The "Wonders" Of Old Movie Palaces In Queens And Brooklyn

One of my favorite movie-related blogs, Scouting NY, has an incredible post up this week about the old Paramount movie palace in downtown Brooklyn that was converted to a student center for Long Island University. Though the school turned the main auditorium space into a basketball court/gym, they also retained a great deal of the decorative features of the grand lobby and the ornate lounges. There are some remarkable before/after photos on the post which compare the grand luxury of the Paramount back in the day, to its more low-key quirkiness today. But some of the details, like etched mirrors and face casts on the ceiling, are very cool to see....mainly for the fact they are still there!

In a previous post this year, ScoutingNY took a Sunday afternoon tour of another repurposed movie palace on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. It was actually one of the five Loew's Wonder theaters in NY/NJ, all of which have remarkably survived. I have been to the one in Jersey City across from the PATH train which was pretty impressive. But this one takes the ornate-cake. It's Spanish-Moorish theming is totally over the top and has been completely preserved as it was when the theatre was in its heydey. The reason is that it was donated to a church group which regularly has services in the auditorium which holds 3,000-plus people. The photos are really incredible and reminded me of the Tampa Theatre in Florida (where I screened WTC VIEW and POOL DAYS) which has the same faux-Spanish village open-to-the-sky feeling inside. 

I can only imagine what it must have been like to see films in such a luxurious setting. Maybe even bad movies would have seemed good!  :)  Regardless, it would certainly have been an improvement over today's generic stadium-seating boxes. 

DONUT SHOWDOWN Is An Awesome Competition Show About Donuts

I was recently informed by a good friend who knows me well of a newish show on the Cooking Channel called DONUT SHOWDOWN. It's actually a Canadian show in which a bunch of "donut chefs" come on and compete in the somewhat redonkculous manner that has become common on these crazy cooking shows (see CUPCAKE WARS).  But still, it was very entertaining to watch the finalists try to create the ulimate Japanese themed donuts. Wait--what? Let's just say rice and donuts are not two great tastes that go great together!

The show was so absurd that at times it played almost like a comic parody of a cooking show, ala SNL. This was not hard to do as when you take something like donuts dead seriously--it's just going to be funny when you start talking about the texture or mouth feel of a donut. The real revelation of the show was one of the contestants, Dan Dunbar who was not only super-cute but made some killer donuts.  He happened to be from Brooklyn too where, along with business partner Patrick Holliwell, he runs a vegan donut shop in Bushwick called Dun-Well Donuts. How is it I did not hear of this artisanal donut wonderland? Oh yeah--it is vegan. But I'm willing to give it a shot as many are calling it the best donut in the city, including the NY Daily News. Maybe even this weekend as i'm sure they've got a killer apple cider flavor just for fall.

Green-Wood Cemetery Damaged Severely By Sandy

Continuing with the Sandy aftermath stories, there were some photos on the TIMES City Blog over the weekend showing how the superstormstorm did some serious damage at Green-Wood Cemetary in Brooklyn. I've written here about Green-Wood a couple times before and my visits to this beautiful resting place for thousands of New Yorkers, including famous folks like Leonard Bernstein, George Tilyreou and Jean-Michael Basquiat. Located  on the highest landpoint in Kings County and overlooking the harbor, the cemetery took a severe hit from Sandy with nearly 300 trees felled. In addition to that, many headstones and statuary (like the headless angel above) were damages by the falling trees and high winds.

The cleanup is expected to cost nearly half a million dollars and the cemetery, which is a national landmark, is having it's finances strained. Insurance will not cover the headstones and statuary, which are not owned by the cemetery but whose families they commemorate are long gone. So they are seeking donations via their website if you want to check it out. This is one of the most beautiful spots in the city so hopefully they can reach their goal, plant new trees and restore some of the monuments.

The Son Also Sings: Jason To Join Barbra (aka "Mom") Onstage

Jason Gould, Barbra Streisand's son from her marriage to Elliot Gould, will be singing with his mother onstage for the first time this month as he joins her mini-tour of shows which includes a stop at Brooklyn's new Barclays' Center.   

There's an intimate and revealing interview with Gould on the blog Stargayzing (by David Munk) in which he discusses his later-in-life foray into the world of music, describing it as a "second coming out". Gould has been a creative journeyman, working in film both in front of and behind the camera, as well as doing some work as a sculptor. But he claims this latest foray is something he's had an interest in for many years and was just scared to dive in....and who wouldn't be if you're going to be compared to your mom?! 

At the end of the interview, you can listen to a mournful song from his EP "Morning Prayer" which is available online at his website, jasongouldmusic.com.  He does have a beautiful singing voice that is truly his own (ie. no shades of Judy/Liza syndrome). It would be a treat to see him and Barbra together on stage as they will surely do some interesting duets.  The shows in Brooklyn are October 11 and 13. 

The New Barclays Center Goes Up In Record Time (2:28!)

Last week, the new Barclays Center opened in Brooklyn marking the beginning of a massive transformation of the Atlantic Yards into a retail/entertainment/housing complex. It took more than 4 years from ground-breaking to Jay-Z's opening night show last Friday. But you can see it all happen right before your eyes in this cool time-lapse of the site's transformation.  They even do a little detour to show the building out of the arena's interior.

Local Comix Artist Goes On A Bar Scrawl

Bill Roundy is a writer/comix artist who also sometimes writes for NEXT magazine's online nightlife blog, The Nexus (as I do).  He also does a regular feature for the Brooklyn Paper called "Bar Scrawl" where he does a "draw-up" of a neighborhood boit in the BK with his thoughts on what he sees and hears when he checks out the joints. It's one of my favorite local features in the paper as it introduces me to new and noteworthy nightspots while also having having a sly sense of humor.

This weeks Bar Scrawl is great in that he captures a moment of New York realness--the unforutnately timed arrival of a NYC health inspector. Fortunately, it all turns out OK and the bar is not shut down.  But it's still a nice touch of reality in his drawings which I always enjoy. Check it out and maybe you'll be inspired to check out the actual bar! Happy weekend....

Queer Country Monthly and A Musical Discovery

On Saturday, I went to something called the Queer Country Monthly at Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights.  I didn't know what to expect but was delighted to find a great lineup of original songs and cover tunes by a nice array of local artists.

I particularly loved a duo called My Gay Banjo, who have been playing around the BK and developing a loyal following over the last couple years. I wrote about them for NEXT magazine's Nexus blog, where I am a semi-regular nightlife correspondent.  You can read my article here and watch My Gay Banjo on YouTube, performing their delicious cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene".  

Donuts Of The Week

Well, after many posts about my interest in donuts, it appears the NY TIMES is jumping on the bandwagon.  Just another example of Hi-Fi Bri being a bellweather of cultural taste...or donut trends. :)

The main focus of the TIMES piece is a new joint in Bed-Stuy called "Dough".  It sounds slightly ridiculous in it's creation of somewhat artisanal donuts, with dulce de leche, cacoa bit toppings and "a vivd magenta hibiscus".  Seriously?!  The Nutella filled creme donut sounds a little more my speed though so I will have to make the trek and check it out.

They also give mention to a place that sounds more to my liking in The Point called the Peter Pan Donut Shop.  It's offerings look closer to my favorite joint, the Donut Pub on 14th Street (which was ignored).  It's got the traditional cruellers and chocolate topped creations, as well as jam filled treats that sound delicious. And there were also a few paragraphs on the new Doughnut Plant on 23rd Street that recently opened.  Their Chocolate Blackout is a personal fave and the PBJ concoction an NYC classic.

A Post-Blizzard Brooklyn Mystery

During last month's incredible December blizzard, a young man in Brooklyn went seeking an adventure by  slapping on some cross-country skis and shushing through Prospect Park.  On his journey, he came across a small canister of black/white film that someone had lost in the snow.  Curiously, he printed the photos and found them to be quite interesting.

Determined to find the people who took them, he created this YouTube video below. I found it over on the Daily Beast and wanted to share it here.  It's already had more than 100,000 hits and rightly so...it's a wonderful little New York story.

From Newburgh To Space And Back Again

A Brooklyn man and his two sons recently made a remarkable journey.  After weeks of building and testing, they drove up to Newburgh, NY and launched a spacecraft. It was essentially a weather ballon with a small insulated capsule attached to it that contained a Flip Cam and GPS locator.  The video below is testament to their remarkable feat.  It's also stunningly beautiful.


Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

A Tornado Blows In Brooklyn

It's official--the National Weather Service says an F0 class tornado (winds from 40-72mph) hit Brooklyn Thursday afternoon near Park Slope.  This is some incredible video that was shot by a couple of dudes in a design studio who are seriously freaking out.  It's like a real-life version of that movie "Cloverfield", minus any CGI of course.  The sound is freaky too.  Note that there is a lot of cursing and screaming so this video is probably NSFW, unless you have headphones.

Brooklyn Movie Palace To Get A Makeover

The Loews Kings Theatre, empty since 1977, is getting a 70M$ makeover.  ACE, a live theatrical entertainment company, announced plans to renovate the theatre on Flatbush and Beverly into a performance space. Today's TIMES has the full story....as well as a beautiful slideshow of the theatre's grand/faded interior.  


There is something about an abandoned old theatre that I find fascinating, probably because modern movie houses, even the nicer ones, are so generic and unornamented.  Back in it's heyday in the 30's and 40's you can imagine that this place truly was a movie palace.