Month: March 2014

Brownstone Garage Sale

 

I moved to Brooklyn last May and the entire month was a blur. We had a frenzy of moving, and all of the noise that comes with it. I didn’t take in my surrounds as carefully as I do now. Then all of a sudden it was 90 degrees and every chance I got I escaped the concrete jungle.

Some places don’t have steam coming up from the streets.

As the sun emerges and the temperatures are rising in the mercury I’ve started to notice a few interesting things. One of which is something that doggedly sticks in my head as the “Brownstone Garage Sale”. I use the word ‘doggedly’ because these are not sales or in garages.

I guess more appropriately they are Brownstone Stoop Giveaways – but for some reason that’s just as much fun to say.

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I know in a lot of places the act of placing free items on your lawn is illegal and in violation of city codes. I haven’t looked too heavy into the stoop laws of Southern Brooklyn, but it seems like this is an accepted act.

I unfortunately do not have the fortune to live in a brownstone, so in this sense I feel slightly isolated from the community because there is no upcycling in my future.  But I have had the pleasure of seeing some pretty interesting things.

 

Who knows I could probably write an entire blog on stoop treasure hunting, best loot finds and most fruitful blocks.

This has been a fun find for me, and especially interesting because it’s marking the drastic turn in season here. And it’s one more little quirk I get to discover as I’m walking these streets.

The communal nature of this act is one of the hipster/yupster of the environment that I’m living in, and one that is difficult to find in an urban space. I want to find out more about it.

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The Palace Hotel poster was pretty tempting.

Midtermed

Halfway through this class.

I think I could have been a bit stronger in certain areas, a little more certain that I had something to say. Tighter even.

I want to stick with Brooklyn, I still want to wander the streets knowing and looking for things to absorb. As the weather gets nicer I think it will be easier to find the right words that I want. I want to use Brooklyn as much as I can to move me forward in my writing, and realistically just inspire me to move forward in general.

I look forward to my adventures and finding so much new information about my neighborhood, my borough and even my city. From learning that Cobble Hill was not named after a hill full of Cobblers to what makes a restaurant time and thrive in a neighborhood.

I’m realizing I like learning what has made this borough thrive in the past and how many different generations have occupied it. There have been so many things that have left their mark and so many that have vanished. It’s been incredible to uncover some of the little stones.

I do want to try for a bit more focus in my post, make them stand a little stronger; so that’s really what I’m going to try to do with the next few weeks. Make you feel the passion and the beauty of Brooklyn all in one literary sitting. Wish me luck.

I want it to keep going.

I don’t want to stop exploring.

I don’t want to give up my excuse to.

I want to move forward.