The Fort Greene Flea
SATURDAY, JUNE 27TH 2009
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The Fort Green Flea takes place every Saturday in the playground lot of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Green. It was less eventful (in product) than the Brooklyn Flea that we attended the weekend prior. We were told that this location would have more furniture than home accessories, but we were sadly disappointed.

It was still a pleasure to walk around and look all the odds and ends, but I do not think we will return to Fort Greene again. The area has little to offer for post-thrifting entertainment, whilst the Brooklyn Flea is adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge and the waterfront, giving access to Governor's Island and lower Manhattan.

P.S. If you did not really look at the photographs above, take another glance - and look at that amazing wooden wheelchair! Rustic and totally badass.

A Walking Tour of Williamsburg, Brooklyn
THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH 2009
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When exploring Williamsburg west of Bedford Avenue you will find that it is very easy to stray from the beaten path and find yourself surrounded by seemingly abandoned warehouses and factory buildings. However, if you look carefully you will see hidden hangouts, houses and glamorous warehouse lobby entrances. The streets are sunny and quiet, with the passing of an occasional hipster. The combination of building types and graffiti momentarily made me feel like I was back home in Cleveland.

Pier, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH 2009
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I am not exactly sure where I was along the riverfront when I came across this pier. I was attracted to its gesture, and also the shade, where I took a short nap amongst the fishermen in the hot afternoon.

Shopping In Williamsburg, Brooklyn
THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH 2009
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After brunch I embarked on a walking tour of Williamsburg with a short list of stores to visit and no set route. I generally only enter design stores, mainly because I cannot afford clothing and at least window shopping for decor is entertaining.

A&G Merch is an urban home furnishing store that has a nice balance of handmade and local products as well as mass produced items. I admired the little merchandise vignettes that allowed customers to pause and explore clusters of products rather than looking at items on linear shelves.

The Future Perfect (not shown) is a little shop full of design objects that I will never be able to afford. In their basement they sometimes have clearance and sample sales that are still mostly out of my price range.

Voos is a collective of local furniture designers and the showroom is full of eclectic pieces. It feels more like walking through a contemporary gallery than a retail store. This store is also way, way out of my price range - like most design stores!

Mast Brothers is a chocolate factory adjacent to Voos, and on this warm afternoon I could smell the chocolate wafting down the block - cacao shells were strewn about the floor when I walked in. The owners/creators - the Mast brothers - both rock amazing beards. Their chocolate is handmade in delicate batches.

Sprout is a sweet little modern garden store that has a beautiful collection of plants, accessories and gifts. I fell in love as soon as I saw the huge terrariums in the center of the room! They have a feature wall covered in tillandsias, too. Tassy spent a good deal of time with me explaining what I possibly did wrong with my terrarium and even printed out a guide for me to take home.

I could best describe Moon River Chattel as rustic chic. It offers reclaimed and vintage furniture and decor as well as contemporary accessories. I could easily decorate an entire cozy bed and breakfast in their merchandise.

Two Jakes (not shown) specializes in classic 20th century modern office furniture. If I recall correctly this store was stacked with furniture.

Portmanteau sells pricey vintage furniture and accessories. These glass vessels caught my eye and all I could think of was terrariums on the walk back to the subway.

Lunch at Blackbird Parlour, Williamsburg
THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH 2009
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I began my first excursion to the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn with a scrumptious brunch at Blackbird Parlour. I feasted on this massive spinach and mushroom frittata which was accompanied by a side of various types of potatoes - including sweet potatoes, surprise! - that were like tasting the food of the gods. Despite being very, very full, I topped off my meal with a towering piece of coconut cake that was fluffy and creamy and a perfect balance of cake, coconut and frosting.

The interior of the space was full of reclaimed charm. Everything looked noticeably worn, like a handed down piece of family furniture in slight disrepair. It was a sunny day and the dark space was comfortably lit by natural light. The people and the restaurant were hipsterific, a detail for which Williamsburg is known. This bothers a lot of people in NYC, but for me it simply reminds me of being in art school and I enjoyed being in a concentration of people my age.

Red Hook, Brooklyn
SUNDAY, JUNE 21TH 2009
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Once again I ventured to Brooklyn to visit Ikea, but this time I had the bus drop me off at the intersection of King Street and Van Brunt Street so that I could explore. My opinion of the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn is mixed. It looks abandoned no matter what time or day you visit, lined with dilapidated storefronts and trash, and I am not sure I would ride my bike by myself through the area. It explains the cheap land for Ikea, though!

Among the wreckage there are a few gems. Some boutique and thrift stores pop up here and there. Baked, a delicious little bakery livens the street with its orange storefront, Saipua has a new interior that is fresh and charming, Chelsea Garden Center offers some garden basics as the end of the street and it is adjacent to the large Fairway Market.

I didn't take pictures of any of this.

At the very tip of Van Brunt Street, extending out into the water is the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition, which houses a 25,000 square foot gallery in a Civil War-era warehouse. I elected to wander around the fascinating building rather than go inside. It was an overcast day and it seemed appropriate for the forgotten waterfront. I have another close up of the beautiful numbered doors here.

Oh, and that cute kitty was sleeping on a table in the window of a closed thrift store. Cute, cute, cute.

The New York Public Library
FRIDAY, JUNE 19TH 2009
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The New York Public Library sits majestically at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Honestly, I did not know that this was going to be on my Fifth Avenue walk, which only reinforces the importance of my "walk every street" mission. I forgot to take exterior photographs (duh). The interior shots were difficult to manage in low light, but I did my best and had to forgo any detail shots.

The NYPL had its official dedication ceremony in 1911 - sixteen years after the first document was signed in agreement to build the library by its founders. It was not the first library in NYC, but the two branches before it were struggling with funding and did not offer a circulating collection of books. The library as it stands today was devised as the first public library for both research and circulation.

The total cost to build was approximately $9 million at the time. Between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors streamed through the building the first day it was open. Today, The NYPL is visited and used annually by more than 15 million people. There are 1.86 million cardholders. The branch system has grown to include 87 libraries, with collections totaling 6.6 million items!

This particular location and collection is still publicly accessible, but for research purposes only and offers no circulating books. It has reading rooms, exhibition spaces, a library shop and guided tours [floorplan]. I walked through two exhibits: Between Collaboration and Resistance: French Literary Life Under Nazi Occupation and 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation. I was allowed to take photographs in the latter. An excerpt from the exhibit:

"The year 1969 was a flashpoint in the history of LGBT civil rights struggles, marking a paradigmatic shift in the ways that gays and lesbians saw themselves and fought for their full inclusion within American society. In the wake of the Stonewall Riots on June 28 of that year, gays and lesbians in New York City radicalized in an unprecedented way, founding activist groups—Gay Liberation Front, the Radicalesbians, Gay Activists Alliance, and Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries—that created a new vision: Gay Liberation."

Walking Fifth Avenue
FRIDAY, JUNE 19TH 2009
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One of my major goals whilst living in NYC is to literally walk most (if not all) of Manhattan, from Battery park to 110th Street. This is a time consuming task, but it has its accomplishments: exercise, discovery and eventually, familiarity. Today I took a train to Union Square/14th Street and began my 72 block walk to 86th Street!

Fifth Avenue is known for its upscale shopping, touting brands like Chanel, Fendi, Gucci, and Tiffany & Co. After it reaches Central Park, 5th Avenue turns into "Museum Mile" with the notable Metropolitan Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to name a few.

As an interior designer I was thrilled to see all the amazing storefronts and interiors on this street, especially from the upscale stores. The streets became so crowded that I quickly gave up taking photographs - you would not believe how long I patiently stood waiting for a chance to take the person-less photos above! - but I did manage to capture two creative storefronts: Anthropologie and Kate Spade.