Weekend One-Liners 4/13-4/14 - Happenings to Check this weekend in Brooklyn

Weekend One-Liners! 4/13-4/14

Habana Outpost's Big Annual Earthday Re-Opening Event happens this weekend! "Corn & Cuban" Sandwiches! Eco-Friendly info and the happy swarm of neo-Buppies, Yuppies, Hipsters and young dudes hanging on the corner trying mack are back! I still love this place now in it's eighth year. even though it can be a trend-trafficjam. I can't wait! Check for more info check cafehabanablog

Smorgasburg while open to it's second weekend of 2013, I arrived last week round 2p and couldn't get through to some of the good looking vittles, this week I'm ampted to be early. For more info check http://www.smorgasburg.com/Smorgasburg.com

Saturday & Sunday The Brooklyn Children's Museum has a slate of events including "Superhero Science" and Block Parties:

Superhero Science! 11:00, for 4 and up, Bend light, get x-ray vision, and discover optical illusions with Cyclops. It’s a new super science adventure every week!"

Block Party11:30, for All ages Let your imagination soar to new heights while you explore a unique assortment of blocks to play with. Build an imaginary castle with foam blocks, map out a new neighborhood with wooded ones, or use cardboard blocks to create whimsical patterns. "

And this is not a weekend event but next Tuesday 4/16 there will be a major meeting by the Crown Heights Community Boards to discuss rezoning efforts intended to improve the structure and preserve the positive history of the neighborhood. I'll post more about it next week but get a head start and check http://crowhillcommunity.org/projects/landmarking-and-rezoning-meeting/ for more info.

Got a Brooklyn weekend event you want posted? Email us at umbrooklynborn @ gmail.com

Photo Wednesday 05/19/10: Video Beat Box Edition

As mentioned in last week's post, this past Saturday was Habana Outpost's Annual Block Party, and on top of an afternoon of good food, beautiful sun soaked people churning around the intersection at South Portland and Fulton St. there was also a near endless amount of music. The performances were headlined by Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew (who will be on stage with The Roots July 11th at Celebrate Brooklyn) and as if B&DEC's blend of Sierra Leone inspired Hip Hop was not enough, along came a surprise special guest in the form of the Original Human Beat Box, Doug E. Fresh. Doug dropped some classics, played a little music history, led a light hearted call & response, busted some fly olSkool moves and of course, spread love the Brooklyn way. Video below...

Saturday: Prospect Hts Flea, & Habana Block Party in Fort Greene

Sunny Saturday in the city. After days of September weather I hope you're ready to soak up the 70° sun.

For activities I recommend these two:



World Akcent's Artisan Marketplace Prospect Heights Flea. A long name to be sure. But it's all to describe a very casual flea market with over 40 vendors in the cool shade atop Eastern Parkway at little Dr. Ronald McNair Park(which is the patch of green space on the other side of the Brooklyn Museum, across Washington Avenue).





I found the market two weeks back and it will be occurring every two weeks through the summer. It was great for a simple stroll even. I passed through amid happy shoppers, cool merchants all in a very friendly space with live music and an easy attitude. Among some great wares on sale there were fashions from Society HAE (as in the shop Harriet's Alter Ego) (Shout out to Ngozi!!)

Dr. Ronald McNair Park is located on Eastern Parkway btw Classon and Washington Aves. You can take the subway to the Eastern Parkway or Franklin Avenue stations to get there. Check MTA.info to avoid their weekend construction madness.

My next recommendation is Habana Outpost's Block Party(below).

The party's events will be going on today from 12-4 with kid friendly activities, a designers market featuring hand-made crafts for sale and musical performances all afternoon from diverse talents whose music stylings range from Salsa, to London Soul, to HipHop from Sierra Leone courtesy of Bajah and the Dry Eye Crew.

Also I have it on good authority that there will be a very special guest performing after B-DEC's set, so don't be the one who missed....

You can get to Habana Outpost directly by the Lafayette C train station but except it to be impossible to exit during the late afternoon from the South Portland exit which is almost center of the block party activities. Try exiting at Greene Avenue and walking down Fulton Street. Same as above check MTA.info for less travel headaches.

Earth Day at Habana Outpost (my weekend pic)

Habana Outpost is had it's annual Earth Day opening last weekend, I missed it but I'm picking it as the place to be this Saturday in Fort Greene, Bklyn. Here's a previous post about Habana if you're not in the know.

That is all folks!

Photo Wedns: 6/3/09 Holes in the wall, Sing-alongs & more

Holy Jeebus! It seems I had what the internet (or those who surf it) wanted to see and the result was a flex of spontaneous and awesome page viewing attention. How? Last week's photo wednesday was this image (gratuitously reposted to the left)

Of course I think it's a cool photo, I took it. It's also great street art with a sense of humor and all that, which is why I posted it. But I think everything I post is great, give or take a few exclamation points. So imagine my shock when I saw that this one photo, in one day accumulated more views than almost everything I've ever posted and every photo I've ever shot. Over 9,000 views on Sunday May 31st alone. In the grand scheme of internet views, not a lot I know, but I'm still working from the theory that there's only five of you who actually read this, and two of you have the same last name as me.

Interestingly none of that resulted in increased views of this blog... I tracked the source of the eyeball explosion, reddit.com So thanks reddit users.

This Wednesday's main photo comes with a news story:


The photo above is taken from Jay Street (in Downtown B'klyn), looking at the wall of the Northbound F Train track.

See those four jagged but rectangular shapes? They're holes in the wall. And behind a pot of gold? A window to throw it out of? Meh. The construction behind that wall of the Jay Station, to which the A,C & J (usually) run, is to build a tunnel connecting to the R & M lines at Lawrence Street. It's an old news story I somehow missed and here's the old link provide by the Brooklyn Eagle
For those willing to add another transfer at DeKalb Av or Atlantic Av, will provide an extension cord like connection between the A, Q, & D trains. Which in theory is somewhat awesome, but you know how theories go.

Construction is ongoing so by now those holes are probably closed up. But it's a reminder of how much more there is to the subway system infrastructure than we see. For example up to the 90's Jay Street was were all the money in the system was brought and counted as the MTA's headquarters used to exist in the building above Jay Street. Described by Hollywood in the film "Money Train":

...which I will probably still prefer over the remake of "The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3"

MTA headquarters has since been moved over to a new building at Livingston, which as I recall has the old G line tracks under it.

Since I'm behind in my writing I'm gonna drop some photos that have been waiting for me:

This photo is from Fort Greene (of course) during a sunday movie night when "Coming to America" was shown at Habana Outpost. (And not a Gitmo joke in the house!)

For those who don't know, "Coming to America" is a significant piece of American pop cultural in general and especially if you are of brown color or culture and you were young in the 80's. It's ridiculous which is the point. The amount of movie lines that are quoted by random assemblages of people is impressive by itself (and you probably know more than you realize).

The screening at Habana was packed with folks who seemed to have permanent tans and used to dance the "Wop", so it makes sense that the crowd began singing the song from the scene above.


But how could you not want to sing abut a Queen who's "free from infection"?

And Finally Here's a photo that I didn't write, it's about Willowtown:

In short. It's a residential development in Brooklyn Heights that makes the folks there all excited. Here's the details as wiki puts it. I was shocked to find yet another neighborhood sub-section, this time in Bklyn Heights, and I intend to rant about (unlike this example) how neighborhood sub-sections become separate neighborhoods in the minds of real estate folks and new comers. Soon come.

1st Day of Spring events ahead

Happy Spring 1st! Soon these clouds too shall pass revealing a new world of rainbows and wonder.

Here's a few events coming sooner and later:

Tomorrow @ Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Free guided tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. Meet in front of the Visitor Center. (Group tours are available for a fee; call 718-623-7220 or visit the group tours page for information.)

Of course next month April 9th is the Cherry Blossom Festival はなみ (hanami)
But there's plenty of events between now and then, check their calendar for details. GMAP

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Next week Saturday the 28th at the Brooklyn Children's Museum they be chasing the rainbow (these days who isn't) and breaking it into all it's lovely pieces and colors (like a piggy bank) ages 5 and up, two sessions one at 11am the next at 3pm.
Here's their words:

Chase Wonder Why Workshop Series: Colors of the Rainbow

Get ready for those April showers—come find out how rainbows are made! Hear stories about how people once explained this colorful phenomenon, take a look at a rainbow up close, and craft your own recycled rainbow art to decorate your room. Pot of gold not included.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum / 145 Brooklyn Avenue / Brooklyn, NY 11213 /GMAP

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An for those of you who simply want to sit cafeteria style, eat corn and burritos from a truck whilst pretending not to people watch, you'll be happy to know that in less than 30 Days Habana Outpost will re-open! Yah! [GMAP]

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Have a spring event to post? Feel free to drop a comment.

Photo Wednesday 2/25/09 Of Warmer Days...

It's been so damned cold out. But have you noticed? The days are getting longer and this is the last Photo Wednesday in Feb 09. To get us through the moment I thought a look back to brighter, sunnier, warmer days would help set our minds on a bright, sunnier, warmer future. Here's some pics I shot in Summer past when T-Shirts (and even no shirts) ruled.





Just 23 days till Spring official begins...

Habana Outpost, that's the ticket

Habana Outpost was packed to overflowing and (real talk) it was hot, weather(beautiful), people(jam packed), food, yes man, the food as delicious and satisfying as I remember. It was great. Sometime when I'm out eating I think of how easily I could create the meal I'm having.

Not so at Habana, they make a simple thing like a burrito, corn and a corona seem damn near gourmet. That's how I feel, what say you?

In addition to the food, the people and the wait (which was back, more on that in a second) There were a host of eco-friendly groups providing info in the form of guides to eco-friendly city living, "Learn to dispose of your electronics without destroying the environment!" as well as some heavy examples of green living like a classic detroit convertable, that runs on veggie oil.

Eco-info and a converted convertable running on veggie oil

As for the wait, yes it was there and yes as I wrote previously, you need only to expect it, and have somebody to talk to while you wait around like a reality show finalist hoping you're name is called, before the suspense (and appetite) kills you.

My waiting moment came and there I stood patiently by the converted mail truck made to look like an authentic Contempo/Mexican food stand straining my eyes upward and hoping that next corn could be mine. I was one of at least seven others, our heads bobbing side to side, occassionally side steping the onslaught of other folks wandering throug the open air space, all of us waiting. One by one everyone around me got their food. I started to feel like that kid in a group who's never picked for sports. When I asked how much longer, the lovely host whose name is a mystery to me, demurely screamed at the cooks; it was the only way she could be heard over the roar of the crowd and sizzle of the corn, chicken, peppers, etc...

She yelled my name and the cooks looked at their tickets, scanning them and then replying "YEH! OKAY!! COMING!".

The host nonchalantly turned back to me and politely said, "very soon, maybe five more minutes". So I figured I'd go back and tend to my other hot commodity, my seat, which was being loosely guarded by a stranger. I waited at my seat, which of course is too far away to hear my name called, and so I came back to check on my food. And sure enough, it still wasn't ready. The considerate host asked again, screaming to the cooks of course, and then again politely she apologized and said "soon". Soon, I had heard "soon" about three more times. I was noticing people who were behind me in line getting their meals, huge tray-fulls of yellow rice, roasted peppers, grilled juicy beef, marinated chicken... can you see how hungry I was? And I noticed something else, something key, have you guessed it? Yeh, my ticket was in my pocket. This means (if you've never been to Habana, or like me, haven't been in a long enough time as to forget) that there is no direction for the cooks to follow to make your order. What were they saying "YEH! OKAY, COMING!" to? Who knows? Who cares, I was the dope who didn't give my ticket in, so I mentioned to the hostess, yeh I think I know what's wrong and she continued her polite streak by giving me a sympathetic look and later, passing me my tray delicious edibles. So of course the less of the day was make your order clear before expecting anything, that's the ticket.
And as for the crowd and the questions I raised in my previous post, the magic of opening day seems to have had the affect of bringing in old and new. I left in the afternoon (so crowded!) came back later in the evening and as soon as I exited the South Portland stairway I walked into a strong pound from Tyren, (those who know, know when you see Tyren you're among family) I also noticed new faces (to me) and it was reunion day from there especially when the bunch of smartly funny folks, who provided my seat turned out to be the same folks I first and last met on the original opening day back in 2006. Even managed to get my boy from Philly to come through and experience Brooklyn's Habana. (Muchos gracias a ti: Sofia, Paola, cool unknown brotha who held my seat down early, the effervescent Darcy and of course, Elvis for the good time! hope to see y'all all summer-long!)

Considering how much I've been thinking about change good and bad, essential and unnecessary, if yesterday is any indication of the summer to come I will be happy to see Habana Outpost remaining the exact same cozy window from which to view all that does and doesn't change in the current Brooklyn evolution.

Habana Outpost reOpens today!

I'm excited about today's reopening of one of the nicest recent brooklyn additions, Habana Outpost.

Located on the corner Fulton and South Portland in Fort Green, it's both an open air space and indoor restaurant/bar/market/social meeting point. Cuban/Mexican flavored food rule the day just like at "Habana Café" (the first in the Habana family of establishments in Soho) but among differences between this locale and the Manhattan original is that Habana Outpost boasts a mini fountain, solar power, biodegradable utensils and a human powered smoothie making process in addition to the great menu.

People love to chill at Outpost and they love the food (I do too) so expect to wait for your order and expect to be rewarded for the wait. Fortunately the atmosphere is socially mellow so you're bound to have someone to chat up (frequently a looker) while you strain to hear if your name's been announced.

Another thing about Habana Outpost is it provides a great window into who and what is new in the neighborhood simply because so many people can't help but to lounge there.

Personally I feel I see newer and newer faces every year which occassionally makes me wonder how many long time neighborhood residents drop in. After all the while Habana Outpost is relatively new (opened in 2005) and there is a history of this sort of eclectic mix of social interaction (food, movies, flea markets) in Brooklyn culture in general and Fort Green/Bed Stuy in particular. For example the West Indian Day Parade and to a slightly smaller degree the African Street Festival have provided a mix culture, food and social atmosphere for over 35 years in Brooklyn and while I see residents from Fort Green and Bed-Stuy at those events I feel like I don't see as many of those locals at the newer great establishments like Habana. It makes me wonder if long time residents feel as inclined to drop in as I do.

So Brooklynites tell a friend grab your elders or bring the kids and let's all toast to new face and old faces enjoying the delicious food(especially the mexican roasted corn) the smoothies, chilled beers and general goodtimes that have made Habana Outpost a cool addition to summers in Brooklyn.