I was out shooting time-lapse photos of the Atlantic Yards site yesterday (May 27, 2010), specifically, the site of the Barclays Center Arena at the intersection of Flatbush & Atlantic Avenues in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. I set up my camera & tripod on the sidewalk of Flatbush Avenue near its now-closed intersection with Pacific Street so that I could shoot thru the chain-link fence and a gap in the netting that surrounds the construction site. After about 10 minutes of shooting, three construction workers walk up to me on the outside of the fence. We had the following exchange:

Construction worker #1: “Can we help you?”
Me: “No, thanks.”
CW #1: “What are you taking pictures of?”
Me: “The construction of the arena”
CW #1: “You can’t take pictures here. I’m gonna have to ask you to move along…”
Me: “Yes, I can take pictures here. I’m on a public sidewalk.”
CW #2 (to the other workers): “We can just close it up from the other side.”

They walk back inside the construction area and close the gap in the netting covering the fence. Watch it here:

Fair enough. I had already shot most of what I wanted.

So then I decide that I’ll shoot from a vantage point I’d been thinking about for some time: from the intersection of Hanson Place and Fort Greene Place on the edge of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Terminal and Center Malls, looking south to Atlantic Avenue and the Barclays Center site. I thought this angle would give a sense of what’s to come on Dean Street & 6th Avenue if/when the Barclays Center Arena is built. I suspect that the backside of the arena on 6th Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Dean Street would resemble the loading docks of the Atlantic Terminal Mall on Fort Greene Place, and the traffic congestion would probably be worse, at least when there’s an event at the arena.

I’m setting up my tripod on the southeast corner of Hanson Place and Fort Greene Place, next to the northwest corner of the Atlantic Center Mall. I haven’t taken one photo before a guy in a suit comes up and we talk:

Guy In Suit: “What are you taking photos of?”
Me: “I’m taking a time-lapse movie of the traffic.”
GIS: “You can’t take photos here.”
Me: “Why not?”
GIS: “It’s private property.”
Me: “It is?”
GIS: “Yes. The city demapped this block. It’s now owned by the owner of these buildings.”
Me: “Really?”
GIS: “Yes. We clean the block. We maintain it. If you were to take photos on a city street, I couldn’t stop you.”
Me: “So, is across the street a city street.”
GIS: “Yes.”

So, I head north, to the opposite/north side of Hanson Place, on public property, and shot this:

I shot this video from the former apartment of Dan Goldstein and his family.  They were the last residents of the building, and one the last families to be living in the footprint.

I shot this on May 4, 2010, one of their last days in their home.

I shot this on May 6, 2010, their last night in their home.

See more photos of 636 Pacific Street.

Some background from Atlantic Yards Report.

Freddy's Bar & Backroom

slideshow

coverage from Atlantic Yards Report

coverage from No Land Grab

Donald O'Finn, Freddy's Manager

Freddy’s website

watch a slideshow

coverage from Atlantic Yards Report

coverage from No Land Grab

Freddy’s Bar & Backroom, a neighborhood watering hole for decades, and more recently, a center of Atlantic Yards opposition, will close its 485 Dean Street location for good tonight. Although the bar will relocate several blocks away into Park Slope, I don’t think it will ever be the same.

Freddy’s website
More about Freddy’s on Atlantic Yards Report
And more from Atlantic Yards Report

I shot this time lapse video on April 29, 2010 just before sunset. In the hour I stood watch over my camera, as it recorded buildings in their last days, some seized via eminent domain and all soon to be demolished for a basketball arena, I was treated to local history lessons from some who were born on the block and have lived in the neighborhood their entire lives. Stories from a time when the neighborhood would not have been considered “a great piece of real estate,” in the words of Forest City Ratner CEO Chuck Ratner.

• Stories about the social club at 487 Dean Street, across 6th Avenue from Freddy’s, where kids waited in line to play Donkey Kong, the hot, new video game. That building has been demolished.
• Stories from a man who rented the apartment directly above Freddy’s, as well as several other apartments in the footprint, some of which have already been demolished.
• Stories about fresh-baked treats from Pechter’s Bakery, which used to operate in the now demolished Ward Bread Bakery.
• Stories about the Chunky candy factory, about the Fort Greene Meat Market at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.
• Stories about playing stick ball behind the 78th Precinct building, probably using Spaldeens (those famous pink rubber balls), which used to be manufactured at the Spalding Building (the large brick building on the right in the video).
• Stories about other local spots in the hood like The Hut and Winner’s Circle, now long gone.

So, this is your last chance to enjoy a pint or three at Freddy’s and take a glimpse back into a small corner of Brooklyn history before it’s gone.  See you tonight.