My Life In Brooklyn

Originally I wanted a snappier title for this post. 

Last year, along the north side of Empire, near Bedford Ave was a row of one-story buildings. Actually now that I think about it, it could have been one building only with a row of storefront spaces.  Most were covered with a combination of graffiti and art on the security gates and walls and I had never seen them occupied.  See here and here for some examples.  There had been signs indicating the building was destined to become a storage area, and sometime, when I was in Italy perhaps, or just not paying attention, everything was demolished.

Now, I don’t particularly object to these buildings going, though perhaps something could have been done with them.  It really wasn’t the best use of that space, though I am not pleased with seeing the industrial side of Empire being exclusively nurtured either.  It seems a real shame to waste such a large space on a storage business, especially a space so close to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. But that is another post.

Today, when I was walking by, the plywood gate was wide open and I watched the construction crew working on the site.  It is clearly going to be a large building.

On the wall of the building next door were some old painted ads on the brick.  I hadn’t ever seen this before, mostly likely because building blocked it.  Considering the age (there is a four-digit phone number in the ad) it is in remarkably good condition. 

And so for now, a building goes, a new one is about to be constructed, and an artifact from the past is momentarily visible.  In a relatively short time it will be rendered invisible once more.

Oh, I would have liked it to be a more interesting ad to be sure.  But the image shows what is there; indicative of strong car culture from days past.  You can see a high res version of this pic (and a couple more) on my flickr account.