BROOKLYN

We were up in good time for a walk down to the 34th ferry pier to take the boat across for our planned day in Brooklyn.  Stopped at Pret à Manger--abbreviated, these days, to simply "Pret"--for a bite of breakfast.  A bit of a disaster.  We had expected something more interesting in the way of food.  We were not prepared for disinterested, unhelpful service.  And P succeeded in spilling a cup of hot mocha all down his jacket and trousers.  A great start for the day...

But the weather was wonderful--sunny, blue skies, and quite warm.  We found our pier and chatted pleasantly, first with an older couple from Gloucester, practically neighbors to my sister, Flora, in Cirencester; and he, like myself, a Geordie--born in Newcastle.  Then with a young German couple from Heidelberg, both physicians, with a cute young daughter and another one on the way.  The boat arrived perfectly on time, and we enjoyed a smooth crossing with spectacular views of Manhattan...

and the UN building...

UN building behind Ellie

of the Brooklyn Bridge...

and of Brooklyn itself.  We disembarked at North Williamsburg, where we met up with a young friend, Andrew Ohanesian, an artist and the son of our friends back in Laguna Beach.  (Click on the link to get a small, inadequate flavor of his innovative approach to viewer participation in socially-engaging artwork.)

Andrew had kindly agreed to escort us through the wilds of Brooklyn, a place we visit all too rarely when we're staying in New York.  From the West Coast, we have been following reports of the growing community of artists and galleries in this area, and were determined, this time, to make basic inroads.  Bushwick, particularly, seems the place to watch.  But first we stopped by Andrew's gallery in Williamsburg, Pierogi, which has an excellent reputation for the quality of work shown there, and promoted world-wide by the gallerist Joe Amrhein.  Joe was on hand with a friendly greeting and a good conversation.  Andrew was recently the star of a group show at the gallery, with the dramatic outside-the-gallery installation of a fake building project start-up--scaffolding, hard-hat signs, fake permits and all--in an ironic jab at the current gentrification mania that threatens to change the neighborhood.  It's all about money, property values, condominiums and apartment buildings--the old familiar process that drives artists further out and replaces them with monied suburbia.  (Read this review.)

The "further out" in Brooklyn, seems to be Bushwick--our next stop with Andrew, whose studio is located in a still somewhat seedy industrial area there.  First, though, on our way to lunch we stopped by a large gallery building that houses multiple artist's studios and galleries, and were happy to stumble on an exhibition by a very old friend, Arnold Mesches, who has been making socially conscious art for more years than most of us remember.  One of those suspicious lefties in his early years, he has recently been using his FBI files from the 1950s--now available through the Freedom of Information Act--to create satirical multi-media works that are, at once, lively reconstructions of a past episode in the artist's life and a sad and all-too-timely commentary on a country that sees fit to spy on its own citizens.  Arnold, I note on Wikipedia, was born in 1923.  You do the math.  It's great to see a still lively mind at work, and celebrated in an area where youth is all the rage.

A great lunch at Roberta's...

... where the garrulous crowds at long wooden tables not only inside the main restaurant but outside, under awnings and umbrellas, were testament to the place's well-earned reputation.  Andrew and I enjoyed a Bloody Mary before an excellent lunch of soft scrambled eggs and caesar salad--and, for Ellie and myself, a healthy bite of Andrew's pizza.

After lunch, we enjoyed a long walk through the graffiti-lined streets that border industrial yards and warehouse buildings to Andrew's studio.  He had opened the strip of street in front of his building to a group of funny-bile enthusiasts for the day...

... and we had a great time watching them parade their inventively modified machines--most of them in costumes as crazy as their bikes.  The studio is a proper mess, as studios should be, with projects of all kinds in various stages of completion.  We were happy to see Andrew's two-seater "bar"...

... which is one of his earlier creations: enter through one door and you are the "customer"; through the other and you're the bartender.  The tap is connected to a real keg of beer, and participants are invited to act out their respective roles as a part of the art work.  We had fun, too, with the over-the-top erotic paintings...

... created by Andrew's studio mate/tenant "Don Pablo Pedro", a heavily black-bearded young man of attractive energy and humor.  Look him up.  You can find more of his images here.

A great day in Brooklyn, then.  We missed the museum, but what the heck.  We saw a lot of other things, probably a lot more interesting!  Said a fond goodbye to Andrew...

... and took there subway back to Lexington, where we found a street fair in full swing, with the whole street cordoned off for many blocks...

Back to the hotel for a rest and a change, and a walk across town to meet up with our nephew, Danny, and his financée, Rachel, who had moved recently to a tiny, very lovely penthouse apartment overlooking the Hudson River.  A nice drop of vodka (for P; whiskey for E) and a warm catch-up conversation, then off for a Greek dinner in the theater district.  As usual, we succeeded in over-ordering, but we had a pleasant dinner.  We both so much enjoy the energy and perceptions of a generation younger than ourselves, it was a treat to spend time with these two young and energetic souls!

A walk back through the always-crowded, always-colorful, always-electrified Times Square...

... to our hotel.  Boat, subway, taxi, all have their advantages.  But the best way of all to travel in New York City is on foot.