Brooklyn Magazine #35 by Morgan McMullen

Summer 2017, issue No. 35

the Home and Design issue

JESSICA WILLIAMS Inside 10 Brooklyn Artists’ Studios What’s in a Menu? Jenn de la Vega on the Intersection of Feels and Foods Driving Good Design: Inside Greenpoint’s A/D/O Creative Space

THE HOME AND DESIGN ISSUE

S U M M E R 2017

IMMEDIATE

$965,000

Photo Julia Hembree

CONTENTS

DESIGNER MALENE B A R N E T T D I S P L AYS CO LO R F U L T H R E A DS P. 76

THE INCREDIBLE JESSICA WILLIAMS

WORK FROM HOME

DRIVING GOOD DESIGN

de l a Veg a di shes o n w hat i t’s l i k e to co o k ALL THE FEELS (AND FOODS) Jfroennm the heart

YOU BECOME AN IMMIGRANT

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Real (l y g o o d) tal k w i th the fo rmer Da i l y Sho w co rrespo ndent and 2 Do pe Queens co -ho st

I n side th e ho me studi o s o f 10 Bro o k l yn arti sts, de sign e r s, and musi ci ans What’s behi nd the A/D/O desi g n space i n Greenpo i nt?

An essay by M ahmud Rahman

PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD P hoebe Sung and P ete B uer of C ol d Pi cni c

COVER

BROOKLYN MAGAZINE (ISSN No: 35) (USPS 17910) is published quarterly (4 issues per year) by Northside Media Group, 55 Washington Street, Suite 652, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Periodicals Postage Paid at Brooklyn NY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BROOKLYN MAGAZINE, PO BOX 3000, DENVILLE, NJ 07834-3000.

JESSICA WILLIAMS photographed by :

JESSICA YATROVSKY

location:

COLONY STUDIOS, JUNE 18, 2017

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CONTENTS

A N E AST V I L L AG E STA P L E I N B RO O K LY N

Photo Jane Bruce

P. 20

SUMMER BAR PREVIEW

REVIEWED

THE RECIPE

POEM

ESSAY

FESTIVAL SZN

PREVIEW Wh e r e to ca tch o u td o o r m o vie s thi s summer

TREASURE HUNTING

INTERVIEWED Je sse R e e d

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Dri nk here no w

Miss Ada

G r ille d Cor n & He ir loom To mato Sal ad

Lyn n Me ln ic k’s “NYC, 1 9 9 4 ” A wr ite r jo in s th e le g io n s o f vin yl co lle cto r s in Br o o klyn —a t la st.

ASTROLOGY

No r th sid e M u sic a n d In n o va tio n F e stiva l in photos

F in d in g great housew ares o n F r a nkl i n Street

A sta r r y- e ye d g u id e to home decorati ng

A Letter From Our Founder This issue of Brooklyn marks a turning point. We began publishing over 14 years ago with the launch of The L Magazine and a staff of six, in a Dumbo loft that literally had a pool of dried ink on the floor. Brooklyn was just exploding into an internationallyrecognized creative epicenter. We published over 300 editions of The L Magazine, and, during that time we launched SummerScreen, Northside Festival, Taste Talks, and this magazine that you’re holding in your hands. Publishing is still as challenging—and rewarding—as ever. This issue marks the first of Brooklyn’s new quarterly schedule; in the coming months, we’ll take the unflinching, creative spirit of Brooklyn to an international audience, while also sharing more diverse stories from people and communities across the borough. A big thank you to you for picking up this issue. Happy summer on behalf of everyone with ink on our hands here at Brooklyn.

— D a n n y St e d m a n 6

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EDITORIAL

Managing Editor: Sid Orlando Associate Editor: Evan Romano Books Editor: Molly McArdle Contributors: Carol Benovic-Bradley, Jenn de la Vega, Laura Itzkowitz, Jill Freiberg, Jinnie Lee, Maura Lynch, Lynn Melnick, Rachel Miller, Mahmud Rahman, Matthew Ruiz, Michael Tedder, Natalie Rinn, Sarah Zorn

ART Design Director: Morgan McMullen Designer: Joy Scull Contributing Artists/Photographers: Jane Bruce, Jill Freiberg, Cole Giordano, Julia Hembree, Emily Hawkes, Trinh Huynh, Sarah Lutkenhaus, Zane Roessell, Hayley Rosenblum, Matthew Ruiz, Maggie Shannon, Nicole Fara Silver, Jade Slater, Michael Tulipan, Sasha Turrentine, Jessica Yatrofsky, d. yee

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Associate Publisher: Lisa Brown Assistant to the Publisher: Lily DePaula

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Photo Julia Hembree

Chief Partnerships Officer: Jesse Smith VP of Sales: Danielle DiPaolo VP of Experience: Brian Quinn VP of Production: Jennifer Mills Director of Marketing: Alexander Pipes Director of Programming: Lauren Beck Programming Manager: Jeff Klingman Account Executives: Katie Christoff, Emily Crawford, Anna Garrison, Martine Parris

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New York • London • Manchester Sydney • Melbourne • Brisbane

F O O D

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BAR REVIEW

b ro o k l yn's b est n ew b a rs Where you should be drinking this summer WORDS LAURA ITZKOWITZ

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Ah, summer—time to finally come out of hibernation. Unlike denizens of sunsoaked cities like L.A. and Miami, we Brooklynites actually appreciate summer. The temperature rises, the days are longer (more time for drinking!), and we rediscover the joys of living in this glorious—if sometimes infuriating—city. And what better way to soak up the summer than by reconnecting with your friends (remember them?) over drinks at one of Brooklyn’s best new bars? We surveyed the latest and greatest, from a tropical-inspired spot by Manhattan’s top cocktail gurus to the rooftop of one of the borough’s sleekest new hotels with sweeping skyline views.

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LOBBY BAR AT THE WILLIAMSBURG HOTEL 96 W y t h e Ave n u e Wythe Avenue is officially Williamsburg’s trendiest (or at least, most expensive) street for barhopping. The Wythe Hotel is now joined by the William Vale—which boasts the neighborhood’s highest rooftop bar—and the more down-to-earth Williamsburg Hotel. What the Williamsburg Hotel’s lobby lounge lacks in skyline views, it makes up for in style. A big oval bar crowned by a multi-colored yarn installation by street artist Eric Reiger anchors the voluminous space, while horseshoeshaped banquettes line the exposed brick perimeter. It might be the only place in Williamsburg that serves high tea complete with bite-sized financiers and mini-quiches (at least, it’s the only place I know of), but the boozy options are great too, especially the Pirata, which blends rum, sherry, all-spice, orange curaçao, and citrus. Go on a Sunday afternoon for live jazz and day drinking.

THE 1 ROOFTOP 60 Furman Street at B r o o k l y n B r i d g e Pa r k Shh! Don’t tell anyone about this awesome rooftop bar, now in soft-opening mode. Dumbo’s 1 Hotel opened its doors to guests in February, but it’s been launching in phases, with a restaurant still to come. Located in a prime spot just steps from the ferry landing in Brooklyn Bridge Park, this eco-chic hotel commands the best views of Lower Manhattan’s skyline—not to mention a certain famous bridge. Now you don’t have to shell out $500 for a suite just to enjoy the views. All it’ll cost you is $16 for a cocktail (or $8 for a beer) and you can snag a lounge chair—if you can beat the crowd, that is.

P H OTO S Sasha Turrentine

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DIAMOND REEF 1 0 5 7 A t l a n t i c Ave n u e This chill bar by the cocktail experts behind Attaboy has been open since March, but now’s your first chance to enjoy its backyard and new menu of bar bites. In a departure from Attaboy’s speakeasy vibe, this 1,300-square-foot bar on the Crown Heights/Bed-Stuy border looks like a midcentury tropical paradise, with aquamarine booths, wood paneling, and palm-frond wallpaper. In the summer heat, you’ll want to guzzle the Penichillin, a frozen version of Sam Ross’s Penicillin made with scotch, lemon, honey, and ginger blended in a slushy machine.

P H OTO S Maggie Shannon

LOOSIE'S CAFE 93 South 6th Street Though it’s technically an all-day café, not a bar, Loosie’s starts happy hour at noon with margaritas. And for freelancers, this newly opened extension of Loosie Rouge and Loosie’s Kitchen makes an excellent office away from home. It’s got plenty of natural light, an eyecatching abstract mural, banquette seating, free WiFi, and a refreshing iced matcha with cucumber in addition to the aforementioned margaritas. The only drawback is that it reverts to extra seating for Loosie’s Kitchen at 6 p.m. You can always continue the revelry at the adjacent bar, which has a more extensive cocktail menu and the kind of too-coolfor-school vibe that naturally results from the combination of a French team in a Williamsburg setting.

P H OTO Jane Bruce

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ELSA 1 3 6 A t l a n t i c Ave n u e

P H OTO S Jane Bruce

PILOT Ta k i n g O f f S o o n . . . Stay tuned for this one. The team behind Grand Banks is converting a 1924 schooner into an oyster boat scheduled to debut in July on the Dumbo waterfront. The menu will be similar to Grand Banks, so expect oysters and rosé. 16

Like so many other East Village denizens, Elsa finally made the move across the river and is now at home in Cobble Hill—and it was worth the wait. For Elsa’s new incarnation, Home Studios—the award-winning design studio behind Alameda, Cherry Izakaya, Tørst, and myriad others—kitted the space out with luxe materials, giving it a glamorous, grown-up vibe. Custom crystal pendant lights and the steel-and-mirror backbar nod to Art Deco silhouettes, while the bulbous glass lights and brass-and-marble tables feel more of-the-moment. The cocktails are inventive but approachable, and dangerously easy to drink. If you like gin (or perhaps if don’t know you like it) try the Handsome Grandson, which blends the juniper-tinged spirit with bay leaf syrup, pomegranate, basil, lime, and soda for a more flavorful twist on a G&T. And whatever you do, don’t miss the coolest part: the bathroom, where slatted mirrors create a halo effect that just begs you to take a selfie.

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I N P R A I S E O F. . .

Marie’s Salad at Ops BY R A C H E L M I L L E R

R E STA U R A N T R E V I E W

M is s Ada BY S A R A H Z O R N

W hen cuisines break through tacit, arbitrary barriers, ascending from fast-casual staples to the focus of in-vogue establishments, there’s an understandable impetus for chefs to take liberties and dissemble their most recognizable dishes into whimsical components. With its credentialed chef, Tomer Blechman (of Maialino, Bar Bolonat, and Cookshop), compulsorily chic interior (pinewood benches, herb garden, backyard mural by a local artist), and a menu touted as “Mediterranean with a twist,” Fort Greene’s Miss Ada is undoubtedly a member of this neoteric breed of restaurants. Yet its food resists the preciousness, making it a new go-to for impeccable plates of hummus (and much more). Formed from whole, warm chickpeas—à la the popular Levantine variant, hummus masabaha—they generally have three hummus options on offer at a time. Hope for a base of slumped, seasoned lamb shank, ideal 18

for packing into swollen pita triangles, though it’s tough to resist surmounting it with a fork. Served on little metal sheet trays, simple, protein-based entrees celebrate the inherent deliciousness of brown. Take, for instance, za’atar-encrusted rectangles of salmon, whose rose-gold flesh and copper tops bookend an edible ombre effect—astringent, putty-colored labne, ochre half-moons of shallot charred to submissive sweetness, and bruise-hued strips of Japanese eggplant, musky as distilled earth. Desserts are a tad more tongue and cheek—think a strawberry marmalade sufganiyot (donut), scattered with tart, fruity sumac. It adds an appealing rhubarb-like note that’s undeniably clever, but doesn’t eclipse the fact that it’s elementally good. 84 Dekalb Ave, Fort Greene (917) 909-1023, www.MissAda.com

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On the menu at Ops, a Bushwick restaurant known for naturally leavened pizza and left-field, anarchic wines, you’ll find something peerless, underrated, championship-level humbly described as just “Salad.” Marie Tribouilloy, who handles the “everything else” (Mike Fadem makes the perfect pizzas), explains what it will involve in person, with loose gestures: “dandelion and mizuna on a swipe of soft cheese” or “frisée and a few other things.” In winter the salads were good, but since April, they’ve been transcendental. Tiny spring flowers float on a wave of greens, each one fresher than anything else green you’ve ever eaten. Spicy things, sweet things, a few leaves big enough to demand hand-holding, the tiny hearts of summer’s first lettuce, radishes in bright purple-and-pink wedges—it’s all here, topped with the lightest touch of lemon and olive oil. Marie crumbles dried olives over most iterations, and at first you wonder if it’s a new Himalayan salt thing, but thank god it’s not. It’s just plain beautiful.

Ops 346 Himrod Street, Bushwick

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GOODNESS FROM T H E GA R D E N

On making the journey from farm-to-table a lot shorter WORDS SID ORLANDO | PHOTOS JILL FREIBERG

Brooklyn may not be known for its sprawling backyards, but Brooklynites don’t let that stop us from finding ways to play outside, plant gardens, and even, sometimes, grow our own food. Chef Jill Freiberg, who runs Park Slope-based boutique catering company Jillicious Foods & Events, recently transformed her own tiny backyard into a lush herb garden, blooming with lime basil, hot and spicy oregano, dill, lavender, rosemary, spearmint, and sage. If you don’t have the luxury of

outdoor space, try housing some edible greenery on a sunny windowsill—there’s something inherently satisfying about adding a delicious garnish that you grew yourself. Jill’s new trove of homegrown herbs inspired her recipe for this colorful hot-weather salad, perfect as a crowdpleasing accompaniment to a summertime party menu. Crumble in some feta, queso fresco, or, for a little earthy complexity, smoked ricotta, and serve on a bed of crisp romaine to make it a meal unto itself.

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M A K E I T YO U R S E L F

Grilled Corn and Heirloom Tomato Salad with Basil and Lime S e r ve s 6 – 8 by Jill Freibeg Ingredients 4 ears of corn 1 pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes 1/ cup of fresh basil (Jill loves lime basil) 3 2 cloves of crushed garlic 1/ red onion, thinly sliced 2 1/ cup of lime juice 2 1 tablespoon of coarse salt Directions 1. Clean the corn and let it soak in cold water for at least 15 minutes. 2. While the corn soaks, combine the salt and crushed garlic in a medium wooden bowl. Work the garlic into the salt using a fork until it forms a paste. Add the lime juice and mix well. 3. Next, add the thinly sliced red onions. Set aside. The onion will pickle while you finish the rest of the salad. (Editor's Note: Jill keeps a batch of these tangy onions in the fridge at all times—they’re great on everything from tacos to grilled chicken.) 4. Now, grill the corn on a hot grill for 15–20 minutes, keeping the cover closed and turning every 5 minutes or until the kernels are tender when pierced with a paring knife. 5. Carefully shear the corn kernels using a sharp knife, and add them to the garlic and red onion mixture. 6. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add to the salad. 7. Finally, chop the basil and add it to the salad, too. Toss all the ingredients to mix thoroughly. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

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POETRY FOR THE HOME

Words to accessorize every room BY M O LLY MCC A RD LE

One of my favorite things to do when I should be doing other things is to browse the Academy of American Poets online poetry database. In the years before their most recent redesign, it had an old Windows 95 vibe to it. Little cartoonish icons delineated the categories: a neon high-top sneaker represented “For Teens”; a bald and strong-jawed red devil head, “Underworld”; a heart surrounded by yellow flame, “Life.” There is a category for “Home” just as there is for “National Parks” and “Night.” Everything about this—poetic metadata—I find thrilling and strange and, like many systems of organization, often very useful. Though its rustic early-web glamour is gone, the poetry is there, waiting, when you need it. This is as good an argument as any for keeping poetry around the house: to explore on other tasks’ time. I am a firm believer in having books of poems in bathrooms, on coffee tables, next to the spot where you eat breakfast, in reach of your phone charger. The Academy’s poetry database recommends many fine poems within its “Home” category—Adrienne Rich’s “Living in Sin” (“no dust upon the furniture of love”), William Carlos Williams' meme-friendly “This Is Just to Say” (“Forgive me” is right), Rita Dove’s “Taking in the Wash” (a drunk father “swaying as if the wind touched / only him”)—I would add too Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.” And while this is wonderful, I recommend making an investment— buying in bulk, if you will. Start here, with a mix of oldish and newish collections for your poetic satisfaction.

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by Gregory Pardlo The surprise winner for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Bed-Stuy–based Pardlo’s latest book, Digest, itself digests—combines and makes its own—the poet’s interest in fatherhood and the language and forms of academic writing. “I do love / Brooklyn so,” he writes in “Problema 2,” in which he describes conversations about disciplining children with “elderly / West Indians on the B44 for Bed-Stuy to Flatbush”: “Spanking. Yes.” His mind goes to his own scholarly work. “Consider Agamemnon,” he offers, “victim of pride and contagion, raising that hand / against his child at Aulis, the inexorable machinery of tribalism / grinding away the primacy of paternal love.”

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P R E LU D E TO B R U IS E

by Saeed Jones

BuzzFeed executive culture editor Jones’s 2014 debut collection is full of ache and desire and grief. “He hates / the names I give him: Tantalus, Orestes, Ganymede. I don’t / need a name,” goes “Kingdom of Trick, Kingdom of Drug”; “Orange bottle in hand / I answer Hyacinth and Vicodin. I answer Xanax and Zephyr.” Jones has a way with rhythm and rhyme that feels supernatural. There are lines in “Thralldom II” I repeat over and again just for the pleasure of their sound: “First pose, third pose, / head thrown / back. This way, that way, shit boy, slap.”

THERE ARE MORE B E AU T I F U L T H I N GS T H A N B E YO N CÉ

by Morgan Parker

Let’s be clear here: the things “more beautiful than” offered in Parker’s titular poem—lavender, education, “the fucking sky”—are things no member of the Beyhive (or Bey herself) could argue with. This, Parker’s debut collection, is all fire emoji and bee emoji and sparkling-star emoji and tears-running-down-cheeks emoji. In “Hottentot Venus,” she writes, “I wish my pussy could live / in a different shape and get / some goddamn respect. / Should I thank you?”

T H E CO M P L E T E P O E M S

I F T H E TA B LO I DS A R E T R U E W H AT A R E YO U ? by Matthea Harvey

This image-rich 2014 collection is full of mermaids: the “Objectified Mermaid,” the “Deadbeat Mermaid,” “the Homemade Mermaid.” Their silhouettes, which float next to Harvey’s poems, pair woman tops with householdappliance bottoms. Harvey, who lives in Brooklyn, has a wry, surreal voice. “The straightforward mermaid starts every sentence with ‘Look . . .,’” begins “The Straightforward Mermaid.” “Look,” she says to five different sailors, “I don’t think this is going to work.” “Look,” she says to her young charges, studying camouflage, “Your high ponytails make you look like fountains, not rocks.”

ROME

by Marianne Moore

by Dorothea Lasky

I love modernist poet Marianne Moore’s poem about the Brooklyn Bridge, “Granite and Steel”; it seems every poet who has stepped foot in this borough has had to write one. “Enfranchising cable,” she writes of its suspension, “silvered by the sea”—the bridge an “untried expedient, untried; then tried; / way out; way in; romantic passageway.” She’s funny too—the poem “To an Intramural Rat” begins “You make me think of many men.”

One brilliant and big-hearted half of Astro Poets (@poetastrologers), Lasky released this, her most recent book, in 2016. Her work brims with humor, sexuality, and allusions to contemporary life. “I’ve only fucked seven guys in my whole life / But I’ve watched more porn than you ever will,” goes a poem aptly named “Porn.” “I watch porn / Cause I’ll never be in love / Except with you dear reader.”

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P O E T R Y

W H AT A R E YO U R E A D I N G? BY M O LLY MCC A RD LE Truly one of Brooklyn’s all-time greats, Word Bookstore in Greenpoint (recently joined by an additional location in Jersey City) celebrated its tenth anniversary not long ago. Though it’s tiny, it packs a serious punch, with perfectly curated shelves, an active roster of book clubs, and truly killer events. Does it sound like I’m a fan? I am.

A POEM

N YC, 1994 BY LY N N M E LN ICK I fell in love with a city in summer the smell of piss and sweat down into the tunnels intoxicating and I rode cinema to cinema to eat candy in the dark. I met a woman who kissed me suddenly outside the discount theater but I pulled away after a while to pin my hair up off my neck and check my watch (a city in summer undoes time)

ALISON GORE

before she invited me to hear demos of songs about her dog and, I know, right this moment you are just as bored as I was but hear me out: she had air conditioning and let me lay naked across her bed (I didn’t need sleep those months) so I weltered a bit aroused in and out of sheets and it was okay! I liked the sounds of the street, the trucks grunting up Broadway the impassioned chatter of drunk people not ready to give in the deceptive cooing from the roof, all of it, though I still can’t tell you exactly why. 26

Operations Supervisor I am reading The Vine That Ate the South by J.D Wilkes. A modern epic full of charm and intrigue, this novel is a wild romp that showcases the imagination and linguistics of the American south. Set in the depths of Kentucky in a world full of blurred reality, folk tales, and rural lore, an unlikely hero (accompanied by the indomitable and unforgettable Carver Canute) encounter the stuff of nightmares in their search for an infamous house swallowed whole by kudzu—with its occupants still inside.

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KARRIE DUCUSIN

Offsite & Outreach Coordinator I am currently reading Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash. In the current political and social climate where Islam is often misunderstood and routinely categorized as a violent and fundamentalist religion, Omar Saif Ghobash pens letters to his son about what it is to be a Muslim in the 21st century. A sense of accountability and choice are emphasized throughout the book, for only through the responsibility of one’s own actions is a person able to truly examine themselves and their faith.

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M U S I C

S O U N D O F ( V I N Y L ) S I LV E R On joining the record-collecting ranks of the vinyl resurgence W O R D S A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y E VA N RO M A N O

Moving to Brooklyn, for me, was a long time coming. I knew of everything that the borough had come to represent—whether that be an expansive and diverse music scene or a widespanning cultural palette—and that’s what I was looking for in a place to immerse myself. Alas, my first two post-college years were spent living with my parents in New Jersey and commuting to midtown Manhattan, then in the city, way uptown. At first, just living in NYC was enough for me; options and opportunities were everywhere, and everything I wanted was just a train ride—albeit a long one—away. But after a while, living in a tiny room—with literally no space for anything other than a bed and my little Ikea nightstand that held a small lamp—far away from everything wasn’t doing it for me. I finally made it to Brooklyn after nearly a year of working for Brooklyn Magazine—I’m a fraud, I know—and found myself a room where I could actually fit things. Everyone’s got a list of stuff in the back of their head that they tell themselves they’re going to do someday, but for one reason or another, never get around to: visit Europe, go to a Bruce Springsteen concert, start an epic vinyl collection, read The New Yorker front to back on a way more consistent basis. Okay, so maybe those are things that I’ve always wanted to do. And while

I can feasibly buckle down and book a flight or buy a concert ticket and just tick those items off the list, it takes a different kind of investment— financial, spatial, a prolonged commitment—to actually build a collection of any sort of physical object. But this spring I decided to make the jump and join the record-collecting community. The costs, in my mind, were sunk, and I began operating under the premise that dropping a bunch of money on my very first musical setup—turntable, amplifier, new speakers, and all—wasn’t just something that I wanted, but something that was inevitable. After all, I had room for it now—what the hell was my excuse? On a Memorial Day Sunday, before I had even bought all my soon-to-be-ordered turntable hardware, I found myself roaming Brooklyn Flea in Dumbo. There, someone was peddling records out of a bin. Looking through briefly, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years immediately caught my eye. While a more seasoned collector might have haggled with the sweatshirt-clad man selling the two records, it didn’t cross my mind. I needed these. Now I had a few anchors to my base—I had bought the Arctic Monkeys’ A.M. on vinyl a few years ago, essentially as a novelty, along with Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs. I had one of those

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built-in-speaker turntables to technically “play” it, but we all know that doesn’t really count. A trip back to New Jersey and the ransacking of a few shelves of my parents’ collections—collections I’d once looked at with awe, treating the records themselves as relics of a bygone era—uncovered a number of gems: Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, a handful of Beatles albums, and Billy Joel’s The Stranger, among others. I had developed a small, core collection—one with room to grow, but that was starting to span genres and eras. When my audio equipment finally arrived, and after a long couple hours getting things properly set up, I finally popped Born to Run on. As soon as “Thunder Road” started to play, my jaw dropped. Maybe I cheered (my roommate did make fun of me for my overt giddiness in the moment); I found it magical. The sound, the idea that I was listening to a relic and it still sounded this good—better than anything else I had heard on my headphones or other speakers— was something special. These horns sound amazing! Bruce’s voice sounds so clean, and gritty and… Bruceish! It was a next-level revelation, and it led to another: I need to get all of my favorite albums on vinyl. Browsing through the used sections at Williamsburg’s Rough Trade and Norman’s Sound and Vision is a thrill, and there’s not much like finding a gem among the fray. But starting this collection also helped with something else that, for anyone, is always a net-positive—it’s something to get excited about, and something

“The sound, the idea that I was listening to a relic and it still sounded this good— better than anything else I had heard on my headphones or other speakers—was something special.”

I use to keep myself motivated. Finished a big project? Rough Trade, here I come. If you’ve ever been part of the lead up to and execution of a big event—a conference, a festival, even a wedding—you know how mentally and physically taxing the work can be. After five wild days of working Northside Festival, it seemed only right to drop some cash on a pair of my favorite albums of all time. Neither are quite of this era, nor are they part of my parents’ musical era, what I previously had thought of as the “true” vinyl era (a notion I’ve since debunked). I picked up The Strokes’ Is This It and LCD Soundsystem’s self-titled debut, and listened to the songs I had heard countless times sounding like I’d never heard them before. Everything was new. Everything is new. I’ve joined the vinyl era. And I’m excited.

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Northside Festival 2017

Words Evan Romano Photography Zane Roessell & Cole Giordano

One week every June, Brooklyn Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister festival uncovers the future of innovation, music and culture through five days of talks, shows and experiences.

Jeff Rosenstock at McCarren Park

US Senator of New York Kirsten Gillibrand speaks on the Fortune Venture Stage

Sasheer Zamata and TNTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EVP of Original Programming Sarah Aubrey speaking on the TNT Content Stage

Miguel performs at McCarren Park

TNT joined forces with Little Cinema for a new immersive, cinematic show at the House of Yes during Northside.

Julia Haltigan performs at The Gibson

Sine Metu Stage at the Bedford Ave Block Party

Stefan Babcock of PUP crowdsurfs at McCarren Park

Kelsey Lu performs at Saint Vitus

Jlin performs at Brooklyn Bazaar

Droga5 discussing the future of storytelling on the Shutterstock Masterclass stage

Exploring Virtual Reality

The Intercept and BuzzFeed News present â&#x20AC;&#x153;You Are Fake Newsâ&#x20AC;?: Truth, Lies, and Politics in the Age of Trump on the Northside Report Stage

Katie Peters, Hannah Cranston, Hank Shocklee; Creativy & Regulation: The Challenges Facing Content Creators

Kamasi Washington performs at McCarren Park

Girlpool performs at Warsaw

Dirty Projectors performs at McCarren Park

Thursday closes the festival at McCarren Park

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SCREENS, S TA R S , A N D SUMMER LOVIN’

Want to catch an outdoor film in Brooklyn this summer? W O R D S E VA N RO M A N O P H O T O S E M I LY H AW K E S

A lot of things stand out about summer in New York City, but one of them, certainly, is the weather. It can be brutal at times, sure—the hair-melting heat can be a bit much for this writer to handle— but when it’s on, it’s really on. And when the weather is on, and a beautiful day evolves into a nice, crisp evening, there isn’t much better than going to an outdoor movie screening among friends, food, fun, and Mother Nature herself. While a mad dash for a traditional indoor theater and its air conditioning may be a good bet when your disgustingly sticky-hot apartment is untenable, here are a few outdoor film options that might just make you want to be outside.

A S u m m e r M ov i e U n d e r t h e S ta r s As part of the celebration of Prospect Park’s 150th anniversary this summer, the borough of Brooklyn and the Prospect Park Alliance have teamed up with Williamsburg-based Nitehawk Cinema to program four separate occasions of live music followed by family-friendly film screenings. The events will take place in the park’s Long Meadow North and start at 7 p.m. John Woods, director of programming and acquisitions for Nitehawk shared that each film in this year’s series was specifically chosen to represent what makes Prospect Park such a

special place, both to Brooklyn and at large. The NeverEnding Story represents the park’s incredible scenery; The Sandlot, the little leaguers and pick-up baseball players; Moonrise Kingdom, the young campers; and Zootopia, the Prospect Park Zoo. “Seeing a movie outdoors can really elevate the experience—and being in a place like Prospect Park only adds to it,” Woods says. “There are no drive-in theaters in Brooklyn, but this is pretty close.” Films screen Wednesdays from July 19–August 9 at Prospect Park’s Long Meadow North, located nearest to the Grand Army Plaza entrance at Eastern Parkway. Music starts at 7 p.m. Films start shortly after sundown.

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SummerScreen

Ro o f to p F i l m s

Picture a mid-summer Wednesday night. You’ve been sitting in the office all day, probably sweating at least a little bit, and you’re anxious to get out. You need to decompress. And what’s even happening on Wednesday if you can’t make the trek to Prospect Park? Enter SummerScreen, now in its twelfth season. For six straight weeks in July and August, SummerScreen kicks off Wednesday evenings in Williamsburg’s McCarren Park with live music followed by a film. Curated by Tidal and Northside Media (Brooklyn Magazine’s parent company), the music is always an up-and-coming act, well worth your time to check out (last year, Chance the Rapper’s younger brother Taylor Bennett was one of the featured performers). This year’s film lineup features an eclectic assortment of films. Mean Girls, Office Space, Donnie Darko, Selena, and I Know What You Did Last Summer are on the schedule; the final screening of the summer will be chosen by audience vote. As Jennifer Mills, Northside Media’s director of experience, tells me, they look for a certain kind of movie when curating the lineup—something they used to call a “party movie.” These are films that are so beloved— ubiquitous, even—that watching them with many, many other people won’t shrout your enjoyment. “We’re looking to pick movies that are well-known and energetic enough that you won’t get too annoyed if the person next to you is talking over bits of it,” she says. That laidback atmosphere is part of the fun.

Now in its twentieth year, Rooftop Films is more than just a series—it’s a non-profit film organization that helps filmmakers produce new works and provides rental equipment at low cost to artists and other non-profits. But a core part of what they do is engage communities around film through their expansive, four-month-long Rooftop Films Summer Series. The series brings first-run films to rooftops around Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, as well as post-film Q&As with cast and crew, and on-site after parties. The lineup is extensive and has a little something for just about everyone, but one of this summer’s highlights is the inclusion of Williamsburg’s William Vale hotel as a venue, where The Incredible Jessica James, starring Jessica Williams, will screen, followed by a post-film Q&A. Rooftop Films receives over 3,000 submissions each year, while also scouting film festivals and other events to decide exactly which films will be included in the lineup. Artistic director Dan Nuxoll says that part of the process is matching a film with a venue: something that plays well at a building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard may not play as well at the New Design High School on the Lower East Side, on the roof of the JCC on the Upper West Side, or at a fancy hotel in Williamsburg. It all matters. “It’s always been our mission to challenge and entertain our audience at the same time,” Nuxoll says. “And by making such fun events and setting them in such unique locations, I think we achieve that goal pretty consistently.”

SummerScreen takes place every Wednesday in July and August at McCarren Park in Williamsburg. Doors at 6 p.m., music at 7 p.m., and films at sundown—around 8 p.m.

Check out the Rooftop Films calendar for the ongoing schedule: www.rooftopfilms.com/calendar/

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Homecoming 107 FRANKLIN STREET

This green oasis is more than just a place to grab an exceptional cup of coffee or a bouquet of unique blooms. Since opening in 2013, owners Vanessa Chinga-Haven and Scott Haven have populated the multipurpose shop with a selection of locally made home goods— including popular ceramics by Brooklyn-based studio Group Partner—and even developed a line of candles to encapsulate the space’s signature scent of “fresh-cut flowers and freshly ground coffee.” And don’t forget the plants: from the popular fiddle-fig leaf tree to tiny succulents, you’re sure to leave with something that will not only fit in your apartment, but brighten it up, too.

Treasure Hunting on Franklin Street

A stroll around Greenpoint’s charming stretch of shops for the home W O R D S M AU R A M . LY N C H | P H O T O G R A P H Y JA D E S L AT E R & H AY L E Y RO S E N B L U M

About a year ago, we took you on a tour of Greenpoint’s new crop of vintage shops. It’s that time of year again (ICYMI summer is unofficial “spruce up your space” season), and we’re revisiting North Brooklyn’s tiny epicenter of home design—or, as some may call it, “the land of the $100 mug”—to bring you this lengthier list of spots to find lovely homewares, both new and vintage alike. Whether you’re on the hunt for eccentric accents to liven up your shelves or prepared to do some heavy-duty redecorating, here are some of the best offerings you’ll find if you take a walk along Franklin Street.

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“ F r o m t h e p o p u l a r f i d d l e - f i g leaf tree to tiny succulents, you’re sure to leave with something that will not only fit in your apartment, but brighten it up, too.”

Caroline Z Hurley 155 FREEMAN STREET

Nestled on residential Freeman Street, just off Franklin Street, is artist and textile designer Caroline Z Hurley’s cozy shop, which doubles as her studio. The standout items here are her popular block-printedby-hand throws ($140) and small-batch rugs created by artisans in Mexico and Guatemala ($300–350), but Hurley also makes a point to showcase locally made ceramics, wooden bowls, and incense packs by designers she admires. Stop by on July 15 and 16 for a pop-up sample sale with locals Ilana Kohn, Dusen Dusen, and Cold Picnic.

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Home of the Brave 146 FRANKLIN STREET

Opened in 2014 by the husband-wife duo behind Franklin Street clothing staple Wolves Within, this home shop focuses on fair trade, handmade goods. Beyond stocking beautiful textiles and ceramics by local makers, the duo curates a selection of items made all over the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including exclusive pieces created just for their customers, like a printed rope bowl ($46) handmade in Spain, and a handmade, vegetable-dyed rug (a bestseller) made by artisans in India ($498).

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“ B e y o n d s t o c k i n g beautiful textiles and ceramics by l o c a l m a ke rs, t h e d u o curates a selection of items made all over the world—”

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Adaptations 109 FRANKLIN STREET

Walking into Adaptations, Burney’s sister store just a few blocks down Franklin, feels like entering a friend’s enviable apartment. An alternative to the mid-century pieces at Porter James, Adaptations stands out for its selection of laid-back, bohemian finds tinged with this summer’s trend of ‘70s California cool. Here, you’ll find statement pieces like a cow-hide lounge chair ($750) and a vintage blush couch ($1,600) alongside campy decorative items straight out of Robert Altman’s 3 Women. (Fun fact: This summer, Burney and her team will be outfitting the green rooms of the soon-toopen Brooklyn venue, Elsewhere.)

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“ E v e n i f y o u d o n ’ t f i n d s o m e t h i n g w i t h i n your budget, you’re sure to leave with a bit of decoration inspiration.”

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You & Yours Fine Vintage

77 FRANKLIN STREET

116 FRANKLIN STREET

Shop owner Allegra Muzzillo, who moonlights as a freelance designer and interior decorator, has an eye for spotting tiny treasures. “The quirkier, the better,” she says of her collection of colorful barware, ‘50s-era side tables, and unexpected ‘70s light fixtures. In addition to her eclectic vintage offerings, Muzzillo is available for interior design services—from room refreshes to total renovations—and hosts a monthly clothing pop-up with Brooklyn-based Seven Wonders Vintage.

If you’re planning a wall-to-wall revamp, take a peek into this furniture shop offering highly curated vintage and modern pieces alongside its own in-house line of pillows, sofas, and benches. Owner Kyla Burney stocks both small items like a duo of teak coasters ($50) as well as apartmentmaking staples like a Danish teak wall unit ($2,700) and custom leather mid-century lounge chairs. Even if you don’t find something within your budget, you’re sure to leave with a bit of decoration inspiration.

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Phtography Hayley Rosenblum

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Paint the town… ...any gorgeous color you want. While planning this issue, we were on the lookout for exceptional home and design finds, and fell in love with the luxuriously pigmented wall paints from Farrow & Ball. If you’re planning to revamp your space, pick up some sample pots at their new Boerum Hill showroom—they offer 132 richly nuanced hues (Blue Ground, Arsenic, and Parma Gray are some of our favorites) in a variety of finishes. Looking to make a bold style statement? Transform a wall or piece of furniture into a striking focal point with one of their handcrafted wallpapers. Farrow & Ball’s Brooklyn showroom is located at 383 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. 52

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T H E G O L D S TA N DA R D Part design consultancy, part bookstore, the new Standards Manual space will get you thinking about design W O R D S C A RO L B E N OV I C- B R A D L E Y | P H O T O G R A P H Y N I C O L E FA R A S I LV E R

With their meticulous work reviving and publishing historic graphics standards manuals from the New York City Transit Authority, NASA, American Revolution Bicentennial, and, forthcoming, the EPA, designers Jesse Reed and Hamish Smith have carved out a niche for themselves in the preservation of design history—and they’re helping foster appreciation for the power of ubiquitous design while they’re at it. The pair has now opened the Standards Manual shop, a small-but-sleek bookstore and home for their consultancy, Order, which they hope will spark conversations about design with new audiences. Jesse and I recently discussed graphics standards manuals, what inspired him to become a designer, and what it’s been like in the new space so far. How have the first few weeks in the space been?

What types of conversations have you had with visitors so far?

It’s a dream to be in an office again. I can see how some people would enjoy the office-sharing experience, but to be honest, [Hamish and I] hate it. That probably just speaks to how particular we are about our working environment. We’re really lucky to have found a space that has tons of natural light, minimal street noise, and a backyard! The shop has also been a nice surprise. We’ve had people come in everyday and get books, ask us questions, and simply talk about design. This is exactly what we wanted—a place where we weren’t cooped up in an office building, but somewhere that involved a conversation with other designers and enthusiasts.

Some people come in looking for gifts for friends who are designers. One person came in and asked us why graphics standards manuals are important—I was glad that they stopped in to have that conversation! On that note, why are graphics standards manuals important? What significance do they hold?

We suspect that the idea of a “graphics standards manual” hadn’t existed in most people’s vocabulary until very recently. Why is this? We’re not entirely sure ourselves. One theory is that before knowing what a standards manual

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“ B E F O R E K N O W I N G W H AT A S TA N D A R D S M A N U A L I S , OR BR AND GUIDELINES— W H AT E V E R YO U WA N T TO C A L L I T— P E O P L E O F T E N A S S U M E T H AT D E S I G N J U S T A P P E A R S O N I T S O W N .”

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is, or brand guidelines—whatever you want to call it—people often assume that design just appears on its own. The NYCTA manual opened people’s eyes to the process that occurred when Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda had to establish the design system. The signs that New Yorkers look at every day were no longer just these things in their environment— they were now this very considered and modern example of “design.” Graphic designers already knew this, but now nondesigners recognize it, too. The guidelines give you a peek under the hood—the hood that most people never knew existed. In addition to your reissues, what else can people expect at the shop?

The “shop” is really just a wall, so we can only fit about 40 titles at a time. We have a selection of books that focus only on graphic design, ranging from foundational titles from Armin Hofmann and Josef Müller-Brockmann, to contemporary titles from Gary Hustwit, Michael Bierut, Paula Scher, and everything in between. Most of the books are new, but we do have a handful of used and rare books as well. The fun part of this is also being able to stock publishers that aren’t as visible in the U.S., like Unit Editions, Niggli, and Lars Müller.

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Did any of these books help you get your start in design?

I was focusing on photography at the University of Cincinnati when a friend introduced me to Armin Hofmann’s Graphic Design Manual. It explores fundamental exercises focused towards a foundation of the design practice. Leafing through it, I knew that I wanted to study graphic design. It smells wonderful in here.

A friend from Good Candle dropped off some candles when we opened. This one is “Campfire.”

You can visit Standards Manual at 212 Franklin Street in Greenpoint. They’re open Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Words Natalie Rinn Photography Jessica Yatrofsky

The Incredible Jessica Williams

With the release of The Incredible Jessica James, the former Daily Show correspondent and one dope queen gives us more of her fiercely honest, powerful, and—above all—real self than we’ve ever seen before. Do you ever have the thought, as you binge-watch a TV show, or listen to a song, or see a film, that, really, there’s something familiar about everything? That no matter how creative a melody, line, or surprise ending is, you’ve encountered some variation of it already—and yet, when done right, it feels like something special and new? That was my experience with the The Incredible Jessica James. On the surface, we’ve seen it before: an indie rom-com set in Brooklyn that includes heartbreak, new love, and a story of personal and professional growth. But despite its familiar infrastructure, it’s fresh, because Jessica Williams—co-host of the wildly popular podcast 2 Dope Queens, and former correspondent on The Daily Show—is the person who fills its 85 minutes. The film’s writer/director, Jim Strouse, said that he had a rare, preternatural confidence that the film would be a success because of it. S U M M E R 2017

▶ “I never had any doubt that she would be absolutely fantastic,” he told me. “I felt that way writing it, and I felt that way making it, and I was never really worried—which is atypical for me. That conf idence was less in myself and more in her talent.” When we spoke, Strouse was on his way back to Brooklyn from a writers’ workshop upstate via the Metro North train, which follows a beautiful tree-lined route along the Hudson River. That night he would be at a screening of Jessica James at BAM, and afterwards alongside Williams at the audience Q&A. He spoke quietly so as not to bother other passengers; I thanked him for talking to me even though he was in transit. “No, it’s my pleasure,” he responded instantly. “I love talking about Jessica.” After they worked together on Strouse’s 2015 comedy People Places Things, which stars Jemaine Clement as an art professor/graphic novelist (Williams plays one of his students who sets him up with her mother), Strouse was so taken by Williams’ presence on screen that he wrote an entirely new film just so she could star in it. But the root of Strouse’s ad64

miration for Williams preceded that: “[I was] a huge fan of The Daily Show,” he said. “She made something I already loved stronger. I loved the topics that she covered, and the way that she covered them.” As the youngest correspondent to belong to The Daily Show’s The Best F#@king News Team Ever (she was 22 when she first appeared on the show; she retired four years later), Williams was funny and captivating. Moreover, she was able to step outside of her own experiences and empathize with the people that she talked to, in an honest, relatable way. Once, she interviewed a group of transgender Americans, one of whom had been arrested and jailed in Iowa for eight days because she was carrying spironolactone hydrochloride, a common medication used in hormone therapy for trans women, but did not have a prescription with her. “Ugh,” said Williams. “I thought it was tough being a black woman. But compared to a black transgender woman? I may as well be a white frat dude at a Dave Matthews concert.” Ever since Strouse had seen her unique brand of raw but compassionate comedy, he’d

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wanted to cast Williams in one of his films. In People Places Things, he thought Williams would play well comedically off of Jemaine Clement—but it went even better than that. While editing her scenes, he thought, “My god, I can’t wait until she is in a movie where she is in every scene, because she is so fun to watch.” A beat or two later, he realized he could be the one to make that movie. Williams herself did not take much convincing. “He reached out like, ‘I have this idea, would you like to meet and talk about what I have so far?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, of course.’” Over the course of a few meetings in Bed-Stuy, Strouse presented Williams with the character he was developing. “He really tried to make it feel [...] like this was a whole, living, breathing person.” Watching the film, I was struck by how often things Williams said as “Jessica James” were not just something any living, breathing person would say; they were straight up Jessica Williams. “I am an executive producer of the movie as well, so I had a lot of creative input and say in what happened with the film, and we really wanted

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“ Of course not everyone’s real self is so appealing—but Williams’ real is dynamite” to make sure this dialogue felt natural,” Williams said. Strouse also encouraged a lot of improvisation; Williams and her co-star—the charming, rumpled, self-effacing Chris O’Dowd—were particularly adept at this, whether walking the streets of East Williamsburg, scrolling through their respective ex’s Instagrams, or going on a roller-skating date at the LeFrak Center at Prospect Park. But in the end, movies are made of scripts, and occasionally Strouse would reel them back in. “I’d be like, ‘Okay, let’s do the movie you wrote?’” When I asked Strouse to try to define her allure, he used words like “f ierce honesty,” “wit,” and “charisma.” But what he eventually got to was Williams’ uncanny ability to be real. Or, more simply, to be herself. Of course not everyone’s real self is so appealing—but Williams’ real is dynamite. “There is a moment [in The Incredible Jessica James] where she’s watching a kid’s performance and her eyes well up,” Strouse said of Williams. “It was just her and me and the camera and the VP—the kids were gone. And I thought, god, her mind is so powerful. She conjured up everything she needed to—I mean, my eyes were watering just watching her. She was [...] bringing herself to that emotional place without having any person to work with.” On 2 Dope Queens, Williams and her best friend/comedy partner, Phoebe Robinson, discuss “black lady love” and a host of quotidian and raunchy topics in front of live, sold-out crowds; on The Daily Show she was pure “J Willy,” as host Trevor Noah referred to her; and she brings a significant amount of her real self to Jessica James. I wondered if that meant she wouldn’t play a character radically different from herself—say, an army general from a different century. “Obviously, I would have to stop saying things like ‘totes preesh’ for a little while,” Williams quipped, which is an expression that Williams and Robinson use, and that Williams also says in Jessica James. But she’d figure it out. “How can I make that [character] feel relatable, and how can I be the most comfortable as that person?” Williams wondered of her hypothetical role. Suddenly I could imagine her as basically anything. But The Incredible Jessica James did not de-

mand that Williams make so dramatic a leap. And to the extent that it is safe and familiar— especially for someone accustomed to tackling any topic, no matter how challenging—I wondered if its simplicity had ever given her pause. “It took a lot of trust [in Jim] to do the movie, just because it’s such a sweet story,” Williams conceded. But that’s where Strouse’s implicit confidence in Williams counted. “In some ways,” he said, “it was okay to tell a kind of old-fashioned romantic-comedy story, because Jessica makes it all new.” ▶ Through 2 Dope Queens, we know a not-insignificant amount about Williams’ personal life, due to the unbound places Robinson and Williams are readily willing to go. We know that Williams’ household was very Christian; that her first girl-boy party was in sixth grade, but instead of Blink-182 her parents provided gospel music (and a bouncy castle). Williams has told us she was in her “mid-twents” the first time she had sex; we know her boyfriend of three years is a photographer who is white. But despite freely disclosing so much, Williams calls herself an introvert. She often prefers to stay home to play RollerCoaster Tycoon, and will move in and out of friend groups in order to remain independent, which, she says, “maybe isn’t the best quality.” Still, these are qualities she’s known most of her life. “Growing up, I would beat myself up for just wanting to curl up with a book, when really that was something that I didn’t need to beat myself up about in the first place. As I get older, I really try to honor the brilliant part of me that is introverted.” As her stardom grows, and with the seeming necessity of using social media—which she does use regularly—I asked how she manages to maintain a truly private space. “I’m still trying to figure that out,” she said. “And there are things that I do wanna keep private, because I am a pretty private person.” Which begs the question: how did a self-proclaimed introvert become a very public comedian who shares a lot about her personal life, despite an instinct to do otherwise? “I think there’s two types of grandmas,” she began. “There’s the milk-and-cookies

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kind that you just love, and there’s the kind that swears and drinks beers and wants to go to Las Vegas.” Her own grandmother, Marsha, who passed away when Williams was 13, was the latter. When Williams stayed with her they would watch Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, South Park, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. “She would watch everything, and I would stay up and watch a lot of that stuff with her. So I always saw comedy as a valid medium. If that kept her company, then that’s something that I really wanted to do.” And opportunity came knocking for her to do so. The pivotal career moment came while Williams was finishing up her degree in creative writing and film at California State University, Long Beach. She was standing in line at Panda Express with a friend, ordering their favorite dish—orange chicken—when she picked up a call from her talent manager (she’d been sending out tapes and auditioning to get her start in the entertainment field). Jon Stewart wanted to hire her full-time as part of The Best F#@king News Team Ever. “We just started screaming in the cafeteria,” said Williams. “The only bad thing was that I had to finish my finals, and I didn’t care about my finals that semester at all.” The Daily Show’s version of Williams’ hiring story is somewhat different than hers— she thinks they reached out to her after she sent an audition tape: they claim to have seen some other unknown video of her. “It’s always been up in the air. Seriously, like no one knows how I got hired, just that I did.” And, ultimately, all that matters is that she did get hired. “My life completely changed for the better,” said Williams. “The show became sort of my family, and I learned a lot about myself when I was there, and the way I see the world, and what good work looks like.” Williams’ final appearance on the show, with Trevor Noah now the host, came about a year ago on June 30, 2016. Jordan Klepper, standing with the rest of the correspondents said, “Jess, it has been an honor working with you. When I came in, I was so impressed by how young and talented you were, it almost made me angry.” Williams was not really trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face. “And now as you leave,” he continued, “I am honored to say that I am still pissed.” 67

Of that moment, Williams said she “felt a bunch of emotions that I needed to unpack with my therapist, Heather.” But any deeper sadness would be short lived; she already knew that she’d be shooting The Incredible Jessica James, and (spoiler/teaser alert) that she’d be developing a scripted comedy series. Plus, just a couple months prior, the first episode of 2 Dope Queens had aired on WNYC. It became the number one podcast on iTunes almost immediately. To that end, 2 Dope Queens might never happened had it not been for her stint on The Daily Show; Williams met her now cohost Phoebe Robinson while Robinson was doing background for a piece about black women’s hair in the military. “Basically that was fate because we talk about black hair [on the podcast] all of the time,” Robinson wrote in an email. The pair hit it off on set, 68

because, according to Robinson, they both had backgrounds in improv and—though Robinson doesn’t any longer—white boyfriends. Robinson was running her own podcast out of her old apartment in Kensington and invited Williams to be a guest. By that time they’d become friends, and when Williams’ birthday approached, Robinson asked what she wanted to do. “She said she always wanted to try stand-up, so I asked her to co-host a monthly show I had at UCB East as a fun one-off.” Their stage chemistry was immediate, as it clearly still is. Robinson says what she admires most about Williams is that she’s open to growing and to adventure. “She pushes herself, which is what we all have to do in order to survive and have fulfilling lives,” Robinson started, then added: “I like that she is nice. I wouldn’t say that I’m the mean one, but I’m certainly

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the judge-y one and she is more willing to give the benefit of the doubt. There’s a sweetness to her that I will never have, so I admire that. ▶ When I watched Jessica James alone, I was struck primarily by Williams’ remarkable realness, or whatever that glittering-yethard-to-define quality of hers is that landed her on TV at only 22 years old. On Williams’ last Daily Show appearance, Trevor Noah also struggled to describe her undeniably special essence. “This building is going to suffer a severe lack of”—he searched for the right word—“uh… J-Willy-ness without you.” To which Williams responded right away, through tears, “Mhm, mhm, I got a lot of Willy style.” Watching the film with a live audience at BAM—I attended the screening Jim Strouse had been headed to on the train—I was struck not only by Williams, but by how funny

the entire film is. As she and O’Dowd bantered, the audience regularly roared with laughter. If I had walked into that theater and seen my own face on the screen, seen the crowd loving it that much, I’d feel I could pretty much die knowing I’d done something right—knowing I’d made it. I imagined Williams in the audience at the same time, and wondered what she must be feeling as she watched a large audience watch her on a screen in giant form, in scene after scene. After the screening, Williams stood outside the theater doors, patiently and humbly taking on heaps of compliments from fans who were excited and nervous about meeting her. When I said hello, I told her we’d talked on the phone for this piece. Something like warm familiarity spread across her face and she said, “Oh yeah, we already know each other!” Her magnetism reads on screen, but it’s stunningly palpable in person. It was a Tuesday afternoon when I originally spoke to Williams for this piece, and she was in a hotel room in Los Angeles, preparing to host an awards night for the organization Women In Film. Her mother was with her (“It’s a nice room, so I invited her to come stay”). At first, I’d been disappointed to be engaging from afar instead of meeting at a café in Clinton Hill where she lives, sipping on things and observing her in full form. But our conversation illuminated her ineffable grace, humor, and directness as much as any meeting could have. Even when talking about success, her unpretentious realness came through: “I’m getting all dressed up. I’m getting hair done, makeup done, and I always love that because that to me really feels like, ‘Oh, cool, I’m being an actor!’” It was a believable way to encapsulate “making it” for someone who had also just told me she was equally excited to be in L.A. for the warm meals that would be waiting for her at her family home. At BAM, when an audience member too asked her about success, wondering if Williams had a particular moment when she felt she’d made it, she responded that she’d had one that very night: walking into her adopted hometown’s iconic theater, seeing a crowd of Brooklynites rapturously taking in a film she’s starring in. (I later saw a video on Williams’ Instagram that she’d captured in the still-dark theater as the end credits rolled, where she yells out, “Yaaaas! Brooklyn!”) But most of the time? Williams said everything just feels like normal life. She’s still just walking around being herself—she just happens to be incredible.

“ She pushes herself, which is what we all have to do in order to survive and have fulfilling lives”

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Words Michael Tedder Photography Julia Hembree

Work from Home Pro: It’s perfect for late-nights bursts of inspiration. Con: You might never leave the house again. Ten artists share what it’s really like to have your studio space at home.

Why go to an office when you can live in your office? From musicians to fashion designers to visual artists, more and more creatives are choosing to take their work home. All it takes is time, ingenuity, and the ability to work within a small to space to set up your own home studio—and then you never need to leave the house again. Brooklyn Magazine recently invaded (well, visited) the spaces of some our favorite artists. Whether you want to make jewelry or mix an album from the comfort of your own place, let their workspaces inspire you… And may their advice about maintaining work-life balance remind you to actually go outside once in awhile. S U M M E R 2017

James Hinton, better known as The Range, makes beguiling, minimalist electronic music to get lost in. His most recent album, Potential, was released last year.

James Hinton

H: It’s an economic thing, it’s a comfort J thing. The ability to work late into the night is a huge reason why it just makes sense to do it this way. I’ll stay up until four in the morning pretty regularly. I don’t think I could have made my last record in a professional studio. It just wouldn’t have worked. It was so much about being in your own space and your own comfort zone. For me, I just literally roll into bed when I’m done, and that ability to keep the circularity going in the morning, and have that space staring me in the face, it was an important thing. Based in Clinton Hill

Olivia Wendel is a fashion designer and textile artist, known for her hand-painted, gorgeous scarves.

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Based in Williamsburg

Olivia Wendel 72

OW: I view painting as a form of choreography. While figures remain still on flat paper, printing them onto fabric gives them movement and presence. Much like a series of etchings, I see these prints on fabric as works of art that can be worn or hung on a wall. A few years ago I moved into a larger space where I currently live and work. There was definitely a transition period where I had to become more disciplined. I think part of this shift was realizing that regardless of the distance between my home and studio, my workspace is a sanctuary for creative thinking. I still take long walks through my neighborhood when I need to think things through.

Matt LeMay

Joan LeMay

Joan Lemay is an interior designer who runs the company Fifth House Interiors, as well as a painter and illustrator. Her husband, Matt Lemay, is a technology consultant by day; by night he writes, mixes albums, and plays guitar. Matt has worked on albums by White Hinterland, Jessica Dennison + Jones, Sam Buck Rosen, and the Junior League.

Based in Fort G reene

JL: Working from home is fantastic, because I can wake up and get going with no pants on, and just have a coffee or a paintbrush in my hand. But, without Matt around, I will forget to eat, I will forget to put on an outfit, I will forget to get the mail. I will just work until the sun goes down. Since we’re together in this small space probably 85 to 90 percent of our time, we’ve developed a routine that has helped counteract those tendencies. We treat ourselves as if we’re dogs—taking ourselves for walks several times a day, making sure we go outside, have breakfast. All of that stuff is very conscious. ML: Part of why I like the constraint of working from home is it has forced me to think about what I am using and what I care about, which in turn has changed the way I spend my time creatively. I find that having a little space where everything is close together makes me more inclined to play guitar while I am mixing. Weirdly, I feel like the particulars of this space have left me feeling more like a guitar player than I have in previous situations, because I have one amp that I really love that is set up all the time to record easily. It becomes a creative circuit that is easy to plug myself into any time. S U M M E R 2017

Based in Ridgewood, Queens

Nick Hakim Nick Hakim is a soulful, hip-hop–savvy singer-songwriter whose debut album, Green Twins, was released on ATO Records in May. NH: It all revolves around my music. I don’t have a lot, besides clothes and my mattress and some acquired junk. I have little things I collect that take up [some] space, but other than that it’s just my music stuff, my instruments, and gear that I’ve been collecting. I lived in like four different places in the course of making this record. I just adapted to whatever space I had access to. There were a lot of limitations in terms of space and a lot of limitations in terms of being able to be loud. Right now I share a wall with someone that can hear every little step I take, so I don’t even have monitors set up. That really shaped the sound of the album, because we had to rehearse quietly in my room.

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Laura Tiffin Based in Red Hook

Geoff Kim Based in Bed-Stuy

Geoff Kim is an artist, designer, and illustrator who has worked for VICE, Billboard, Complex, Adidas, and The Creators Project. GK: Your work and personal space blur, and that can become a bit distracting. It’s convenient to roll out of bed and start creating, but the flow of roommates or domestic tasks can become distracting. I like moving around, so even if I’m working from home I’ll take a bike ride or go for a walk. There are times when my living room or workspace gets cluttered with small bits of paper, and I end up using the scraps that fall by the wayside, which disrupts the conscious process and allows for unexpected shapes and colors to fill my pieces. S U M M E R 2017

Laura Tiffin makes colorful and custommade cuffs and rings for her jewelry line Rabbitneck. LT: I started Rabbitneck in March 2016. But for years my studio has been in my home. I am lucky enough to have the space in my home and unlucky to not have the money to get a separate studio, so it makes total sense. So many artists I know do not have the space or money to work, so I’m really grateful. Let’s just pray the landlord doesn’t sell the building! I built the workroom for Rabbitneck myself, so it feels like a real investment for me; it’s very motivating. I tend to keep weird hours, so it’s nice to be able to work and rest and work again on a whim. I also play piano, and when I want to break from work, I like having the piano around to just play for a few minutes.

Malene Barnett

Malene Barnett is an award-winning designer known for her bespoke carpets and hand-crafted tiles.

Based in Bed-Stuy 76

MB: My home/office is in a Queen Anne-style townhouse and was a third bedroom which I had converted to an open loft space. [My office walls] are painted in shades of tangerine, so even in the middle of winter it looks and feels like summer. It’s a refreshing color to work in, as it reminds me of the Caribbean. It’s my dream to live and work from the region, so until then, my home and office keeps the dream alive. Before I started my business, I worked as a freelancer for 10 years, which consisted of a combination of going into an office and working from home. When I started my business, it made financial sense to continue to work from home, instead of adding unnecessary overhead expenses. Honestly, I never wanted to be tied to an office space, as I’ve always wanted to create a business that I could run from anywhere. I own my home, it has a dedicated work area, and the arrangement fits my lifestyle goals.

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Jeff Curtin

Juan Pieczanski Juan Pieczanski and Jeff Curtin have made three albums of experimental headrush indie pop as members of the band Small Black. They’ve also recorded Vampire Weekend and Those Darlins, amongst others, at their home studio, and hosted the Pitchfork TV show Juan’s Basement. JC: We live right across from the train, so sometimes we have to wait for a train to pass or a pipe to stop running, which is the type of thing you have to deal with in a home studio. You learn to respect your neighbors, and get to know them a little bit, too. If we’re having a problem with one of the rooms upstairs, the basement is pretty quiet. We can just go down there. In the early days of the house, we did have a few floods down there that we had to worry about, but that hasn’t been a problem in a while.

Based in Park Slope

JP: We’ve worked in professional studios for different projects, but I think nowadays everyone has a home studio. The studio system has changed since back in the day, and you can pretty much do anything at home, [save for] a couple of things. We have a basement here, so we can do the larger instruments.

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Alyse Archer-Coité, A/D/O’s director of programming

Words & photos by Matthew Ismael Ruiz

Design Good

In the shell of an old Greenpoint bakery, a car company shifts it’s gears into becoming a hub for design. There’s a structure in the lobby of A/D/O, a new creative space in Greenpoint funded by BMW Group’s MINI brand, that serves as a convenient metaphor for its mission. It’s easy to miss, but underneath the stunning mirrored-glass skylight dubbed “The Periscope” lies a perforated metal structure bathed in light. At the moment it’s supporting an exhibition of woven sculptures from Stephen Burks, but a quick glance over to the reception desk reveals that it too is constructed of the same material. The shiny metal blocks’ perforations allow the pieces to be easily reconfigured into various designs, like a bougie life-sized erector set. Installation No. 15, “And Benches, Platforms, Partitions, Shelving, Activity, Books, Uniforms” as it’s called, is a simple idea that allows for infinite complexity—and a prime example of the potential synergy of A/D/O’s facility, a 23,000-square-foot former bakery remixed and renovated by design firm nArchitects. S U M M E R 2017

“And Benches…” was first conceived by A/D/O’s Design Academy, who commissioned MOS Architects to design it. Studio Lin—a design practice hired by MOS to redesign the firm’s brand identity—then crafted an “activity book,” which includes plans for hundreds of possible structures that can be built with the blocks. A/D/O staffers can use the book (which is sold in the space’s retail shop) to create custom installations that serve their needs, both functional and artistic; service manager Thom Taglioli, for instance, is currently building a massive bench formation inspired by an episode of Black Mirror. In the activity book’s afterword, Daniel Pittman, A/D/O’s design director, wrote that the project “literally and figuratively mirrors A/D/O.” It can be a bit confusing to wrap your head around A/D/O’s mission, which is “to stimulate great design and be a prolific source of new ideas for the future.” As a marketing scheme, its closest analogue might be the Red Bull Music Academy, a media company seeded by the caffeinated-beverage empire that funds programming, collaboration, and recording of culturally relevant and historically significant music. But unlike RBMA, there’s almost zero on-site branding for MINI, or its parent, BMW; the sole logo we found in the entire space was on a single placard describing a current installation. And unlike the Cadillac House, the General Motors-funded art gallery/coffee shop and showroom in SoHo, you won’t find any cars in the space—in fact, you’d be hard pressed to even feel like you were being sold…anything. 80

Alyse Archer-Coité, A/D/O’s director of programming, says the subtlety is essential to fostering a creative environment. “If I'm BMW Group, and I'm interested in trends in design, and I come to you and say, ‘Hello I'm from BMW, here's my card, let's talk about what you're working on,’ you're immediately suspicious,” she explains. “You’ll want to know what I want. Am I gonna try to own your design? Am I gonna try to steal what you have? Are you now associated with BMW? It just takes the air out of the room, and the conversation changes immediately.” With A/D/O, BMW Group may be looking to cultivate design cache for the MINI brand, but it’s not conjuring it out of thin air. A/D/O stands for Amalgamated Design Office, which takes its name from the design department at British Motor Company that designed the first MINI car in 1959. That original MINI was itself a solution to a problem: The Suez Crisis of 1956 resulted in fuel shortages in the UK, and the company was tasked with developing a car based on an existing engine that was both fuel efficient and suitable for life in a modern city. The problem MINI seeks to solve with A/D/O is a bit less dramatic. Car ownership in urban areas is stagnating; with driverless cars right around the corner, what’s a car company to do when the conversation is no longer about driving? With the opening of this space, it’s clear that MINI sees itself as more than a car company. Rather, it fancies itself an arbiter—and patron—of good design.

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“

questions being asked by people capable of solving them—or at least people capable of inspiring those that will eventually solve them.”

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“ of this space, it’s clear that MINI sees itself as more than a car company. Rather, it fancies itself an arbiter—and patron—of good design.”

That original design department’s name was derived from two companies merging, but the new A/D/O is an amalgamation of several distinct functions: a membership-based design studio, a startup accelerator, public exhibition and work spaces, a restaurant, and a retail shop. Together they aim to serve as a hub for design that attracts A-list talent along with the yet-undiscovered next generation—developing a cache in the sector that BMW hopes will rub off on MINI. Beyond its role as a hub for artists and designers, the public space at A/D/O is made to be quite literally a hub—the main lobby, underneath the Periscope installation, connects each distinct part of the space. Upon entering, Norman—a restaurant by chef Fredrik Berselius, of Williamsburg’s Aska, and Claus Meyer, co-founder of Copenhagen’s famed Noma—lies to the far left. It’s separated from a public lounge and workspace by walls and retractable curtains; beyond the workspace lies an outdoor exhibition space, currently occupied by large sculptures. The public lounge offers full views into several fishbowl-style glass-walled offices housing designers-in-residence selected by the two-person Design Academy; current tenants New Reality Company are working on immersive, haptic virtual reality experiences. Past the reception desk lies a hallway leading to a workspace for a startup accelerator called URBAN-X that focuses on solutions to the challenges of city life, and a 24-desk design studio and fabrication workshop. A retail design shop selling discerningly curated pieces from around the world is accessible from both the lobby and the street. With so many things happening under one roof, A/D/O feels a bit more like a sustainable business than a marketing pop-up: the restaurant and shop are full-time retail businesses, memberships

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at the studio are $600 per month, and URBAN-X companies that get funding from MINI and venture capital fund SOSV’s HAX Futures, the parent of the URBAN-X program, do so in exchange for seven percent of their company. “The idea is that this is a center that's acknowledging some issues in design,” Archer-Coité says. “Outside of designing chairs, what are the things you need? If you're an elderly person, and you can no longer open a jar of jelly because you have arthritis, do you need to go into a home to be assisted? Or is there a design flaw there? You shouldn't have to change your life—design should change for you. It’s everything from that to the future of design, and how cities work and bring people together.” Outside of the startup accelerator and design studio, programming lies at the heart of A/D/O’s community-building efforts. In order to foster new ideas and solutions to problems in our everyday lives, Archer-Coité is bringing in architects, designers, and big thinkers who can inspire future generations to solve problems we don’t even know exist yet, and in turn, draw inspiration themselves. Early events put on at A/D/O include a panel discussion organized by Futureworks NYC, a project by the New York Economic Development Corporation intended to spur growth in the city’s industrial sector, about mastering manufacturing from design through fulfillment, and a three-day festival called Utopia vs. Dystopia that sought to examine “major cultural disruptions and scientific advances such as robotics, artificial intelligence, automation, and new production technologies,” featuring guests like David Byrne, Alice Rawsthorn, and Yves Béhar. There are big-picture questions being asked by people capable of solving them—or at least people capable of inspiring those that will eventually solve them. For all its high-minded goals, A/D/O’s most immediate impact may just be how it attracts like-minded individuals, drawn to good design like moths to a flame. On our way out, we stopped for a moment

at the giant table in the co-working space, amidst about a dozen laptop warriors. Some were tapping away furiously at their keyboards; one person was checking million-dollar listings on Streeteasy. Arthur Lugauskas, 27, a self-described “creative genius” who lives just down the street, told us he was randomly driving by, saw the space, and was drawn in. “When I first walked in, I thought this might be a school…some sort of design academy,” he says. Once he discovered he was welcome to use the space for free, with no obligation to buy anything, he began telling his friends and imagining the ways he could channel the inspiration. “I can probably paint here, too,” he says, “Maybe bring drawing supplies…there’s good lighting in here. That's the whole point of it.”

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(and foods)

By Jenn de la Vega Photos by Trinh Huynh & d. yee

all the feels

An altruistic catering chef on designing menus at the intersection of empathy and good eats Smoke. Anise. “Citrus fresh.” Cherry. Bourbon. The outdoors. These words were the inspiration behind two key menu components—smoked fennelorange pickles and bourbon-cherry BBQ sauce—for a celebration I catered at Ridgewood’s Onderdonk House. The couple who chose these flavors and I spent three weeks testing the BBQ sauce, meeting to finalize other details and logistics of their event while experimenting with the sauce until it was really something magical. My gift to them was a large quart jar of the sauce for them to use in the future—a gift to spark sensory memories of their day, and the unique and special time we’d spent together shaping it. S U M M E R 2017

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I work in technology by day, so when people discover I’m also a wedding caterer, they wince as they ask, “Isn’t that a lot of work?” Planning menus, applying for venue permits, hiring staff, cooking the meal itself: it is a lot of work. But I like it—because the work is about more than just making delicious food. Behind each event, there’s a complex web of emotions, memories, and needs to navigate, a shared foray into experiential design that can never be itemized on an invoice. It takes communication, anticipation, and compassion to create a truly seamless event, and a menu that does more than just feed people. In my mind, working with catering clients is as much an emotional exchange as as a monetary one.

When I first start working with a couple, I want to get to know them in an honest way. I ask them to look through my portfolio of food photos—what do they like? What turns them on—and off? We typically meet for drinks to just talk it through in the earliest phases; greasing the wheels helps loosen things up, and feeling at ease with each other from the beginning is key to sharing the kind of unfiltered information that’ll yield the best results. I ask a lot of questions and prefer to get answers right away, from the gut. We go through a “definitely/never” brainstorm. I make a list of everything couples love and another list of everything they hate before we start talking about locking in the menu. It’s a creative prompt—a mini-episode of Chopped starts playing in my head—and an important dive into the clients’ feelings about food. We consider whether ingredients will be in season at the time of the event—will eating muted, mealy heirloom tomatoes actually be enjoyable in the winter? Can we up the ante on a dish we’re thinking about by adding something that’ll be perfect and bold and ripe, like summer strawberries?—and whether they fit within the budget. (Pro tip: thinking through the menu’s impact on the financials is essential to reducing stress.) The definitely/never exercise also helps me identify how to channel comfort and nostalgia into each dish and menu. With the “definitely” list comes stories, sweet (and sometimes bittersweet) memories, and new ideas. The “never” list offers a glimpse into a couple’s eating dynamic. Perhaps they avoid certain cuisines altogether or have another more often because it caters to both of their palates or preferences. Maybe one of them is picky and it’s an ongoing source of conflict to be handled with care. Or maybe, say, one partner is gluten free, the other is a vegetarian who hates cilantro, and the one of their fathers is a raw vegan. Paying close attention to the details isn’t just important for keeping people healthy (ignoring an allergy could be dangerous), but it also creates a sense of being cherished. An easier eating experience means more relaxed guests—and a more relaxed day. Eliminating, or at the very least reducing, sources of anxiety leaves you with more bandwidth to effectively handle the things that feel out of control—like a late Amazon shipment, a surprise last-minute cost, unexpected guests, or crappy weather. Working for a sense of calm and comfort around food is especially helpful when the scale of an event has other tensions running high. Even the most tight-knit and supportive families can spiral into guilty

“ IN MY MIND, WORKING WITH CATERING CLIENTS IS AS MUCH AN EMOTIONAL EXCHANGE AS A MONETARY ONE.

late-night texting, quiet (or loud) judgment about life decisions and the wedding itself, and concerns over budget. And plain old feelings are a big part of it—while we’re all gathered here to celebrate an explosion of love, people can easily feel deprioritized or ignored if the couple do things their own way, or they don’t end up playing the role they wanted to play. Thoughtful, collaborative menu planning can help mitigate the potential for some of that. For a lovely summer night at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, I developed a BBQ menu to go along with a mother’s jars of dilly beans she was bringing from upstate New York—pulled pork sliders, lemon shrimp skewers, and grilled Cornish game hens smothered in herb butter—which made those beans (and mom) an essential and prioritized part of the whole experience. Sometimes I recommend inviting family members who might be feeling left out to contribute to the meal in meaningful ways: bringing trays of cookies one of the clients loved as a kid, or baking their family-famous pies. (Dessert is not my strong suit, so I welcome cakes from siblings or sheet pans of brownies that I can put out as

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Brooklyn City Point, 445 Albee Square Street, NY 11201, New York

the dance floor starts to heat up.) It feels good to have this brand of symbiosis, feeling more part of the family than hired gun, and it’s an excellent way to involve guests if your event is the sort that can be a little more flexible and hands on. A mark of successfully designing not just a menu but an experience is when I see celebrants actually eat during their weddings. While I was walking through the McCarren Greenmarket after finishing a long morning of working on my first cookbook, a couple got in touch: “I know you really need something else to do right now so... would you cater our wedding?! Our hearts are set on a burrito bar.” Not only was it basically unheard of to have a Chipotle-like assembly line at a wedding, but I knew how important burritos were to this couple. We did a tasting and dry run of the menu disguised as a burrito pop-up at Daddy’s (RIP!). It was a simple spread with two proteins—tofu and chipotle chicken—with roasted-tomato salsa, spring greens, sour cream, white cheddar, brown rice, and cinnamon black beans. On their wedding day, instead of sitting at a table or being shuffled from guest to guest during the dinner service, they hid out in the kitchen with my team while we cranked out burrito after burrito. This hot and fresh meal was the main event

for them. They wanted a minute to be together—and to have some uninterrupted peace to enjoy eating! I love that the couples I work with can lean on me to be part therapist, part little sister, and part pillar of support. And while it’s nearly impossible to get ahead of all the potential bad news that can come up around a high-pressure event, with food, we can create flexibility, a sense of comfort, and something that won’t let you down. We can make more than a meal. That feeling of control over one element of the day can make all the other problems feel like they’ve faded away. Good food is emotionally participatory. It makes you feel welcome, loved, and looked after. In my work, the goal is to communicate the flavor of a story as you take each bite. It’s to make an experience—and a really good (tasting) memory.

Jenn de la Vega is a community manager at Flipboard, editor-at-large of Put A Egg On It, and caterer living in Greenpoint. Her first cookbook, Showdown: Comfort Food, Chili & BBQ , is out now on Page Street Publishing.

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A star is born. Since first opening its doors two years ago, this former menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s haberdashery has quickly become the canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss spot for those looking for a truly unique experience in the Berkshires. Recognized as one of the top 10 new hotels in America by Architectural Digest.

PITTSFIELD, MA 413.358.4741 HOTELONNORTH.COM

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Words Mahmud Rahman Art Sarah Lutkenhaus

You Become an Immigrant

1972: Late on a January morning you arrive at Heathrow after a long series of flights. It had been daytime when you left Calcutta. This is the second time you’ve been in the air. You’re planning to stop in London for a couple of days, then fly on to Boston. Your final destination is Tulsa, Oklahoma, where you will start college. You hand over your traveling papers. Instead of a passport, you carry an Identity Certificate issued by India, identifying you as a refugee from Dacca. For just over a month, you have had a country, Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Only a few countries have recognized the new republic; the U.K. hasn’t. “You don’t have a diplomatic mission here. We cannot let you in.” Politely you respond, “I have traveling papers, they say I can return to India, I have a ticket and visa for the U.S. I’m only stopping here to visit friends.” “We cannot let you in.”

You try again, holding back something in your voice. When they look at you, barely 18 years old, weighing 85 pounds, what do they see? No. “What do I do?” you ask. “You can go into detention, or we can put you on the next flight to Boston.” “If I accept detention, will my chances improve?” “No, you wait for two days until your flight.” A TWA flight leaves within the hour. They retrieve your luggage, hurry you to a police car, and with your second-hand wool coat flapping in the cold wind, you climb onto the plane lugging the suitcase in your hand. You think people on the plane look at you like you’re some criminal being deported. Crossing the Atlantic, you wonder how you’ll be treated when you land. When you arrive at Logan, morning there as well, the official looks at your papers and greets you with a smile. “Welcome to America. You’re the first person from Bangladesh.” The U.S. has not recognized Bangladesh either—in fact it supported the war against your people—but this man takes your travel papers seriously and perhaps he reacts to you differently because this is Boston and Senator Ted

Kennedy of Massachusetts has been vocal in his support for the people of Bangladesh. You exhale. The ground feels solid again. You are stopping in Boston for a few days to visit your older sister who teaches at a Catholic girls school in Newton. But you’re two days early and you only have one dollar in your pocket. You have a $25 travel voucher but you haven’t cashed it yet. A woman at the Travelers Aid desk offers directions and helps you make a phone call to your sister’s home. Your eleven-year-old niece is home. You tell her you have arrived early and you’ll make your way on the subway, then catch a taxi from the station. She’ll have to provide the fare. Outside the airport, there is snow on the ground—you’ve never seen snow before—the temperature is 18 degrees and a wind blasts your face and your mouth goes numb and your words freeze. You board the shuttle to the T, then a Blue Line car headed for Government Center. You’re to change here for the Green Line, one bound for Riverside, but there are too many Green Line options, you get confused and end up on the street outside the station. You have no change to go back and try again. You find a cab, you give him your sister’s address

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and hope that your niece can cover the additional fare. The taxi ride is a blur. You haven’t seen your sister and her children since they emigrated here two years ago. Years later you’ll still remember: piles of snow outdoors, central heat inside, a soft bed with fitted sheets, chilled cranberry juice at breakfast. Your nephew’s crazy about Bobby Orr who plays something called ice hockey. Your sister will show you Cambridge and downtown Boston, she will get you clothes, including a warm parka. At MIT, you are greeted by the Rosa Luxemburg Students for a Democratic Society handing out leaflets protesting the British army murders in Belfast on Bloody Sunday. It’s a welcome sight. Your sister has arranged for you to speak to seniors at her school about the war in Bangladesh. You even get a small stipend. The girls are almost your age, but you feel like you’re a hundred years older. They have no idea about your life, you think they might be like the kids in the Archie comics you read before the war turned life upside down. You like what you see of Boston: a thickly urban city, efficient mass transit, universities, engaged students. Then you 95

fly on to Tulsa and start college. It isn’t as cold there but you can’t tell the difference; cold is cold. You try to resume a normal life and in the gaps, you try to sort out the last year of life when you became a refugee uprooted by war. 1971: Just a year ago, your life had a certain normalcy, perhaps even innocence. Then came a night of gunfire and you entered a world you read about in books. You were suddenly face to face with war. You were in your final year of secondary school but the times were turbulent and you’d lost interest in schoolwork. You were active in campus politics; the previous year you’d led a month-long strike. You worked with an organization carrying out post-cyclone work in a remote island in the south. With some friends, you were putting together a small magazine. The first issue of The Rebel was nearly ready. You were not unfamiliar with military rule. Just a couple of years ago, the opposition had brought down a decade-long dictatorship. Elections had been promised and delivered, but the military refused to respect the results in which the nationalist

Years later you would learn a word to describe your condition: survivor’s guilt. Naming it will help assuage it. 96

party you supported won an overwhelming majority. The people rose in nonviolent rebellion, the military responded with mass slaughter. They came for Hindus, for politicians, for rebellious youth. You and a brother three years older figured you would be targeted. Your eldest brother had been in the army, but at their base, the Bengali troops were attacked by their erstwhile comrades. They fought back but had to retreat into India. The military detained his wife and infant child. It would be months before they were spirited to safety. Like thousands of others your mother thought it prudent to leave the city. You joined her with other relatives, retreating to her father’s village, a place you had never visited. You stayed there for some weeks until the soldiers arrived there and set fire to Hindu homes. You returned to the capital, but not home. Feeling useless but at risk, you wanted to find a way to engage. You decided to flee across the border to India. Two attempts failed when you couldn’t find the contacts to guide you across. You were moved by the generosity of people who tried to help, one family insisting you eat the only substantial item in their meager evening meal, a single cooked egg. The third time, you joined your brother and a deserter from the border guards, and this time, after a journey on bus, auto-rickshaw, rickshaw, and on foot, you made it across. You reunited with your oldest brother. Your brothers readily agreed with your desire to move to Calcutta; later you would discover they were eager to send you away from the front. You are lucky. You do not have to live in a refugee camp or hustle for shelter. Your eldest brother’s wife has relatives in Calcutta and they welcome you. You reconnect with some schoolmates. You try to make yourself useful, joining a documentation project. With three friends, you do a stint at a guerrilla training camp on the border. On the way back, you get jailed, accused of being Pakistani spies. Some of you enlist in the final weeks of the war. But

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you’ve been disturbed by what you’ve seen among some of your leaders and partisans, your mind’s on fire, and you have trouble figuring out what you should do. Meanwhile your brother in the United States has been wanting you to move there for college. You’ve put him off. You’re not too keen on America, though you accept that America’s more than its president. Soon, the war ended; the Bangladesh liberation forces and the Indians rout the Pakistani occupation. Your homeland now free, you trekked home, along the way witnessing tragic scenes of devastation. With your earlier idealism cracked, many things not feeling right, you agree to move to the United States—fully intending to return. 1972: You’re in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where some of your family have emigrated. You move into your brother’s apartment which he shares with your mother and younger sister. The three of you share a room until your mother returns home a few months later. Culturally you’re prepared for America. Schooled by missionaries from the United States, you’re fluent in English. From the school library, you read the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. Your family subscribed to Life, Time, and Readers Digest. On TV, you had watched Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, and Mission Impossible. You had listened to Nat King Cole and Jim Reeves on the Voice of America. On LPs you’d listened to Joan Baez and the Four Tops. The campus is three blocks away. Your brother introduces you to the routines of daily life: shopping, laundromat, meals. You attend classes, work at the computer center, make a few friends, finding yourself drawn to outsiders: among them an Iranian woman and a single mother who fled an abusive marriage in Pecos, Texas. You ask her out on a date; she tells you she’s the mistress of a married man; all three of you go out to see the Concert for Bangladesh. Tulsa feels far from the world familiar to you. The newspapers, militantly conservative, do not carry much world news. The only news from home comes via a maga-

zine from Singapore that arrives at the library several weeks late. You have family, teachers, and friends, but it is hard for others to relate to what you’ve gone through, you find it hard to even formulate the questions you have. The library becomes your refuge and you read voraciously. You encounter Sartre and Camus; their writings in the aftermath of war speak to you. You discover Emma Goldman, Danilo Dolci, Thomas Merton. In your alone time, you try meditation. For a long time you will treat yourself harshly, setting impossible standards and failing to live up to them. You have trouble negotiating desire and responsibility. You will sometimes have unfair expectations of others, and people you love will suffer your buried frustrations. Years later you would learn a word to describe your condition: survivor’s guilt. Naming it will help assuage it. One morning you arrive on the campus green and encounter a protest. Nixon is dropping bombs on Hanoi and Haiphong in Vietnam, and some students organize

an open-mic speakout. You feel you should say something. The Nixon who’s bombing Vietnam armed the Pakistani butchers; he was culpable in the genocide against your people. You walk up to the mic and have your say. You feel it important to share the story of another people who’ve been on the receiving end of Nixon’s cruelty. This stand will gain you new friends, but also some enemies. The foreign student advisor warns you that you should stick to your studies. You never return to see her again. You had enrolled in engineering but move to the social sciences. Tulsa continues to feel remote, and you seek out a transfer. You think Boston will fit you better, and Brandeis accepts you with a generous scholarship. New worlds open to you, you find more like-minded people, even people you see as mentors. Soon after you arrive, Boston is caught up in near race war. Witnessing images of black children in school buses set upon by white mobs, how can you stay passive? You find yourself drawn again to active engagement with the world around you. You love what Boston as a big S U M M E R 2017

city offers but you also encounter its cruel side: you are called racial slurs and even assaulted once. You arrived on refugee papers but are no longer a refugee. You came as a foreign student, with the intention of returning. With time, you become an immigrant. Some of it has to do with the distancing hand of time; it takes ten years before your first visit home. Some of it has to do with love and relationships; opening yourself to companionship brings new responsibilities. Some of it has to do with your belief that you should engage with the world around you wherever you live. You move multiple times, to the midwest, back east, then all the way to the west. You realize you will never fully belong anywhere again, but at a certain point you discover that you have made this country your home. This essay appeared as part of “The Golden Door,” a Brooklyn Magazine essay series offering first-person perspectives on the immigrant experience in the United States. 97

H O R O S C O P E S

Style by the Stars An astrological guide to home decorating W O R D S SI D O RL A N D O

LEO July 23–Aug 22 A stately embodiment of the slickest summer swelter, go for shades of sunshine, larger-thanlife reds, and vibrant jewel tones that reflect your big, regal personality. Add an ornate faux-fireplace (for the cool months, of course) or an animal-print throw to make your unusual lion’s den feel homey, too.

VIRGO Aug 23–Sep 22 Po l i s he d t o a s he e n a n d f u r n i shed w it h pr act ic a l, clutter-be-gone pieces, your happiest home is a clean and often conservative array of muted neutrals, subtle grays, earthy greens, and fresh white. Defy your comfort zone with a perfect pop of color or an accent wall emblazoned with a bold-but-precise geometric pattern.

LIBRA Sep 23–Oct 22 A true lover of beautiful things, you appreciate artful, sophisticated touches that exude elegance and objectively good taste. Cohesion wins over eclecticness with you; you’ll enjoy palettes of calming blues or pinks. Aim for visual harmony instead of overpowering symmetry—it’s okay for the balance of your scales to sway a bit.

SCORPIO Oct 23–Nov 21 Through lethally precise lines and sultry blends of maroon, black , burg undy, a nd t he deep-dark blues and greens of hot poison, your space is a testament to your power (and, perhaps, your bloodlust). But even Scorpio likes to be soothed now and then: opt for mellow but detail-oriented minimalism if you’ve got a tendency to sting a little too hard.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22–Dec 21 You hate constraints, so the city’s tight-squeeze apartments can be a challenge. Up the oxygen with lots of plants and fresh greenery. Choose sheer curtains and decor in lively, amiable colors in most any hue. Display tokens and mementos that inspire your curiosity and wanderlust, but don’t let yourself go overboard—you can feel shackled by owning too many things.

CAPRICORN Dec 22–Jan 19 Resourceful, hardworking, mountain climber that you are, you prefer timeless or minimalist design and have a penchant for the utilitarian. Pair steel and leather with trend-agnostic shades of navy, rust, hunter, and black; prioritize an orderly space to work. And give yourself permission to enjoy something pretty—even frivolous—now and then.

AQUARIUS Jan 20–Feb 18 Eclectic, magnetic, futuristic—that goes for you and your decor. Head out of this world with modern designs, out-there prints, and pairings of metallics (or metals) and neons, especially in any colors found in the sky or sea. Vases, urns, and little fountains bring serenity; as a humanitarian, deep thinker, and total weirdo, maintaining your inner peace is key.

PISCES Feb 19–Mar 20 Adorn your abode with luminous sea greens and mystical iridescence; create safe places for divination and dreaming. If you can’t see the ocean from your windows, seek alternative means of enchantment: a silken-soft couch cover, glittering mood lighting, delicately scented candles, or a small collection of sentimental, precious objects. Don’t forget practical storage for all your shoes.

ARIES Mar 21–Apr 19 Spike a ruby-hued room with shots of hot pink, orange, or Martian umber. You appreciate the bold; wrought iron or metallic accents, mirrors, and flickering pillar candles add an elemental touch. Mementos from your conquests, journeys, and accomplishments show off your unstoppable, fiery side.

TAURUS Apr 20–May 20 Sturdy luxury and high-end f lou r i s he s a r e a l w ay s i n Taurean style. Pair traditional m a ho g a n y, l e a t h e r, a n d organic greens and browns with unexpected pastels, gorgeous f inishes, and decadently comfortable furniture for a space that’s both sensuous and steadfast.

GEMINI May 21–Jan 21 Your dual nature wants things both ways. Keep your bedroom serene with subdued shades and chill art, and your living space primed for a rolicking party—splashy colors, glassware aplenty, and lots of places to schmooze. Embrace vivacious contrasts and kaleidoscopic patterns. ( Just don’t go overboard. Or do?)

CANCER Jun 22–Jul 22 Get lost in your feelings, as you tend to do, in a space that shimmers w it h moondust. Elegant grays and creams; soft, nostalgic fabrics and ornate lace; and thoughtfully displayed treasures in silver and pearl bring dreamy romance and cozy comfort at once. Your heart needs—so make sure your space accommodates sweet company.

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WELCOME TO BROOKLYN Come hangout with us. 96 Wythe Ave Brooklyn, NY 11249 718-362-8100

www.thewilliamsburghotel.com Follow us @wburghotel

T H E

N E I G H B O R H O O D

G U I D E

FOOD & DRINK

C AT F I S H

D R O P O F F S E RV I C E

M A B L E ’S S M O K E H O U S E

Catfish draws its inspiration from the great city of New Orleans and offers the same easy going atmosphere you would expect to find in Old Dixie. The bar offers 16 rotating drafts, Big Easy inspired cocktails, in addition to a diverse of collection of bourbon, whiskey, scotch, and absinthe. The kitchen whips up traditional Cajun fare around the clock, serving brunch daily and dinner till close every night. Now featuring Bayou B.I.N.G.O every Monday 8–10PM, no cover. Let the good times roll!

Serving a great selection of American Craft Beer, European Classics and Cask Ale we take pride in our beer. Pristinely maintained beer lines and amazing Happy Hour deals keep our 26 lines moving, giving you the freshest cleanest beer possible. It’s not just about the beer though, We take pride in everything we do. We offer well thought out wine selections with great values from around the world. And delicious Seasonal cocktails featuring our house made ingredients.

Mable’s is a Southern BBQ restaurant born from family recipes using fresh, simple ingredients to make quality, homey dishes. With great beers and cocktails, Mable’s brings a no-frills BBQ experience to the heart of Williamsburg. Now open for lunch and brunch 7 days a week.

1433 Bedford Ave, Crown Heights. 347-305-3233. catfishnyc.com

211 Avenue A (between 13th & 14th), East Village. 212-260-2914.

44 Berry Street, Williamsburg. 718218-6655. mablessmokehouse.com.

SHOPPING

P I Z Z A PA R T Y

S A LT + C H A R COA L

A&G M E R C H

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!

Salt+Charcoal, Williamsburg’s Japanese Charcoal Grill restaurant is proud to present our brand new menu with several great new dishes. Try our new Filet Mignon Steak Sandwich with homemade Japanese lemon onion sauce for lunch/brunch, or our amazing Dry-Aged Wood Charcoal Grilled Beef Steak for dinner. We are conveniently located just a few minutes away from the Bedford Ave and Marcy Ave stations.

Founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2006, with the idea of being a neighborhood furniture store for those who prefer not to “default” to a big box retailer. We keep it cute but not cutesy, an urban-cabin-chic kinda thing, but not so predictable.

Pizza Party is now a full bar! Now serving frozen cocktails and hurricanes. Open 12pm - 4am everyday.

254 Irving Avenue, Bushwick. 98

171 Grand Street, Williamsburg. 718782-2087. masa@saltandcharcoal. com. saltandcharcoal.com.

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111 N 6th Street, Williamsburg. 718-388-1779. aandgmerch.com.

SHOPPING

AWO K E V I N TAG E

CITY FURNITURE

D RY D O C K W I N E & S P I R I T S

One of the most popular vintage stores in Brooklyn. Stocking on-point vintage for men and women. Also a wide selection of Brooklyn-made products. All items are handpicked from across the globe and here in Brooklyn, of course!

City Furniture in the heart of Greenpoint is a local business driven by passion for design and quality. We are authorized dealers of Eilersen, Innovation, Varier and Greenington. Visit us for: latest trend sofa, bed, sideboard and lighting. Complementary delivery within Greenpoint, Williamsburg with this posting.

Out Magazine describes us as “beautifully edited.” Offering outstanding value and quality from smaller vintners and distillers from around the world, including a vast selection of wines priced under $12, and a noteworthy selection of hard-to-find craft dis-tilled spirits, including over 100 whisk(e)y choices. Free wine & spirits tastings weekly. Anchord in Red Hook–On the way to Fairway & Ikea.

820 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint. 347-457-5727. cityfurnitureshop. com.

424 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook. 718-852-3625. drydockny.com

132 North 5th Street, Williamsburg. 688 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint. @AwokeVintageBrooklyn awokevintage.com.

B E AU T Y, H E A LT H , & W E L L N E S S

G R A H A M AV E B I D The Graham Ave BID is Williamsburg’s largest and most affordable place to shop. Our Farmer’s Market runs every Saturday from July 8th - October 8th on Cooke St. and Graham Ave. Take the M/J to Flushing Ave; the B46 or B43 bus; peddle, or walk!

12 blocks in East Williamsburg. 718387-6643. grahambid@verizon.net. grahamavebid.net.

G R I S T L E TAT TO O

S E L F S A LO N

Gristle is a custom tattoo shop specializing in vegan ink + procedures. Gristle Art Gallery promotes local and international lowbrow, pop-surreal artists. Community events such as pet adoption events are also held regularly.

Self Salon is a sought-after destination for ladies and gent’s hair needs. With two locations in prime Williamsburg and Bushwick, Self has built strong community ties. The cultural diversity of New York City and Brooklyn, is mimicked in Self Salon’s equally diverse and versatile team of experts. Specialty services include dry-cutting, Deva Certified specialists, barber cuts, bridal hair and makeup, hair painting, and color corrections. 182 Grand Street, LES. 42 Wilson Avenue, Bushwick. 718-599-1449 selfsalonbk@gmail.com. selfsalonbrooklyn.com.

26 Bushwick Avenue, Williamsburg. 347-889-6422.

S U M M E R 2017

Roll with us for a series of parties, fun rides and general revelry, all summer long. 214 BERRY STREET, BROOKLYN 325 LAFAYETTE ST, MANHATTAN Reserve your spot and learn more at: TIMBUK2.COM/NYC

Mean Girls July 5

OFFICE SPACE July 12

Donnie Darko July 19

Selena

July 26

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER August 2

Audience Choice August 9

P E O P L E

I N

Y O U R

N E I G H B O R H O O D I’m inspired by your handmade plant hangers and all the greenery you’re surrounded by. What plants do you recommend for small New York City apartments?

Peter: We never had great light in any of our apartments—not in this one either— so we’ve actually done a pretty bad job of keeping plants alive. You need to get plants that are hard to kill! We have a lot of cacti. There is a large succulent that hangs from the ceiling in our bedroom. Phoebe: Hanging ferns also look really nice with the way they drape. Pothos plants are pretty hard to kill. We have a big Swiss cheese plant in our living room that is low maintenance. Peter: But most of them will die at some point. Phoebe: And when they do, we’ll try to save the last living leaf and put it in a vase.

WORDS JINNIE LEE | PHOTO SASHA TURRENTINE

WALK INTO ANY BROOKLYN home goods boutique and you’re bound to stumble upon whimsical designs by Cold Picnic—cushion covers and woven bathmats emblazoned with casually sketched body parts, hand-knotted macrame plant hangers, plush rugs in desert-landscape palettes, quilted throws in abstract colorblocks. Launched in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Phoebe Sung and Pete Buer, the label has evolved from its early years as a women’s accessories line to a full-fledged interiors endeavor (though you can still score some of their jewelry and bags at their online “Sample Sale”). We caught up with Buer and Sung (and their two fluffy rescues, Phillip and Daisy) in their Ridgewood, Queens apartment/studio where they make the magic that is Cold Picnic.

You guys were on the boobs-on-things train before the trend really blew up. What is your take on it now?

Phoebe: I feel like women are taking back boobs, which [are] typically sexualized. Our Private Parts collection started as a joke because everything we were designing looked like a big penis or boobs. We started the collection because it made us laugh, but people want boobs on everything now. Someone recently asked if we can make a yoga mat with boobs on it. We’ve decided to stick with the bathmats. Two years ago, you moved from Greenpoint to Ridgewood, in a spot that you now own. How has the move evolved Cold Picnic? 104

Peter: Our old apartment was a railroad that was very narrow. We didn’t have space for a studio so we did all of our work on the living room floor. It was so cramped that it was hard to get excited to get down to work each day. But our apartment now has a basement, which is the Cold Picnic studio. It’s been amazing. Phoebe: We were looking for a house for so long that we put off getting a studio. Now that we have the space, we’ve started shedding. We have the room to make more stuff if we want to. Our old apartments were always used for something else, aside from living—we’d cut off the living room and basically live in the kitchen and bedroom. This is the first time we’ve been able to live with the things we’re making. We can have our own rugs out! B K M AG.CO M

Speaking of greenery, do you feel a shift in the home goods industry with concerns over climate change?

Phoebe: There was always a level of awareness built into the line as a smallscale designer. Personally, I’ve noticed a broadening of that awareness. Larger companies and retailers are now looking at the way smaller, independent labels present themselves. Peter: It was assumed when we first started that [being resourceful] was important to the brand, but it’s gotten more important to talk about it now. What’s it like being married and business partners?

Phoebe: I wouldn’t know how to work with anyone else. We can disagree as partners and get over it quickly because it happens all the time. We also have different ways of working and designing, but our aesthetic is similar. We’ll sketch separately and then we see what the other person is doing, and we’ll end up copying each other. It’s never that one of us wants to go in a completely different direction. It’s always like, “I was thinking that, too,” and everything clicks really quickly. Peter: We’ve been together for 10 years so we have all the same experiences and influences now. We met in college where we had classes together, after that we had three fashion jobs where we worked together, and we’ve always lived together in really tiny spaces. Literally since we first met in school, we’ve spent pretty much all of our time together. No complaints over here. ♦

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