a sunday in the life, part I

So many things happening all at once, it's hard to keep track of it all. I'll leave it to others to parse the meaning, the unprecedented and unpresidential meaning of calling into question the legitimacy of the voters - AFTER having won. Trump says millions voted illegally. That's a mindfuck, that, a symbol of the illogical future we're about to endure. The vote was rigged; I won. Wow. Just wow. My blood is boiling over anew. To other things...

I set out today to celebrate the opening of perhaps the most anticipated new shoppe in the nabe in years, maybe decades. A bonafide bookstore, one with a conscience and smarts, co-owned by a local to boot. Rebecca Fitting and her gang of loyal accomplices have done it. They've thrown open their doors at the base of the once infamous and now familiar 626 Flatbush. By hosting both the Maple Street School AND the beloved Greenlight Bookstore, plus leasing a couple dozen considerably below-market rentals within, developer Hudson has struck a balance that may well take some of the sting out of the monstrosity that looms over Lefferts and Park. Personally I'll never forgive the shock to the view from within the park, but future generations will undoubtedly see it as it is as it was and ever shall be. Thus, the Q continues to become one of the old farts who pines for the good ol' days. Though in this case, the old days meant a shitty parking lot and crumbling medical arts building. But they were OURS goddammit! I even parked there once!

the view from inside Greenlight Books, at, what else, 626 Flatbush

Now that the Q's head is full of zoning info, he can't help but see sites like the Associated as ripe for the picking. Knocking down this "taxpayer," now that prices have reached a premium seems like the most logical next step for the current or future landowner. It's zoned for a nice big residential structure with commercial on the ground floor, after all.

Couldn't help admiring Lily and Blessings and her terrific jazzy brunchness. Dinner's delicious too, and you can even drink vino there now:

Lily and "some other Lady" looking sassy

they were damn good too, and not too loud. Nothing ruins brunch like a saxophone.


Westbury Inn and El Castillo now seem like old friends.

Then I dropped off Lil' Miss Clarkson Flatbed Jr. at a playdate and came back to yet another hurumph about the election, and decided to ride around and document my changing environs.

soon to be demolished on my block

the church, too

a reminder of what you can build on a single narrow lot

recently demolished, still on Clarkson. I've barely started my ride.

This is what you can do with two adjacent lots, and here it comes

Then I started musing on the remarkably diverse new offerings coming at you from a truly lovely cast of neighborhood characters, from wine to desserts to all manner of food and fun, as I rode up and down Rogers and Nostrand, both busting with new bizzes of the last year or so. Like: