Back in Bay Ridge: Lost Logo

I don't suppose any reader would know the whereabouts of the above loveable logo? It has been replaced with the graphic below.

Gingerbread House - It's Beautiful Bay Ridge

Thanks to the commenters who helped place the Gingerbread House, also known as the Howard E. and Jessie Jones House, on the corner of Narrows Avenue and 83rd in beautiful Bay Ridge. It's an Arts and Crafts design from 1917 by J. Sarsfield Kennedy, who also designed the Prospect Park picnic house. We'd read about the Gingerbread House in Kevin Walsh's book 'Forgotten New York' some time ago, so were thrilled to finally get down and see it. You can find out more on the FNY website.

The Gingerbread House

More eccentric architecture in Brooklyn, but where?

Joshua Henkin’s Brooklyn

Brooklyn-based author Joshua Henkin is about to publish his second novel, Matrimony. Here, Joshua offers BIB readers some tips on best Brooklyn dates and, apropo of his new book, wedding locations. Best Brooklyn Date After dinner and drinks, head over to Pratt; at midnight, cover your ears and shield your eyes. The steam engines go off and, boy, do they make a ruckus. Not to mention a lot of steam. It’s likely to be cold out, so dress warm and hunker down with your date and a few hundred others. Blow smoke rings. Try to see your hands through the steam. Then go down into the bowels of the steam engine where you can see how it all works, the levers and gizmos. Drink some coffee. Meanwhile, the steam engine proprietor has thirty, forty, fifty cats, who have taken refuge there, and they’re drinking too—milk. Drink with your date. Drink with some cats. Share good cheer with your fellow mammals. It wasn’t Beth’s and my first date, but it was certainly the most memorable one. Only problem is, it happens just once a year: New Year’s Eve. Time your date accordingly. Best Brooklyn Date: Runners-Up Rosewater: On Union Street, just west of Sixth Avenue, this little restaurant doesn’t get quite the attention some other restaurants in Park Slope do, but it is the best restaurant in the neighborhood. Small and quiet with a Mediterranean/eclectic menu, it features lots of locally grown and raised food. Convivium Osteria: On Fifth Avenue near Bergen Street. Beth and I went early on, when the menu was pretty much all in Portuguese, and the waiters didn’t speak much besides Portuguese, either. But the whole fish! And the carciofi! And the ambience! It was enough to make me want to learn Portuguese myself. Over the years it’s become more user-friendly—now I know what I’m eating before I actually eat it. Areo: In Bay Ridge, on Third Avenue and 84th street. If you’re looking for a quiet dinner, skip it. It can be hard to hear your date. But if you just want to look at her or him, and eat great Italian food, and watch the crowd, you can’t go wrong. Best Brooklyn Wedding Location Having gone on your share of Brooklyn dates, you decide it’s time for a Brooklyn wedding. Head straight for Coney Island and the New York Aquarium. For Beth and me, the other serious contender was the Brooklyn Museum (now our older daughter, who’s nearing four, insists on going there every Sunday for the children’s art program), but the aquarium is the place to go, walking down the aisle with the sting rays swimming beneath you. You can even pay extra to have a dolphin show. We decided to skip that. But the walruses were lowing in their tank (is that what walruses do? Low? Croak?), and when one of our friends was making a toast, the walrus, who’s a ham (we’d been warned) kept interrupting. He’s is in all the wedding photos. We’re thinking of adopting him. Why not? We already have a dog.

The Aftermath

Photo by AngryCitizen.org Gowanus Lounge has images and reporting of the terrible damage caused by the (tornado-level?) storm in Bay Ridge. Gridskipper has more, and here's a Flickr stream of Brooklyn storm photos.