I have expected to say this for at least a decade, and now, post COVID, it is finally here. The Gowanus I photographed for thirty years is officially dead, and the new Gowanus is here to stay. And it’s not my generations Gowanus by any stretch of the imagination. This Gowanus will be enveloped with people and buildings to resemble the riverwalk in Providence, RI, or San Antonio, TX. The wild spirit that existed on […]
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Every time I approach the Gowanus Canal, I don’t know what to expect. This time, standing on the Third Street Bridge looking northward, Movers, Not Shakers… the glorious black building with YOU SHOULD MOVE TO BROOKLYN, in 15-foot letters… was gone. Mark Ehrhardt created the display so that you could plainly see it as you rolled your shopping cart out of Whole Foods, after bringing his company from Red Hook to Gowanus, renting the location beside the Third Street bridge from 2014 to 2021.
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How did a Superfund site end up in South Brooklyn? The Gowanus Canal stood stagnant for more than 30 years after the propellor which sucked fresh water from New York Harbor was broken in a construction accident. The flushing tunnel was sealed in the 1960s. Originally a series of tidal creeks, the native Americans named it Gowanes Creek in honor of Chief Gowanes of the Canarses tribe, who lived, hunted, and fished along its length. […]
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