We love these flowers, which bloom every year in May at the Union Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. They are type of Clematis, which is part of the buttercup family. They are said to be hard to grow, although their survival along the the Gowanus would seem to indicate otherwise.

This is 524 Manhattan Avenue, which is located at the edge of what we call the Tahoe Triangle near McCarren Park in Greenpoint. The area has been an epicenter of new development, getting a number of condo projects from Tahoe Development that have gone on the market with names like Manhattan Avenue Condo and Northpoint Tower. 524 is on a triangular block that includes a Robert Scarano building (the wood paneled one on the left) and a condo called Loftology. The new building will be 12 stories tall and have 14 units. It will also presumably block a view here and there from its predecessors on the block.

We’re not clear how long “Curtis” has been painted (via fire extinguisher) on this building on S. 5 Street in Williamsburg. All we know is that it’s there and it’s big and would appear to have been applied from the roof of a neighboring building. It is also significantly larger than this “Curtis.”

There’s a new blog in Sheepshead Bay called Sheepshead Bites. It is billed as “Sheepshead Bay’s community meetings, development issues, local politics, interesting people, happenings and cool new places — these are just some of the beats the Bite will walk. Welcome to Sheepshead Bites. Real Brooklynites. Real teeth.”

“These over-educated trust-fund hipsters have a point.”

We’re starting a new feature today called Park Slope Parking Watch that may be long lived or may be short lived. It’s motivated by the Great Park Slope Alternate Side Parking Suspension Experiment, which will either bring joy to residents that don’t have to move their car or will bring misery to them because people are afraid to move their cars and people from other neighborhoods are leaving their cars in Park Slope. It has been reported to us anecdotally that parking has seemed a bit tighter since the weekend, but the proof will be over the next couple of week. In the meantime, a special GL correspondent has agreed to photograph a couple of spots regularly to see how many cars move and how nasty the streets get. Today’s result: one moved car. The empty space in the shot was filled rather quickly by a large white Cadillac.

The Center for the Urban Environment is having a kind of happy hour and recycling opportunity today from 7PM-9PM. They’ll be accepting a bunch of things for recycling, including: alkaline batteries, Inkjet/laser cartridges, Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFLs), hard drives, printer cartridges including toner, pagers, PDAS, cords, cables, boards and chips removed from computers. It’s at 168 7th Street, which is between Second and Third Avenues.–Sustainable Flatbush

Unlike Coney’s real gazebos, one of which collapsed on itself this winter, the ones in Grand Theft Auto IV can withstand anything.

The Windsor Terrace Alliance passes along word of an “emergency meeting” taking place tonight on neighborhood safety issues in Windsor Terrace, which is still in shock over the robbery and murder neighborhood dry cleaner Kyung-Sook Woo. Here’s a bit from the email that is in circulation:

Councilmember Bill de Blasio and Assembly member Jim Brennan with the help of Capt. Simonetti, Special Operations, and the Crime Prevention Unit will host a forum at PS 154 tomorrow night about the recent robberies and murder in Windsor Terrace. On the morning of May 16th, Kyung-Sook Woo, who owned the Eden Dry Cleaners at 10th Avenue and Windsor Place in Windsor Terrace was found dead in her store. Jamal Winter, is being held without bail in connection with the death. He was arraigned on first and second degree murder charges and first degree robbery. In light of recent events, Councilmember de Blasio is organizing a meeting to inform the community of what the New York Police Department (NYPD) is doing to keep our neighborhood one of the safest in the city.

The meeting is happening from 5PM-7PM at PS 154, which is located at 1625 11th Avenue, between Windsor Place and Sherman Avenue.

Yes, the toxic coal tar beneath Thomas Greene Playground in Gowanus is said to be far enough underground that it doesn’t pose a threat to, say, children on slides. Still, it’s unsettling to find a sign about the “remedial investigation” of pollution there. A GL reader sent in this shot, which comes from the Third Avenue side of the park. It is one of several sites in Gowanus that once were the site of Manufactured Gas Plants and that need to be cleaned up.

Most Coney Island hands are happy with the thirty temporary rides going up on property owned by developer Joe Sitt (that will shrink to 13 in mid-June) and not particularly concerned about the competition with Astroland and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. What they’re still worried about, though, is that “they’re still planning a shopping mall and 30-story hotels” in the words of Coney Island USA founder Dick Zigun.–NYDN

Will Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink, which was open for a very fun night back in March, open its doors for the summer in the historic Childs Building? Yesterday, Diana Carlin, aka Lola, sent out an email noting that she is very close, but is looking for sponsors or members to help give the wonderful project a final push. All of the info is here, and we’re certainly hoping this wonderful venture will brighten the Coney Island summer. (Click here for the membership details; corporate sponsors are also welcome.) The Dreamland website explains the current status:

Lola has been working night and day to reopen the Dreamland Roller Rink. She has overcome many obstacles in the labyrinth of obtaining permits and insurance for the rink. These obstacles have added exorbitant costs to the reopening of Dreamland! Costs that we simply cannot cover with the budget in our business plan. After some generous donations we are very close to being able to reopen…. but we aren’t quite there yet! Hence, we need your help to reopen the fabulous Dreamland Roller Rink.

Here’s hoping that the final money pieces come together and the Childs Building is alive all summer.

A full slideshow of the opening party ahead, by clicking here.

Our wonderful Carroll Gardens Correspondent supplied us with these photos of, uh, changes at the corner of Smith Street and Warren Street at one of the exists to the Bergen Street Station, writing: “First, nice Spring trees and sunny yellow clapboard. Today, brick-red construction fence. Bye Bye clapboard history and fantastic dogwood trees.” The abrupt end of spring is due to the coming a new five-story, 55 foot tall building. Its formal address is 311 Warren Street. The original application was filed four years ago.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Loophole Let Accused Windsor Terrace Killer Go Free [NYDN]
· Gehry’s “Dutiful B1 Charade” [AYR]
· What’s Up at the Gretsch in Williamsburg? [Brownstoner]
· Brunch in Fort Greene [The Real Fort Greene]
· Park Slope/Prospect Heights Meditation [Brooklynometry]
· American Apparel and Other Dirty Laundry [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Meet Your Neighbors, Part 5 [Bed-Stuy Blog]
· Monte’s Pizza Open on Livingston [110 Livingston News]
· Free Brooklyn Bridge Documentary Screening at BAM [About Brooklyn]
· Sunset Park Garden Club Looking for Members [Best View in Brooklyn]
· Liquor Store Open on Jay Street [Dumbo NYC]

[Photo courtesy of Nathan Kensinger]

We love the photography of Nate Dorr, a Park Slope resident who posts on flickr as Mercurialn, so we’re happy to pass along work that his work is showing at the 139th Street Branch Gallery in Harlem for the next five weeks. The shot above is from the opening this past weekend. The show includes images of the Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg and the demolished Revere Sugar Refinery in Red Hook as well as photos of a number of Brooklyn bands. The show is called “New York Sans Temps Morts.” More info by clicking here. It’s apparently open by appointment, so email 139@graphicunionpress.org for more info.

“Brooklyn pigeons have got it good these days. On Kane Street, they’ve found a cozy home under the scaffolding at the Rat-Squirrel House, with no one to kick them them to the curb. Meanwhile, on the corner of Richards and Coffey in Red Hook, some happy birds have made themselves at home in the very wall of an abandoned restaurant that has sat there derelict for decades…”–Lost City

This is a Brooklyn Bridge Pop-Up Park designed by dlandstuio for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for a temporary viewing area for one of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge. Tropolism first published the renderings and info yesterday. It would be designed for viewing of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge. The same firm is behind the Sponge Park concept in Gowanus. There was a full photo gallery of renderings of the pop-up park yesterday on Curbed.

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/flickr]

These are some preparations for the Brooklyn Bridge Anniversary celebration. The photographer writes, “The underside of the Brooklyn Bridge gets a luminous make-over in preparation for its 125 anniversary. Overhead light strips should make it very obvious to even the most clueless of tourist where the pedestrian entrance is.” Perhaps.

There will be a forum on Internet Safety at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza on June 4 as part of Internet Week New York. It will take place from 7PM-8:30PM. The session, Checking the Monitor: A Forum on Internet Safety, is free and open to the public. Anyone that wants to register to attend can email info@thelampnyc.org. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Katherine Fry, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Brooklyn College and Educational Director for the Learning About Multimedia Project (LAMP). Confirmed panelists include Rachel Dretzin (Executive Producer and Director, PBS Frontline documentary, Growing Up Online), JoEllen Fisherkeller, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Communication and Culture, New York University), and Kevin O’Donnell Esq. (Cyber Crimes/SVU, Office of Kings County District Attorney). All of the Internet Week New York info is available here .

[Photo courtesy of lornagrl/flickr]

This photo which was placed in our GL Photo Pool by lornagrl show the gorgeous wysteria at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Very, very pretty.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, there are signs of a day that could be worse (completely cloudy and gloomy) and could be better (totally sunny). Instead, we are somewhere in between. The forecast calls for it to be a cool day with times of sun and clouds and a possible afternoon shower. The high will be 64. Tonight will be partly cloudy and cool with a low of 48.–Accuweather

Here’s an interesting post on Brooklynian by someone named parkslopeboy that, at first, we thought was about vandalism of cars on Park Place in Park Slope, but it turns out to have some added information about what happened when two suspects were found by the police:

We were at our neighbor’s house on Park Place between 5th & 6th last night when we heard a loud noise (sounded like car windows being smashed) so we went out to the stoop. We didn’t see anything unusual (no broken windows etc.) but we did see two young men walking right in front of us, down the street. They then stopped and knifed the tires of a car…right in front of us (and a few others walking their dogs)! I couldn’t believe these guys! We figured the noise we had heard earlier was actually a tire being slashed.

So, we called 911.

This recent addition to the Williamsburg streetscape comes from Berry Street on the side of the Mill Building. Streetsy identifies the artist behind the rowboat as nickwalker.

[Photo courtesy of Tracy Collins/flickr]

This is 644 Pacific Street, which is near Sixth Avenue, in its current state of demolition. The building with the water tower is the Newswalk Condo, which will remain standing and, ultimately, very lonely surrounded by newly vacant lots.

We posted last month about the coming of Five Guys Burgers and Fries to part of the space that was once occupied by D’Agostino’s on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. Five Guys has recently marked its turf right alongside the impending Bank of America next door. Coming in July.

This pimped fire plug comes from Church Avenue in Kensington, complete with hat, glasses and book on Javascript. We believe that it also supplies water to put out fires if necessary. The photo comes from the roving camera of Miss Heather.