53 Boerum

The glitz! The glamour! The Brooklynites!

In honor of our Boerum Hill neighbors, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress nominees for Brokeback Mountain), 53boerum.com will be hosting a live blog-cast of this year’s Academy Awards. We’ll be posting as the action happens… join in during the telecast to add your comments.

Good luck Heath and Michelle!

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11:28 pm: The montages have finally ended! Best Pic went to Crash. See ya next year!

7:10 pm: Heath and Michelle are now entering the red carpet zone! Heath looks classic in his black tux and Michelle is wearing a golden yellow gown, not sure if I like it yet. I need a better look. They gave a shout-out to Baby Matilda, awww, who they say is “back home” - maybe in Brooklyn?

Heidi Klum says: in the world of fashion, you’re either in, or you’re out.

But all the designer excitement will no longer be limited to the tents at Bryant Park. According to the Daily News, this spring Brooklyn is getting it’s own Fashion Week: “The three-day event, to be held in a former DUMBO tobacco warehouse May 5-7, will feature roughly 30 designers, including ‘Project Runway’ star Zulema and designer-to-the-stars Nana Boateng.” With the iconic backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge, the event will include a traditional runway and smaller salon-style showing for up-and-coming designers. Fashionistas unite!

I seriously couldn’t believe it when I found this website. Wild parrots living in… Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboutit.

…But yes, it’s true! According to BrooklynParrots.com there are colonies of monk parakeets (also known as quaker parrots) living all over Brooklyn, concentrated especially at Brooklyn College and the Greenwood Cemetery. This type of bird originates from Argentina, and nobody quite knows exactly how these little guys wound up in our borough. This Animal Planet video gives a fascinating look at our feathered friends, and how they have survived the city streets and flourished throughout the years. It’s definitely worth the watch.

Check out BrooklynParrots.com for more information and adorable photos, especially the one of a bird looking content while eating some Brooklyn pizza!

Photos by Steve Baldwin

*This is the first post in a new series called “Out & About,” in which we’ll leave the cozy confines of 53BP to explore and review other neighborhoods around Brooklyn. Special thanks go out to our 53BP friend and beat reporter, Katie, for researching and writing this guest post. Thanks Katie!*

This weekend Brad and I explored the historic district of Bed-Stuy: Stuyvesant Heights. We took the A express (2-3 stops only) from Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Utica, and exited at the Fulton Park side of the station. Even in the dead of winter the park, modeled after London’s Bloomsbury Square, was inviting, especially against a backdrop of a brownstone-lined block. Exploring the many residential streets boasting well-maintained, architecturally varied brownstones reminded me of Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights.

An interesting commercial street is Lewis Avenue, where we eavesdropped on a children’s book reading at Brownstone Books, and picked up an amazing piece of red velvet cake at BrEaD-Stuy, a small WiFi-enabled café that serves an assortment of gourmet coffee, baked goods, soups and sandwiches. Did I mention the red velvet cake? Eating it last night was probably the highlight of my weekend. You can even place orders for cakes. The owner of The Little Red Boutique, a hip, upscale clothing and bath products shop a block away, provided us with some good local info. She recommended Solomon’s Porch (Stuyvesant and Halsey) for lunch where we feasted on BBQ chicken wraps. The sweet onion jam was a nice touch. The service was slow, but it is a nice spot and if you go at night you can enjoy live jazz (note: it’s BYOB).

More about Bed-Stuy: Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t know Brownstoner, you’ve been living under a Brooklyn real estate rock!

As a long-time reader of the popular blog, I was excited to attend tonight’s presentation at Design Within Reach on Montague Street. Jon Brownstoner abandoned his blog for the evening to share with us the highs and lows of the Clinton Hill brownstone renovation he’s been meticulously documenting on his site for the past 15 months. Through before-and-after photographs and humorous anecdotes, Brownstoner (and his lovely wife, Mrs. B) took us through the year-long process and shared valuable information and tips, like some good places to find salvage and surplus building materials.

I didn’t get to say hello to Brownstoner after the presentation (boo!) but send out a big “congrats” to him and Mrs. B on a beautiful home, from all their friends at 53BP!

Walking into a room to turn the lights on is so 1999.

In this age of information, perhaps one of the coolest (and easiest) ways to integrate some hi-tech goodness into your home is through the world of home automation. Smarthome.com offers an easy-to-install network called INSTEON, whose dual-band network quickly and reliably transmits INSTEON messages throughout your home both wirelessly and through your home’s existing wiring. (Translation = You have the power to control lighting and appliances from anywhere in your home!).

Also available is a line of in-wall controllers that controls individual lights, or triggers whole-house mood lighting “scenes” at the touch of a button.

A view of the storm from 53BP on Sunday morning…

19 Cranberry Street, the house featured in the movie ‘Moonstruck,’ (c’mon, we know you loved Cher in that…) has been put on the market, reports Brownstoner. This 4,160 square foot piece of movie history can be yours for a mere $5,000,000. The infamous Bob Mackie ensemble that Cher wore to the Academy Awards that year is not included. Check out the listing here.

What the heck is the Idiotarod? According to the site, “The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. Our Idiotarod is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City. The third annual event happens January 28, 2006. It will start in Brooklyn, run into Manhattan, and end approximately five miles later. Teams of five will race for a cash prize. And glory.”

The site links to some hilarious photos of past Idiotarod events, and the wacky costumes and shopping cart designs some clever New Yorkers came up with. Matthew and I will definitely be heading to the starting line at Fulton Ferry Landing to cheer on this year’s racers. Anybody up for putting together a 53BP team?

For more information, check out the Idiotarod site.

With unseasonably warm temps like we had this weekend, you can’t help but think of spring. Every year, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens awards those streets that display the most trees, plants, and colorful flowers with the title of “Greenest Blocks in Brooklyn.” In 2005, many lush streets in the Boerum Hill area surrounding 53BP won this coveted title:

- 1st Place, Commerical: Hoyt Street between Atlantic Avenue and State Street
- 3rd Place, Commerical: Atlantic Avenue between Bond and Nevins - north side
- Honorable Mention, Residential: State Street between Hoyt and Bond
- Honorable Mention, Commercial: Atlantic Avenue between Bond and Nevins - south side
- 2nd Place, Best Storefronts: Stan’s Place, 411 Atlantic Avenue