Cobble Hill Blog

Littlefied, the new eco-friendly performance and art space in Gowanus (622 Degraw Street), is hosting their first annual Super Festive 4th of July Gowanus Scavenger Hunt and BBQ this Saturday.

Littlefield declares independence from the usual 4th of July boredom. These colors don’t bleed. Yes its our 1st Annual Super Festive 4th of July Gowanus Scavenger Hunt and BBQ. Get ready for a day of wild high jinks and crazy new discoveries in the Gowanus! Get hype! Send us your team name and number of people, or sign yourself up and we’ll put you on a team with other friendlies. Expect prizes, bbq, djs, free booze and a super festive good time. Hunt starts at 2pm. Party lasts all night. The first team that drags out an old tire from “Lavender Lake” gets 100 points. Sign up now at hey@littlefieldnyc.com.

LISTEN TO THE NEW HOMER FINK SHOW with Suerte now at Blogtalk Radio.

Brooklyn Heights Blog has the details on Friday’s big bash at Rocketship [208 Smith Street] for Brooklyn Tattoo owner/Cobble Hillbilly Adam Suerte’s launch of the last installment of his Aprendiz graphic novel.

This summer, Coney Island is not only where you can catch Nathan’s annual hot-dog eating contest (always held at noon on the 4th of July), but it will also play host to the AVP Crocs Tour Volleyball Open, a competition comprised of the best male and female pro beach volleyball players from the United States. Additionally, swimming on the beach will now be a little safer thanks to additional lifeguards, according to a press release from the Parks Department:

More than 1,200 lifeguards - the agency’s target goal - are expected to staff Parks’ 54 outdoor pools and 14 miles of beaches this summer. Parks has trained and certified over 1,200 lifeguards and we expect the last contingent of returning lifeguards to recertify over the weekend, so the final tally will be available early next week. Thanks to a vigorous recruitment campaign, this will be the largest group of lifeguards ever employed by Parks, beating last year’s record high of 1,148 lifeguards.

It was a bad week to be a fast-food employee, as there were two armed robberies at fast-food joints, a series of vehicle thefts and a pair of thefts from strollers (don’t worry, there were no babies involved). Read more »

Read about it in the Brooklyn Eagle and BHB.

Photo from Brownstoner.

We reported a month and a half ago that the G train route would be expanded south past Smith-9th Street to the Church Avenue F station, and thanks to the above photo sent into Brownstoner, it  looks like it’s finally happening.

This photo was just submitted by a tipster along with the comment, “Evidence that they may actually finally be extending the G train to Church.” In fact, service to Church Avenue is scheduled to start July 5. For more background on the track work and reroutings can be found here.

The Brooklyn Paper reports that Community Board 6 has approved the rezoning of 86 blocks in Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Street Waterfront District, which will establish height limits on new construction.

“We don’t want to have the possibility of 70-foot-tall buildings in this area,” said John Hathaway, a member of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association. “The city says seven stories is unlikely. Well, unlikely is nice, but it’s not impossible.”

Hathaway added that “in general, the city did a very good job.”

Following a spirited debate, the committee adopted an amendment calling for the city to tweak this sliver of the plan to forbid the 70-feet tall monsters.

After an expected approval by the full board of Community Board 6, the plan goes to Borough President Markowitz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council as part of the city’s rigorous land-use review process.

Debbie Deane, a Brooklyn-based jazz-influenced singer-songwriter is going to play a free concert at Park Slope’s Tea Lounge (37 Union Street between 6th and 7th Ave) on Friday, July 3 to kick-off the 4th of July weekend. Debbie will be supporting her most recent album, Grove House, which was released on Ravi Coltrane’s RKM Records. This is one of Debbie’s very few local performances of the year. There will be 2 sets, at 9:00 pm and 10:30 pm.