mini-Staycation

Our elevator had to be down for the weekend for repairs.  Walking up and down 7 flights of stairs a few times a day with a dog just did not seem like the best way to enjoy the weekend regardless of the amount of exercise we would get.  We opted for a staycation and got a hotel in Brooklyn.

We stayed at the Hotel One located in Brooklyn.  Other options we thought about were the Wythe and the William Vale. Couldn’t score a room so Hotel One it was.  Not sure I’d recommend the place.  It is a caricature of Brooklyn that is so over the top that the place looks old already.  They are so into sustainability that instead of hanging the newspaper on your door in the morning, they knock on the door to deliver it at 7am.  Haven’t they heard of sustainable bags?  Couldn’t they just leave it on the floor?

What is really nice is that the hotel is on the water.  We grabbed a ferry first thing in the morning and made our way down to Redhook for breakfast at Fort Defiance.  I love Red Hook.  There is something so gritty and neighborhoody about the place.

Reminds me a lot of Venice, CA.  The amount of development happening there is interesting to see as well.  I hope that they have thought long and hard about the water that washes up on the shore during hurricanes.

We decided to walk from Red Hook to the Brooklyn Museum.  It is a long walk but a great way to see what is happening and seeing how the neighborhoods change from one place to another.  Love walking over the Gowanus.

The show I wanted to see is the Robert Longo.  Highly recommend.  He is such an incredible artist.  I could sit in these rooms all day and stare at each piece.  Even the people in the museum shop said that it was their favorite show since they have worked there.  Before going in we saw this piece by Malvina Hoffman made in 1928, a portrait of a Carribean woman.

All of Longo’s pieces are charcoal.  Here is the one of Obama.

This one is of Albert Einstein’s desk the day he died.

I saw this one in London a few years ago at the Frieze.  So beautiful.

We walked into Park Slope and had lunch at Purbird.  My favorite lunch…chopped salad and grilled chicken.  After that is was time to rest.

After a little rest, we headed to Photoville.  Photoville is a modular photo show built out in shipping containers.  Each container has a different installation.  Most come from schools or organizations highlighting a theme with the photographers they are connected to.  We saw this particular photo 3 different times.  It is a woman and her child in Saudi Arabia who is divorced (a rare occurrence there) who got legal custody of her children.

Refinery 29 had a container that highlighted women and their bodies across the globe.  This is a woman in Israel who talks about how she finally got to the place where she had a healthy relationship with her body.

We walked on the waterfront through Dumbo.  The growth of new buildings and also how the water is now connected to the shore is nice to see.  There is a beach.  Years ago nobody would ever think of even dipping their toe in this water nonetheless going on jet skis.

Weddings were certainly a theme today and I believe many people trek down there with their party and photographers every weekend.

We went over to Williamsburg and had drinks and oysters at Maison Premiere for dinner.  It is so hot this weekend which is honestly the biggest bummer.  It feels like August.

Got back on the ferry to go back to Dumbo.  Started the morning and ended the day on the best form of transportation in this area.  I hope the city continues to add to the waterfront especially transportation.  No traffic!

 

 

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. Arnold Waldstein

    Citibikes and water taxis along with public wifi have reconfigured urban life here in the best ways possible.A huge fan of getting around by water.

    1. Gotham Gal

      And certainly more to come

      1. awaldstein

        Yup next year to the Bronx which is so crazy and great.Would love to see more on the West Side and a connection between the main terminal by the seaport and the one by the World Financial Center.

  2. Erin

    Wow, those charcoal pieces are unreal.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Amazing. The tree sold for 350,000 pounds two years ago

      1. Erin

        He deserves it. It’s breathtaking.

  3. Steven Kane

    I worship Robert Longo. Fell in love with him and so many others at Metro Pictures in the early 80s. If only I’d had a few bucks back then !

    1. Gotham Gal

      Totally. We have a friend who has some of his work. I told her we are first in line to buy

  4. Sierra Choi

    Seeing these pics makes me miss New York a little.