COVER FEATURE
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COVER FEATURE
Shilpa Ray’s Ferociousness Is So Last Year
by Katarina Hybenova
Purgatory & Paradise:
The Story of a Becoming by Vanessa Martir
In the Business of
Bushwick Open Studios
Loftmates by Brittany Natale
Pumps by Henry Miller
by Katarina Hybenova 1
The Notes Editor’s Letter: ...Because Print is Like Vinyls Advertising Hijacks Bushwick Street Art [Comic]......................................................8 Ultimate Curated Guide to Bushwick Open Studios 2015 (June 5 -June 7)..........................................................................................................10 Subtlety of Bushwick Street Style.............................................................................22 Your Summer of Awesome at the Rockaways A Guide to Eat, Drink, Sleep, Party and Enjoy the Beautiful Peninsula.........................28 A Fish Poop Farm Has the future of farming begun in...Bushwick? A visit to Edenworks’ Farmlab...........34 Trust Fall: An Excerpt.................................................................................................40 Shilpa Ray’s Ferociousness Is So Last Year...............................................................46 Purgatory & Paradise: The Story of a Becoming......................................................52 Loftmates What Goes Down in a Bushwick Loft, Stays in a Bushwick Loft....................................62 In The Business of Bushwick Open Studios What Goes Down in a Bushwick Loft, Stays in a Bushwick Loft....................................74 Pumps Where Old And New Brooklyn Meet And People Get Drunk, Naked And Happy.......82 Bushwick, Brooklyn.....................................................................................................96 On the cover: Shilpa Ray photographed by Ebru Yildiz in Brooklyn
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Sean Alday Modesto ‘Flako’ Jimenez Photographers Ebru Yildiz Katarina Hybenova Alonzo Maciel Gustavo Ponce Meryl Meisler Rafael Fuchs Axel Dupeux
Masthead - ISSUE 1 Publishers Katarina Hybenova Ken Kocses Editor-in-Chief Katarina Hybenova
Advertising Sales Ken Kocses Christian Detres
Sponsorship Coordinator Ken Kocses
June 2015 Volume 1 Issue 1 (Summer)
Managing Editor, Copy Editor Wesley Salazar Design & Art Direction Brandt Imhoff Illustration Jeremy Nguyen Graphics Jeremy Nguyen Joe Ruffa Writers Katarina Hybenova Vanessa Martir Brittany Natale Henry Miller Nekoro Gomes Camille Lowder Whitney Jordan Joel Wolfram 4 6
Bushwick Notebook is published by Bushwick Daily LLC, 662 Onderdonk Ave, Ridgewood, NY. Follow us at facebook.com/ bushwicknotebook & instagram.com/ bushwicknotebook For your daily dose of Bushwick news, visit bushwickdaily.com General inquiries bushwickdaily@gmail.com Advertising ken@bushwickdaily.com Subscriptions bushwickdaily.com/bushwicknotebook Talk to us on Twitter, show us on Instagram how you’re enjoying your summer #bushwicknotebook
EDITOR’S LETTER
...Because Print is Like Vinyl in the Age of Spotify Spotify is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but playing music on a vinyl creates an atmosphere of a special and festive occasion, a moment of relaxed nostalgia. No, you will not accidentally read a work email while looking for Madonna’s Immaculate Collection. You will simply sit down, relax and listen to that prickly, rich sounding music filling your room up to the ceilings. Similarly, a beautiful print magazine can create the
And what is the Bushwick way? The Bushwick way
same peaceful joy in your mind. In fact, I strongly
is a return to the origins; it is awakening to one’s
recommend that you read Bushwick Notebook
purpose and doing things without motives other
while listening to your vinyls. Or better yet, while
than for the creative expression and fulfillment
enjoying the summer at Jacob Riis Park beach.
that lies within. The Bushwick way is a way of
(Try to compete with Bushwick Notebook in direct
community. The Bushwick way doesn’t mean
sunlight, dear iPad!) And no, there will be no social
that sufficient compensation isn’t involved, the
media sharing; this magazine is only for you.
Bushwick way means that the compensation flows naturally where the heart goes.
At Bushwick Daily we have lovingly produced a website concerned with local news and all
And so you can read the cover story of musician
kinds of Bushwick quirkiness for five years now.
Shilpa Ray and find out why she is wearing a
We have built a great audience (the best in
monkey costume. By any means dive into Pumps,
the world, as far as I’m concerned). We even
a story about an old-fashioned East Williamsburg
managed, to the wonder of many, to
strip club where lines between art and sex work
reach a good level of sustainability. Despite
are blurry. And to help you start your summer
all that, we’ve been missing magazine-style
the right way—by celebrating Bushwick and
articles—long and detailed, with beautiful
its creativity during Bushwick Open Studios on
photography and design.
June 5 through June 7—we have a curated BOS guide for you, as well as a deeper insight into its
We put the fast and furious world of the digital
organization and impact.
news and short articles aside (for a moment) in order to create this magazine and fill it with
Enjoy this first issue of Bushwick Notebook
content we’ve yearned to write and photograph.
and let us know how you like it by adding
Remaining loyal to our Bushwick roots, we wove
#bushwicknotebook to your social media
these stories around our beloved neighborhood,
messages.
but with hopes that they would transcend it and be a good read for anyone interested in
6 8
Love and summer vibes at you all,
creativity, arts, culture, fashion, lifestyle and
Katarina Hybenova
entrepreneurship the way Bushwick does it.
editor-in-chief
8 10
COVER FEATURE BOS
(June 5 - June 7) by Katarina Hybenova, Henry Miller, Nekoro Gomes, and Camille Lowder Photos by Katarina Hybenova
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COVER FEATURE BOS
If there is one weekend of the summer season you need to be physically present in Bushwick, it’s the first weekend of June, which traditionally belongs to the glorious neighborhood-wide celebration of art and community, festival Bushwick Open Studios. It is the time when hundreds of artists open their studios or homes, and invite us into their magical world; it is the time of the best parties and outdoor events, the time for Bushwick to shine and celebrate all that it stands for. So tell your sister she can get married on some other weekend, and dive into the creative, quirky, magical, thriving Bushwick. Are you getting a serious case of FOMO because of the hundreds of events around you? Inhale, exhale, we got you. We broke down the Bushwick Open Studios area into five districts (East Willy, Morgan, Jefferson, Ridgewick, and JMZ) and hand-picked the most amazing things to see and attend along the way. We even asked three local art experts for their recommendations and sprinkled them on top of this compact guide. Julie Torres (artist and curator); Christopher Stout (artist and founder of Bushwick Art Crit Group) as well as Jason Andrew (curator; founder of Norte Maar and co-owner at Outlet Fine Art gallery) all chipped in recommendations for your total enjoyment of this year’s Bushwick Open Studios!
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COVER FEATURE BOS
The area of East Williamsburg is frequently referred to as Bushwick, Williamsburg and sometimes even as Greenpoint. The truth is, all of these claims can actually be accurate depending on which corner of Morgan Ave you’re standing. Borders issues aside, the East Williamsburg Industrial Park and its often abandoned factories offer the perfect “laboratory” conditions for creativity in visual arts. Get off at the Montrose or Grant L train stop and explore endless converted warehouses, lofts, and be on the lookout for some excellent street art as well.
1. “Re/Post” curated by Ian Cofre
studio of painter, the gallery
4. A Group Show @ Livestream Public
Storefront Ten Eyck,
owner and Bushwick die
Livestream Public,
324 Ten Eyck St
hard, Deborah Brown. Her
195 Morgan Ave
FRI 6-9PM, SAT 12-9PM,
excellent paintings examine
FRI 9AM-11PM; SAT 1-11PM;
SUN 12-6PM
the costumes, coiffures
SUN 12-5PM
Curator Ian Cofre brought
and conventions of self-
What better way to explore
together 10 artists who
presentation.
the tremendous space of
externalize the complexity of
make sure to peek into the
the self in the Digital Age to evolve a personal language
Idio Gallery,
big group show curated by
that vacillates between
976 Grand St
Joseph Meloy features the
abstraction and representation.
SAT-SUN 12-6PM
work of some favorite Bushwick
On Saturday from 6-9 p.m. the
Flavorpill, IDIO Gallery, and
artists, such as Michael Alan,
gallery promises a performance
Arts in Bushwick invited
Christopher Stout, or Morgan
of Dr. Zizmor.
independent curators to
Jesse Lappin.
2. Deborah Brown Open Studio
submit exhibition proposals. Curator Jack Henry, who won this open call, paired
Storefront Ten Eyck,
the work of Bushwick artists
324 Ten Eyck St
John Crowe and Oliver Jones
FRI-SUN 12-7PM
in a multimedia exhibition
While at Storefront Ten Eyck,
to explore the structure of memory.
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Livestream Public (former 3rd
3. Circumstantial Evidence
expanding awareness beyond
Ward building) than to follow around the art on its walls? A
COVER FEATURE BOS
5. Catherine Kirkpatrick Open Studio
10. Juguetería/Toys Warehouse
274 Morgan Ave
8. Unapproachable America: Imagining the New World
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
Project 772,
270 Meserole St
Make use of this opportunity to
772 Metropolitan Ave #2R
FRI-SUN 11AM-9PM
visit the studio of photographer
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
Known as Studio Sweet Home,
Catherine Kirkpatrick who,
Three artists (Claudia Bitran,
two artists from Colombia and
besides her excellent work, is
Billy Jacobs, Matt Ramirez),
Puerto Rico,Yeimi Salazar and
also involved with Professional
featured in a group show
Melvin Sanchez have been
Women Photographers.
curated by Jeremy Jacob
collaborating for almost six
Schlangen, are using
years and together. Their
conceptions of images to make
storytelling crosses between
approaches to what might be
animation, performance,
called America.
sculpture and installation.
mixed media, Jones’ work
9. Cate Woodruff Open Studio
is part hilarious, part funny
395 Johnson Ave
11. Rooftop Party Presented by Sugarlift & Livestream
remembrance of his personal
SAT 11-6PM, SUN 11-7PM
Sugarlift, 200 Morgan Ave
mythology.
Multidisciplinary artist, Cate
SAT 12-5PM $10-35
Woodruff, makes photographs
Local online gallery Sugarlift
using layers of reflective
is inviting you all for a good
surfaces and homemade
old rooftop party. They’ll be
lenses to bend and distort the
feeding you with delicious
boundaries of matter beyond
BBQ from Arrogant Swine
the existence of form.
and getting you tipsy/sober
6. Karl Jones Open Studio 55 Meadow St FRI-SUN 1-8PM Working in sculpture and
Recommended by Jason Andrew:
7. Panoply Performance Laboratory 104 Meserole St
Exit Room Gallery,
FRI-SUN all day
with Sixpoint beer/Bruce Cost
Walking across performance
Ginger Ale—all all that for
disciplines and cultural
free, so hopefully you won’t
spheres, Panoply Performance
mind the cover. A gallery show
Laboratory, is a brainchild
of some of Bushwick’s best
of Esther Neff and Brian
street artists will be on view as
McCorkle. For BOS they’ve
well (Rubin, Elle, Sonni, ASVP,
prepared PERFORMANCY
Eelco Virus, London Kaye,
FORUM: CACHE IN, an event
ChrisRWK & Veng, and more).
that features works dealing with Cache/cash/capitalism and art.
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BOS
The glorious, Morgantown, the land of Roberta’s, Momo Sushi Shack and of course the quintessential yellow 56 Bogart building filled with artist studios and galleries. Everybody either loves or hates it; nobody nobody feels indifferent about it. It’s a catwalk of artists and artist-wanna-lookalikes who show off their coolest thrifted outfits whilst blowing out gray clouds of cigarette smoke (because they’re so bohemian). But be careful, because 56 Bogart building has the ability (and content) to suck you into its vortex for the entire weekend. Get off at the Morgan L train stop and join the artsy circus! 1. Luis Rosenfeld’s Street Gallery
revolving around the concept of
5. Ellen Hackl Fagan Open Studio
27 Knickerbocker Ave
home. The reception with bands
229 Cook St
FRI-SUN 9AM-7PM
and performances goes down on
FRI 5-7PM, SAT-SUN 12-7PM
Photographer/street artist
Sunday from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
The studio of interdisciplinary
Luis Rosenfeld wheat-pasted
abstract painter, Ellen Hackl
27 Knickerbocker Ave. Stop
3. Double Double Vision Vision
by during the weekend and
The Active Space,
Fagan uses synaesthesia,
witness his fascination with
566 Johnson Ave
digital media and interactive
speed light photography and
FRI 6-9PM, SAT-SUN 12-10PM
performance as tools for
its possibilities.
Artist Christian Ruiz Berman has
developing a corresponding
vacated his studio to celebrate
language between color and
his second year of participation
sound.
his portraits onto the walls at
2 . “Home Improvement” on Rock Street
in BOS with a nice big group
Fagan, is tucked behind Odetta gallery, which she also runs.
art show. Expect to see works
6. Victory Over the Sun
Rock St between Bogart St &
by Cristina Camacho, Matthew
Odetta, 229 Cook St
Morgan Ave
F Fisher, Doty/Glasco or Mark
In a two-person show, Odetta
SAT-SUN 11-6PM
Joshua Epstein.
presents Bushwickbased artist
The small Rock Street doesn’t
and gallerist Mary Judge and
the year as it is privately owned
4. Dan Perrone Open Studio
by Boar’s Head. However,
315 Seigel St
simplicity of fundamental forms,
Rock Street will rock for the
FRI 5-8PM, SAT 12-7PM
the circle and the square, as
third time in a vrow this year,
Photographer Dan Perrone
their jumping off point, and
as Deborah Brown and Leslie
will present his works selected
move into maximalist paintings,
Heller curated a sculpture show
from an on-going series of
employing figure ground
for the occasion of BOS. Expect
large-format photographs titled
reversals, pattern and optical
to see works by Ian Cochran,
“Warm Static” from
diversion.
Jaynie Crimmins,
2007 to present.
see much cultural action during
14 16
or Kate Starbuck Elliot, all
Brooklyn-based artist Gilbert Hsaio. Both artists use the
BOS Recommended by Jason Andrew:
7. Frank Ape Pine Box Rock Shop,
photograph installed on the street. Phil will have also other work exhibited in studio #2 on the first floor.
12 Grattan St Everybody loves Frank Ape, an iconic character created by
Recommended by JULIE TORRES:
Transplant: Own Your Dirt 16 Harrison Pl SAT 12-10PM, SUN 12-5PM Through visual art, durational performance, and a series of panel discussions, Brooklyn
for us, Brandon is Pine Box’s
10. Thrice Legendary, or Forever Thens
featured artists for this year’s
Centotto, 250 Moore St #108
Bushwick into a site-specific
BOS.
SAT 2-6PM
consideration of physical and
This legendary apartment gallery
psychological placement and
of Paul D’Agostino, Bushwick
replacement.
artist Brandon Sines, and, lucky
8. Rockin’ Granny Love
and Detroit artists transform an empty lot in the heart of
in front of 56 Bogart St
artist, writer, scholar and polyglot,
SAT-SUN 2-5PM
is celebrating its 8th birthday
In her interactive performance,
this BOS. The group show at
Dr. Lisa Levy, the self-
view is “a rather studio-centric
proclaimed psychotherapist,
show featuring works by dozens
15 Thames St #3
dressed as “Grandma” will
of artists based hither and yon,
SAT 7-8:30PM
be sitting in her rocking chair
alongside ‘legendary’ notes to
Join a meditation class for
outside in front of 56 Bogart
send you nearby and beyond.”
practitioners of magic, which
Building instructing passersby
13. LANDED Meditation & Ritual Lab Surreal Estate Redux,
is a discipline of meditation
to sit in her lap so she can rock
11. Sky Fortress Cantina
them and give them some
75 Stewart St #405
magician, witch or mystic. Are
conditional love.
FRI-SUN 8AM - late
you a beginner? Worry not,
Some of you might have
this is open to all levels of
noticed that we featured these
experience.
9. Phil Buehler’s Fergusson
guys in the Loftmates article
to achieve the aims of the
Recommended by JULIE TORRES:
in front of Brooklyn Fire Proof,
in this magazine. Go, peek in
119 Ingraham St
the Sky Fortress loft, which
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
houses a creative collective of
The quiet tree-lined street in
the same name. They will be
Fergusson, MI where Michael
sharing their lifestyle during a
FRI 6-9PM, SAT-SUN 1-6PM Get
Brown was shot and killed
72-hour performance during
ready for a fun, sprawling show
by the police is covered in
which they’ll be serving food
curated by Todd Bienvenu and
flowers and stuffed animals
for donation. Expect also DJs,
Michael David in their studio
these days, portraying a very
performers, painting, and of
across the hall from Life on Mars
different community than the
course a ton of art.
gallery on the ground floor of
riot images continually replayed by the media. Photographer Phil Buehler allows you to step into the scene thanks to his 8’ tall, 8’ diameter panorama
Recommended by Jason Andrew:
12. Spread Art Summer Group Show VIII –
14. Mixtape II 56 Bogart St
56 Bogart building. Peek to the Life on Mars gallery too as they’re hosting a summer invitational group show focused on portrait.
15
BOS
Perhaps the most playful district of this year’s BOS is the area around the Jefferson L train stop aka Jefftown. Hundreds of artist studios, restaurants, bars and simple joies de vivre are awaiting you. Explore large 17-17 Troutman St building buzzing with great artists, hang at the Bushwick Collective Block Party, and be grateful for this ultimate Bushwick experience. We know we are!
1. Dress Shop Studios
3. Bushwick Berlin
Dress Shop Studios,
382 Jefferson St
5. Sonomi Kobayashi Open Studio
322 Troutman St
FRI 6-10PM, SAT-SUN 12-
44 Stewart Ave
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
9PM This studio space will
SAT-SUN 1-6PM
A small but richly decorated
be hosting six artists from
Sonomi Kobayashi will be
venue partially hidden
Bushwick and six from Berlin,
exhibiting her abstract oil
between residential buildings,
making for a wonderful
paintings, drawings, etchings
322 Troutman contains new
opportunity to see the
and lithographs, in which
work by Paul Bergeron,
contrasts between the two
she is striving to express
Dominique Festa and Joey
artist havens.
the relationships between
Natoli among others. Jose from previous exhibits make
4. Branded Rose, a Site Specific Sculpture
the promise of this show worth
Norte Maar,
6. Seeking Space
the visit.
83 Wyckoff Ave
Be Electric,
SAT-SUN starts at 11AM
1298 Willoughby Ave
This year Norte Maar
FRI 6-9PM, SAT-SUN 1-9PM
prepared “Branded Rose,”
Celebrating its sixth year,
Brooklyn Brush Studios,
a site-specific sculpture
Seeking Space is the official
203 Harrison Pl
piece featuring hundreds of
group art show of BOS
FRI-SAT 12-7PM
handmade roses by Carlton
composed of artists who are
Best known for her trippy
Scott Sturgill. A stunning
all… well, seeking space to
and playfully entrancing neon
image that is sure to feel
show their work.
light installations, Annesta Le
all the more spectacular in
will be showcasing new work
person, “Branded Rose” will
7. 17-17 Troutman
alongside the vibrant work of
be paired with an exhibit
17-17 Troutman St
Ben Hilario-Caguiat, which
celebrating Norte Maar’s ninth
FRI-SUN 12-7PM
uses elements of anime to
year in Bushwick.
Go pay a visit to one of the
Krapp’s surrealist drawings
2. Annesta Le Open Studio
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humanity, nature, earth and the universe.
create abstract “dream worlds
most prominent art buildings
and shapes.”
in the area but be careful not
BOS 12. 14’ CUBE: mobile gallery VOL.2
to get sucked in for the entire
SUN 1-7PM
weekend. There is A LOT to
Do you love video games
see. Our faves: Studio #315
and video game inspired
will feature works by F.P.
art? Then you must stop
FRI 5-8PM, SAT-SUN 12-8PM
Boué, Peter Clough, Jennifer
by at Arcade 3000 because
Live painting and projection
Gustavson, Rachael Clarke
these guys are, for the third
form the centerpiece of this
Hendel, Jeremy Olson, Russell
time in row, producing an art
unique showcase from baCe,
Perkins, Andy Sowers, Bob
show dedicated to new indie
inc. production company head
Szantyr, and Sarah Tricker;
games. Plus they have
Nahoko Hayashi. An outdoor
studio #311 presents a group
free beer!
photography showcase from
show of excellent Mark Sengbusch and Dave King among others. At studio #319,
Recommended by JULIE TORRES:
33 Wyckoff Ave
other Japanese auteurs like Fumihiko Sigino, Yuji Oboshi and Mari Maeda will be paired
Sienna Reid examines, through
10. Harthous 2015
her multidisciplinary work, how
1042 Hart St
souvenirs courtesy of gift shop
police and prosecutor create a
FRI 6-9PM, SAT-SUN 12-7PM
SHIN-YOSHIWARA.
murderess out of a young girl.
Bushwick (power) couple
8. Street Radio Broadcast – 88.9 FM
Jessica and Oliver Ralli have been organizing a big art show in their house for three
alongside provocative mini
13. Bushwick Collective Block Party Troutman St between St.
Cheap Storage,
years in row. This year they’ve
Nicholas & Wyckoff Aves
49 Wyckoff Ave
invited spectacular group of
SAT 12-6PM, indoor events
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
local artists including Matthew
6PM-midnight
Members of Savage Severe
Miller, Stephen Truax and Ellen
Transport yourself to another
will conduct a Live Radio
Letcher. Make sure you’re
world with the staple of
Broadcast during Saturday
there on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Bushwick fun, Bushwick
and Sunday of BOS. Feel free
for a dance performance--a
Collective Block Party. Held on
to tune in, drop in, drop out
collaboration between Oliver
the block with amazing street
of their sonic programming
Ralli and The Pharmacy Project.
art murals (and rad bars!), get
featuring all genres of music
ready for some live painting
and non-music, spoken word,
11. NEWD Art Fair
stream of consciousness
1896 Studio Building, 592
street performers, raffle and
poetry, phantom phone call-
Johnson Ave
giveaways. After 6PM, head
ins, creepy station ID’s, open
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
indoors to see bands.
mics for on-the-spot, street
NEWD Art Fair is returning to
level public engagement, live
BOS after its last year’s successful
performance and wild radio
debut. The art fair will feature
activation.
a selection of 11 exhibitors
9. Artcade 3000 Indie Video Game Showcase
action, beer tent, food trucks,
comprised of artist collectives, project spaces, non-profits and artist-run galleries including
214 Starr St
Bushwick’s Fresh Window, Signal,
FRI 5-10PM, SAT 1-10PM,
Sardine and NURTUREart.
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COVER FEATURE BOS
JMZ district feels and tastes different than districts along the L train providing a valuable alternative to overcrowded Morgantown and Jefftown. Elevated JMZ train stations Central and Myrtle-Broadway should be your starting point in the exploration of the plentitude of artist studios located in beautiful mansions.
1. Brooklyn Collage Collective
3. BYO-Art
of the body as integral to the
The Living Gallery,
chemical existence.
37 Troutman St
1094 Broadway Ave
SAT-SUN 1-6PM
FRI-SUN 12-7PM
If you’re like us, a sucker for
This year’s BOS presents…
5. Somebody I Use to Know
collage, you won’t miss the
YOU. Anyone can bring
Elizabeth G. Devlin
group show organized by
a piece of art to be hung
Art Studio,
BCC’s founders Morgan Jesse
throughout the entire
60-62 Putnam Ave #1
Lappin and Lizzie Gill whose
weekend, on a first-come,
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
collective has been growing
first-serve basis, with a
In a visual realization of the
for the past three years.
$10 suggested donation.
Dadaist technique of creating
While this will certainly be a
a poem or other literary piece
showcase of hidden talents,
by taking cut up pieces of a
Tarot Society Gallery and
for enjoyment’s sake, we’re
larger text and recombining
Reading Room,
secretly hoping for a few
them by chance, artist
4 Charles Pl
what-in-the-world? pieces in
Elizabeth G. Devlin paints life-
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
there too. It just wouldn’t be
sized, seated figures in skewed
Photographers Dallas Athent
Bushwick without ‘em.
perspective.
Gianna Leo Falcon explore
4. Auto-Chemistry
6. Coming Home
the finding of the self through
The Hollows Artspace,
Bushwick Community
imagery and portraits. Falcon
708 Bushwick Ave #2
Darkroom,
juxtaposes photographs of
FRI-SUN 12-7PM
110 Troutman St
herself with portraits of a
An exhibition of movement
FRI 12-7PM, SAT-SUN 12-5PM
prominent witchcraft leader,
that utilizes various media
Bushwick Community
while Athent paints runes and
forms and performance
Darkroom celebrates its move
personal thoughts on canvas,
to explore self-propelled
to Troutman Street and its
then photographs them into
perceptual zones and
four-year anniversary with a
warped self-portraits.
differentiated appreciations
member exhibit, including
2. Hermetic Portraits
(Bushwick Daily’s own!) and
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COVER FEATURE BOS works by darkroom founder Lucia Rollow; Scott Nyerges, Sam Margevicious, Caleb Savage, Genevieve Snow, and more.
7. Neocraftism
10. “Purgatory & Paradise: SASSY ’70s Suburbia & The City” Book Launch & Exhibit
12. House of Screwball’s 3rd Annual Bushwick Open Studios Rooftop Party
Bizarre, 12 Jefferson St
142 Stockholm St
FRI 7PM-late, SAT 12AM-late,
FRI 8PM-late
SUN 12-11PM
Did you say you want to chill
The Parlour Bushwick, 791
Bushwick’s legend of a
in a gentle breeze overlooking
Bushwick Ave
photographer, Meryl Meisler,
Manhattan skyline more? Then
SAT-SUN 12-6PM
who used to be an art teacher
you must attend 3rd annual
An all-female exhibition
in the neighborhood in the
BOS party organized by a
showcases artists working with
1980s and 1990s, is launching
party & tarot collective, House
traditional craft media such as
her second photography
of Screwball. They will have
ceramics, yarn, clay or wood
book. Read an interview
DJs, performances and a cake
in current and contemporary
with this fabulous lady in this
to celebrate the birthday of
ways.
magazine, and go shake her
co-founder Darcy Leonard.
8. Shwick Open Studios
hand at Bizarre’s gallery, Black Box.
Shwick, 6 Charles Pl FRI-SUN 11AM-11PM Everyone’s favorite market and a community space has
11. Slideluck Bushwick IV The Living Gallery,
put together a show of 10
1084 Broadway
Bushwick artists. Expect music,
SAT 1PM (BBQ potluck);
drinks, and good vibes all
2:30PM (slideshow)
weekend.
Local non-profit organization,
9. HOTEL
Slideluck, usually travels the world to put on food, art and
796 Broadway #2
community events featuring
SAT-SUN 12-7PM
slideshows of art works
The building off Flushing JMZ
submitted through open calls.
is a home/work space to a
During BOS they’re staying
number of interesting artists.
at home, playing slideshows
Explore their secrets in a
of art dedicated to Bushwick.
slightly spooky mansion.
Come by early for a BBQ potluck!
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COVER FEATURE BOS
The consistent quality of art showcases happening on the Bushwick-Ridgewood border for this year’s BOS is sure to get you on your bike and off the Dekalb and Myrtle-Wyckoff L train stops. Whether you want to keep it closer to the ‘wick or head further into Ridgewood, there’s no shortage of exciting artists working across all manner of mediums in the “northeast kingdom.”
1. Made in Ridgewood
feast with several surrealist
and charcoal drawings of
Alternative Studio Space,
works by artists like Jeff
characters flailing through
1902 Palmetto St, First Floor
DeGolier, Lauren Portada and
space in carefree, dreamlike
Curated by Yulia Touchy
Robin Kang (who collaged
poses, while photographer
of Coworker Projects,
YouTube footage of the NATO
Jonathan Auch inverts that
this exhibition will feature
2012 riots and projected them
intimacy in gritty profile images
contemporary Ridgewood
on huge wood blocks).
of everyday New Yorkers.
artists focused on expanding past the local and having an impact on the borough’s
5. Dan Nation is THIS 16 Cypress Ave
includes a wide diversity of
3. Sylva Dean And Ventiko, Expect Expectations
artistic mediums, including
All over Bushwick SAT-SUN
purchase a few special pieces
installations, videos,
Be on the lookout for rogue
(such as scarves, trinkets and
performances, drawings,
performance artist Sylva
shawls) to take home with
and more.
Dean and Ventiko in wearable
you along with your fond
sculptures made of milk
memories of BOS 2015.
newly established role as a creative hub. The exhibition
2. BBQ @ The Donk Studios The Donk Studios,
cartons from Bushwick Day Care Center.
SAT-SUN 12-8PM ‘THIS’ by Dan Nation is the perfect opportunity to
6. Kings vs. Mullahs 16 Cypress Ave
Who says that high-concept
4. Leah Yerpe & Jonathan Auch Open Studio
art and good ol’-fashioned
283 Linden St
generated no small share
barbecue can’t mix?
SAT-SUN 10AM-7PM
of controversy in recent
Ridgewood art gallery fixture
Artist Leah Yerpe specializes in
years, but Iranian artist Ali
The Donk continues its annual
starkly detailed graphite
Chitsazzedeh’s whimsical
18-28 Troutman St SAT-SUN 12-7PM
20 22
Recommended by CHRISTOPHER STOUT:
SAT-SUN 2-8PM Satirical art that takes aim at Islamic society has
COVER FEATURE BOS depictions of smirking mullahs is more tongue-in-cheek than purposely incendiary, poking fun at American status
9. Thunder Dome & Danger Zone Open Studios
11. Color Me Bushwick Pickthorn, 61 Wyckoff Ave
1313 Halsey St
FRI-SUN 2-10PM
symbols like the 10-dollar
SUN 11AM-5:30PM
Pickthorn, a hair and coloring
bank note as readily as Muslim
Visit Thunder Dome, the
salon is famous for two
clergy. Check out the exhibit
studio of Shayna Hawkins,
things: 1) they color hair of
and judge for yourself.
a digital artist who works in
the baddest models and
print, vinyl, and more; and
actors, and 2) they organize
Danger Zone, the studio of
the purely amazing Color Me
7. Reservoir Art Space BOS Showcase
Nick Brewer, a maker who
Bushwick, a three-day festival
659 Woodward Ave
creates 80s/90s nostalgic
featuring 27 bands, vendors,
FRI-SUN all day
artifacts for the young at heart.
activities, food and drink. You
Operated by co-founders Jamie Powell, Joe Nanashe and Ronna Lebo, this collection of eleven semiprivate art studios has a strong track record of curating sophisticated, thought-provoking shows that invite viewers to consider pollution as art and other
don’t want to miss this one! Recommended by Jason Andrew:
10. Westernized, Watered-down Zen Philosophies… an exhibition of ceramics, sculpture and performance 18-66 Troutman Street,
environmentally conscious
Car Park
works. Their showcase several
SAT-SUN 12-6PM
textile-based fine art pieces,
A Ridgewood car park
along with other mediums.
hosts a showcase of local
8. Elizabeth Waterman Open Studio
interdisciplinary sculptors, musicians, makers and performers whose work
345 Eldert St
examines strategies for
FRI-SUN 12-6PM
creating, resulting in
Waterman, a fine art black and
transgressions of form, craft
white portrait photographer,
and the resulting ideas that
will be showcasing her
arise out of watered down,
ongoing series focused on
misguided, and at times
New York City drag queens,
humorous interpretations of
performers, and revelers,
media, tools, techniques and
as well as her signature
traditions.
triptych portraits of rising art stars, commissioned by EOS Magazine.
21
COVER FEATURE FASHION
By Whitney Jordan Photos by Gustavo Ponce
Subtlety isn’t usually associated with Bushwick, especially when it comes to fashion, a term that’s as defining to the neighborhood as “lofts” or “DIY venues”. When we set out to shoot street style, however, we wanted to unwind the stereotypes, strip away the leopard prints, Doc Martens and facial piercings and really drill down to what defines Bushwick style, what defines our residents and our neighborhood. In these photos you’ll see the idiosyncrasies still exist, the hardware is still present, but there’s something more passive and natural to Bushwick style than meets the eye.
22 24
Name: Ali Weltman Age: 23 Hometown: Philadelphia Occupation: Works at a PR firm
COVER FEATURE FASHION Name: Allison Mapes Age: 25 Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY Occupation: Fashion Advertising
23
COVER FEATURE FASHION
Name: Maria Occupation: Owner, Angels and Warrior Vintage
Name: Reni Manaj Hometown: Albania Occupation: Electrician
24 26
Name: Kevin Bright Hometown: Bed Stuy Brooklyn Occupation: Artist
COVER FEATURE FASHION
Name: Hoover Age: 44 Current Location: Carroll Gardens, Gowanus Occupation: Creative Director
Name: Isabella Age: 18 Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan Occupation: Stylist
25
COVER FEATURE FASHION
Name: Cully Age: 27 Current Location: Colorado Occupation: Food Buyer, Brooklyn Kitchen
26 28
Name: Aisha Age: 28 Current Location: New York Occupation: Art Assistant
COVER FEATURE FASHION
Name: Yan Age: 28 Hometown: Paris, France Occupation: Health Insurance Manager
Name: Leora Age: 24 Hometown: New Jersey Occupation: Musician, music journalist
Name: Michael Age: 20 Hometown: The Bronx Occupation: Housekeeping
27
COVER FEATURE ESCAPES
A Guide to Eat, Drink, Sleep, Party and Enjoy the Beautiful Peninsula by Camille Lowder - Photographs by Alex Uzik
Sun, sand, and surf within the reach of MTA—that’s the Rockaways and, obviously, we’re headed there this summer. But the expansive neighborhood along the largest beachfront in the United States is so much more than that. We hope that using this summer guide to the Rockaways as your starting point, you’ll grow to love it as much as we do, for its beaches as much as the community that surrounds them. A few years ago, the word was that the Rockaways were poised for a comeback. A bit patronizing, sure, but also exciting, for locals and beach-goers alike. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, destroying much of the area. The natural disaster has only served to highlight the ceaseless spirit of resilience along the Rockaways, and not just in its rebuilding efforts along the boardwalk and elsewhere. From locals constantly working on new and innovative ventures, like food and campsites, to visiting hipsters immediately taking on the necessary tasks of “helpsters,” enthusiasm for the Rockaways is infectious. Coming from the city where every bit of personal space is guarded and fought over, the “more the merrier” ethics along the beach are refreshing. We can barely believe how friendly and inviting the vibe is and we’ll be doing our part to maintain it, all while enjoying some of the best New York has to offer in the summertime. We’ve highlighted our favorite spots to relax, play, eat and drink, but we hope you’ll take up the challenge to find your own spots to love. There’s an adventure around every sand-strewn corner, just waiting for you to discover it. Tick tock, tick tock-away...get yourself to the beach! 28 30
COVER FEATURE ESCAPES
Getting There By bicycle (our favorite!) From Bushwick, head towards Williamsburg, then go South on Wythe Avenue to Flatbush
You can also take the J/Z to Woodhaven Boulevard, and take the Q53 or Q21 buses to 108th Street.
By bus:
Pick a Concession Per Your Liking
Avenue. Cross the Marine
Bushwick Beach Bus operates
Pick one of the Rockaways’
Parkway Bridge till you hit
from Bushwick’s Pearl’s
three concession stands as
Jacob Riis Park. Approximate
Social & Billy Club bar (40
your homebase: each of the
travel time is 1.5 hours from
St. Nicholas Ave) and will
three has its own vibe, while
Williamsburg, so it’s a bit of
take you all the way to the
all will provide that beachy,
a doozy. There’s no shame in
Rockaways. For the second
boardwalk feel to your trip.
riding there, and taking the
year in row, this popular
train back.
Bushwick bar will take you
86th Street: Hipster vibe
to “Bushwick’s Hamptons,”
Home to Rippers, a burger
For some two-wheel
and the trip wouldn’t be
and fries spot that takes pride
sightseeing, head over to
complete with beer sponsors,
in its ingredients, 86th is the
the Rockaway Gateway
more stops, discounts at
lively and spirited youngest
Greenway trails. You’ll find
local Rockaway and Bushwick
sibling of the three, with
some easy asphalt riding from
businesses and newer, nicer
events like tiki parties popping
Floyd Bennett Field to the
buses to get you to the beach
up throughout the summer.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
in comfort and style.
Here’s to a summer with no
NYC Beach Bus will
flat tires or slipped chains but,
take you to the Rockaways
just in case, there’s Paul’s Bike
97th Street: Quintessential Rockaways
on weekends and holidays
This is the main drag, and
Shop (located at 163 Beach
through Labor Day weekend.
thus it has the biggest cross
116th Street and reachable by
Hop on at one of the three
section of food, events,
phone at 718-318-2000) for all
dropoff and pickup times in
and beachgoers. If you’re
your repair needs along the
Brooklyn and the Rockaways.
looking for that quintessential
Rockaways.
Tickets are $9 oneway, or $12
Rockaways experience, 97th
roundtrip.
is a great place to start.
By subway:
Take the A train to Far
By ferry:
It’s home to a number of restaurant outposts, including
Rockaway, and transfer at Broad
Rockaway Beach Ferry goes
artisan ice pop makers
Channel to the S shuttle for the
from Pier 11 at Wall Street to
CitySticks, Bolivian Llama
Rockaways main drag. Get off
Jacob Riis Park Beach. The
Party and Breezy’s BBQ.
at 90th, 98th, 105th, or 116th.
tickets are $20 one way, $30
Alternatively, stay on the Far
round trip, $5 to carry on a
106th Street: Latin vibe
bicycle or surfboard.
This concession has a distinctly
Rockaway/Mott Avenuebound
Latin vibe, from their food to
train, which serves Beach 67th
their DJs and dance parties.
Beach 36th Streets.
29
COVER FEATURE ESCAPES Caracas Rockaway, an outpost of Williamsburg’s Caracas
Whit’s End 97-14 Rockaway
on our way to the beach all
Arepas, provides signature
Beach Boulevard
summer long.
small plates and frozen
Owner and chef Whit Aycock is a bit of a character, known
Connolly’s
up juices, smoothies, and Blue
for swearing and beleaguering
155 Cross Bay Parkway
Bottle coffee.
those who try to order off
This place is a study in
the menu. But his pizza?
mismatched perfection—it’s
Absolutely f**king worth it.
a basement Irish bar...in a
Follow the rules—no slices,
Victorian house on the beach?
no red pepper flakes, no
We know, it sounds strange,
whining—and you’ll be
and Connolly’s definitely isn’t
Only a few years ago,
rewarded with the kind of
for everyone. But if you’re
Rockaway Beach was a desert
perfection that only comes
looking for a dirt cheap frozen
when it came to exciting
from his crazy attention to
cocktail, you’ve found your
cuisine, leaving visitors to lug
detail.
spot. Their frozen piña colada
sangrias, while Conchos serves
Where to Eat & Drink
heavy ice chests from home or snag something uninspired from a boardwalk cart. Thanks
is tops. Tip: Ask for a floater,
Cuisine by Claudette
and they’ll add extra rum on
143 Beach 116th Street
top. Be warned: It’s cash only
to a handful of enthusiastic,
For the past three years,
and it tends to get rowdy after
creative locals, there’s now
owner Claudette has poured
1 a.m.
a myriad of options that are
her heart, and her French
elevated far beyond that
and Moroccan roots, into
The Wharf Bar and Grill
of simple, sandfilled beach
this takeout place. Besides a
416 Beach 116th Street
fare. There’s something for
delicious homestyle menu that
The Wharf is located behind
everyone, including tacos,
changes regularly, including
a gas station and has very
pelmenis, piña coladas, and
epic eatin specials, they also
little signage, but it is worth
artisanal ice cream. Here are
offer some of the Rockaways’
finding. The food and drink
some of our favorites:
best coffee courtesy of Oslo
menu may be average, but
Roasters.
the waterfront views are
Tacoway Beach 302 Beach 87th Street We’re so thrilled about this
30 32
nitroinfused cold brew coffee
spectacular. They’re
Rockaway Roasters 92-06 Rockaway
arguably some of the best on the Rockaways.
new venture from Andrew
Beach Boulevard
Field, of Rockaway Taco, now
Speaking of coffee, enter
Uma’s
operating out of Rockaway
Rockaway Roasters. The
92-07 Rockaway
Beach Surf Club. We’re hoping
discerning locals’ newest
Beach Boulevard
the new location will diffuse
favorite caffeine spot features
Serving up Uzbeki cuisine
the traditionally long lines, but
Stumptown Coffee Roasters,
“with a “rock’n’roll feel,”
who are we kidding? The lure
brewed locally in Red Hook,
Uma’s is one of a kind. Here
of beer and seats at RBSC is
as well as organic juices and
you’ll not only find hearty,
great, but we’d wait forever for
protein shakes. We’ll be
authentic dishes like mantis,
a chorizo taco and corn elote.
stopping in for their ontap,
bichakis, and borscht but
COVER FEATURE ESCAPES also a well curated beer and wine menu, with especially
Last Dragon Pizza
ups, exhibitions, workshops,
lastdragonpizza.com
etc., many in tandem with
knowledgeable bartenders to
If you’re a fan of old kung fu
their publication, Rockaway
match.
movies, delicious pizza, and
Summer. Their publication
dinner pickup that feels more
serves as a physical guide
like a drug deal than takeout,
to the beach every year, so
Last Dragon Pizza will whet
make sure to pick one up and
7018 Amstel Boulevard
your every appetite. Owner
follow their website for more
This West Indian takeout spot
Nicole Russell produces the
info (rockawaysummer.com).
is a bit of a walk from the beach
goods out of her home, only on
Unpredictability is the name of
but we’ll make the trip for what’s
Wednesdays and Fridays. The
the game—definitely a spot to
known as some of the best BBQ
seven flavors are inspired by
keep an eye on!
in all of Queens! Try the jerk
the namesake cult film, and are
chicken with oxtail gravy, a side of
worth every bit of strangeness
plantains, and don’t skimp on the
surrounding the whole
Rockaway Beach Surf Club
greens. Tip: Go early, because
process—th pickup location is
302 Beach 87th Street
they often run out of menu
only disclosed after ordering,
RoBe Surf Club is a sweet,
favorites.
online or by phone. To
laidback spot to mingle and
guarantee one of only twenty
relax a few blocks back from
14” pies made daily, call a day
the beach. They’re passionate
ahead at 917-780-2570.
about supporting the local
Goody’s BBQ Chicken & Ribs
Chicks to Go 9702 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
community through promotion
A new venture by the family
of surf culture, artistic
behind La Cevichería, Chicks to Go is a tiny spot serving up pollo
Where to party
endeavors, and a smattering of other events, big and small,
a la brasa, Peruvian rotisserie
Looking for an easy,
so don’t be surprised if you
chicken, as well as salads and
“Rockawaying” good time?
wander into a popup art
side dishes, like fried cassava
These spots are curated to
gallery or film viewing. It’s
(yummy alternative to fries) and
fulfill all your beach needs,
also the location of Tacoway
sweet and savory plantains.
from food and drink, to
Beach, this
shopping and shows.
year’s new offshoot of
The Fisherman’s Dog 11210 Beach Channel Drive
Rockaway Taco!
The Palms Beach 96th Street
Riis Park Beach Bazaar
at this beloved food truck. It’s
From the minds of locals David
144-3 Rockaway
slightly out of the way, but
Selig and Giovanna Maselli
Beach Blvd
conveniently always parks in the
comes a new event space on
Brooklyn Night Bazaar was
same picnic tablefilled lot. We
Beach 96th, The Palms. It’s an
priced out from Greenpoint
recommend sticking with the
open space that they intend to
in May only to find a refuge in
seafood options, like their
use largely for hangouts and
the giant Art Deco bathhouse
fish dog or octopus roll, for a
to relax during the day (yes,
at Jacob Riis Park, a National
delicious spin on food truck
underneath real palm trees),
Park Service property. The
classics.
but also as an arena for pop
new incarnation will feature
Enjoy the best of both worlds
31
COVER FEATURE ESCAPES shopping, music and fun stages with free outdoor
Stay overnight!
concerts every Saturday and
Moored at Marina 59 truckafloat.com
Sunday. It will offer food
One could argue, and locals
Feeling like your Brooklyn
concessions in two of the large
do, that all the solely daytime
apartment bedroom is tiny?
bays that run the length of
beach-goers are missing out on
Try sleeping in a floating
the brick bathhouse, as well
some of the best of what
ecopod on the waters of the
as smaller food carts on the
the Rockaways have to offer.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
boardwalk.
Sunrises and sunsets aside
for a night! A new venture by
(though they’re pretty epic
Andrew Field (Tacoway Beach)
out there along the water),
and Maribel Araujo (Caracas
90-20 Rockaway
seeing the area extra early or
Arepas Bar), TruckaFloat
Beach Boulevard
especially late means getting a
promises to be a complete
Known as a space that
special glimpse past the mass
escape from urban living,
pushes boundaries (hence,
“downfortheday” mentality,
with pods equipped only with
the name), Topless Gallery is
and into the real heart of the
full beds and fold out tables.
filling the curated art void on
beach. Do yourself a favor and
Rates start at $75/night.
the Rockaways. This summer
book a spot to stay for a night
they’re turning a neglected
or two—we think it’s the perfect
twostory home at 96th and
way to celebrate a special
Rockaway Beach Boulevard
occasion without having to go
dpiperinn.com
into their gallery, with four
crazy far from home.
Your pretty standard cute,
Topless Gallery
scheduled show openings on
D-Piper Inn 158 Beach 114th.
local inn with some subdued
June 13th, July 4th, July 25th,
Playland Motel
and August 15th.
97-20 Rockaway Beach
outdoor porch and lounge
Boulevard playlandmotel.com
access. Rates are $180/night.
Lola Star
old Victorian charm, including
Formerly known as the spot
Camp Rockaway
174 Beach 116th Street
for crazy late n ight parties,
Lola Star, the organizer of
Playland Motel is attempting
fantastic roller skate disco
this summer to become
Inspired by Rockaway Beach’s
parties at Prospect Park
more familyfriendly with Dan
unique history as an urban
and Coney Island, has just
Cipriani (of Williamsburg’s
retreat in the 1950s and
opened another outpost in
Lodge restaurant) at the helm.
beyond, Camp Rockaway’s
the Rockaways. In addition to
We’ll believe it when we
mission is to get locals and
selling glittering accessories,
see it, but their partyperfect
visitors camping and into the
technicolored hula hoops,
backyard, eclectic
outdoors. While the camp is
beach gear, roller skates and
artist-designed rooms, and
still under development and
“magical mermaid treasures,”
artisan cocktails will definitely
full operation isn’t expected
Lola plans to organize parties
have us swinging by.
until 2017, the founders are
camprockaway.com
and events at Rockaways too,
planning a popup camp for
which will include Pin-Up Party,
late summer of 2015 to give
showgirl makeup classes, or
us the taste of things to come.
sunset yoga on the beach.
32 34
Truck-a-Float
COVER FEATURE Entrepreneurship
Has the future of farming begun in...Bushwick? A visit to Edenworks’ Farmlab by Joel Wolfram - Photos by Lucia Reed
On the sunny but unseasonably
“We’re often 80 degrees above ambient
chilly March morning of my visit to
[temperature],” Edenworks’ CEO and
Edenworks’ Farmlab, crossing the
CoFounder Jason Green explains. “So if
threshold of the rooftop greenhouse
it’s 20 degrees outside, and it’s sunny, it
feels like stepping through a portal to
can be 100 degrees in here.”
the tropics. Inside it is sweltering, and
34 36
the thick, humid air hits me like a ton of
Edenworks is an urban agriculture
bricks after the long months of one of
startup founded in early 2014 by Green,
New York’s coldest winters on record.
25, and cofounders Ben Silverman, 28,
Entrepreneurship COVER FEATURE
and Matt La Rosa, 21. The Farmlab
Fish tanks teeming with young tilapia
is their 800-square-foot rooftop
are nestled underneath sleek, metal
greenhouse prototype located atop a
terraces that ascend to the ceiling like a
Johnson Avenue industrial building,
stepladder and out of which grow rows
which, together with an onsite office,
of shiny, leafy vegetables. The tanks
serves as Edenworks’ home base.
and the growing structure together comprise what Edenworks has dubbed
When the shock of the heat subsides,
a Farmstack, an 8-foot-long section of
the next thing I notice is a slightly funky
the greenhouse that contains all the
smell, surprisingly not far removed from
components of its aquaponic growing
the mélange of manure and hay you’d
system. Four Farmstacks are lined up
whiff on a country barnyard. There’s no
endtoend to form the Farmlab, but
hay to be found at Edenworks, and no
each one is a selfcontained system,
fourlegged creatures either, but there is
functioning independently from the rest.
manure, so to speak. It just happens to come from fish. 35
COVER FEATURE Entrepreneurship
“But it’s not Edenworks’ use of aquaponics that sets it apart from other urban farms. What really distinguishes Edenworks is its technological sophistication.”
level, and the chemistry of the water in
Aquaponic systems like that of
location within the greenhouse for each
Edenworks combine aquaculture, or fish
crop to be grown. The software even
farming, and hydroponics, the method
automatically adjusts the climatecontrol
of growing plants in nutrient-enriched
equipment in the greenhouse.
the growing beds and feed this data to a computer via a custom control board of Edenworks’ own design. They use computer software designed inhouse to crunch the data and guide decisionmaking on the farm, including the best
water, instead of soil, into a more sustainable, closedloop system that
“We’re still working on the algorithms,”
minimizes waste and natural resource
Green says. “Like today, it’s a little
consumption. The fish “manure” I
warmer than it should be, so I’ll be
smelled coming into the greenhouse,
turning the fan on and off periodically
it turns out, is key to the system.
throughout the day. But the system is
Beneficial bacteria convert ammonia in
monitoring when I’m turning it on and
the fish wastewater into organic nitrate
off and then it will start making its own
fertilizer. The fertilizerrich wastewater is
decisions at some point.”
then filtered to remove solid material and pumped through the Farmstack’s
Green even imagines a day when a data-
growing beds to feed the plants, which
driven farm’s artificial intelligence could
absorb the fertilizer and send clean,
be perfected to the point that it could
fish-friendly water flowing back into
be maintained by robots. But right now,
the tanks. This recycling of water and
the emphasis on data at Edenworks is
nutrients makes Edenworks a highly self
more about improving farming today
sustaining system that uses significantly
than a future where human farmers are
less water and energy—90% less, they
put out of work by our robot overlords.
say—than conventional farms.
They’re looking for correlations between the data they’re collecting on growing
36 38
But it’s not Edenworks’ use of
conditions and the data they will reap
aquaponics that sets it apart from other
on crop performance come harvest
urban farms. What really distinguishes
time—metrics like like total yield,
Edenworks is its technological
nutritional content, and growth rates.
sophistication. The Farmstack system
Aided by these correlations and their
incorporates digital sensors that
computer systems, Edenworks can
measure temperature, humidity, water
continually adjust the Farmstack’s inputs
Entrepreneurship COVER FEATURE and growing conditions to optimize
Like the CEO of a tech startup, Green
production. Green believes that this
has big ambitions for his company’s
technology will allow Edenworks to
innovative, tech-driven farming system.
grow better food more efficiently.
He believes Edenworks can seize the huge market opportunity created by
If that reliance on science and technology
the unrelenting demand for local
sounds incongruous with the traditional
produce among urbanites. Their
idea of a sustainable organic farm, Green
business model is to sell subscriptions
seems well aware of it. “We love small
for a weekly supply of the farms’
scale organic farmers—they’re doing
produce directly to people who live
tremendously important work keeping us
or work in the buildings beneath
engaged with soil and with with nature—
their greenhouses (the fish will only
but the reality is the world is becoming
be sold wholesale for now). It’s like a
more urban, we have to figure out how
C.S.A. model, except that the farm
to grow better food in less space, and
is not located among rolling hills 50
the only way to do that is make really
miles upstate, but on your roof. Green
informed decisions about how, where and
envisions an urban future where rooftop
what we grow,” he says.
greenhouses are commonplace. “In the same way that buildings provide
That scientific approach also follows
internet and power and water and gas,
naturally from Green’s background
we think that food could be the next
in bioengineering. Before starting
amenity that buildings are expected to
Edenworks, he worked in an academic
provide for their tenants,” he says.
setting designing virtual reality systems to help rehabilitate patients with brain
He’s about to put that hypothesis
injuries. Neither of his fellow cofounders
to the test as Edenworks prepares
come from backgrounds in agriculture
to build their first commercialscale
either; Silverman is an architect and La
greenhouse in Long Island City, on the
Rosa a builder. Edenworks has hired a
roof of a former factory building that
farmer and an aquaponics consultant
has been converted to offices. The new
who provide the farming knowhow. But
greenhouse, at 8,000 square feet and
the leadership by people from technical,
23 feet in height, will cover 10 times the
nonfarming backgrounds sets the tone
area of the Bushwick Farmlab and stand
of the organization, making Edenworks
nearly twice as tall.
sometimes seem more like a tech startup than an urban farm. Green uses the term
Beyond profiting from the current
“agtech” to describe their industry so, the
demand for local food, Green believes
truth is, Edenworks is both.
that technologies like those being 37
COVER FEATURE Entrepreneurship pioneered by Edenworks will be necessary to feed the world’s growing population in the future. “To build farm infrastructure to feed all of us, it’s going to take a tremendous amount of design and technology,” he declares. He’s also confident that Edenworks’ finely t uned aquaponics system produces a superior product to other commercial urban growers, one that will satisfy chefs and foodies alike. All the technology and data analysis is not just about quantity. “We want to produce more nutritious, more flavorful food,” Green says. As if to demonstrate the correlation between data collection and deliciousness, Green invites me to sample some of the 20 or so crops growing in the Farmlab. Edenworks is experimenting with a roster of about 50 plants before their expansion to Long Island City, and they also plan to raise new varieties of fish in the future, like bass and rainbow trout. We try the Farmlab’s first young crop of green beans together, which even Green has yet to sample. “Wow, that’s awesome,” he exclaims. Awesome indeed—the raw bean pods are crisp and refreshing, with the hint of a fruity, melonlike flavor. Marigolds (who knew they were edible?) don’t disappoint either, their leaves spicy and herbal and their flowers soft and luscious. Eating freshly picked produce is always such a treat, and everything here is bursting with flavor. So far, it seems, more technology means more flavor at Edenworks. Correlation established. 38 40
COVER STORY SHORT FEATURE
:AN EXCERPT by Sean Alday - Photo by Rafael Fuchs - Drawing by Michael Kronenberg
The intent of “Trust Fall” was to sleep in a different place every night for a year. With my friend, artist Mike Kronenberg, we focused on art galleries and artist studios in Bushwick. It was the fall of 2012. We traveled with our clothes and laptops strapped to an unstable cart. We always planned to document the process and write an account. This is an excerpt from the novel documenting “Trust Fall.”
toward the bottom of the window. We kept our hands outside once we’d lit our cigarettes from a cardboard match shared out of a white book from a corner bodega. A commotion rang from the sidewalk beneath us. “Hey!” someone shouted up to us. “Hey!” Mike called back. We looked down and three women gathered on the street below. One was smoking and looking up at us, we smoked and looked down. The ember on my cigarette reflected off of the oil
After we turned onto Bogart Street we made a stop at the liquor store. It
“What are you doing down there?”
was clean, swept and lit up so that the
One shrugged. “Come on up!” Mike
bottles sparkled browns and clears.
said.
We bought a quart of Evan Williams
“Let us in!”
whiskey, then skipped off down the
“Dude...” I said to Mike.
street back to our beige looming
“Don’t worry.” He said and went to
monstrosity of a home of 56 Bogart. In Studio 10 we poured whiskey into
40 42
on my nose.
let them in. I sat on the floor and poured more
plastic cups and drank on the floor.
whiskey. Then I got a pen and journal
We crossed the room and opened a
out of my yellow backpack. Two girls
window. Mike and I leaned our heads
came into the gallery in the midst of
COVER SHORT FEATURE STORY
conversation. One was blonde and the other a brunette. The third, the tallest of the group, was talking to Mike. The girls wore draping dark purples on blacks with high heels. Their lipsticks and heavy mascara matched the purple and black, respectively. There were little purple lipstick marks on their little electronic cigarettes. We poured whiskey into more plastic cups and the brunette pulled a coke bottle from her purse to cut the whiskey. Mike pulled his sketchpad and pens from a satchel. He began by drawing them. The brunette also had a sketchpad. She pulled a pencil from her purse and began drawing as well. “Can I have some paper?” the blonde asked. Mike ripped a sheet from his sketch pad and passed it to her. The brunette did the same. “So come on. This is your dream job. Tell me more,” the tall girl teased her friend in a ribtickling tone. “I hate it.” “You’ll never make it in sales.” “That’s fine with me.” “Where did you go to school?” the brunette asked Mike. “I went to Parsons. To study drawing and nekkid people,” Mike said, laughing. He was only looking up now to take lines from them, then he turned back to the pad and drew those lines. “What about you?” she asked me. “Me? I didn’t go to school.” 41
COVER STORY SHORT FEATURE “Why not?”
people. Sean over there,” I waved, “and
“I didn’t know what I would study for
I have drawn hundreds of people. It’s
so much money. Too much pressure and
always up to the models how intimate
when it came down to it, I just ran away
they want to get. But it usually involves
instead.”
getting naked and that frees up a lot of
She turned back to Mike, “Why are you using a pen?” “Well, I’m utilizing what’s around me.”
and forth. It’s really open.” “Are you guys from Bushwick?” “Well...” Mike chuckled. “Not from
“I’m a pencil person.”
here. But I have lived here off and on,
“Oh, I like pencils too. Let’s see what
mostly on, for the last eight years. After
you’re working on there.” He leaned his
my divorce I left the East Village and a
head over and lifted his glasses above
friend of mine living in the Bronx and
his eyes. “Yeah. Good stuff. I like the
from Brooklyn suggested it to me as a
crosshatching that you’re fitting in there
cheap place with big spaces and that
too. I also like using brush pens, water
people weren’t likely to bother me out
colors, charcoal...Since we’re moving
here. So I stepped off of the train eight
lightly and are somewhere different
years ago and haven’t gone back.” The
almost every day. I’ve started using the
room was quiet, then Mike laughed. “I
things around me.”
couldn’t get back—the L train wasn’t
“Let’s see what you’re working on
running!” The room stayed quiet and
then.” She took the piece of paper
the girls stared at him. “The L train used
when he passed it over, “Wait, are you
to...never mind. Bad joke.”
drawing us?” “Yeah! You’re my models.” He pointed at the piece. “That’s yours when I’m finished.”
“Do you feel now that you’re being pushed out of your home?” “Well, not as much as you might think. I think that was definitely there
“This?” She held it up.
for a part of the beginning. Keep in
“If you want it. I give anyone a piece
mind that we’re voluntarily homeless. So
if they model for me.” “I don’t know how anyone draws people who don’t stay still.”
we’re trusting in the community to catch us as we fall into it. And so far it’s been good to us.”
“Gesture drawing.” Mike answered.
“Where are you from?” she asked.
“Is that like action painting?”
“St. Louis.”
“Sort of. Except instead of being
She looked at me. “What about
alone in a barn with your cigarettes and paint, gesture drawing, the way I do it, depends on the interactions between 42 44
inhibitions. So we and they push back
you?” “The Keys. How about you?” I asked the group.
COVER SHORT FEATURE STORY
43
COVER STORY SHORT FEATURE “Indianapolis.” “Alberta...Actually, I grew up in British Columbia.” “And what was that like?” the blonde
the page. I heard Mike say, “That’s Jeff Koons for you...” Suddenly there was a terrible crash
asked her friend and put the eraser of
and dread blanketed the room. The
her pencil in her mouth.
brunette put her hands over her mouth
“Snowy. When we were kids my
and stared. Mike looked at a rock
brothers and sisters and I used to put
sculpture, surprise drawn on his face.
maple syrup on snow and eat it.”
The blonde turned and followed both
The blonde laughed.
of their gazes to a toppled rock. The
“Maple syrup on snow is delicious,”
tallest rock with netting covering half of
she asserted. “What about Florida? Did you ever eat alligator?” the blonde asked me. “Alligator tail is also delicious.” I
it was on its side. The two rocks on each side were standing strong. The air had a stillness settling on us like fine dust. No one moved. And then everyone moved.
wrote something in my journal and
I wrote: Then the rock fell.
looked up.
Mike hopped up to set the exhibition
“Coconuts and Satsumas too.” “Stop writing.” The blonde was staring at me when I looked up from the page. “No. Hell no.” I smiled and returned to scrawling away. “You’re my least favorite person in this room,” she said to me. I wrote, Don’t worry, you’re my least favorite person here as well. “Let me see what you’re writing.” She started to crawl toward me. I looked at
back upright. The blonde asked, “Are you okay?” The brunette apologized and said, “I’m okay.” I wrote: Don’t touch the exhibition. “Conceptual art falls over sometimes,” Mike said. “Better than falling flat,” I added. “It’s no wonder we’re graphic designers,” the blonde said. I wrote that down too. The color fields in the gallery
what’s on the page and think about it for
sparkled when cars passed. The average
a moment.
speed:
“No. This stuff needs editing,” I suddenly felt selfconscious. “Sean likes to keep his writing to himself until he’s ready to show it,” Mike said. “Come on. Let me see it.” She was still crawling over. I could see her cleavage. 44 46
I wrote and kept an eye on her and
Green, blue, red. Fast speed: Green blue red. Turning on Siegel street speed: Green. Blue, reeeeed. The girls left, sheepish and embarrassed as they sulked out the door. Mike followed them to lock the doors behind them. He came back
COVER SHORT FEATURE STORY and decided to roll a cigarette after observing the room. “They left their drawings.”
only pauses in the clicks were so that he could look at the camera’s two-inch screen. Little stick figures painted on the
Rafael Fuch’s assistant carried a light,
bathroom door indicated that it was
a stand, and a tripod from the gallery
a nongender specific bathroom. The
space to the back sink. Rafael had a
sawhorse that I put my things on was
leather satchel filled with lenses and
right next to me. Under the sink there
at least one camera. Mike and I trailed
was a shallow pan to catch drips.
them, carrying fresh clothes, towels, soaps and shampoos. We put our things down on both
My jeans were crumpled on the floor like someone had vanished out of them. They stood up, the waist standing about
sides of the sink. We both smoked
a foot from the floor. The lights, both
while Rafael set up the tripod. He gave
the source and the illuminations, were in
instructions to the assistant saying,
the shots. Extension cords and tripods
“Eh...Move the light this way a little.
kept them well away from any stray
Now tilt it up...”
splashes.
He took some test shots and then I
It was to this that Mike added
jumped in the frame. A few more test
himself. He began by shucking his
shots and then he said, “Whenever
clothes. He dropped them further
you’re ready.”
from the sink. The foreground in the
I took off my shirt. Then I turned the warm handle on the sink. There was a little warm water in the pipes
viewfinder. Then he strode to the sink nude and began bathing himself. I washed my face a few times so that
somewhere. It usually took a minute to
I had a reason to close my eyes when I
get moving. I was wearing a studded
wanted to. Oddly, wearing the opposite
belt with pirate skulls and Union Jack
shoe in a voyeur and exhibitionist
belt buckle. I unbuckled my belt and
setting wasn’t as personally subversive
slipped out of my holey jeans, boxers
as I thought it might be. I did have
and socks in one motion. Then I pulled
plenty of time for preparation and
off my undershirt and faced the sink.
forewarning, I supposed. It called for
I washed my hair and face first. For a
quiet reflection in the moment.
while it was just me bathing in front of the sink.
Life is nudism for the soul.
Throughout this process I could hear the clicks as Rafael shot photos. The light that bathed and illuminated the frame was blue. He used no flash. The 45
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46 48
COVER FEATURE MUSIC
Nick Cave’s protegé Shilpa Ray released a new album. Also she’s not pissed off anymore. by Katarina Hybenova - Photos by Ebru Yildiz
Alpha brain waves. Shoppers walk
She then goes on to sing about a
aimlessly, consuming their gelato
masturbation-free world, and none of
and the window views of Chelsea
the passersby are spared. “Oh my god,”
Market’s artisanal stores and gluten-free
someone whispers and the laughing
restaurants. Children are chasing each
kid’s mother guzzles down a glass of
other, laughing and squealing in the way
champagne. People stop, and their
that’s long been forgotten by us
faces show a physical reaction to her
grown ups.
music—it’s like Violet Flame—you have to burn in order to emerge pure on
A young woman standing on a small
the other side.
stage is acutely disturbing a peaceful, routine evening at the Market, accompanied only by her harmonium,
It’s a sunny, peaceful weekday afternoon
deep voice, sadness and the occasional
in Greenpoint. Shilpa Ray, a petite, young
outcry of rage. She sings about
woman, a daughter of Indian parents
bride burning, a form of violence
who was born in suburban New Jersey,
against women in India in which the
is sitting at a diner table with her beau,
husband’s family soaks the wife in
English musician William. They giggle
gasoline and sets her on fire if the dowry
like teenagers in love, sharing fried
isn’t deemed high enough.
chicken and jollying around about the 47
MUSIC COVER COVER FEATURE FEATURE
music playing from the speakers. “Your
that I am a writer. He also knew that I do
country will disown you if you don’t tell
something on the side. My music. He
me the name of this band,” she teases
said, ’In your soul you are a writer.’”
as William helplessly scratches his head. “It’s Wire,” she laughs.
“And that’s true,” Shilpa continues, “I enjoy playing but I sing stories. He then
48 50
We talk about cemeteries, ghosts,
said, ’You have something you want to
paranormal and downright spooky stuff
say, badly, which you’re avoiding, and
we’ve witnessed when Shilpa recalls
once you say it then you’re going to
seeing a psychic in New Orleans. “I
get ready to die. That’s it for you.’ And
asked all the wrong questions like...when
then he handed me this massive bottle
I was going to die. It was really intense.”
of vodka that someone had given him,
She doesn’t really want to get into the
and said, ‘For you and your friends.’
details of the prediction and laughs it
We got so wasted that night. We all got
away, but after a while she says, “He
emotional; it was like everybody wanted
didn’t give me a date; it was more like I
to talk about their life. People there are
was going to do something, after which I
heavy; they want to talk about real shit
was going to die. He knew automatically
right away. No weather talk.”
COVER FEATURE MUSIC
Shilpa Ray seems to share this quality
The album was four years in the making,
with New Orleans residents, as her songs
and the writing was the quickest part.
are brutally honest, often processing
“I didn’t want it that way but I fired
very real and burning issues of society,
my previous band because I wanted a
as well as her own trauma. Her new
different sound. And I paid for it out of
record, released on May 19, 2015 by
my pocket on my doorgirl salary. I tried
Brooklyn label Northern Spy is titled
different combinations, and it turned
Last Year’s Savage, as in “savage whose
out that the rawest sound was the one
ferociousness is a has been,” says Shilpa.
that worked. We re-recorded it over and
“Like nobody cares about that anymore;
over again, and I cried a lot during this
all of your youth and all of that craziness
time. It was so frustrating and so dark
is just gone. When I started [in
at times, I never thought it would get
music] I was angry and sad all the time,
finished. I can’t listen to it anymore,”
and this record is about being tired of
Shilpa describes a purgatory, a four-year
being pissed.”
long limbo she found herself in and 49
COVER FEATURE MUSIC
continues about the emotional fuel behind Savage. “I went through some shit that was really heavy during my childhood and it really influenced my early twenties; it was a dark cloud after a dark cloud, a lot of crap.” Shilpa’s raw and intensely emotional music with poetry of lyrics caught the ear and attention of Nick Cave, who invited her to open for him on his 2014 European tour, and to be his backup singer in the States. “When I was on the tour with The Bad Seeds, I had a conversation about [the childhood trauma] with Barry Andersen. I was saying that I don’t want to be a comically tragic person; it’s not everything that I am and it’s not all I am about. And he was like, ‘Listen, I went through that too, and I did have better things happen to me. After 30.’ And I really needed to hear it from somebody because everybody always glorifies The 27 Club of dead musicians but nobody really wants to be a part of that. Nobody wants to be that sad and go through that shit. You know how people romanticize alcoholism but then you meet a real alcoholic and it is horrible. It’s so painful. Nobody aspires to be depressed; nobody aspires to be a drug addict...But nobody said it was going to be easyt... Oh my god, did I just quote Coldpay?!” Shilpa laughs.
50 52
COVER FEATURE MUSIC
“Finding the right label was difficult as well. I released something on my own before and it’s just incredibly hard; it’s too much work and I’d rather be working on creative stuff than business all the time. My label is really amazing. This was the first time nobody questioned anything. They didn’t want any compromise. I was like, ’This is the work,’ and they didn’t change anything. And the less you compromise, the better your work is going to be,” Shilpa explains. And so on Thanksgiving last year, Shilpa decided on an untraditional album cover photoshoot—she put on a monkey costume and ran around town accompanied by photographer Ebru Yildiz and her husband, who was assisting. “We went to Palace Bar, and a gas station in Queens and to a diner in Queens and to a diner in Greenpoint. I had cab drivers stopping and asking if they could take a picture of me for their Instagram. But most people were like ‘Okay, so she’s in the costume, and so what.’ A woman in a diner was like, ‘I’ve seen worse.’”
Shilpa Ray’s new album Last Year’s Savage came out on May 19 at Northern Spy Recording. Download it at shilparay. net or at northernspyrecords.com/music/ lastyearssavage/ photo: Katarina Hybenova
51
COVER FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
In her second book, photographer Meryl Meisler juxtaposed 1970’s suburbia and NYC nightlife. by Vanessa Martyr - Photos by Meryl Meisler
The universe brought photographer
And thus began a friendship that has
Meryl Meisler and me togetherin 2012
lasted through the years and includes
when I found an image of my seven-year-
two co-curated Defying Devastation
old self in a Bushwick Daily write up of
exhibits during Bushwick Open Studios
her exhibit Here I Am: Bushwick in the
in 2012 and 2013 at Nyssa Frank’s The
80s at SoHo Photo Gallery.
Living Gallery.
“I found myself in an old Bushwick photo by Meryl Meisler. I am the girl in blue shorts.”
52 54
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE
The first exhibit, Defying Devastation: Bushwick in the 80s caught the eye of Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. Jean had recently bought a building in Bushwick and was researching the neighborhood when he came across Meryl’s photos. He was so intrigued, he came to our show. Meryl Meisler’s second photography book was just released.
A year later, Meryl and I were working on our second exhibit at The Living Gallery, Defying Devastation: Bushwick Then & Now, when we took a much needed break at Bizarre Bar on Jefferson Street.
I met Meryl on a sunny spring day in
As fate would have it, Jean-Stéphane
Inwood Hill Park to interview her about
Sauvaire is the co-owner of Bizarre along
her latest opus. When asked about
with his business partner Gregory
the book title, Meryl took me back to
Baubeau. Jean had recently painted the
1957, when she was just six years old
basement black and dubbed it “The
in Massapequa, Long Island. Meryl
Black Box.” He invited Meryl to show her
befriended a girl her age who had just
work there. Meryl hesitated, thinking
moved to the block. One day, the girl
“I’m going from an under-the-subway
looked at Meryl seriously and said, “You
Bushwick gallery to a basement in a
could never go to heaven.” Though
bar?” I stepped in to bring her back to
Meryl can’t remember the girl’s name, she
earth: “Don’t be such a snob!” I said.
remembers the girl telling her that it was because Meryl was Jewish that she would
Meryl listened and that began a
be banished to purgatory, a word Meryl
partnership that culminated with Jean
had never heard until then. “My aunt’s
publishing Meryl’s first book, A Tale of
a nun and my uncle’s a priest, and they
Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick. The book
told me.” This was Meryl’s introduction to
was a hit, gaining media attention and
prejudice.
accolades around the world, so when Meryl approached BIZARRE Publishing
Almost twenty years later, when Meryl
with another book idea, Jean was all ears,
returned to New York in 1975, with her
and thus Purgatory & Paradise: Sassy 70s
first paycheckshe bought an antique
Suburbia & the City came to be.
edition of Dante’s Purgatory and 53
COVER FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY Paradise illustrated by Gustave Doré.
I asked Meryl how her second book
Though Meryl admits to never having
differs from the first. “Purgatory makes
read the book (“it’s incomprehensible,”
Disco Era in Bushwick look mild,” Meryl
she says), the purchase was a symbolic
says with a laugh. “I didn’t think I could
gesture. It was Meryl’s way of saying, “I
ever show anybody some of those
own you.” That was Meryl’s way of taking
pictures.”
back her power.
54 56
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE Purgatory & Paradise chronicles Meryl’s
Though known for her photography,
life in NYC from 1974 to 1979, when
Meryl says she only recently started
she says she found a home in the
owning the title of photographer. “I’m a
gritty metropolis of the time. Though
photography-based artist. Photography
she’d initially planned to return to the
is part of my tool kit.” Photography is
University of Wisconsin at Madison for
certainly in her DNA; her father was a
her MFA, the stars lined up to keep her
great photographer and she says she
in NYC, and Meryl began a journey that
never saw her grandfather without a
she chronicled in photos.
camera, though he never showed his pictures.
Meryl’s second book focuses on two cities existing in very different realities.
Trained as an illustrator, Meryl says she’s
Though she concedes that the book
always been in love with the camera
juxtaposes life in NYC to that in suburban
(her parents gave her her first camera
Massapequa, she adds that the worlds
called Adventurer when she was in the
weren’t so separate because “the worlds
second grade), but she really came
intermeshed for me all the time.” Her
to photography in the 1970s. “I was
father went to the city every day to work
walking around the streets, in love with
at his print shop and as a kid Meryl’s
the world.” Meryl found a home in NYC,
family visited aunts and grandparents in
where she met artists, activists, writers
the Bronx religiously every Sunday. “New
and intellectuals who taught her that
York City was always a part of my reality,”
she could be whoever she wanted to
she says.
be. Meryl had just come out to herself and her family and friends, and was in
Born in the South Bronx, Meryl’s family
transition while “the world around me
bought a house in the largely Italian,
was in transition.” Her camera became
Jewish, Irish and German town of
her way of talking to people.
Massapequa (also known as “Matza Pizza”), Long Island in the early 1950s when Meryl was two and half. In moving to the suburbs, Meryl’s parents sought to give their kids what they didn’t have. “They grew up very poor,” Meryl explains, “My dad was bowlegged
Young Meryl Meisler
because of malnutrition. It was the Depression.” 55
COVER FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY Meryl had no idea the images would
huge smile, “You inspired me. Like
become a book 40 years later. “I was just
you have to write your stories, I had to
in it,” she says. “I wasn’t ready then.”
look through my pictures and put these
She needed four decades of incubation
worlds together. I had to understand
to “see and understand the images
these stories to move forward.”
through time.” Through the visual memoir Purgatory, When I asked her what made her finally
Meryl shows us a world that made Meryl,
compile the books Disco Era and
Meryl. “It’s a coming of age story in
Purgatory, Meryl looked at me with a
pictures,” she says with surety that shows Meryl means business.
56 58
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58 60
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59
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Meryl Meisler’s Purgatory & Paradise photography exhibition is on view at Bizarre’s Black Box gallery through June at 12 Jefferson St., Bushwick.
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61
COVER FEATURE LIVING
What Goes Down in a Bushwick Loft, Stays in a Bushwick Loft By Brittany Natale - Photos by Alonzo Maciel
If it weren’t for the curtains, plants and
“Magical, versatile, and endlessly
the occasional cat sitting in the windows
inspiring,” Cassandra responds when
of tall industrial buildings in Bushwick
asked to describe the loft in her own
and East Williamsburg, these spaces
words. “Some days we’re having a full
could easily be mistaken for functional
moon circle or a ritual in the sunlight,
factories—something these buildings
other days we’re jamming or having a
actually used to be in their past lives.
blues concert. Sometimes the space is
Some of them, however, have been
covered in sawdust as we further build
reincarnated as residential lofts where
out different sections of the loft.”
many neighborhood creatives live. Seven years ago, Cassandra and To answer the questions of what exists,
her friends had been searching for
and who lives, on the other side of the
the perfect space to house their arts
buildings’ gray exteriors, we explored
collective, Numu Arts Collective (Numu
some of the neighborhood’s most
is an Arabic word meaning artistic or
interesting lofts and found out what
spiritual growth). The original idea was
goes down in them.
to find a loft where local creatives could
The Wilderness Loft
visit and collaborate, exhibit and be inspired by one another. Numu Arts
Location: Jefferson St L train stop
Collective ceased its operation in 2011,
Who Lives Here: Local creatives—
but The Wilderness Loft continues to
artist/musician Cassandra Wildheart,
uphold its original mission: To strengthen
healer Molly Burkett and
the community through art and music
Alphaville chef Aimee Hunter
events as well as a variety of workshops
http://wildernessbk.com/
including tarot classes, energy healing sessions, or figure drawing.
62 64
COVER FEATURE LIVING “This loft is a place of learning and
recent name, The Wilderness Loft,
creativity for me as an artist,” Cassandra
invokes the free spirit in each of us, who
explains. “I’ve built everything in here,
resides in the wilderness, where there are
from the tiling to the dining table and the
no rules but ample inspiration.”
electrical landscape to the ceilings, the paintings and the pottery. I wrote the
Cassandra goes on to share how she
first draft of my novel in the sunlight
feels the space is a “grown-up
here. [This loft] is a hand-built cabin in
fun
the middle of the Industrial Business
where musical instruments and other
Zone in a building that is still mostly a
delightful things to encourage creativity
working factory. The space itself has a
can easily be found throughout. The view
soul that is ever-transforming and has
of the sunset from the large, factory-style
gone and goes by many names. Its most
windows is also truly breathtaking.
house,” a “dream party house”
63
COVER FEATURE LIVING “I’ve been calling it my dream loft,” says Cassandra’s loft-mate, tarot reader and healer, Molly Burkett. “I grew up in a small town in the Midwest, and living independently in NYC as an artist was
A Cabin in a Loft
Location: Morgan Ave L train stop
Who Lives Here: Artists Terri Chiao and Adam Frezza of CHIAOZZA
http://acabininaloft.tumblr.com/
my one specific goal. When I come home and I can see the entire Manhattan skyline from the couch, it’s literally a dream come true. I love living in a place I can really be proud of and excited about.“
Imagine escaping the urban jungle and retreating into an adult version of a childhood tree house...This is a reality for artist couple Terri Chiao and Adam Frezza (aka CHIAOZZA) who come home to their forest cabin every day. This quiet cabin in a loft is situated in Morgantown’s industrial setting among hard hats and hordes of rumbling cement trucks. The 2-bedroom loft, known fittingly as “A Cabin in a Loft,” started in 2009 when Terri moved to Bushwick from Rotterdam and was searching for a raw space that could be built out into a playful live/work space. Trained in architecture, Terri worked with the help of her friends to build a cabin and a treehouse (each impressively with its own garden) that also act as private sleeping quarters. With pitched cabin ceilings, a raised platform and a wooden staircase, the treehouse/cabin aesthetic is a dream fulfilled. The cabin is even available for short-term rentals for those visiting NYC looking for a unique and comfortable place to stay.
64 66
COVER FEATURE LIVING
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COVER FEATURE LIVING
“The structures within emerged as a way
keep the space light, peaceful, and
to work with the funny geometries in the
inspiring. We move things around a lot
existing space,”explains Terri, “as well
whenever we feel the need to shift the
as to create private spaces that maintain
energy of the space or when we have
a flow of light and air through the
some new needs that might dictate new
apartment and were cozy spaces in and of themselves.” When Terri and Adam met in 2011, additions such as shelving, storage, lighting, more artwork and more plants came about, further transforming their home into a beautiful living collage of light, color, and nature. “We also like to think of it as an airy
“In the busy city, where nature’s solace can be hard to find and usually involves a bit of a car ride, bringing the wilderness indoors is sometimes needed in order to thrive. We need to feel connected to our environment in order to respect it. It keeps us inspired, active, and able,
echo of an island beach house,” the duo
physically, mentally, and spiritually,”
says. “We are artists and are working
Adam and Terri add.
constantly, and it is important to us to
66 68
changes. It’s everevolving.”
COVER FEATURE LIVING
The House of Oops
Location: Central M/DeKalb L train stops Who Lives Here: Sabina Appadu, a musician from France and Mauritius; Karin Raudsepp and Sofia Räisänen, both dancers from Sweden; Meli Sanfiorenzo, an artist/creative from the Bronx; and Michelle Kalinkina, a vintage shop owner/event planner from Moscow http://thehouseofoops.tumblr.com/ New York City has always been known as a melting pot and it is truly amazing how many cultures you can experience on a daily basis. Whether it be Flushing’s Asian restaurants, Chinatown’s traditional delicacies or Ridgewood’s Polish and Puerto Rican roots, New York City’s ethnic enclaves are aplenty. But could you imagine experiencing over 100 cultures without ever leaving the comfort of your own home? The House of Oops’ founder Meli Sanfiorenzo has lived with over 100 loftmates of all backgrounds over the past five years, spanning from international artists to local creatives. This is not just a coincidence but The House of Oops’ mission to connect with as many creative energies as possible in the form of a self-residency. “This all started from a feeling I had in my gut while traveling and living a nomadic life with my camera and my 67
COVER FEATURE LIVING journals,” Meli shares. “I realized I was
nomads and gypsies of today. I didn’t
on a search for more meaning in
just want to live in a captivated, artificial
everyday living, expressions, and
way. I wanted to live with expression, for
routines. I lived in Barcelona, Paris,
us to have time with our philosophies
Buenos Aires and had a taste of places
and a base to land in between our
like Berlin and Amsterdam. Through
travels and search.”
these travels, I experienced a lot of squats, community spaces, and collective
So in February of 2010 Meli, along with
movements. It was my dream to give
her two friends Sandra Passirani and
creative living a chance one day and to
Pedro Jimenez, got to work and built
have a unique movement that constantly
out a loft space in the Tea Factory, a
changes. I always had this romantic idea
Stockholm Street building once owned
of living in a salon like the great artists
appropriately by Spice and Tea
in the late 1800s, except in this modern
Exclusively Ltd.
day, cultivating an environment with
68 70
love, support, colors and space to create
“Our loft space is inspired by so many
together. I realized we are the artists,
details from diverse places,” explains
COVER FEATURE LIVING Meli. “One in particular is La Boca in Buenos Aires for its colors and movement. I wanted to make sure I continued a colorful path, understanding how important our surroundings are. Here in this space was the first time we could fully express this.” The loft is indeed decorated in a style reminiscent of La Boca—the space is colorful and whimsical, with playful artwork hung across the walls and ceiling. Every inch breathes creativity into the rooms and there is an opportunity for self expression always within an arm’s length—instruments tucked into corners, art supplies stashed under lofted room platforms, and recycled materials just waiting to be repurposed.
SkyFortress
Location: Jefferson L train stop Who Lives Here: Russ (Science and Operations); Jonathan (Engineering Bay); Jaqui (Beast Master); Michelle (Psychology & Medicine); Mike (Captain); Dane (Security & Recreation); Tori (Master of Arms)
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COVER FEATURE LIVING On the fourth floor of a working factory
fourth floor of a working factory with our
building, is a living space that is fit for
heads in the sky, thinking above the
an otherworldly creature or someone
clouds without limits.”
looking to have an intergalactic experience. Inspired by spaceships
SkyFortress, which started in the summer
exploring new worlds and galaxies,
of 2014, began as a space where creative
SkyFortress is home to a group of
people from all over the world and of all
creative individuals who all work, play
backgrounds could come live and work
and collaborate daily.
together with the main goal to create both individually and collaboratively.
70 72
“It’s literally a fortress in a sense that
Many people have passed through
the building is one of the last ones
its doors and the space has taken on
to remain untouched by a gentrifying
many different names, but the mission
neighborhood,” loft resident Russ
to create and collaborate has always
explains. “We live, work and play on the
remained the same.
COVER FEATURE LIVING
Loft at Cheap Storage
Location: Jefferson L train stop “SkyFortress is a temple of creative energy,” loftmates explain.”There are no rules and anything goes—ideas, poems, drawings, jokes, and joints are thrown around day and night. These ideas are passed around and thrown into the space itself. We each strive to live these ideas, to experience more than just a meek living. We share our space. We share our food. We share the creative spirit.” Like many creative lofts in the neighborhood, SkyFortress is on a divided factory floor with high ceilings and a wall full of windows. “In the
Who Lives Here: Myles Bennett, a painter; Matthew Chaves, a
photographer; Zachary Weingart, a
lighting engineer; Jon Bozeman, sound engineer
Finding the “perfect” apartment is hard—we have all been there. It is either at an awesome location with no closets or privacy, or it is an amazing space in the middle of No Man’s Land. So imagine finding a super huge, super raw, super amazing potential living space in a great location and getting to decideexactly how things were going to be designed. This is what happened when four guys stumbled across Cheap
summer it feels like I’m camping—totally
Storage’s unfinished spaces four years
exposed to the urban industrial jungle in
ago and were then able to use it as a
Bushwick,” Russ says.
canvas for their creativity.
“One of the social projects we have
The story behind the loft actually took
planned is the SkyFortress Cantina,” Russ
root eight years ago at the infamous
explains. “This will be a donation-based,
McKibbin Lofts. Known for its loud
plate-size brunch spot open on the
parties, bedbugs, and panoramic
weekends with simple food and simple service. The idea is that we have the space to share something so honest as a warm meal and we can’t turn that away. All of us have a passion for cooking and we want to share that outside the home as well as the ideas that come from sharing a meal.”
rooftop views of the city, the McKibbin Lofts were also where these four friends were once all residents and neighbors. “Bushwick was different eight years ago,” explains loftmate Matthew Chaves. “Neighbors turned to friends and we’ve been a clique ever since.”
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COVER FEATURE LIVING These four guys’ stint at McKibbin was
The Cheap Storage building, which was
only cut short when Myles and Zach
once indeed a storage building, recently
invited Matthew to check out a space in
served as one of the film settings for
the Cheap Storage building right off of
the Noah Baumbach movie While We’re
the Jefferson Street stop.
Young. It was the space where The Love
“It was intimidating to look at a 10,000 square feet loft,” Matthew says. “We knew we didn’t want to run an artists’ commune to pay the rent so we had the landlord section off the best chunk of the third floor, just shy of 4,000 square feet, making sure we got to keep the 60 feet expanse of window light as well as the freight elevator.”
Supreme shot their fun debut music video and was the subject of Bushwick Daily’s 2014 April Fool’s joke (yes, some people still do believe Madonna bought part of Cheap Storage to make a rooftop restaurant). A year ago, the landlord opened a coworking space, Brooklyn Desks, on the ground floor. Bushwick residents have attended many shows and parties at this building with some awesome rooftop views.
72 74
COVER FEATURE LIVING
“Myles is an architect by education,”
The finished product is a work of art in
Matthew shared, “so he plotted out
itself—Brutalist-style columns hold up
some blueprints and we spent the early
the ceiling, the concrete floor is almost
part of that summer building out the space. We slept in sleeping bags covered in sawdust, used dozens of lint rollers and lived near exclusively on Los Hermanos tacos and Wyckoff Starr iced Americanos. It was an amazing opportunity to customize our lives and decide how we would live and work. We are all creative people and wanted a
completely painted grey, the space is furnished with loads of handmade items and there is an array of rare foliage throughout. The afternoons are bright and sunny, and the loft usually smells of warm breeze and Nag Champa. When asked if there were any inspirations behind the loft setup Matthew simply states, “It’s just a much
space that we could live and work, both
grander version of every place we’ve
collectively and separately.”
ever lived in Bushwick.” And isn’t that the goal?
73
BOS
The biggest open studio event in New York City operates on a modest budget and relies on the work of hundreds of volunteers. How does it really work? by Katarina Hybenova - Photo by Phil Buehler
In 2006 Bushwick was already talked
edition of Bushwick Open Studios
about as the next hot neighborhood.
(BOS) was held as a one-day event.
In March, The New York Times ran an
The festival was organized in sweat
article called “Psst... Have You Heard
and sheer determination of a group of
About Bushwick?” that brought this
young, hopeful social entrepreneurs, the
“up-and-coming neighborhood” to
core of which resided at 340 Melrose
the attention of the wider public. Life
Street lofts.
Café at 983 Flushing Ave was serving comfort food to a community of artists
With a particular goal to foster a greater
who rented lofts in defunct factories as
community involvement, Melrose Loft
the manufacturing was slowly but surely
group joined the efforts of a group
abandoning Brooklyn. Bodegas were
behind Bushwick Art Project, a daylong,
selling newspaper, lottery tickets and
curated festival held for the first time
cheap canned beans. “[Bushwick] was a
in 2005. When however, Bushwick
place where you could do things, create
Art Project backed off last minute, the
art, express yourself ... There was a spirit
Melrose Loft group found themselves in
of freedom, innocence ... A feeling of
an uneasy situation.
potential,” photographer Rafael Fuchs, resident of Morgantown since 2005,
“We only have 21 days left to pull this
recalled.
off,” Thomas Bell emailed his friends. “But I think we can make it work.” The
74 76
In the shadows of Bushwick Art Project
response was overwhelmingly positive,
It was in October 2006 when the first
and the group got to work.
BOS
Some of the current generation of Arts in Bushwick organizers (from left): Jillian Salik, Rhett Henckel, Nicole Brydson, Lucia Rollow, Celia Muller, Lauren Smith, Alexandria Hodgkins, Samantha Katz, Cibele Vieira, Nina Keneally, Hanley Ma
Several members of the Melrose Loft
be curated in a show and where they
group moved to Bushwick from DUMBO
could present their work across the
as the neighborhood changed from a
disciplines.”
land of an artistic promise into land of office buildings and designer boutiques.
The group’s first decision was to
In a conceptualization of Bushwick
therefore abandon any curation or
Open Studios, the group was largely
selection of the participants to Bushwick
influenced by DUMBO’s Under the
Open Studios, and to let the festival
Bridge festival (today’s DUMBO Arts
simply curate itself. If you wanted to be
Festival).
part of it, all you needed to do was to register. This democratic approach of
“The main challenge for us, however,
self-curation has been one of the most
was that in DUMBO you needed to
important aspects to make Bushwick
be curated in if you wanted to do, say,
Open Studios such a success in the
something in the streets,” explained
years to come. Thanks to the direct
Christina deRoos. We wanted a different
access to the festival participation,
structure; we wanted to provide a
everyone and everything in the
platform where artists didn’t need to
neighborhood was eligible. 75
BOS The group soon found out that they
Local businesses stepped in
didn’t have the capacity to fulfill all the
Potion (now a defunct café at McKibbin
tasks connected with the organization
Lofts donated space) once participated,
of the festival. “We didn’t know how to
Nut Roaster (today’s Brooklyn Fire Proof)
make maps or the website,” explained
provided live music and performances,
Christina deRoos. On a limited budget,
and Ad Hoc gallery (today an organic
hiring a professional wasn’t an option
grocery store) hosted a group art show
either. The group decided therefore to
of 50 artists who didn’t have studios of
open source the work to its enthusiastic
their own. This tradition, later dubbed
community laying another important
as “Seeking Space” continues to today.
pillar of the festival—reliance on
There was also a curated a film festival,
volunteer work without any hierarchical
a circus performance, burlesque, and
structure.
even a street parade.
“If [the festival] doesn’t get media attention or enough people come, and none of those things were certain, is it still a success?”
“It had the power of bringing people together,” says Christina as she recalls spontaneous moments of joy. “So much was happening, the community was really connected.”
The work on the first edition of Bushwick
At the “we did it” meeting, 15 artists
Open Studios brought up some important
realized that in order to make Bushwick
questions about motivation. “If [the
Open Studios happen again in 2007
festival] doesn’t get media attention or
and hopefully in years to come as well,
enough people come, and none of those
which was something they intended
things were certain, is it still a success?”
on passionately, they had to form
Christina recalls a conversation she had
an organization specifically for this
during this time with Thomas. “For those
purpose. Arts in Bushwick (AiB) was
who define success as a pure artistic
thus born as an egalitarian, volunteer
expression and connection with other
organization leaving enough space and
artists and community, it was a success.
flexibility for years to come…
But not everybody was on board.”
76 78
But Bushwick Open Studios 2006 was
Over 500 artists, spaces and businesses
poised for a success. 85 artists and 15
have registered for Bushwick Open
locations participated that day, creating
Studios 2015, and thousands of visitors
a little cultural upheaval throughout the
are expected to come to Bushwick
neighborhood.
during the first weekend in June. It is
BOS not a stretch to say that in the whole-
Can you contribute in a meaningful
wide, culturally rich New York City, there
way? Be a festival organizer
isn’t a bigger and more celebrated open
The original founders of Bushwick Open
studio event that the one organized by
Studios, have largely moved on to their
Arts in Bushwick.
next projects (Christina deRoos and Thomas Bell moved to Detroit, where
Studios are the primary focus despite the growth of parties and satellite
they run a non-profit organization, an incubator for arts, called SpreadArt.) The
events BOS has always meant to be
new generation of organizers, most of
a big celebration rather than a quiet
whom became involved with the festival
and contemplative artistic event,
in 2012, remains truthful to the all-
but in recent years, the festival has
volunteer and non-hierarchical structure
experienced an increase of loud parties
of Arts in Bushwick set in 2006.
and big events. Bushwick Collective Block Party, held for three years in row
“Anybody can become a team member
at Troutman Street between St. Nicholas
if they are interested and capable of
and Wyckoff Avenues, has been a
contributing in a meaningful way,”
mammoth event that attracts crowds
explained Samantha Katz, one of the
who come for live street art, concerts,
current festival organizers who manages
beer tent and raffles sponsored by
the incoming partnership opportunities,
local businesses. NEWD Art Fair has
and oversees marketing and press
announced its second reincarnation
efforts.
during Bushwick Open Studios, and even though it is not your typical art
Currently, 11 volunteers perform
fair, NEWD brings a new dimension
year-round tasks connected with
(and collectors) to the neighborhood
general operation of the organization.
celebration of arts.
Additional 5-10 core organizers focus specifically on Bushwick Open Studios
Organizers, however, maintain their
and approximately 100 volunteers in
primary focus on the artist studio
total are divided between the various
portion of the event: “We can only
committees.
control what we promote, nothing else,” said Arts in Bushwick representative, “so
“We each have very active lives outside
we are limiting our ‘official’ events and
of the organization, but nevertheless
attempting to draw more attention to
find ample personal time to contribute
regular studios that don’t get attention
to Arts in Bushwick,” said Katz, who
year round.”
herself works as a creative director at a digital advertising agency. 77
BOS “I got involved with AiB within months
leadership programming. Among many
of moving to NYC. I was looking to
partnerships and programs, The Arts in
meet peers, neighbors, and explore the
Bushwick High School Fellows program
local arts scene. […] Involvement with
pairs Bushwick high school students
AiB gives me a sense of community,”
with a team of artist mentors for skill
explained the motives behind hours of
building, community leadership, as well
unpaid work Café Ghia waitress, Willow
as esteem-building opportunities at no
Goldstein, a co-editor of the Arts in
cost to the students or their families.
Bushwick Blog. Volunteer-run festivals have pros In comparison with the years pre-2012,
and cons Volunteer-run festivals
Arts in Bushwick have canceled festivals
of the BOS size, however, remain
Site Fest and Beta Spaces, which their
a rarity in New York. It seems that
predecessors created to showcase
despite its limitations, AiB is able
Bushwick performative arts as well as
to achieve its goals. “As Bushwick
Bushwick’s curated art shows.
experiences a variety of changes we
“They were pet projects of people
are able to respond accordingly and
involved prior to 2012,” told us Lucia
create meaningful programming for
Rollow who fields general inquiries for
all residents through the arts,” told
AiB. “Since 2012 we have redirected the
us AiB representative. Through the
energy that used to go into those events
constant influx of new volunteers, AiB
towards expanding our Community
benefits from new blood and energy,
Projects.”
and the ability to be in touch with community needs to a greater extent.
And Arts in Bushwick seems to very
The connectivity, openness, and
serious about their mission “to
feelings of accessibility and ownership
work towards an integrated and
of the festival follow directly from the
sustainable neighborhood through arts
volunteer structure as well.
programming, creative accessibility,
78 80
and community organizing.” Besides
However, reliance solely on volunteer
the most visible component of their
work brings also a lack in consistency,
work, the Bushwick Open Studios
which is particularly visible on the
festival, AiB offers a full year of
marketing materials of the organization.
programming that includes free and
The annual festival programs come
accessible workshops, events, and
every year with diametrically different
programs for Bushwick residents,
look and size and with a different ways
with a special focus on Bushwick
of mapping of the neighborhood. Their
youth arts education and community
registration website seems to change
BOS every year as well, leaving us without
representatives,“This covers the costs
a structured way to review information
of producing the print materials for
about the previous years.
BOS, event insurance, permits, and transportation costs associated with
Under its volunteer leadership, AiB has
producing the festival. Any additional
not yet been able to obtain a 501(c)(3)
funds go to supporting our year-round
nonprofit organization status throughout
Community Projects.”
nine years of their existence, although the organizers have assured us that they
Interestingly, AiB spends a large part
are currently in process of doing so. The
of its budget ($15-$20,000) on print
organization has been operating as an
of 10,000 copies of festival programs,
incorporated business through a fiscal
which are freely available for a pick up
sponsor, which could also be a limiting
at festival hubs.
factor for benefactors with deep pockets looking for tax deductible opportunities
Arts in Bushwick has not yet been in a
in art.
position of dilemma about big corporate sponsorship money because, as they
It could be argued that the festival
say, they haven’t been approached yet.
could grow faster and the programing
“While we have received the occasional
could bring more tangible results if the
email from a bank or real estate mogul
organization operated through a small,
that we simply ignore, we would
trained full time staff in addition to all
certainly entertain the idea of financial
its volunteers like it’s a case for many
backing--from a company whose values
other non-profit organizations such as
[are] aligned with our own--if it meant
NURTUREart, but perhaps the current
we could improve the festival in ways
size of its operation is just right for the
we have yet to explore,” explained
rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of
Samantha Katz.
Bushwick. AiB budget allows only for the basic Arts in Bushwick currently operates on a modest annual budget. The BOS registration fees ($30 a space), sponsorships provided mostly by local businesses and the annual benefit, during which the organization raffles off donated art work, brings in just
“While we have received the occasional email from a bank or real estate mogul that we simply ignore, we would certainly entertain the idea of financial backing--from a company whose values [are] aligned with our own.”
under $25,000, told us Arts in Bushwick 79
BOS
Some businesses experience 300-
400% revenue increase during BOS, others don’t
Ben and Gina concluded with a very important observation: “The artists in this community are the foundation that we built this thriving neighborhood
The festival has a huge economic
on. It’s pretty important that the
impact on the service industry in the
artists remain here for us to have any
neighborhood. The owners of The
authenticity as a neighborhood or else it
Bodega, a wine bar on 24 St. Nicholas
could jump the shark…”
Ave, Ben Warren and Gina Leone go as far as to claim that Arts in Bushwick has
The family of Salvatore B. Polizzi has
single-handedly saved their business
been operating Tony’s Pizzeria and
from bankruptcy when they first opened
Restaurant, on 443 Knickerbocker Ave
in 2010. “They were coming in all the
in Bushwick for over 40 years. “My
time for meetings, having parties and
brothers and I are very excited to see
drinks with us and the regulars,” the
and hear that the cultural art scene in
owners told us, “but more importantly
this neighborhood has become such a
we were thrilled to be a part of a potent
dramatic force in its own right,” told us
artists community.”
Salvatore. “We’ll see kids and young adults, underestimated only because of
The Bodega has sponsored and
the impoverished neighborhood and the
participated in Bushwick Open Studios
arduous economic conditions they’ve
every year since they opened, covering
grown up in, naturally summoning
their walls with local art and staging
their talents, ” Salvatore continued
poetry readings.
enthusiastically.
“Business skyrockets during the days
“It’s logical to believe that all businesses
of BOS,” the owners told us. “We
in the area are positively impacted [by
actually start planning for it months in
BOS]. However, in speaking to various
advance. We change our menus for ease
merchants in the area, it’s truly hit-or-
of service. Our staff swells to at least
miss,” continued Salvatore B. Polizzi,
double. Everyone elevates their game--
who, to that effect, has been trying to
you can sell 3-4 times as much food and
revive the now defunct Knickerbocker
drink as a normal weekend. After the
Merchant Association. Salvatore, whose
weekend we’re all exhausted and we
restaurant has been experiencing an
usually take everyone out to thank them
uptick in the revenue during the festival
for their tremendous work.”
weekends, explained that the biggest issue facing Bushwick at the moment is
80 82
BOS trying to find the balance between the
function so successfully in any place
new and old Bushwick. “Sadly, not all
other than Bushwick, which despite
of the old Bushwick is experiencing the
its progressing gentrification is full
beauty of what BOS has to offer and
of artists and people for whom pure
that needs to change!”
artistic expression and community connectedness are a success in itself.
“Having posters on Knickerbocker
Despite its imperfections, BOS is an
Avenue as a main commercial zone for
ever-important window through which
Bushwick residents about the event
the world and, more importantly,
can serve to engage those living
Bushwick can see itself…
and working within and without the neighborhood and, in turn, put the
Bushwick Open Studios is held on
event on a pedestal - an event that ALL
June 5 through June 7, 2015. For more
of Bushwick can take part in!”
information, please visit artsinbushwick. org
For the artist community itself Bushwick Open Studios has been a great stimulant for action and a catalysator of their efforts. Paul D’Agostino, local artist, writer, scholar and polygot had taken the necessary steps to open his now legendary loft gallery, Centotto 250 Moore St. #108, in May 2008. “We participated [in BOS] that year and had over 500 visitors in one weekend alone, so we just kept doing shows,” explained Paul D’Agostino. Artist Sophia Chizuco who has been participating in BOS since 2011 said she sold some small works and received press thanks to her open studio at Brooklyn Brush Studios (203 Harrison Pl). Bushwick Open Studios will celebrate its 10-year anniversary next year. Holding onto its innocence, an organization like Arts in Bushwick probably wouldn’t 81
COVERDARK AFTER FEATURE
Where Old And New Brooklyn Meet And People Get Drunk, Naked And Happy By: Henry Miller - Photographs by Gustavo Ponce
82 84
COVER AFTER FEATURE DARK Pumps isn’t working with a whole lot of space, but the mirrors on every wall
made more than forty percent of its
give you the sense of hidden corners,
profits from sexual content (i.e. toys,
side rooms and secret doors. Dirt bikes
porn or tits in the flesh) would be allowed
as well as mementos from the owner’s
to operate within fivehundred feet of a
childhood decorate the walls. The stage
school, place of worship or another
is a simple setup behind the bar with
such establishment. Members of the
three poles in a line, each continuously
community initially protested it being
mounted by some of the most skilled
allowed even there, according to Andy,
dancers in New York City. A neon red
the fast-talking, down-to-Earth, Brooklyn
sign above reads, “If you ain’t got no
raised owner and founder of the club.
money, then get your broke ass out.” In a lonely building on Grand Street in East Williamsburg, Pumps rests amongst nameless industrial fortresses and
“Pumps has a reputation for being one of the last old school, unpretentious joints in the city...”
abandoned rail yards a few hundred feet from the muddy waters of Whale
Fortunately for Andy, the location
Creek. As far as New York strip clubs
ended up having an unexpected
go, it has a reputation for being one
advantage when the tidal wave of young
of the last old school, unpretentious
transplants flooded nearby Williamsburg,
joints in the city—a blue collar paradise
Greenpoint and Bushwick.
and cheap alternative to the expensive “Gentlemen’s Clubs” that can be found
Over the past eighteen years, as
in Manhattan. It opened in 1997, when
gentrification leaked over the East River
Mayor Giuliani had already begun
and spread like wildfire along the path of
enforcing the cabaret laws that shut
the L train, Pumps has flourished with the
down many of the strip clubs, peep
new business. The club has even become
shows and porn shops that peppered
a small hotbed of transgressive artists
Manhattan from top to bottom like a
in recent years, reflecting shifts in the
giant titty-tenderloin.
north Brooklyn neighborhoods that have become known for boundary-pushing
Pumps was allowed to open because its
events like NYC Pornfest, The Smallest
location at the fringes of North Brooklyn
Penis in Brooklyn Contest, Bushwig, and
didn’t violate the 1995 “60-40” zoning
Tooth Box: A Vagina Dentata
law, which dictated that no venue that
Competition. 83
COVERDARK AFTER FEATURE “This whole spot fell together perfectly.
90 whiskeys, seasonal cocktails and a
It’s the perfect storm. You are not going
frequently rotating list of craft beer
to get a neighborhood that is as cool
on draft.”
as Williamsburg or Greenpoint or this whole surrounding area. This is like a
As the neighborhood transformed, so
soup of cool area,” Andy told me last
did the people who walked into Pumps
November in his manager’s office in the
looking for a job.
basement of Pumps, which is equipped with an aluminum bat and a row of
Stephanie, who graduated college
CCTV sets that he instinctively scans
with a performing arts degree while
every few moments.
training as a ballet dancer, is currently enrolled in circus school and also works
Andy grew up in the surrounding area in
part-time at Pumps. I first encountered
the ‘80s, a time he remembers as being
the voluptuous beauty last Fall at a
filled with “gunshots and craziness.”
Bizarre Bar production called Tooth
He describes the early days of his
Box: A Vagina Dentata Competition,
club as “off the hook bad. Every night
a show that embraced the male
was a brawl. Every night was terrible.
paranoiabased myth in order to subvert
This whole place, there was nothing
preconceptions of female beauty. It
here. The only reason to come here
was a night filled with cross-dressing,
[Bushwick, East Williamsburg] was
severed penises, big bushes and cheers
to come here.” He raised his arms,
to the downfall of the patriarchy.
gesturing the expanse beyond the basement’s cinderblock
After one performer at the competition
walls, “This whole area was dark. No
severed a fake blood-filled strap-on
lights, no nothing.”
dildo from her body and tossed it into the crowd (the winning act), Stephanie
Now there is a BP gas station with
went onstage to do a gogo routine
a Dunkin Donuts across the street,
that struck me as something more
flooding the exterior of Pumps with a
likely to be found in a strip club than at
purifying white light. One block over
an avant garde burlesque show. After
is 1027 Grand Street, a massive brick
I complimented her moves and the
building that hosts Striphanger as well
anaconda tattoo that wraps around her
as a number of other artists’ studios.
body from her toes to her shoulder,
Next to 1027 Grand is the International
Stephanie confirmed my suspicions
Studio And Curatorial Program. A few
about her second job.
blocks away, Kings Tavern offers “over
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COVER AFTER FEATURE DARK A few weeks later at a coffee shop in the Lower East Side, I asked Stephanie about burlesque and its relationship to its seedier, less respected cousin. “Because the frame for this is burlesque versus strip, I think that, for me personally, it’s on the same spectrum,” Stephanie said. “Everything that happens in a burlesque show, or in a strip club—it’s all the same idea.” In her experience, stripping and burlesque are not mutually exclusive professions, and this is especially the case for Pumps.
“Everything that happens in a burlesque show, or in a strip club—it’s all the same idea.” The reason for working in a strip club is typically financial for many other performers at the strip club. Stephanie explained, “You can hands down make more money stripping than through any other dance medium.” Or as Bianca Dagga, who dances at Pumps and was GO Magazine’s “Sexiest Burlesque Performer” of NYC in 2009, told me in Andy’s office: “The difference between burlesque and stripping is that you can fit your costume in your pocket as a stripper, and in burlesque you are paying to create your costume.” Boas, feather fans, and strapons can really run up your performance budget. Emily, another burlesque performer who works at Pumps, told me after my interview in Andy’s office that she is 85
COVERDARK AFTER FEATURE
a “fire eater and sex worker’s rights
managed strip club that allows her to
activist” and chose Pumps in part
express her unbridled sexual self. “I am
because there are no house or DJ
there for fun. It is the great existential
fees, which can be up to $150 before
feminist performance art experiment of
the dancer even gets onstage in some
my life, right now.” She is not the only
clubs. “So when do you have a sex
Pumps dancer that feels that way.
worker rights activist working at a strip club?” Andy said in a moment of hubris,
Dawn is a twenty-three year old
to which the firebreathing activist armed
performance artist and model who has
with fourinch stilettos immediately
collaborated with a number of New
retorted, “Most of the time.”
Yorkbased artists, including Bushwick local Michael Alan. After moving to New
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For Stephanie, who does not need
York last summer she quickly realized
the income and only works at Pumps a
that her artistic endeavors did not
couple of nights a month, it is a well
cover the costs of living in the big city,
COVER AFTER FEATURE DARK
so she picked up a few shifts at Pumps.
can be pretty slow (not everybody wants
Dawn now makes pretty good money
to head to Whale Creek on a rainy day).
modeling and doing various other
But a Pumps employee always finds
performances, charging on average $150
something to do—whether it’s reading
per show; however, she still relies on the
Voltaire in the basement, learning new
$400-600 a week to have a
pole tricks from a friend onstage or
steady income that pays the rent, and and
working on their next burlesque routine
she doesn’t see that changing anytime
upstairs in Andy’s state-of-theart
soon. “I would say that, if you want to be
music studio.
an artist in New York City, you either need to do some kind of sex work or have rich
Andy’s unofficial policy regarding his
parents. Period,” she explained.
employees using the studio is: “If you want to go up there and sing, if you
Dawn works three or four 9PM to 4AM
want to go up there and draw, or if you
shifts a week at Pumps, some of which
want to go up there and, whatever, 87
AFTER COVER FEATURE PUMPSDARK further yourself, I don’t care.” It seems to
“I don’t want my daughter to become
be that freedom and encouragement to
a dancer (because I would like her to
pursue other career goals, even if they
become the first female president or
might be at another strip club, that has
cure cancer) not because of what the job
made Pumps such a popular place to
entails, but if she did I wouldn’t mind it
drop a resume. That and the fact that
as much because of what the job enables
Andy appears to be beloved by everyone
these women to do. Such as having
who works for him.
the freedom to pursue there passion
“If you want to be an artist in New York City, you either need to do some kind of sex work or have rich parents. Period.”
of the arts /school or just the financial independence to do what they want and not have to rely on a ‘man’ for support... What I really meant to say was that the women of today dancing at Pumps are more independent, dynamic and
Dallas, a former dancer and coproducer
goal oriented. Where as 18 years ago
of Girls! Girls! Girls! (a burlesque event
the girls came here made money and
that the club put on in May), has no
usually found a husband (for the good or
reservations in expressing her admiration
bad) got married and left the business,
for the management. “To have not only
today for the most part the girls leave
a boss, but an owner of an establishment
to pursue other avenues in there life for
to forfeit his time and money to boost
themselves.”
moral so that we can launch our careers, it’s huge. Huge,” she told me over a few drinks at the bar in April.
The demographics of the patrons
of the club have also slightly shifted along with the neighborhood. Dallas has
Andy must have enjoyed our first
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noticed a lot of Tinder dates lately. Andy
conversation in November because
says that there are certainly more women
afterwards he offered me a Pumps tshirt.
than there used to be—perhaps because
While he was unlocking the storage closet
many of the dancers are gay—which is
tucked away behind his office, he quietly
fine so long as they tip just like everybody
told me that, these days, he wouldn’t
else. (According to some of the dancers,
mind if his daughter danced at a place
ladies don’t.) But there is still an “allsorts”
like Pumps. I later asked him to explain
vibe about the daily crowd that rushes in.
what he meant by email. He responded
In April, a surly looking employee of Andy’s
[sic throughout]:
told me, “If it’s on this planet, it’s in Pumps.”
COVER AFTER FEATURE DARK PUMPS “If you ask anybody about this place, it
say to yourself, ‘I want to see something
is definitely like a Cheers. And I would
else going on.’ For almost the same price
rather have that than some crazy, bottle
of the drinks, you come here and see
service, suckfuck joint upstairs,” Andy
topless dancing. And all we’re asking is
told me in November. After a handful of
that, when a girl comes over, give her a
visits to the club, I might agree with him.
dollar.”
Pumps is a far cry from Brooklyn’s current
I recommend a bit more than that. She
aesthetic—you won’t find intentionally
just might be saving up for a bloodfilled
exposed brick or weathered wood here,
dildo to cut off and toss in the face of the
the lighting isn’t natural or warm, and
patriarchy.
the acoustics can be a bit grating (thanks in part to the mirrorcovered walls). But
Upon request, several names have been
Cliff and Norm didn’t keep going back
changed or omitted for the purposes of
because Cheer’s was pretty; they went
this article.
back because it felt like home and nobody from the outside world would bother them there. From the music—which bounces aimlessly from Radiohead to Eminem to Metallica— and the cheap(ish) beer, to the ladies who just want to work on some moves and be your dollara song therapist. From the lighting that seems like it was stolen off the sign of a 50’s diner, to the doorless lap dance rooms and the miniature Nascar models hanging from the ceiling, this place has an atmosphere that is unlikely to be copied, bought or made family-friendly, unlike most everything else in this city. Here is Andy’s unofficial pitch: “So you get bored of the Charleston or talking to the same guy for four hours, and you 89
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Art Spaces 1 ART 3
109 Ingraham St ART 3 offers contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists. With an online platform and a gallery space, ART 3 aims to be a dynamic place for the discovery of great new talent. Open W-Sa:12pm-6pm, Su:1pm-5pm (646 ) 331-3162 art-3gallery.com
2 Grace Exhibition Space
840 Broadway, 2nd Fl Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art, offering an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid career or established. See website for schedule (646) 578-3402 graceexhibition-space.com
3 ODETTA
229 Cook St ODETTA is a new gallery exhibiting works by mid-career artists who have honed their craft and their vision. Special interest in contemporary painting, glyphs, music, color field, Buddha mind, Minimalism, playfulness and encyclopaedic obsessiveness. Open F-Su:1pm-6pm, or by appt. (203) 598-1517 odettagallery.com
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4 Rosy Bleu
119 Ingraham St #100 Rosy Bleu, created by artist Lindsay Rose Risk, will be exhibiting for BOS at her studio located at Brooklyn Fire Proof. Lindsay will also be exhibiting at Schwick Open Studios. Open BOS: 12pm-7pm (310) 779-2544 rosybleu.com
5 Studio 17
1780 Broadway Opening June, 2015. Bushwick’s newest event space and gallery. Gut renovated, oakwood floors, kitchen and bathroom facilities. A beautiful setting for your next party, meeting, exhibition, film or photo shoot. studio17bushwick.com
8 Boobie Trap
308 Bleecker St Boobie Trap is the slumber party that never ended! Come have cheap drinks, play board games , and color some naughty coloring book pages! Don’t get lost in the boobie ceiling bathroom or the bartender might tell you to f#%k off, eeeeck! Open M-Sa:12pm-4am, Su:12pm-12am (347) 240-9105 boobietrapbrooklyn.com
9 Cain’s Tavern
Bars & Restaurants
36 Wilson Ave The neighborhood bar for Bushwick locals. Cheap drinks, great bartenders, and the best jukebox in NYC. Open M-Sa:5:30pm-4am, Su:3:30pm-4am (718) 326-2663 cainstavern.com
6 Amancay’s Diner
10 Divine Bar & Grill
2 Knickerbocker Ave Serving brunch, dinner and late night grub at Bushwick’s first 24/7 restaurant. Hosting live music, parties and private events downstairs in Max Cellar. Open 24/7 (718) 628-8860 amancaysdiner.com
7 BIZARRE
12 Jefferson St BIZARRE is a bar/restaurant/ gallery/venue, hosting burlesque, circus, performance art, live music, drag queen variety shows and more. Happy hour everyday from 11am-8pm Open daily 11am-4am (347) 915-2717 bizarrebushwick.com
896 Broadway Divine is an unassuming haven of familiar faces with a welcoming, unpretentious vibe. Complete with a pool table, backyard and bar grub. Divine is a place to lose track of time. Open daily 4pm-3am (718) 455-5455 divinebarbrooklyn.com
11 Fitzcarraldo
195 Morgan Ave Fitzcarraldo is a rustic Northern Italian restaurant located in Bushwick. Their cuisine is centered around the seafood of the Italian Riviera and the vegetables of the Alps, in particular those of Liguria. Open daily 5:30pm-12am (718) 233-2566 fitzbk.com
12 Heavy Woods
50 Wyckoff Ave Heavy is your go-to Jefferson stop bar & restuarant. Featuring ‘Tchoup Shop’ insane New Orleans grub, beer and shot specials, cocktails, outdoor seating and the ‘Back Woods’ event space. Open daily 9am-4am (929) 234-3500 heavywoodsbar.com
13 Kings County Saloon 1 Knickerbocker Ave Kings County Saloon is a music and performance venue with a great bar and hearty food. Amazing place to catch local and touring bands or hang out in the front room. Join the party! Open daily 4pm-4am (347) 987-3751 kingscountysaloon.com
14 Left Hand Path
89 Wyckoff Ave Left Hand Path is the neighborhood bar for locals and newcomers. Come to relax in their expansive outdoor garden. Stay for cocktails, craft beers, delicious dumplings, and cozy hi-fi vintage audio. Open daily 12pm-4am (302) 750-9689 lefthandpathbk.com
15 Northeast Kingdom
18 Wyckoff Ave Northeast Kingdom is a neighborhood restaurant that uses sustainably grown meats and produce. They grow their own vegetables on their Hudson Valley farm, and forage for wild mushrooms upstate as well. Open daily 6pm-11pm (718) 386-3864 north-eastkingdom.com
16 Pine Box Rock Shop
12 Grattan St With 16 draft lines and a cask, Pine Box is Bushwick’s premiere craft beer bar. Enjoy local beer on their new outdoor patio. Live music, comedy, trivia or karaoke nightly. Open M-F:4pm-4am, SaSu:2pm-4am (718) 366-6311 pineboxrockshop.com
17 Pizza Party
254 Irving Ave Pizza Party is jam-packed with nostalgia, i.e. everything 80’s! Besides all that fun, the Pizza in this Party comes from a 112 year old gigantic coal fired oven. Two elements that you must experience for yourself! Open M-Sa:11am-2am, Su:11am-12am (347) 787-7947 bushwickpizzaparty.com
18 The Bodega
24 St. Nicholas Ave The Bodega is a neighborhood wine bar featuring 14 rotating beer and wine taps, small plates, and outdoor seating. Open daily 12pm-3am (347) 305-3344 thebodegawinebar.wordpress. com
20 The Rookery
425 Troutman St Pub culture and West Indian flavors meet in The Rookery’s spacious beer garden and bar. Late night burgers mean you can eat and drink from 12pm til closing. Garden always open! Open daily 12pm-4am (718) 483-8048 therookerybar.com
21 The Shop Brooklyn
234 Starr St Bushwick’s Barbecue Joint serving up pit to plate barbecue in classic roadhouse style. Live music and entertainment 4 nights a week. Their motto is ‘Cook Slow Ride Fast’. Open daily 4pm-4am (917) 776-8872 theshopbrooklyn.com
22 Union Pizza Works
423 Troutman St Union Pizza Works is a garagelike restuarant featuring a small, rotating menu of woodfired pizzas and Italian desserts, plus a tightly curated wine list and spacious front patio. Open M-Th: 5:30pm-11pm, F:5:30pm-12am, Sa-Su:12pm-12am (718) 628-1927 unionpizzaworks.com
19 The Monk
68-67 Fresh Pond Rd The Monk specializes in Belgian beer carefully selected for quality and a variety of taste experiences. Open daily 5pm-1am (347) 987-4097 themonknyc.com
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Coffeeshops 23 Ange Noir Cafe
247 Varet St You cannot miss Ange Noir Cafe- look for the red phone outside. Stumptown coffee, french pastries, quiches, beers and wine are served all day. Free wifi. Open daily 7:30am-9:30pm (718) 821-2459 angenoircafe.com
24 Barcey’s Coffee
140 St. Nicholas Ave Barcey’s Coffee is a warm and friendly café serving organic coffee, an array of seasonal beverages, with a great everyday menu focusing on made to order sandwiches, smoothies and all-day brunch. Open daily 8am-7pm (718) 484-8183 barceyscoffee.com
25 Central Cafe
108 Central Ave Kick back in Central Cafe’s beautiful garden for weekend brunch with friends, or just relax with a glass of wine, bellini or beer during daily happy hours. Open M-W: 7am-7pm, Th-F: 7am-9pm, Sa: 8am-9pm, Su: 9am-7pm (718) 497-3028
26 Fair Weather Bushwick
247 Wyckoff Ave Cozy café serving healthy options of mainly sandwiches and salads during breakfast, lunch and dinner (summer). Weekend brunch with vegan specials, beer, and wine. Music
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and events throughout the year. Open daily 7:30am-7pm (347) 305-3736 fairweatherbushwick.com
27 Milk & Pull
778 Seneca Ave Milk & Pull is high-grade espresso bar; serving Stumptown Coffee, specialty sandwiches and pastries. Open daily 7am-7pm (718) 821-1155 milkandpull.com
28 Milk & Pull
181 Irving Ave Milk & Pull is high-grade espresso bar; serving Stumptown Coffee, specialty sandwiches and pastries. Open daily 7am-6pm (347) 627-8511 milkandpull.com
29 Wilson’s
164 Wilson Ave Wilson’s is Bushwick’s first tea shop. The perfect place to come get work done with an iced tea latte or buy loose tea to take home. Open M-F: 7am to 8pm, Sa-Su: 8:30am-8pm (718) 576-6003 wilsonstea.com
30 Your Way Cafe
17 Wilson Ave From their famous breakfast burritos and sandwhiches to fresh juice and delicious coffee, Your Way Cafe is the perfect place to work, relax, or meet with friends. Open daily 7am-8pm (347) 406-8510 yourwaycafebk.com
Mind & Body 31 BHATI
1099 Flushing BHATI is a gallery and wellness space, offering therapeutic massage, private yoga instruction and workshops. Also available for room rentals; featuring full kitchen, large dining table, 11.5” ceilings & natural sunlight. Open 7 days, by appt. (718) 417-3191 bhatistudio.com
32 La Luz
135 Thames St La Luz offers a creative space for artistic expression and physical training. La Luz houses 2 studios, a store and a theater with classes and rentals for rehearsals, photo/ video shoots, and shows. Open 24/7 (917) 924-2525 laluznyc.com
33 MEATTT, INC.
184 Noll St MEATTT, INC. is a custom tatto+art shop. They concentrate on creativity, style and individuality, and value the bold, the traditional, the funky and the unusual. Open daily 12pm-8pm (718) 417-4940 meatttinc.com
Offices & Studios
(929) 234-3555 harvestcyclery.com
34 Brooklyn Desks
38 Henry’s Wine & Spirit
49 Wyckoff Ave Brooklyn Desks is an office share and coworking hub just outside the Jefferson L stop. Their 9,000 sq ft space offers both communal work areas and private offices, and is decked out with everything you need to make your business work. Open daily 9am-5pm (718) 366-3865 brooklyndesks.com
35 Brooklyn Fire Proof
119 Ingraham St, Ste 202 Brooklyn Fire Proof is a creative spaces company providing art galleries, artist workspaces, as well as full-service film and television sound stages. Open 24/7 brooklynfireproof.com
Shopping 36 CSI Rentals
1138 Flushing Ave Your one stop shop for all photo & video equipment rentals and expendables in Bushwick. Open M-W:8am-6pm, Th:8am7pm, F:8am-1pm 718-366-7368 csirentals.com
37 Harvest Cyclery
1158 Myrtle Ave Harvest Cyclery is a full-service bicycle repair shop and vintage bicycle showroom specializing in mechanical and cosmetic restoration of vintage, custom, and antique bicycles. Open daily 12pm-8pm
69 Central Ave Henry’s Wine & Spirit offers a friendly environment to buy diverse and eclectic wines and spirits at great prices. Many natural, biodynamic, organic and small production wines with weekly wine tastings. Open M-Th:2pm-11pm, F-Sa:12pm-12am, Su:12pm-9pm (347) 435-0070 henrysbk.com
39 Hops and Hocks
2 Morgan Ave Hops and Hocks is a craft beer, charcuterie, cheese and local provisions shop on Morgan Avenue at Flushing in Bushwick, two blocks from the Morgan L Train. Su-M:11am-9pm, T-Th:9:30am9pm, F-Sa:9:30am-10pm (718) 456-4677 hopsandhocks.com
40 Left Field NYC
657 Woodward Ave American made classics since ‘98. Specializing in selvedge denim and chinos. Offering additional services like chain stitch hemming, denim repair, and embroidery. Open M-W, F:11am-7pm, Th:11am-8pm (718) 366-7308 leftfieldnyc.com
the necessary accessories for the gigging & recording musician make Rock and Roll Supplies your one stop rock shop. Open M-Sa:11am-9pm, Su:12pm-6pm (718 ) 384-4220 rockandrollsupplies.com
42 Shops At The Loom
1087 Flushing Ave Shops at the Loom consists of 21 unique stores in a cool mini-mall art space collective. Find handmade apparel, delicious coffee, bikes & skate boards, office & pet supplies, yoga & more. Open M-F: 8am-8pm, Sa-Su: 9am-8pm (718) 417-1616 shopsattheloom.com
43 SHWICK
6 Charles Pl Shwick is a marketplace every weekend, and many different things throughout the week, from classroom to studio to event space. You never know what’s gonna pop up next... Open Sa-Su:11am-7pm shwick.us
41 Rock and Roll Supplies
176 Bushwick Ave Cool vintage guitars and tube amps, new and used pedals, onsite set ups & repair and all
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