The event planners note: “It is a time honored tattoo parlor tradition to commemorate an auspicious date or event with a themed tattoo.” Shops have long been inking $13 “13″ tattoos when that date falls on Friday the 13th, or $31 Halloween images on October 31.

And thus, Brooklyn Tattoo at 99 Smith Street, will again honor one of its biggest inspirations three days after the Bridge’s 129th anniversary on May 24. The Urban Folk Art Gallery, adjacent to the shop, will host a group art show commemorating the Bridge through the eyes of 20+ local painters illustrators, educators, photographers, comic book makers and tattooers, opening Friday, May 25, 7-11 p.m.

The Brooklyn Bridge tattoos draw from several flash (pre-drawn) images that evoke the spirit that has defined New York’s iconic skyline. Tattoos will be etched into your skin by Brooklyn Tattoo staff on a first come, first serve basis. Copies of the flash design sheets will also be available for purchase, as well as a limited edition book by Adam Suerte showcasing 50 Brooklyn Bridge tattoos he’s done in the past. And: Brooklyn Bridge t-shirts, pint and shot glasses, and other themed merch will be sold in the gallery, as usual.

The third-annual, two-part event is sponsored by Bar Great Harry at 280 Smith Street.

Brooklyn Tattoo has been operating in South Brooklyn for more than a decade. Its gallery opened in January 2011. For more information, contact Adam Suarte at 718-643-1610.

Owners of The Royal Palms, a grocery-store sized club featuring regulation-size shuffleboard courts and a full bar, is set to open their new venue in a 17,000 square foot repurposed Gowanus building—location not yet disclosed—featuring a nostalgic bent with lounge music, bingo, Yahtzee, key lime-flavored cocktails and episodes of “The Love Boat” on TV.

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the coming shuffleboard club will offer a dozen regulation-sized courts and a potential roof deck. A final leasing agreement is in the works, thus co-owner Ashley Albert declined to give away the exact location, but she says it will “likely be a super-affordable spot to channel your inner snowbird. We want it to feel like a Florida hotel from the ’70s. It’s a fun vintage thing for 20-and-30-somethings to try. There’s just something kind of cool about old time-y activities.”

(Photo: TV My Wife Watches blog)

Venues include Zombie Hut (273 Smith Street), Knit Lit (253 Smith), People’s Republic of Brooklyn (247 Smith), BookCourt (163 Court Street), Last Exit (136 Atlantic Avenue) and the After Party at 8 p.m. at 61 Local (61 Bergen Street).

Special events include: * Armchair/Shotgun enacts a live old-timey radio show. * The Liars’ League NYC acts out the latest story by Mark Haddon, author of “The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime.” * The Cambridge Writers Workshop presents Literary Cabaret.

The inaugural NYC Lit Crawl took place in September 2008. Last year’s event in Manhattan drew more than 1,200 crawlers, enjoying 70+ authors at some 20 events. This is its first extension into Brooklyn. The full schedule is here, with all info here.

“Brooklyn is so literary, it seemed like a no-brainer,” founder Suzanne Russo tells the Brooklyn Paper. “There’s so many friendly venues and so much going on in the literary sphere there, we thought it’s really the place we should be. The venues are smaller, there’s an energy in Brooklyn, a creative spirit that’s more of a go with the flow, we’ll-do-whatever kind of thing.”

“It’s very unique,” manager Ryan Domingo tells the Brooklyn Paper. “People drink beer on ice in Thailand, but not like this.” The machine is reminiscent of those in wine stores that utilize a salt and ice solution around a bottle that chills it to perfection in about 4 minutes.

Pok Pok’s Bia Wun—or jelly beer—is made with low-alcohol content brews like Singha or Chang and served with a straw. The new restaurant, which originated in Portland and was named one of the 25 “Most Anticipated Restaurants of 2012″ in March by Eater, is located at 127 Columbia Street at Kane Street in the Columbia Waterfront District.

(Photo: Eater.com)

Brooklyn Ink: Food for Occupiers in Zuccotti Park is being cooked in Boerum Hill and East New York, shipped to Lower Manhattan in donated vans and, occasionally, yellow taxi cabs.

The amount of food required to meet demand has reached a peak since the protests began in mid-September, Chef Eric Smith said. The voluntary kitchen staff, constantly shuttling food in from Brooklyn, is now preparing three meals a day for nearly 2,000 people.

Sean Dolan, chief cook at the protest, says one problem organizers face is an inability to “discriminate” between protestors and freeloaders.

“Rich people can come looking like homeless men, protestors can come in suits,” he explained. “We have to serve everyone.”

 

NY Times: Amy Finkel lives in an apartment in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, that does not allow pets. But she does have a groundhog (Chompers), an armadillo (Fleischesser) and a boar (Angel). They are all, however, dead and stuffed — and in the case of the boar, it is just the head.

“I do think I have a tendency to anthropomorphize,” Ms. Finkel said. “But I’m not sure they’re really pets.”

For the last four years, Ms. Finkel, who is 35 and teaches documentary video at Parsons The New School for Design, has been studying what animal lovers do with the bodies of their deceased dependents. She has a passing interest in burial and cremation. But her passion runs to the more unusual extremes of pet remembrance, things like mummification and cloning. Ms. Finkel is currently working on a documentary on the subject, called “Furever,” that is sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

 

Brooklyn Paper photo

This one has us scratching our heads — is it a total hoax or documentation that some folks love to mess with the emotions of a 2 year old?

The Brooklyn Paper reports this week that the owners of a lost teddy bear have received a “response” from its alleged “bearnappers.”

Last month Susannah Bortner posted a sign in Cobble Hill Park that her toddler Donovan had lost “Mr. Bear”, who was wrapped in a blue blanket, somewhere around P.S. 29.

The paper reports that a response and a modified poster, featuring an image of the bear wearing a blindfold (very disturbing and much too reminiscent of real terrorist acts to be funny) were left this week:

Brooklyn Paper: “We have the blanket. Nothing will happen to it if we get $10,000 of gluten-free cupcakes delivered to this park.”

Lest Bortner not be able to ID the “kidnappers,” the ransom note went on: “I’ll be dressed as a pregnant woman with a baby in a stroller. My accomplice will be wearing a T-shirt, baseball cap, cargo shorts and mandrals. We’ll be obsessing over our toddler.”

Then it added this horrifying warning: “Come alone or this blanket (and bear) goes into the washer. No gentle cycle!”

The last three words were underlined.

NY Times: BEN WATSON pedals his 1960s Schwinn three-speed from Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, to SoHo in a designer suit and tie, custom tailored — tapered legs, a bit more room for movement in the jacket — to make riding less sartorially treacherous. It’s a lesson he learned the hard way with a new pair of Yves Saint Laurent pants: on his way to the Javits Convention Center for a trade show, the gears tore a gaping hole in the cuff. “I’m probably not wearing what most folks think one ought to wear on a bike, and maybe I do that on purpose,” he said. “I like to think that an old bike and a happy outfit can make you a little happier.” Mr. Watson, 45, the managing director of Moroso U.S.A., an Italian furniture maker, said that when he passes other stylishly dressed cyclists, they often give each other a “wink and a nod,” adding that this “happens with some frequency on the corner of Chrystie and Delancey.”

Quick! Someone call Daniel Squadron!!

Image and the following report from Chow.com:

The artisanal cocktail movement suffered heavy casualties last night, when New York City Department of Health officials cited several restaurants in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn for old-timey facial hair code violations. For people preparing food and drink, state law requires that beards, sideburns, and mustaches be protected by a “mustache net.” However, in recent years, a trend toward aggressive nostalgia in the hospitality industry has encouraged whimsical mustaches at the expense of hygiene. There is often an equally compromising accumulation of Victorian clutter: phonographs, velvet flocked wallpaper, tarnished medical equipment, and pinned butterfly wings that officials warn can attract dust and crumbs.

The crackdown was a surprise to restaurant employees—one bartender apparently panicked and attempted to hide behind a taxidermied warthog. However, many of those cited have remained defiant.

“I’d be happy to have my staff wear mustache nets—if I could find a sustainable source,” said a representative of one of the establishments targeted in the raid. “And so far, I have not found a mustache net farm whose mustache netting practices I believe in.”

In the mood for adventure? We thought so . . .
Come explore the depths of Gowanus, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens – meet some characters, do some shots, hunt and gather things you never knew existed! You could win a sweet cash prize and tons of gift certificates, or at the very least we promise you a Brooklyn night you won’t soon forget.

5pm – 7pm: Happy Hour check-in with $1 off everything and $4 select pints. Free Thanksgiving sub & munchies
7pm – 10pm: Let the scavenging begin!
10pm: Bring your goods back to The Bell House for points towards big prizes including gift certificates from Brooklyn Tattoo, Babeland, Bierkraft, Press 195, and more. Winner takes all! Plus $3 vodka drinks, $5 Jamesons and $5 Hendricks drink specials for hunt participants and a super fun dance-tastic you-don’t-have-to-work-tomorrow party complete with a DJ!

Photo @ejcory via Twitter

CHB’s man-on-the-street EJ Cory Tweeted this photo of new signage at Henry Public, the new bar set to open at 329 Henry Street.  Co-owner Matt Dawson recently told Time Out New York that the new drinkery will not mimic his Brooklyn Social’s Sicilian social club vibe but rather, ” honor erstwhile locals like Walt Whitman.”

Opening is set for “late September”.

Late last month, Brooklyn-based indie publisher Canarsie House announced the publication of a new book of selected stories by Richard Grayson, I Hate All of You on This L Train. The 94-page book features humorous stories from five previously published Richard Grayson books from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 21st century. The book is available for purchase online or may be downloaded for free here.

Brooklyn blogger Tinadoll of …And then She Opened Her Mouth writes:

It all started several summers ago. I was sitting on my friends stoop in Cobble hill drinking Pabst Blue ribbon and we were listening to Yaz- No body’s diary. We were dressed as we saw fit- classic 80’s vintage from thrift stores we had searched all of New Jersey for. We were going to get drunk and then go into his house and watch Ingamar Bergman movies on his new flat screen hi def TV.

…That’s the summer I realized I could be a hipster. Read more