The last weekend in Red Hook before IKEA opens...take advantage of the loveliness.

As that age old NY catch phrase goes "it's not the HEAT it's the HUMIDITY!" I love summer and this crazy hot weather so I actually got out of the house at a responsible a.m hour this morning on my bike to hit the stoop sales where, I scored BIG TIME! Hot weather is an excellent time to buy leather which I did. I got an early 60's knee length leather coat for ONE DOLLAR!!!! Hell, the buttons on this thing were worth more than that. Anyway none of the sales were hoity toity like this one that I wrote about last summer. ANYWAY I eventually ended up at the Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival which is still going on today. It will be going on as well tomorrow along with the Carroll Gardens/Red Hook open studios. If you are around, check them out because they're awesome and also this because this area will most likely be a weekend madhouse when IKRAPA opens up. If you bike down to the festival as I did, you can take advantage of free valet bike parking and free ice cold water refills after you fork out a buck for a bottle of water. HAZY HOT & HUMID Baby!!! They've got free kayaking courtesy of Red Hook Boaters! It is significantly cooler by the water and the breeze felt great. There is music (of course) and food and views of the New York Harbor that can't be beat.

Check out this cheap camera video of some barges that look like they are going to smash into each other and some kayakers catching some waves in their wake, that could be you!!!


Where's it at?
Louis J. Valentino Park
Coffey St (at Ferris St)
Red Hook, Brooklyn

and you can pick up a map for the Red Hook Open Studios there as well!

It's been a long time but I found....

It’s been a while but l@@k at what I found on the corner of 8th Avenue and 15th Street (in Brooklyn town) lying on top of an electrical box! Is this HOT or what?! I KNOW this is from the 1950’s and made in Japan but I love anything that looks like it could be airbrushed on the side of a 1970’s van. I LOVE kitschy sunsets (as well as real ones!)

Anyway. This made me happy because a few minutes before, I stopped at a stoop sale where the proprietresses forgot they were outside in the sweltering sun and thought they were working at a high end Manhattan vintage clothing store. My eye fell upon a red and white polka dot western style shirt. A simple question “How much is this?” received a long winded reply about how she got it in a vintage western clothing store in Sante Fe and she never wore it blah blah blah. My interjection “Would you take five dollars?” was received in shock. She would take no less than twenty dollars!

Good Luck with that sister!

You will be sure to be hauling that back up the stairs, along with everything else you got for sale. The people that drop that kind of money are all out of town at their summer houses (I love it! I’m enjoying their absence!)

I’m turning into one of those old cranky hagglers that are regulars at stoop sales! I’ve held plenty myself and I pride myself on my people friendly prices. I get rid of it CHEAP and you know what? At the end of the day, I’ve got nothing left! Partially the reason for that is if I like you I usually tell you to "just take it" (that's why I am poor). I‘m finding that more and more stoop sale holders think they are selling the crown jewels. Last week I stopped by one on Clinton Street in Carroll Gardens and this chick wanted fifty bucks for a beat up pair of shoes! Yes, they were Sigerson & Morrison but HELLO! It’s a stoop sale!

As I mentioned before I have held many a stoop sale myself. The record collectors are the WORST but those are “my people” so I am entertained by them. If you say it starts at 10 they are literally pounding on your door at 9 am. I find that they use the annoyance factor to the 10th power. You just want them to leave so you can set up!

There are these two guys in particular that I see all over Carroll Gardens. I call them “good cop, bad cop”. One is friendly and distracts the proprietor and the other is dead serious and has this certain coldness in his eye when he demands a better price on that coveted “Dusty Springfield” album in your bin.

It’s all a part of my movie you see. I am writing “Moonstruck 3” where Cher turns into a community activist when her boyfriend’s (Nicholas Cage) bakery is threatened by a condo developer who wants the new building to have a “Patisserie” instead of a bread bakery.

Everything is affected. The stoop sales go high end, the price of pizza slices go up and it becomes law that an “Area” emporium of some sort is on every street corner.

I am writing this movie with no irony or sarcasm what so ever.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Today is Sunday and it's ending with a spectacular sunset. I am lazy like a cat today. Work yesterday was the equivalent of being the only waitress in a restaurant packed with 40 cranky needy customers (who are all over 65) and it's your first day and you don't know the menu or the how to work the cash register. Yes, it was not fun and am enjoying being in my home even though it's gorgeous out...I went out for a little while today, went up to the Court Street Fair. It was sort of mediocre this year, no semi-professional wrestling as in years past, I was a bit disappointed. I also checked out the new "Indie Market" on Smith. I wish them luck, nothing really screamed "BUY ME!" I think I am so over all this sort of twee craftsy fashion (and I am sort of artsy!) just too gentle for me, it sort if reminds me of hippies. I wish something normal and utilitarian and non "money" would open around here. I am annoyed that I looked for shoes in the neighborhood today (I should know better!) and all anyone had were Dankso clog sandals or $150.00 and up shoes. I DID score a cool red plastic bangle bracelet for 25 cents at a stoop sale so the day was not a complete bust! Yes it's the little things that keep me going sometimes.....