'A History of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal' At Brooklyn Historical Society

The history of Gowanus and its man-made canal is fascinating. Dive into its past with historian and writer Joseph Alexiou at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Wednesday, March 19th, 7pm.

Joseph Alexiou brings his enormously popular Brooklyn Brainery lecture to BHS!
The smells, the pollution, the local mafia lore... he will give you the history behind the truths and the myths. As New York's most infamous toxic waste site becomes a hip neighborhood with great restaurants and art galleries, who doesn't want to know the truth behind the canal legends? And did you know that much of the building materials that made Brownstone Brooklyn came through the canal's waters, or that it used to be home to delicious foot-long oysters?
After this course, you'll never stroll across Carroll Street Bridge the same way again!

A History of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal

Wednesday, March 19th, 7pm

The lecture is $8/ $5 for BHS Members

Get tickets here.

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Research Your Brooklyn Home's History At BHS Workshop

Ever wonder who the original owner of your house was? Would you like to know if anything exciting ever happened in your home before you came along? For all the history buffs out there, the Brooklyn Historical Society is hosting a great workshop on how to research your Brooklyn home's past. Read on:

Discover the amazing history of your Brooklyn house using BHS' images, records and documents. Attendees will be introduced to library collections used in house and building research and will learn to piece together the social history of a Brooklyn home or block. Advanced ticket purchase recommended as the event will fill up. Purchase your ticket here. $30 BHS members/$50 non-members.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

2-4 PM

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Pub Trivia Night At Brooklyn Historical Society

Test your knowledge of all things Brooklyn at this great event hosted by the Brooklyn Historical Society. There will be beer, food and prizes. Looks like a great evening.

Trivial and Convivial: Brooklyn Historical Society Pub Trivia Night

Brooklyn Historical Society

128 Pierrepont Street

7:00-10:00pm

Doors open at 6:30pm

Have you ever played trivia in a 19th-century landmark building in Brooklyn Heights? It's probably time you did. Join veteran trivia hosts Stuart Post and Chris Kelley and the rest of the team at the Brooklyn Historical Society for BHS' second pub-style trivia event featuring prizes, beer, food and, of course, competitive team trivia! Come test your wits with themed rounds about all sorts of Brooklyn ephemera including music, movies, geography and all-around general knowledge. We'll have music clues, movie clips and more! If trivia's not your thing, come by to cheer on the game and enjoy a Brooklyn Brewery beer in one of the most stunning interiors in Brooklyn. Come as a team, or come solo and we’ll find you a team. Come early to locate clues in BHS' exhibits and to ensure your seat.

Prizes include tickets to Urban Oyster's Brewed in Brooklyn Tour, Brooklyn Brewery merchandise, Brooklyn Brewery Local 1, Brooklyn neighborhood guides, memberships to BHS and more.

Tickets: $8 BHS members/$10 non-members. Ticket purchase includes admission to trivia event and one free Brooklyn Brewery beer or bottled water. Advanced ticket purchase recommended. Buy your ticket here.

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The Legacy Of Charles Ebbets At Brooklyn Historical Society

It's Dodgers Week-End at the Brooklyn Historical Society, which included a lecture on Charles Ebbets on Saturday and a Brooklyn Baseball film series. Read on:

The Legacy of Charles Ebbets, Lecture by John Zinn

Saturday, February 19, 2:00pm

128 Pierrepont Street,

at the corner of Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights

During his more than a quarter of a century as Dodger club President and owner, Charles Ebbets built two new homes for his team. While the first was a relatively uncomplicated wooden structure (Washington Park, 1898), the second, which bore his name, became the beloved home of the Dodgers and one of the most famous ballparks in baseball history. Ebbets Field was an important part of the strong connection that Charles Ebbets created between Brooklyn and his baseball team. John Zinn, lead historian for BHS' Ex-Lab exhibition, Home Base: Memories of the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, will discuss Ebbets' achievement in building his new ballpark and how he developed the relationship between the ball club and the borough. This event is open to the public and free with museum admission.

In conjunction with our current exhibit, Home Base: Memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, BHS celebrates the beginning of spring training with a film series on Brooklyn baseball. The films will be shown on three consecutive Sundays in February and March.

For more information on events, go to Brooklyn Historical Society

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Brooklyn Historical Society Hosts: Brewed In Brooklyn-A Look At The Role Of Beer In the History Of The Borough

My husband and his friend Joe used to brew their own beer in our Brooklyn kitchen, so I know a lot about the fermentation of barley. Mercifully, they stopped after a few years and now buy their favorite brew from the local store like everyone else. However, I bet the two will want to attend the upcoming lecture about the role of beer in the borough's history at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Maybe I'll tag along. How about you?

Brewed in Brooklyn:

A History of Fermenting Barley in New York’s Favorite Borough

Thursday, January 20th,

6:30 - 8:00 pm

The Brooklyn Historical Society

128 Pierrepont Street at Clinton Street

The Brooklyn Historical Society will host Brewed in Brooklyn: A History of Fermenting Barley in New York’s Favorite Borough on Thursday, January 20 from 6:30-8:00 pm. Join David Naczycz and Cindy VandenBosch of Urban Oyster for an entertaining, in-depth look at how beer has played a pivotal role in the history of Brooklyn. A free beer and cheese reception precedes the talk. 21 and over only. Advanced ticket purchase recommended as the event will fill up. Purchase your tickets through the BHS website www.brooklynhistory.org

Tickets: $15 BHS members/$20 non-members.

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"If Walls Could Talk": A Workshop On How To Research Your Old House

If you want to find out more about the history of your house, but don't know where to start, the Brooklyn Heights Association has a workshop for you.

Read on.

If Walls Could Talk: A Workshop on the Genealogy of Your Home

As part of the ’s Celebrating a Century yearlong series of events, the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) will be presenting a two hour workshop on Saturday, March 27^th at 2pm. Held at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), this workshop will help you discover the intriguing history of your house using BHS’ images, records and documents.

Attendees will be introduced to the library collections as well as essential tools for house and building research, allowing them to piece together the architectural and social history of any Brooklyn home or block. At this event participants will be given time to use their new skills to begin research in BHS' Othmer Library. Admission: $10

Brooklyn Historical Society:

128 Pierrepont Street

Saturday, March 27^th at 2pm

Space is limited, to confirm attendance please call 718-222-4111 x250 or email vservice@brooklynhistory.org.

For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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"Brooklyn Utopias?" Show Opening Tonight At Brooklyn Historical Society

Photo credit: Gowanus Lounge

The "Democracy Wall" at 360 Smith Street

Friend, artist, and Carroll Gardens activist Triada Samaras will be part of the Brooklyn Utopias? show at the Brooklyn Historical Society, which opens tonight. Brooklyn Utopias? asks artists to consider differing visions of an ideal Brooklyn. it is a "series of art exhibits and public programs in Fall 2009 that engages artists, youth, and community organizations in an urgent dialogue about Brooklyn’s future."

Triada will present the "Democracy Wall" which was created as a community outcry against the development at 360 Smith Street. Triada writes:

A Utopia to me is a place where all the voices of a neighborhood can be heard and respected. It is a place where those who live, work, raise their families and invest their future in a community are able to participate in the shaping of its future, aiming to benefit the greatest number of people, not a greedy few.

My project re-visits a rather utopian moment in the recent history of Carroll Gardens: one in which several grassroots organizations sprung up with no other motive other than to preserve and protect the quality of human/natural life that exists in several small, human-scale Brooklyn communities. While Brooklyn has indeed experienced a rapid “boom” recently, it has historically occupied the place of offering an “alternative lifestyle” from the frantic pace of Manhattan, with more “human-scale” development and more natural environment. For this reason, many Brooklyn residents have experienced despair at the thought of losing their once cherished “oasis” neighborhoods.

This photo installation documents the “Democracy Wall,” a collaborative street art installation in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn from May 2007 to April 2008 initiated by local residents and to which I was a frequent contributor. This wall helped catalyze the rapid emergence of CORD (Coalition for Respectful Development) in Carroll Gardens in June of 2007, and the creation of the CORD petition and CORD blog and newsletter. It marked the beginning of extensive grassroots work done by the residents of Carroll Gardens to protect their neighborhood’s original planning scheme.

Carroll Gardens is named for the area's signature setback gardens, which were planned with great foresight by surveyor Richard Butts in 1846. In that year, a law established the gardens on the four Places between Henry and Smith Streets and deemed that the courtyards "shall be built on a line 33 feet 5¼ inches" that "shall be used for courtyards only." Unbeknownst to the general public until very recently, Carroll Gardens does not have adequate zoning or historical preservation laws that ensure that this scheme will remain intact.

To preserve and maintain the thoughtful planning of Mr. Butts, the community sought a new building moratorium on all projects in Carroll Gardens until the critical land use issues facing the community could be publicly discussed and aired. Before this time, the public had been largely shut out entirely of the process of self-determination and developers were quick to seize arcane loopholes to construct out of scale and out of context buildings in Carroll Gardens.

In my project I wish to remember those who courageously fought the development of one such building, the Oliver House/360 Smith Street, and who eventually won the Carroll Gardens Zoning Text Amendment. I also hope to inspire artists and residents in other communities to fight for their rights to have a say in their future. The “Democracy Wall,” situated on the fence around the Oliver House construction site and containing constantly-updated flyers, visual cues, and painted conversations, became a tool for engaging local residents in the Oliver House and zoning protests. It promoted discussion and debate in a public space, within an increasingly privatized urban environment. While the neighborhood is by no means a Utopia (yet), the community spirit shown in greater Carroll Gardens/Gowanus over the past two years by a dedicated and united community has been “Utopian” to say the least.

Triada will take part in the Panel Discussion : "Utopian Urban Planning:" Artists and Community Leaders Discuss Brooklyn's Future." at Sunday, October 25, 2009, 2-4pm, Brooklyn Historical Society

Below are the highlights of the The Brooklyn Utopias? show

Brooklyn Historical Society
Thursday, Oct. 1,
5:30-7:30pm

128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, First Floor
www.brooklynhistory.org

Come see the work of over 30 artists exploring differing visions of an ideal Brooklyn, related works from the BHS historic collection, and even huge towers made out of recycled shipping materials.

Also, you are invited to participate in various FREE public programs coming up in October, bringing the artists in dialogue with community leaders and visitors about important issues facing Brooklyn today. Please see complete info at www.brooklynutopias.com. Next week, we will have the following events at the Old Stone House partner show:

Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm
"Do it Yourself Utopias:"
Artists and community groups consider sustainable Brooklyn Living
Featuring special guests Mary Mattingly and Ian Daniel of the Waterpod Project, Stacey Murphy of BK Farmyards

At the Old Stone House
5th Avenue between 3rd & 4th St. Brooklyn, NY 11215
What would it take for Brooklyn to grow its own food? Build with recycled materials? Strengthen local communities?
"Brooklyn Utopias?" artists will present their ideas for a more sustainable, “green” Brooklyn. They will receive feedback from guest presenters The Waterpod ProjectBK Farmyards, who will also discuss their work building sustainable local communities (see bios below). This will include hands-on demonstrations of projects you can do at home!

Saturday, October 10, 11am-1pm
Exhibition Tour with Curator Katherine Gressel and artists
At the Old Stone House
Part of the Open House New York weekend at the Old Stone House, October 10-11, 2009 and

This informative tour will provide background on the exhibit, and give you the chance to ask questions to "Brooklyn Utopias?" curator, designers, and participating artists.


And, the following event at the Brooklyn Historical Society in late-October:

Sunday, October 25, 2009, 2-4pm, Brooklyn Historical Society
"Utopian Urban Planning:" Artists and Community Leaders Discuss Brooklyn's Future

Brooklyn Utopias? artists and art historians will debate their ideas with community leaders, architects and urban planners, and the general public, with a focus on large-scale planning initiatives. Guest speakers include representatives of Transportation Alternatives, Propeller Group and Alex Gorlin Architects/Nehemiah Spring Creek Houses, and others TBD.

For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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