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04/05/2005: "Agoraphilia in Brooklyn"

This Sunday I left my aunt and uncle's place at 9:30/10:30 in the morning, into the rain and wind. It must have been a rough night outside, because the streets were littered with mangled umbrellas.

I'd spent the last two days walking around New York, but I was in need of a solitary walk - big time - so I put on a borrowed rain jacket and off I went. I walked along Bedford, and finally took a picture of one of my favorite store signs: "Downer's Pharmacy". Now it is a bookstore, but I am happy they decided to preserve the site's Downer history.

I walked over to McCarren Park, where in the past I've watched some nicely outfitted baseball games, whether it be little kids decked out in such perfect little baseball uniforms (the real-deal socks, pants, jerseys, cleats) or Hasidic Jewish men in their all black baseball gear.

Hardly anyone was out, which made it a good time to go have a look at the abandoned pools and pavilion there.



A very striking, simple, and kind of ugly building, I think it was built during the depression. Now its bricks are crumbling and have been slapped over with paint that is the colour of bricks, no doubt to cover graffiti, which still flourishes there. I liked this staplegun monster best.



I'd never seen this pool on my other trips down. It was shown to me the other day by my aunt and uncle's neighbour who is the most unusual person I have ever flaneured with. He lives in a self-made structure attached to their building's fire escape. He plans to turn the site into something called the "Agora Thunderdome" - using a hell of a lot of scrap metal. He tells me I'm supposed to watch Mad Max 3 to help me understand the concept.

The rain let up by the time I headed home, but the wind was still a-blowin'. It was working away at tearing a massive piece of tarp off the side of a building (really very beautiful in motion), and causing these little dangly mobile men to dance around. Way up high, though, this orange balloon was pretty much staying in place and the birds seemed to have it under control.