Walking Through a Small Slice of Brooklyn at Dusk

From Dave Brigham:

My last post featured highlights from a walk I took through Greenwich Village, as I tagged along behind my daughter and her friend while they did a self-guided tour of New York University (see December 21, 2024, "A Peep at Greenwich Village"). Later that day we checked into a hotel in Brooklyn near the Barclays Center, where the girls went to a concert in the evening. While they were at the Childish Gambino show, I walked around the Park Slope neighborhood and made some photos, trying to beat the sunset.

The first thing that caught my eye was the rear of a Warby Parker store along Bergen Street.

The eyewear store, which fronts on Flatbush Avenue, opened in 2020.

Along Flatbush Avenue, I dug the sign for Antonio's Pizza, which has been in business for more than 50 years.

Across the avenue was a pair of buildings that caught my eye. Frankly, there were dozens of buildings like this that appealed to me, but I couldn't make photos of all of them.

On the right is a Dominican restaurant, El Gran Castillo de Jagua, which translates to the Great Castle of Jagua. Jagua is a fruit found in the jungles of South America; it has been used for body ornamentation and medicinal purposes by the indigenous people of the Amazon for centuries, according to the Internet.

On the left is Sharlene's Bar, which, according to its facade, features beer cocktails. "Opening in its current form in 2009, when borough native Sharlene Frank rechristened it, the space had previously been a watering hole named Mooney’s," according to this 2018 profile at Punch. "Before that, according to The New Yorker, it was 'a bar for as long as anyone can remember.'

"The jukebox is stocked with everything from The Kinks to At the Drive In, but the bartenders only turn it on when it’s really busy; before then, it’s usually a steady flow of bebop. That lack of pretension or gimmick is exactly what has made it the beloved second living room for an extended web of ambitious young people looking to mingle, hook up, swap stories about the sorry state of [the media] industry and hatch schemes to improve the lots of their comrades."

Sounds like a great place.

(I really like this photo.)

A little further I was charmed by the bus on the Burrito Bar & Kitchen sign.

This joint has been here since 2005, after starting in New York's Tribeca neighborhood in 1991.

I passed the Barclays Center and then made my way over to a beautiful old subway head house.

I believe this place was built in 1908 from a design by the firm of Heins & LaFarge, as part of a much larger complex for an elevated train station. Eventually, the elevated line came down and the old head house fell into disrepair, according to this blog post.

"At some point, Arts for Transit took over the building, and today, it sits majestically and silently in the middle of the triangle formed by Flatbush, Fourth and Atlantic Aves," the blog post indicates. The nicely restored building "now serves as an artistic skylight for those folks waiting on the Brooklyn-bound local IRT tracks" underground.

I love that.

The sun was fading, while my appetite was growing, so I started making my way back to my hotel. I got a bit turned around, but after reorienting myself via Google Maps, I ended up in front of a hulking industrial building along Butler Street, just a few blocks from the Fairfield Inn.

This neighborhood is still somewhat industrial, but I could tell that there once had been a LOT more buildings that looked like this, filling up what are now empty lots or new condominiums. Thanks to the awesome Brownstoner web site, I learned everything I need to know about this abandoned complex.

Completed in 1914, this place was originally a publishing plant for R.G. Dun & Company, according to this blog post. The "Vaguely Renaissance/Gothic Revival early 20th century factory" was designed by the architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker. The firm also designed buildings including the American Express Building at 65 Broadway in Manhattan; Grace Church Neighborhood House and the Provident Loan Society Buildings, both in Manhattan; and sanitarium additions to Seaview Hospital in Staten Island, and Dollar Savings Bank in the Bronx.

You can read the history of R.G. Dun & Company at the blog link. I'll tell you where the story ends, though: the firm merged with the John M. Bradstreet Company, forming Dun & Bradstreet, which provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses.

There appears to have been a legal battle over this property, which as of early 2014 was slated for demolition to make way for a hotel, according to Brownstoner. More recently, a developer was awarded $36 million by a judge for...I'm not sure what, because the article is behind a paywall.

At the corner of Butler Street and 3rd Avenue there is a large mural advocating for drivers to watch out for pedestrians and those riding bicycles, with a big red stop sign painted that says "NOT ONE MORE DEATH." There are four kids portrayed, with names and birth and death dates next to three of them: Victor Flores 1992-2004; Juan Angel Estrada 1993-2004; and James Rice 2003-2007. The photo below depicts Rice.

Victor and Juan were hit and killed by a garbage truck at an intersection several blocks away, in February 2004, according to a news article that I don't feel the need to share. James was hit and killed by a car while in a crosswalk nearby, in 2007. Local teenagers painted the mural in 2007.

Before retiring to my hotel room, I did a loop around the property. Along Douglass Street, I saw a sign that I thought was perhaps a ghost, but alas it's for an active business: Marble, Onyx, Granite & Terrazzo.

Around the corner on Butler Street is a place that I'd noticed on Google Maps when I booked the hotel. I had to make an image of the Yellow Cab garage.

I will publish more quick-hit New York City posts in the near future.

For links to more about New York City, see below:

February 19, 2022, "New York City Flashback: Views from a Tour Bus"

February 12, 2022, "New York City Flashback: Views from the High Line"

February 5, 2022, "New York City Flashback: Views While Strolling and Shopping"

January 29, 2022, "New York City Flashback: The Transit Museum"