Frenchie’s Gym – Not Your Local Crunch
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Frenchie’s Gym – Not Your Local Crunch

Hidden on the second floor of this building adjacent to the JMZ elevated train line in South Williamsburg is Frenchie’s Gym, a slice of authentic old school Brooklyn culture that has somehow managed to avoid the gentrification wrecking ball rapidly swinging toward it. Blink and you’ll miss it. From the ground level, the only evidence…

Remnants of the Old W-burg Shopping Districts
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Remnants of the Old W-burg Shopping Districts

I love seeing these signs gracing lamp poles in the North Williamsburg area because, to my understanding, they were put up long before the area went through its current day gentrification.  Sort of like if you put in shopping district signs, maybe a shopping district will follow? But North Williamsburg is not the only neighborhood…

What Happened To This Williamsburg Cemetery?
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What Happened To This Williamsburg Cemetery?

The two square blocks bordered by Union and Lorimer Aves. and Devoe and Powers Sts. in Williamsburg are as pleasant a place as any to live in Brooklyn. The streets are tree-lined and relatively quiet, yet only a short distance from everything Williamsburg has to offer. But the area wasn’t always residential. I was looking…

Bedford and Driggs, or Fourth and Fifth Aves?
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Bedford and Driggs, or Fourth and Fifth Aves?

I love Forgotten NY’s Street Necrology section, in which they pour over old city maps to find streets and roads that no longer exist – some having been covered by buildings or parks, others renamed or rerouted, others simply gone. I also love finding evidence of dead streets, and am wondering if I might have…

The Hidden Owl at Columbia University
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The Hidden Owl at Columbia University

One of the most beautiful and pleasant places in the city is the campus of Columbia University. It is simply incredible that such a place exists in the tightly packed metropolis that is Manhattan, and I never pass up a chance to visit. Located in the center of campus is the statue of Alma Mater…