Took this sad shot a week or so ago.

BUT — I have two reports from readers that the sign now says it will be home to Luigi’s Pizza. An offshoot or relocation for the pizza place on DeKalb near Pratt? Or a different Luigi?

(formerly 275 Grand)

I’m feeling totally in love with city living today.

Recently, I came across this on Washington Ave up near the Navy Yard:

in memory
A small, subtle memorial that one can quietly come across if they’re paying close attention. This little planter is certainly one of my favorite finds in the city.

I hope the loved ones of Reggie and Arlaine know that their small gesture gave me some peace today.

I only saw one sign for the recent gun buyback program that happened a few weekends ago. Participants were paid $200 per gun, no questions asked.

A reported 700 guns were turned in during the program.

Brown Memorial Church in CH was one of the buyback locations, and the wait for turn-in was more than an hour.

The new Brooklyn Urban Arts Market will take place every other Sunday (until Sept. 21) on Myrtle between Emerson and Hall. There’ll be vendors, live music, DJs and seemingly cool people. If this is going to be anything like the Afro-Punk festival (the event is organized by Afro-Punk, BAM and MARP), it’s going to be mad cool.

MARP is also doing drawings to win a shopping spree on Myrtle!

Here are some related links with more info:

lucky on steuben

(north of Myrtle)

There’s a lot of action up on Grand between Myrtle and Park. Most intriguing is the “Retro Loft.”

Unlike the other stuff flying up nearby, this building was already here and is being repurposed.

Directly across the street, we have this dorm-like building with a wonky awning and a nice parking lot:

What do these places look like on the inside???

(Brownstoner coverage here!)

I noticed this nicely-designed sign on Fulton and Putnam over the weekend, and I hadn’t noticed it before:

such a nice sign for such a shitty job

This is a shockingly pretty sign coming from the city. Additional irony is earned from the crappiness of Fulton Street and the ridiculousness of the street renovations that have been going on now for, oh, two or three years.

I have high hopes, now that we’ve been afforded a city B.I.D.

Thanks to the Pratt Area Community Council for their hard work on making this happen!

The brick-oven pizzeria and sidewalk cafe on Washington near the Navy Yard is chugging along to opening. Several people have emailed me with details on how good it looks inside.

I checked it out on Sunday, and I wasn’t able to see much. Of course, no one was doing any work.

outside il porto

The boys at RePop tell me they hope to be open within three weeks. August is generally a slow time for local businesses, so let’s make sure to check them out when they open the doors!

This is horribly old news, but here is a short piece that Brooklyn Independent Television did on me back in January, where I interviewed the owners-to-be:

Was on vacation Friday!

tessan

(clinton ave at dekalb)