Springtime in Bushwick
Spring has finally arrived in Bushwick. It’s been an eventful winter for the hood, but the cold and gray can mute even the most exciting of times. Now that the trees are exploding into bloom, the birds are back, and you can finally leave some windows open and get fresh air, an extra level of sensory pleasure is applied to life. The surest sign of this change is the blaring music from open windows — speakers pointed OUTWARD, of course — and car stereos. Right now I’m being serenaded by the 717th girl to redo “Time After Time” to a freestyle beat. It’s actually not bad. Kind of nostalgic — I have flashbacks of listening to Power 96 (DJ Laz is airbrushed!) with the top down on my ‘72 Cougar. The one I could see the road through the floor of.
Yesterday I walked home half-speed from the train, enjoying the feel of the warmer air on my skin, observing the activity on the street. The hipsters are also in full bloom, donning bright color combinations as they do, in greens and pastel blues and even pinks. Groups of them were lounging on benches among the daffodils, sipping their coffees. Others took strolls with their dogs. There were guys working outside Roberta’s — possibly getting the back patio ready for dining al fresco?
Closer to home, kids were out skateboarding and all the windows were wide open. When I got inside, I opened all the doors and windows — Niko was beside himself with excitement, running in and out with the freedom he’s been denied these long, cold months.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Hey Jeremy, we still have those extra mums if you want to transplant in your yard! Pretty soon we’ll need to clear some pots for summer perenials. Yeah, mums are not exciting springly florations but they are green and then they get very pretty flowers in the fall. Clear some bricks and tuck them in a corner for now!
Our backyard is aliiiiiive. Hyacyths like in your picture smell gorgeous, the daffodils are currently going insane, some tulips just opened up and the day lillies, lillies, astilbe and hydrangeas are cranking away. Plus the rose bush looks lush and awesome, should start blooming in a few weeks time.
Can ya’ll tell that one of the main reasons we bought our house was to have a backyard?! I’m off to Home Depot shortly. Hoping they’ve got some tomato plants, etc. in stock. lordy I love having days off.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It’s stoop-sitting season…
April 11th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I’d like to thank the mystery person on my block who plays with their speakers facing out from 11am-2pm on Saturday mornings for at least turning down the volume when skipping through their wack ass selection of music. I especially enjoyed when no one noticed the CD was skipping for a good 15 minutes straight.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Last summer on Troutman St my neighbors had 4 wheelers (yes, for all that rocky terrain in Brooklyn) and they would drive around the block all night until 3 or 4 am. Luckily I’m now on a quiet block so all I hear with my windows open are the sounds birds chirping. But pretty soon it will be time for the incessant music of the ice cream man!
April 11th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Mister Softee has been plying his trade on these streets since before most of you were born.
April 12th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Mr. Softee has been in my neighborhood of South Bushwick since Mid-March - while it was still snowing - ripping the money off obese kids every day.
April 12th, 2008 at 11:23 am
How are the obese kids being ripped off?
April 12th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Didn’t you know? They hold a gun to their heads and force them to buy ice cream!
Gimme a break…
April 12th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
When I was a kid I waited every day for the ice cream man. They put an end to that around 1977 in my neighborhood in upstate NY because kids would run out to the street and get hit by cars. I was so excited to see them when I moved to the city - it was very nostalgic for me. Now the sound of their music grates on my nerves
April 12th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I have fond memories of chasing after the truck and buying soft-serve double-cones, push-ups or red, white ‘n blue Bomb Pops.
I think the truck used actual bells back then, but it’s been so long I don’t remember for sure. I do remember that the sound of the truck approaching would send every kid on the block scurrying back to his house to beg a quarter off Mom or Dad.
To this day, I can’t help but smile if I see an ice cream truck rolling down the street. I might even flag it down and buy an ice cream.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Well, it’s not so bad when the ice cream truck plays the “normal” tune, but I remember in the 1990’s, when I still lived in Ridgewood, it began BLASTING the “Lambada” (1990’s dance song). That was enough for me, you could hear that stupid thing coming from about 5 blocks away….
Thankfully, I think they since went back to the normal ice cream truck music…
April 15th, 2008 at 7:41 am
If Mr. Softee comes around in Winter, how greedy could he be?
April 15th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Hey, he wouldn’t come around if nobody was buying. It’s hard to make a living on seasonal work; I don’t blame those guys for trying to get an early start.
This isn’t a socialist state–there shouldn’t be any laws telling us when we can or cannot buy or sell ice cream.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I didn’t see them in the winter at all, and only once on my block since it’s been nice. They came down my street last summer 4 or 5 times a day until 10 pm. I was so happy when that law went into effect forbidding them from playing that jingle while parked in residential areas.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
There are no laws anywhere of how much ice cream anyone can eat. Coming around 4-5 times a day til 10 pm seems excessive though, don’t you think?
April 15th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Not if you love ice cream
Then again, I have a particular fondness for the truck. Why, one time about 20 years ago, I was “getting busy” in my bachelor pad and I stopped right in the middle of it because I heard the ice cream truck coming up the street! She never let me forget that one
April 15th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I have no problem with the trucks coming by, I just don’t want to hear them parked in front of my house for 10 minutes with the music blasting. I stopped eating that ice cream long ago when I saw a news story about the lack of hygiene on some of the trucks (like, there’s no where to go to the bathroom so they pee in bottles and keep them under the counter. Eww)
April 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Just don’t order the “lemon ice”, that’s all!
Har har har…
April 16th, 2008 at 6:50 am
While I certainly recall the Mr. Softee trucks in my younger years - and I have never had a problem with the noise - they were relative newcomers to the ice cream trade, at least in Greenpoint, and probably Bushwick as well. What I really remember were the Good Humor men, who peddled their wares on a bike, and the Bungalow Bar trucks. The latter had slanted roofs in the manner of an actual bungalow. Both companies announced their presence by ringing bells. (This is what one of the earlier posters probably remembers.)
I had long forgotten about the Bungalow Bar trucks until I saw a Soprano’s episode a few years ago. This was the one where Tony was invited to the country club for a round of golf by his doctor. After being asked by the doctor’s upscale friends if he “ever met Gotti”, Tony told of a fight he had with the Tefflon Don over acquiring a vintage Bungalow Bar truck. (Needless to say, New York trumped New Jersey.) So it was a real blast to hear this old name after so many years.
April 16th, 2008 at 8:28 am
“Bungalow Bar, tastes like tar…”
April 16th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Martha, why the hysteria over ice cream? Yeah, too many of these kids are fat, but I’d call their indulgent (and probably also fat) parents greedy for love before I’d accuse an ice cream man of greed. I mean, how much can they possibly make anyhow? I don’t think we’re anywhere near the “greed” range.
I don’t mind the trucks at all. When they park in front of the house (which is rare!), it gives us time to get a few bucks out of our wallets and head down there. Then we hang out and eat the ice cream on the stoop.
Some of the trucks sell this disgusting product that’s like frozen Cool Whip. It leaves you feeling hotter than you were before you bought it. Now I ask them if they have the real ice cream (corn syrup-laden though it may be) or that coop whip shit before I shell out my $1.50.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I’m more a fan of the Italian ices that the guys sell out of the carts. Watermelon. Yum.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Perhaps I am just jelous because I never had enough ice cream when i was a child; there wasn’t enough money to go around. On the positive side, i also do not have diabetes.