Today, Pfizer is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, with dozens of factories and research labs across the country, over 100,000 employees, and hundreds of billions in revenue. Amazing to think it all got started in a now-empty factory on the border between South Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy. Pfizer was founded as a fine chemicals…
Hidden on the second floor of this building adjacent to the JMZ elevated train line in South Williamsburg is Frenchie’s Gym, a slice of authentic old school Brooklyn culture that has somehow managed to avoid the gentrification wrecking ball rapidly swinging toward it. Blink and you’ll miss it. From the ground level, the only evidence…
I frequently drive past this parking lot at Kent and Broadway in Williamsburg. Whenever I pass, I notice the psychedelic bus parked there… …and I wonder: what’s the story with the pit bull sitting in the second to last seat? He’s always there, staring morosely out the window at passing cars. I’d say he’s a…
It’s funny how you stumble on interesting bits in the unlikeliest of places. I was scouting Broadway in Brooklyn, which runs underneath the elevated JMZ train and is basically a series of greasy restaurants, dollar stores, and bodegas. If you look closely, partially covered up by the 99ยข store sign is this really great sculpture,…
Note: this is now gone. I was under the JMZ elevated subway line in South Williamsburg today near Marcy Ave when I noticed this steel rose bolted to the ground: I’m not sure if this was commissioned by the city, or installed by an anonymous artist under the cover of night – there wasn’t a…