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Rent is going up, temperatures are going down, people are getting their Screen Actors Guild cards stolen ... it's a tough life in Williamsburg these days. No worries, the Flight of the Conchords feel your pain. Check out their homage to city livin' in this JMZ-adjacent video.
Gawker has a disturbingly hilarious roundup of police blotter activity in Williamsburg. People are getting robbed at gunpoint, their iPods are getting stolen, one girl even had her Screen Actors Guild card taken from her purse. Sick, sick bastards. [Gawker]
So apparently the new beer hall, Radegast (113 N. 3rd St), is opening this Friday at 3pm. I was excited at first, because who doesn't love delicious German and Czech beers? I pictured a raucous beer hall filled with cheap sausage and giant steins overflowing with beer and lederhosen and whatever Czech people wear. But apparently cheap sausage turned into "Veal Schnitzel w/Scallion Sour Cream Potato Salad" for $17, which leads me to believe this will be a far more upscale operation than I originally envisioned. There are still beers with fun names like "Eggenberger Urbock," but now I am picturing pink polos and excessive use of the word "Bro" instead of an eclectic neighborhood crowd. Prove me wrong Radegast, prove me wrong.
Neighborhood tensions are high! Is Triple Crown's owner an ass who pisses off people for no reason? Or does the neighborhood just not like hip-hop music and the kind of people who like it? Y' know, like those non-white people I've heard so much about. Honestly, even if the owner rubs people the wrong way, this hardly seems fair. Bars like Union Pool and Royal Oak make all kinds of noise, but their customers listen to Grizzly Bear instead of Nas, so I guess that's ok. Am I reading between the lines for racism that isn't there? It's possible. I don't know all the details. Maybe Triple Crown blatantly ignored all the complaints made against them. Owner Michael Pappalardo certainly seems to rub people the wrong way.
Regardless, the fact the community board is preventing the sale of the space to another owner out of what seems like purely personal spite is absurd. They basically don't want him to recoup any of the money he has invested. All the owners want to do is leave without losing everything--I say the community board should just let them sell the place and be done with it.
Check out A Brooklyn Life, Brownstoner and the video below for more info.
Just to set the scene: I am sitting in a popular Williamsburg restaurant which will remain nameless. It's the middle of the week and the place is mostly empty and I'm trying not to listen to the people next to me who are making it almost impossible for me to concentrate on my dinner and the book I brought along as company. I finally give up. Here's what I heard:
After a long discussion about truffle oil versus truffle butter and which one was better, the guy got out his notebook and said they needed to get started working.
The girl said "Okay. Well it needs to be hard hitting, about social issues. I want to make something really edgy."
Her friend agreed enthusiastically, "Like a social play."
"Yeah, like about poverty and race. For instance, did you know that social programs in this country don't work?"
"I know! It's crazy right? Hold on I'm going to write this down." I enjoyed the moment of silence as the guy scribbled in his notebook, but then he started up again, "So what else?"
“Well I did read something; it was about this white doctor and a Puerto Rican woman who was her patient. They really can’t communicate, but the doctor realizes the woman is suffering from heart problems. They’re both women, and the can’t really talk to each other but you learn in the play that the Puerto Rican woman’s heart is broken because she works so hard and she can’t see her family.”
Her partner didn't seem to like this. He said, "I see. I see. But we have to be careful because it can’t be too much of a downer. I mean we still need to get these people to buy eighteen dollar martinis at the show, we can’t make them feel too guilty.”
She responded "What about the joy of being poor?"
He said he liked that and she continued: "Like how they are always having block parties in poor neighborhoods."
“Yeah! Like it’s still a social play but it’s like the poor people are saying ‘Hey! The problem is not us. It’s you.’ Like, ‘no man it’s not that bad, you’re projecting your hang ups on us. But we’re happy.’ Like, ‘Let’s party!’”
“You know like how they open up the fire hydrants and run around in them? You know?”
At this point their appetizers arrived and I was able to get the waitress to bring my check. I almost said something to them but they were pretty engrossed in their own brilliance. Besides, why hinder the birth of great Williamsburg art.
Murders have dropped citywide by 18 percent, meaning you don't have to worry about getting stabbed while stumbling home from Royal Oak. Or do you?
Murders were up 8% in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York, Crown Heights, Bushwick, Fort Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint in the first nine months of this year - 104 victims, compared with 96 for the corresponding period last year. [NY Daily News]
To be fair, the biggest rise in crime was in Brownsville, which had a 37 percent increase in murders, meaning the only thing wary Williamsburgers have to worry about is their condos devaluing. Sorry, that's the last Williamsburg cliche I will indulge in until I see a emaciated man-boy stuffing cash from his trust fund into his skinny jeans while whistling an indie rock tune he illegally downloaded. Goooooo cliches!
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