The long awaited WNYC Transmitter Park will open in Greenpoint on Saturday, park officials told The New York Post today. The waterfront space, named after its former use as a location for a WNYC radio transmissions tower, is on 1.6 acres between Greenpoint Ave and Kent Street, steps from the India Street stop on the East River Ferry. The project cost $12 million and took two years to complete.
According to the Post, the park is the first piece of 50 acres of parkland that Bloomberg promised north Brooklyn as part of the 2005 rezoning that so drastically changed the area.
Greenpointers says the park will have an open law, play area, bird garden, and café. A new pier is still under construction.
No Doubt and Gwen Stefani are trending on Twitter right now, but not because the newly reunited group just released the first single off of their first studio album in eleven years. They’re trending because they performed at the Teen Choice Awards moments ago and apparently none of today’s teens know who they are. See a handful of the unfortunate tweets after the jump. (more…)
It’s no secret how we feel about Lana Del Rey. But there’s something going on between her and her sister and no one seems to be talking about it.
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Back in April photos surfaced of Lana kissing kissing a blonde girl who bloggers claimed was Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger Games. Those bloggers eventually updated, identifying the girl as Lana’s sister, Chuck Grant. The photos were for an art project in which the girls were recreating a scene from the film Giastarring Angelina Jolie. This isn’t innocent sister kissing. It’s closed-mouthed – as in Gia – but they’re passionate. Chuck has her hand on Lana’s neck and Lana’s head is tiled sideways. There are two photos of the sisters like that, plus a third one of them gazing into each other’s eyes.
Then there are the nude photos that surfaced this week. There appear to be five photos, all from a photo session five years ago for Lana’s “Kill Kill” EP back when she was Lizzy Grant. Chuck took the photos, and all Lana is wearing are a few plastic leis.
Here’s what we know about Chuck Grant: She’s a photographer. She hangs out with Lana all the time. She has a Tumblr and a website. Most of her photos are of Lana. They take selfies. She shot some of Lana’s “National Anthem” video.
(Sidenote: I find it interesting that Chuck is boy’s name when in these instances she’s taking the position of the male, first when kissing the overly-feminized Lana, and second when acting as a male voyeur objectifying Lana’s body.)
What’s most odd about their relationship and these pictures is that despite the intense scrutiny the media put Lana through earlier this year, no one is talking about it. Does that mean the public is ready to accept Lana as an artist and let her do what she wants? Or does that mean no one cares anymore?
Organizers of the Lacoste L!VE Williamsburg Park Concert Series announced this evening that the Refused and Off! show would be cancelled due to the weather. But word around town – and confirmed by both bands’ Twitters – is that Refused will be playing a secret show at Europa Club on Meserole. Unlike the originally scheduled concert, this one is free. Doors at 9 p.m.
According to those on the scene, there is a humongous line. Some people are saying the club is already at its 550 person capacity. Here are somepictures of the line.
After months of planning – including turning a random parking lot into a feasible concert venue – the Lacoste L!VE Williamsburg Park Concert Series opened tonight with Counting Crows. If you live in the area and opened your window at around 9 p.m., chances are you heard them playing “Mr. Jones.” Here’s what concertgoers and locals are tweeting about the show: (more…)
We told ourselves we were going to take a break from posting horror stories about the McCarren Park Pool after it’s first week of long lines, fights, theft, increased police presence, and feces. But the pool made news again hours ago when the NYPD had to use pepper spray against bathers before shutting down the site.
The Daily News has video of the incident, but not a whole lot of details. Apparently around 6:15 p.m. unruly teens began forcing their way into the pool, which was at capacity. Both lifeguards and police tried to stop them, to no avail. That’s when things got ugly. A police officer may have tried to forcibly remove a teen, causing his cohorts to “come rushing in.” The cop responded with pepper spray.
Three arrests were made and the incident gets added to the list of reasons why no one is happy about this pool.
When you finish school and start working a 9 to 5, it becomes harder to tell when summer begins. Now that July 4th has come and gone, here are some sleepaway camp movies to help kick things off and remind you of that time when summer was more than seasonal beers and leaving work early on Fridays.
1. Wet Hot American Summer: It’s everyone’s favorite movie about a group of counselors on the last day of camp. The team from The State/Stella is at their funniest, plus it’s set in the ’80s. There don’t seem to be any local WHAS parties happening this year (correct us if we’re wrong!), but it is streaming on Netflix. Plus there’s also the recently-announced prequel to look forward to.
2. Heavyweights: This mid-’90s movie sometimes gets overlooked because it’s Disney, but it was co-written by Judd Apatow and his “male misfits” theme foreshadows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and plenty more. It follows a group of kids at a fat camp taken over by Ben Stiller’s Tony Perkis. It’s also got All That-era Kenan Thompson.
3. Friday the 13th1 and 2: Counselors are the victims in the classic slasher series. These movies have everything – mommy issues, the legendary Jason Voorhees, and a shaggy haired Kevin Bacon. We’ve only seen the first two, but 8 of the 9 movies are streaming on Netflix.
There’s bound to be a ton we’re forgetting. Meatballs? Camp Nowhere? Leave your favorites in the comments.
Today marks a week that the newly renovated McCarren Park Pool has been open and boy oh boy what a week it’s been. In response to the attacks on lifeguards, assault on police, and theft – not to mention the bad press – police have moved in with full force. A Walk in the Park reports that twenty officers were on site on Tuesday, as well as more park security personnel.
Despite Tuesday’s increased police presence, two more lockers were broken into that day. Tensions also flared when certain individuals were denied entry.
While we doubt the rocky start will mar the $50 million project, we can’t help but think back to the violence that caused the pool’s shutdown in 1984. Here’s how The New York Times described the site in 1990 after it had been closed for some years:
“Now it sits crumbling, a huge and lonely bulwark against the Manhattan skyline, devastated by neglect, vandals and drug addicts who regularly breach its walls since the pool was closed seven years ago…
Renovation was to have begun in 1984, but was halted by the objections of residents living near the pool, who wanted it closed for good. They contended that the pool had become overrun by thousands of teen-agers and had become a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes.”
There were also at least two drownings, one in 1969 and one in 1977.
On Sunday we told you about how the McCarren Park Pool was off to a rocky start, including an incident in which teens attacked a lifeguard who told them not to do backflips. Well it looks like that was only the beginning. Another fight went down yesterday and this time the NYPD was called in and two officers were sent to the hospital.
According to Gothamist, police responded to a call around 5:15 p.m because of another dispute between lifeguards and bathers over doing backflips. A brawl ensued and one officer got punched in the face and another injured his/her wrist.
Sources speculate that the M8-13 MS-13 gang may have been involved. The police arrested three people and charged them with assaulting an officer, disorderly conduct, and inciting to riot. According to city parks blog A Walk In The Park, there are just two police officers per shift for 1,500 swimmers. Four lockers were also broken into on Monday and at least one woman’s purse was stolen.
People, please follow the rules and be nice to the lifeguards. Or maybe just avoid the pool all together.
It’s been four days since the McCarren Park Pool’s big reopening and things have gotten off to a rough start. Thursday’s event featured a well-intentioned ceremony by Mayor Bloomberg, but he kept referring to the park as “McClarren” and only mentioned its location in Williamsburg, not Greenpoint. The pool should have opened at 11 a.m., but reports say it didn’t open until 1:30 p.m. Lines stretched forever and were excruciating because of the heat and small children.
Perhaps one could have expected Thursday’s opening to be chaotic with everyone wanting a piece of that first swim. But conditions on Friday grew even worse when teens attacked lifeguards over a dispute about doing back flips. The incident resulted in an early closure for the pool.
Things seem to have quieted down this weekend, but we’re guessing that once people see the rules for the pool (the same for public pools all over the city), they may think twice about going. Here are some of them:
-Only bathing suits can be worn on the pool deck (white tee shirts over suits are ok)
-No one with bandages is allowed in
-You must shower in the locker room before swimming
-No electronic equipment - including cell phones – is allowed on the pool deck (you must lock in a locker and bring your own lock)
-No alcohol
If you’re ok with ditching the alcohol and iPhone for a few hours – which might not be the worst thing – check out our McCarren Park Pool site for more info.
