The Park Slope 100."

http://testofwill.blogspot.com/ - Stunning Brooklyn photos from Will Femia ... really gorgeous funky stuff.
http://abrooklynlife.com/ - Funk, facts, and fabulous fun from across Brooklyn and Downtown.
http://foundinbrooklyn.blogspot.com/ - Funky fotos and found stuff from Carroll Gardens and Gowanus.
http://greenpointers.blogspot.com/ - Yo, GP! BK funky fest, from our neighbors to the North.
http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/ - Excellent blog concerning NYC eating itself alive. Vintage Funk.
http://brooklynometry.blogspot.com/ - My funky friend Brooklynometry, also chronicling Windsor Terrace.
http://snakeoilemporium.typepad.com/ - The Rev's profane and wildly cool funk from Williamsburg.
http://sidewalkphotography.blogspot.com/ - Gorgeous foto blog dedicated to our funky streets, Brooklyn and abroad.
http://www.bedstuyblog.com/ - The always thorough (and always funky) chronicler of all things Bed Stuy.

And, our Bloggers Emeritus, who no one could fail to mention -

http://www.newyorkshitty.com/ - The funkiest of all. The mother of funk. Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss H.
http://britinbrooklyn.blogspot.com/ - BK, as seen through Brit's bike-propelled, superhero lens. Super cool snaps!
http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/ - The compendium. The BK source. The Living End.



Happy holidays, my stalwart Brooklyn blogging compatriots. You do the community a great service by continuing to chronicle our neighborhoods in your own words, through your own eyes, calling 'em like you see 'em. I take great pride in being in your company.

(I guess this means I've broken my promise to "no longer make fun of third-person columns bejeweled with cutsey-poo misnomers." Ah, well. All in the name of community-mided entertainment.)