Flushing Farms finally opened this weekend, sort of, at Flushing and Forrest. — Photos by Caroline Contillo.
On an oddly-shaped little patch of land near the Morgan L stop, you may have noticed some greenery sprouting over the past couple of years, in stark contrast to its surroundings on Flushing Avenue. This weekend marked the soft, or “false opening,” as owner Jeff Lohn joked, of Bushwick’s newest café and performance space. Flushing Farms has many components, including a lawn, garden, patio, an indoor café, and even a little patch of sand called Flushing Beach. Lohn, a former member of New York No-Wave band Theoretical Girls, bought the land three years ago, and over the past year acquired the work permits necessary to turn tiny plot into all of the above.
It took a whole cast of busy worker bees to make last night’s event happen, and they were picking carrots from the garden or moving a claw-foot bathtub right up to the moment it began. They celebrated the introduction of the space to the public with garden-fresh vegetables, homemade breads and jams, sparkling wine, music, and dance.
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It was distinctly non-New York in its feel, in that while people were indeed working hard to make the event come together, there was a relaxed air, the sort of attitude one might experience in Northern California. It is likely that the marginal zone in which the space has been constructed lends to this feeling. Flushing Farms stands on the border of the industrial and the residential, showing that with a little elbow grease, one (or rather a handful) can cobble together an oasis in just such a liminal space.
“We all met a week ago,” said one of the coterie of people who has been working in the garden. She spoke of all the big dreams for the scrappy little space: movie screenings, children’s dance classes, and potentially, since they’d just invested in a juicer, their own line of juice. The idea in the meantime is to sell coffee and homemade breads from the café’s window. “Performance will be an integral part of the space,” she added. You may have noticed that the space has been having shows throughout the summer. Last night’s event showed just how versatile Flushing Farms will be.
Dancer Coco Carol’s performance made excellent use of the space. After languidly contorting herself in a bathtub on the lawn, she moved through the dried-out corn crop onto the café’s counter, making steady eye contact with viewers as she moved, pumping her legs in the air like she was riding an invisible upside-down bicycle. The music was a furious piano composition, which contrasted with Carol’s slow movement much the same way that the space’s verdancy contrasts with the surrounding industry.
With no word on exactly when operations will officially begin, the workers were hopeful that within the next week, the café portion could be open with limited hours. The triangular shape of the land gives the space lots of visibility to the community and passersby, so keep your eyes peeled for motion the next time you’re on Flushing, or monitor their currently sparse website for activity.
Flushing Farms
970 Flushing
sophia August 31st, 2009 at 4:28 pm
i love theoretical girls. way to go. the space seems to have kid friendly potential. love it. steady operating hours needed asap.
savagesevere August 31st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
i love it…i once took a Sunday afternoon nap in the grass there while FF was in transition. a peaceful place in a sea of concrete!
sjp September 1st, 2009 at 8:32 am
I was wondering what was going on there this weekend! This looks fantastic – imagine if everyone pooled a bit of money together and turned little crap shacks into stuff like this!