Williamsburg’s first new multiplex cinema has missed the summer season, and a premiere night is not in sight.
Months after the new Williamsburg Cinemas was slated to open, the moviehouse is sitting unfinished on the corner of Grand Street and Driggs Avenue as developers struggle to fit all of its seven viewing rooms into the corner lot.
“Fitting seven auditoriums on an 8,500-square-foot site is difficult,” said Robert McCall of Philadelphia-based JKR Partners, which is the architect on the project.
McCall said he is confident the theater will open before the lucrative holiday movie season, but wouldn’t pinpoint a date.
The Williamsburg Cinemas is owned by the same people who run the successful Cobble Hill Cinemas on Court Street between Butler and Douglass streets, and are expected to host the same mix of mainstream and indie films. It will be the first major moviehouse in the neighborhood.
Speaking of burgeoning South Williamsburg (not to mention the rebirth of Motorino in the hood), here’s another eatery to add to your mental map: Williamsburg Pizza, opening tonight at 5 p.m. with a special appearance from borough prez Marty Markowitz. At the oven is Nino Coniglio, who makes most of his ingredients from scratch (dough, sauce, mozzarella) and who’s been tossing pies in Kings County since he was 12, most recently at Pizzeria del Corso in Bayside. Friends and owners Geoff Curley and Aaron McCann (a BK native) spent a decade in the south part of the hood lamenting the dearth of decent slices, until they decided to create their own place. The joint will be open daily for lunch and dinner (takeout and delivery), serving slices, pies, sandwiches, and salads.
Williamsburg Pizza, 265 Union Ave. at S. 3rd St., Williamsburg; 718-855-8729
Next week, Brooklyn folk-rock psychonauts Woods will drop their sixth album in as many years, further evidence that despite the intense frequency of their releases — or perhaps because of it — the Jeremy Earl-led trio continues to evolve considerably between outings. While 2011′s Sun and Shade was lo-fi and idiosyncratic, this latest set feels fleshed out, pared down, then built back up. The production is crisp. Earl’s voice is never buried. The instruments are given space to breathe. The result is a more deeply emotive Woods. The album’s titular opener allows you to feel the shape of the room, and “Lily” is lovely with its high harmonies and tape-damaged texture. Lyrically, dark themes abound (crushing weakness, how “fucking hard” it is to see sometimes, the transience of all things), but all of that doom and gloom is couched in the sort of beauty Woods have made their own. It might be our favorite Woods record to date.
This past week the Do-Over crew returned for a summer closing bash for all the good folks in The Big Apple. DJs rocked sunny jams and classics along with a wide spectrum of new sounds. Our buddies at NickyDigital.com were there to snap it to the tunes! (more…)
A little over a year after the previous Williamsburg location closed, Mathieu Palombino’s pizzeria Motorino may be returning to Brooklyn. An entity called Motorino Broadway, Inc has filed an SLA application with Brooklyn’s CB1, on which the board will be voting at Wednesday’s meeting. As Grub Street notes, this would place the reborn Motorino Brooklyn basically within steps of Peter Luger, Marlow & Sons, and Dressler.
The eleventh season of Williamsburg Fashion Weekend will be held at Windmill Studios NYC, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Friday, September 14th and Saturday, September 15th.
On Fashions night out I made my way to SpinSpinNYC’s party to catch the newest artist signed to their label, Infernals Devices. I’ve seen these guys a bunch of time and they always do a great job. They go to work, to say the least. Great show. The Phenometron(that glowing light thing) was looking amazing! Enjoy!
Have you seen any raccoons lately? We’ve had reports of sightings from all over Brooklyn. A reader in Clinton Hill sent in these photos of a family of five in the backyard. “The raccoons are getting out of hand,” the tipster wrote. “Tried calling city for help, but was told its my problem.” They have invaded people’s houses on the block as well. Another reader posted in the Forum (under the headline “Raccoon BIG problem Park Slope”), “We have raccoons on our deck, in our yard. We saw two of them on our neighbor’s roof. We have heard scratching noises on the top floor of our brownstone…One of them bit and scratched our dog (vet gave her an additional rabies shot and antibiotics.)…They are everywhere, walking down the sidewalks at night…Any ideas of what to do or who to call?” Meanwhile, a friend who lives in Greenpoint posted on Facebook, “I am sitting here minding my own biznatch reading quietly on a lit screen and I look up and there is a goddam raccoon, a raccoon!, walking up the short flight of steps to the second floor where I sit, not five feet way. Of course I left the back door open, but still! After we evicted two living in the attic for two or three years, it’s theirs, isn’t it?”
