New York City - Day 12 - A tiny taste of Brooklyn - Greenpoint and Williamsburg

Saturday, December 12, 2009

I took two subways to get to Brooklyn and meet Jonathan Lill for breakfast at a great brunch place, Enids, on Manhattan Ave. We got their when they opened, but within a half hour the place was extremely busy.

Ran into many people dressed up as Santa Claus on the subway, as well as walking the streets of the area. They were all going somewhere to "Santacon." I missed some great hilarious shots as an endless stream of men and women, dressed in Santa costumes, some rented, others purchased or home made, streamed past the window on their way to one central bar to begin their pub crawl.

After a long brunch, Jon graciously led me on a great walk all over Greenpoint. Where Jon lives is an Italian neighborhood. But the neighborhood is often called "Little Poland" due to its large population of working-class Polish immigrants, supposedly the second largest concentration in the US after Chicago. We stopped in some of the cafes and grocery and pastry shops. A few of the shops made their own sausage. One featured marzipan in any food item you can name. Not only fruits and vegetables but sandwiches and hot dogs!

One shop we stopped in was Huitzilli Mexican Handicraft at 624 Metropolitan Ave. It was very similar to Casa Azul where Stephanie works at in Evanston. I spoke to Emily Cantrell the owner who operates very much like the owner of Casa Azul does. Another was Old Made Stuff a vintage shop at 441 Metropolitan Ave. owned by Leah Adams-Kroll and Frances Pezik. They had clothes and old retro stuff from various eras. Seemed geared very much to the 20’s – 30’s crowd.

I stopped into Hickoree’s which had a sign for Crown Overalls, the company my uncle Harry Levine worked for many years in Cincinnati, OH. On the rear, I think, it said Norwood. They sold hip clothes. It was temporary, since they mostly sell on their web site. They were in Metropolitan Green inventable space at 439 Metropolitan Place. I think they offer or rent space to emerging enterprises.

After I left him I walked down to the Williamsburg area. On the way I discovered an excellent bicycle shop and dropped in and had a conversation with the owner. Since it was Saturday, it was appropriate that is the day Don and I go early morning biking.

There was little activity since it was Saturday, but I did see some Hasidim returning from services.