Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Our trip to Williamsburg, Brooklyn began on Marcy Avenue which was known for its crime and social ailments in the 1970's. Due to the low cost of rent in the area, Williamsburg became a hub for a lot of Bohemian style artists in the 90's, many of whom still reside there today. However, rezoning in 2005, which allowed for high rise condos to be built along the previously industrial waterfront, facilitated on-going gentrification of the area. This gentrification raises rent costs and forces many of these artists elsewhere.


The Schaeffer Landing Condos on the Williamsburg waterfront.



One man's opinion of the gentrification in the area.




These are some shots of "The Knitting Factory", a venue integral to the Indie Rock culture that has developed in the Williamsburg area.


The inside of "Foodswings", a popular Vegan restaurant in Williamsburg. Greg, recently converted to vegetarianism, tried a faux meat philly cheese steak. Then regretted it.



Some graffiti artwork which can be found all around Williamsburg.



Williamsburg Kung Fu

Park Slope and Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Our next neighborhood was Park Slope. It does not take much time to realize that the attractive Park slope area is certainly reminiscent of Manhattan's upper west side. In both neighborhoods one finds highly commercial avenues that lie perpendicular to charming residential side streets. There are newly renovated (and expensive) condominiums and townhouses scattered across this Brooklyn neighborhood, and one is hard pressed to find one aspect of the area that is unappealing. Indeed, after visiting this area one can understand why it is so expensive to live in Prospect Park.










We then visited the infamous and beautiful Prospect Park, designed by the talented Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. We found that Prospect Park rivaled Manhattan's Central Park in elegance and at the same time contained fewer people, making the experience more serene.

SoHo, Manhattan

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. With that, we give you 10,000 words (with captions).



Street Art



Artsy photo of Prince Street (N R W) subway



Warning sign



Political street art



Greg at the Adidas store



Danny doing soccer tricks



Calexico lunch cart



Danny eating burrito, Brandon and I eating tacos, Greg eating quesadilla



Kid robot



Uniqlo - Japanese casual wear

Forest Hills Video

Forest Hills, Queens

We began our journey by venturing down Austin Street, the main commercial street on which the Forest Hillians thrive. There are a series of shops and restaurants that attract a good percentage of the surrounding neighborhood as well as visitors. We noticed Brandon Cinemas, which was showing Furry Vengeance and The Backup Plan, but not Iron Man 2, which had come out that very day.







In Forest Hills, a great percentage of the population is Jewish. With that, I give you Greg:


Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser Square

We then proceeded to go down Queens Boulevard to get knishes for lunch from Knish Nosh.
We tried to find Peter Parker's house in Forest Hills, but ended up finding some house owned by some lady who asked us what we were doing outside of her house with a video camera. We left.
Afterward, we walked down 71st Avenue, the main road that goes through all of Forest Hills, connecting the nearby private streets. We saw the upper middle class housing and listened to Greg talk for about 10 minutes.
We returned to Austin Street and entered a local eatery, Martha's Country Bakery.

A good time was had by all.
Good night and good luck. Stay classy, New York City.

Financial District, Manhattan

On May 3, we went to the Financial District in downtown Manhattan. We went down Wall Street and saw various historic locations, one of which included the Trinity Church, at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street.

Fun fact #1 - Alexander Hamilton is buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery
Fun fact #2 - In National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage, billions and billions of dollars worth of treasures and historical artifacts, including scrolls previously thought to be lost in the Library of Alexandria, were found under the Trinity Church..
We then proceeded toward the New York Stock Exchange and the George Washington Statue in front of the Federal Building.

Fun fact #3 - In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Raiden fought and defeated Solidus Snake on the roof of the Federal Building.


Afterward, we walked to the Charging Bull in Bowling Green. It is a bronze sculpture standing 12 feet tall, and is meant to represent financial optimism and prosperity. Greg attempted to climb the Bull, but to no avail, although to be fair, he took the road less traveled, which was at the back of the bull. Any Tom, Dick, and Larry can climb the Bull near the front, but Greg is no ordinary man. To put things in perspective, the Difficulty Index (DI) for climbing the Bull is around 8.5, using a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most difficult.

After Greg's noble, albeit fruitless attempts, we walked across the street to the U.S. Custom House. We tried to enter the building, but a security guard stopped us, so we went to get some lunch.


We went to Adrienne's Pizza Bar on Stone Street. Greg got a salad prior to the main dish. We got a nice rectangle shaped pizza split into 10 pieces. The pizza was delicious.

For dessert, Greg got a Tropical Bananza smoothie at a smoothie cart.
We then walked to Ground Zero and looked at the undergoing construction. We walked through a series of buildings to the Winter Garden shops in the World Financial Center. Upon exiting the building, we saw the Irish Hunger Memorial and were officially finished with the Financial District.

A good time was had by all.
Good night and good luck. Stay classy, New York City.