The Williamsburg Nerd

The Williamsburg Nerd is on Hiatus

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:36:59 -0500

Above: The old movie theater that was at Rodney and Broadway in 2006 — sadly this palace was torn down during the real estate boom that followed, however in the immediate recession that followed no new building went up and is now an empty lot. This was the first blog that I ever started — and in 2006 both blogging and Williamsburg were new to me. After living in Manhattan for ten years I moved to the Burg in November of 2004 into a new world. Knowing that you should write about your passion I picked my new hood and combined it with my old interests. Some 200+ entries however this trip has come to an end. In my hearts-of-hearts I'll always be The Williamsburg Nerd, but for now I want to refocus my creative efforts. At some point in the future I'll reinvent this website — but for now if you want to find me the best places to look are: Fanboy.com: Where I do most of my nerd blogging. twitter.com/michaelpinto: My Twitter account where I often mention what I'm doing in Williamsburg. I'd like to thank all of the folks who supported me over the years: My friends on Flickr who encouraged me to document what I saw, the gallery owners who didn't mind me taking photos of their exhibits and the podcast Live from the WB which is now faded into history (but inspired me a great a deal).

An Illustration of the Recession in Williamsburg

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:54:13 -0500

For ages on my block here's been an old school barbershop next to my building on Keap Street. The clientele is mostly hispanic males from the local hood, I could tell this because once when I poked my head inside they didn't speak a word of English. Since Keap Street is off of Broadway your business has to be a bit of an institution to survive over time and the barbershop was a good example of this — every time I looked there was always someone getting their hair cut in the shop. And then the recession struck and that everything changed.

Green Depot: A Bit of Green on the Bowery

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:04:04 -0500

Recentluy I had a chance to stop inside of Greendepot which is located at 222 Bowery in Manhattan and had a great time looking around the shop:

Yes This is Williamsburg!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:36:00 -0500

Believe it or not this photo was taken in Williamsburg, not it's not a local park — but in fact is an empty yard on Broadway. For the most part they have it fenced off, but one day it was open so I took some shots:

Dawn on Broadway

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:32:16 -0500

Sadly during the Summer I had to pull an all nighter or two, but getting to see the sunrise can be a nice end to a day. This shot was taken at dawn at the Marcy subway stop looking east on Broadway.

Summer Ices on Keap Street

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:26:42 -0500

One thing that you find in Brooklyn but really don't see in Manhattan are folks selling shaved ices during the summer. I took this shot around August on Keap Street. Below is a fax Polaroid camera version of the same shot for the retro look:

NYC Primaries in Williamsburg

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:02:05 -0500

This election day was very different than the last time I voted for the Presidential race in 2008. Up for grabs is the local city seat and while voting was light the get out of the vote effort from the candidates was huge (much more intense than the Democratic primaries for President by the way). Seen here is a campaign worker for Diana Reyna who holds the seat, Maritza Davila who is a challenger.

Sunset on Marcy

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:19:10 -0500

I took this photo during the summer on one of those rare days where I made it home before sunset. This shot shows the sun setting from the Marcy train station, in the distance you can see the Williamsburg bridge. Below is a faux polaroid version of the same shot:

Mizu

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:27:53 -0500

I've always walked by Mizo on Bedford Avenue, but never quite gave it a try — so recently after seeing Planet Thailand become totally packed I knew it was time to try something new. The first thing that will hit you is that the place looks great, which really ads to your dining experience if you're hanging out with friends. When I went there they had the front windows open to the street which gave the place a nice hang out feeling:

Spoonbill & Sugartown is Kid Friendly

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:09:09 -0500

I always tend to think of Spoonbill & Sugartown as more of an arts bookstore, but as small as it is there's a section in the back (near the inside mall entrance) which has nothing but children's books. It's a small selection, but all the classics are there. If you had a kid I wouldn't say that it was "destination worthy" because of it, but on the other hand it makes the place a bit more friendly than most places on the Bedford strip which are aimed more at twentysomething hipsters.

Curioso: Almost Respectable Slices

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:02:43 -0500

In my never ending quest for he perfect slice I gave Curioso a shot: This place just opened up, so to be fair I have to give them some room as they were still getting their act together. I tried their veggie and white slices which were decent — the crust was nice and thin which is a plus in my book. The veggie slice was alright but not great (the ingredients took it down a notch with bland olives), so my hunch is that one should keep it simple when ordering there.

Gerry Esposito: An Endorsement for City Council

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:23:17 -0500

The other candidates running aren't bad apples, but what's badly needed in the city council race for Williamsburg is good old fashioned change — and that's why the Williamsburg Nerd is endorsing Gerry Esposito for the seat.

Maritza Davila: She's the Choice of the Machine (Which is Why You Shouldn't Vote for Her)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:37:49 -0500

The first time I ever heard of Maritza Davila running for city council was when I got the above letter from New York State assemblyman Vito J. Lopez. This was a somewhat unusual roll out for a candidate which quickly left a bad taste in mouth. So of course I did some research to get the inside scoop: Lopez was backing Davila (who was part of his staff) for the seat because he had some kind of falling out with current councilwoman Diana Reyna (who also use to work on his staff).

Diana Reyna Isn't Working For You

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:16:38 -0500

Well the good news is that Diana Reyna has broken free of the Vito Lopez machine but the bad news is that just means that she's an independent hack who isn't doing anything of value for Williamsburg. The main problem with Council Member Reyna is that she voted the end term limits for both the mayor and herself — that was really a decision that should have been given directly to the voters to New York City.

Three Ways to a Sunset

Mon, 04 May 2009 01:24:18 -0500

A series of photographs that I took of the sunset with my iPhone on April 18, 2009.