Thursday Morning in Williamsburg: Re-Opening of the Old Metropolitan Avenue G Train Subway Entrances and Mezzanine at Union Avenue

Friday Morning in Bushwick: The L Train Passing Central Avenue Near the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery and the Wilson Avenue Station

(Video courtesy Kris Kemp)

Late Monday Morning in Williamsburg: Going into the Bedford Avenue Station on North 7th Street

Saturday Evening in Bushwick: Snow Falling on Wyckoff Avenue between Starr Street and WIlloughby Avenue

(Video courtesy Kris Kemp)

Tuesday Evening in Union Square: L Train Ends and Begins at 14th Street-Union Square Station

(Video courtesy Jordan Castro)

Early Tuesday Morning in Williamsburg: Phoebe Novak at Bedford Avenue L Train Subway Station

(Video courtesy saminnyc)

Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Why Does the L Train Mispronounce 'Lorimer Street'? 5/6

At the end of the L train's route on Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, Claudia learns that Mayor Bloomberg is responsible for the new gentrified pronunciations of Lorimer Street, Devoe Street and DeKalb Avenue.

Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Why Does the L Train Mispronounce 'Lorimer Street'? 4/6

To get to the bottom of the mystery of the mispronounced street name, Claudia decides to take the L train to the end of the line in Canarsie.

Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Why Does the L Train Mispronounce 'Lorimer Street'? 3/6

On the L train, Claudia gets into a conversation with a fellow straphanger and corrects his pronunciation of "Lorimer Street."

Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Why Does the L Train Mispronounce 'Lorimer Street'? 2/6

Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Why Does the L Train Mispronounce 'Lorimer Street'? 1/6

Claudia ponders the mystery of why the announcement on the L train of the Lorimer Street stop pronounces "Lorimer" incorrectly.

Late Saturday Afternoon in Williamsburg: Metropolitan Avenue Prepares for Hurricane Irene

After 4 p.m. today we went out during a lull in the pre-hurricane rain to get a couple of 9-volt batteries so we can listen to the radio if (when?) the power goes off. The great Crest Hardware store was ready for Irene. They're staying open till 7 p.m.

Down Metropolitan Avenue, dueling deli/newsstands have taped up their windows.


Around the corner, some of New York's Bravest, two FDNY firefighters, as well as a couple of dog walkers, were at Sunac. No word if the market will stay open 24 hours as usual.

Across Union Avenue, Kellogg's Diner half-heartedly taped up its windows. There were a lot of people inside, as they were elsewhere, at the Macri Park Bar, San Marcos Pizza, etc.

The subway was closed, of course.

The person in this billboard by the BQE is what we imagine Hurricane Irene looks like.

According to our friends at Free Williamsburg, Hurricane Irene can potentially destroy our neighborhood. We live across one street from a Zone B evacuation area and across another street from a Zone C evacuation area. Why we are in a no-evacuation zone, we have no idea.

We wish everyone good luck in weathering the storm.
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UPDATE, SUNDAY 5 P.M.: We are all fine here, with no damage except a lot of leaves and a few branches on the ground. No flooding or loss of power here. We are very grateful for that and know that many others were not as lucky.

Tuesday Morning in Williamsburg: "Everything Is Fine - LOL" Sign at the Lormer Street Station

This morning we found that some vandal had replaced the Lorimer Street Station L/G sign on the north side of Metropolitan Avenue and Lorimer Street with a sign that said "Everything Is Fine - LOL."

Thanks for the laugh on this uncomfortably hot morning.

On the next stop of the G train, Nassau Avenue, our friends at The Greenpointers photographed another altered subway entrance sign telling everyone, "You Look Lovely."

But that's always been true on Manhattan Avenue. Not so much on Metropolitan.

Monday Morning in Williamsburg: Card Players on the L Train

On the L train late this morning, these two students were playing some high-tech card game and sharing music on one iPod.

Sunday Morning in Stuyvesant Town: Easter Breakfast by the Oval

We were so excited to see the sun actually come up this Easter morning that we got out of the house by 7 a.m. after exercising to Classical Stretch on NYC-TV and took the L train a couple of stops to First Avenue.

At Starbucks we got a free iced tea thanks to our Gold Card rewards and bought some oatmeal with dried fruits and nuts and took them over to Stuyvesant Town, where we found a comfy couch just waiting for us.

Actually we sat at a bench by the Oval, which will open to residents in late May once the grass is all grown in beautifully.

One of Stuy Town's many officious gray squirrels came over and threw us for a loop when he asked to see our ID.

Luckily we have pull with this kindly one-of-a-kind black squirrel, who gave us permission to hang out. What a pal.

We'd put up a statue in his honor were there not one already.

On our way back to Brooklyn to get ready for church, we admired the cityscapes painted by fifth graders decorating the Oval Study.

We're grateful to Stuyvesant Town for letting us trespass. It won't happen again. Definitely not.

Thursday Morning in Hoboken: Breakfast at Pier A Park

Usually on Thursday mornings this spring semester, we teach two classes at fantastic Fordham University, but today is Holy Thursday so New York's Jesuit University gives us the day off. It was a perfect sunny morning for a quick ride to Hoboken

to join others with the great idea of having breakfast at beautiful Pier A Park between Sinatra Drive and the mighty Hudson River.

Our PATH train was almost empty except for a middle-aged Asian woman with shopping bags from the Union Square Whole Foods, this gum-chewing young lady who looked at her smartphone

and this guy who picked his nose quite aggressively during the entire ride. He was reading The New Yorker all the while.

We got provisions for breakfast at Chock Full o' Nuts Cafe on the corner of River and First Streets when we got out of the terminal. Across the street there's a Brooklyn Bread place which either is about to open or recently closed.

We love Chock Full o' Nuts -- everyone our age remembers "That Heavenly Feeling" jingle sung by Page Morton Black, the fabulous wife of the company founder --

and who can forget the cream cheese on datenut bread sandwiches you can't get anywhere else?

At the park, it was breezy -- okay, windy -- but not too cold. These guys were practicing soccer on the lawn they had to themselves.

Just outside the terminal is a statue of Sam Sloan, president of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad for 32 years. (He lived in Brooklyn, too.)

The trees were pretty bare at this point in spring. It is spring, right?

We enjoyed walking around the park anyway. It was not raining. We've been teaching Twelfth Night in three classes, and we keep thinking of Feste's final song and the line, "The rain, it raineth every day." Almost.

Some kids were here with their school.

The gazebo, right by the water, must be wonderful in the summer.

According to Wikipedia,

Many people witnessed the September 11, 2001 Attacks from Pier A because it had good views of the World Trade Center. On March 11, 2002 a memorial service was held on Pier A. On September 11, 2003 a section of land was created as a memorial for the September 11, 2001 victims (by planting trees).

Currently, there is a temporary memorial to victims in the form of a tear drop. A permanent memorial, called Hoboken Island, is planned to be built.

A park worker was cleaning up the memorial garden dedicated to the memory of Annette Illing, a Hoboken civic leader who worked on making this waterfront available to all the people, lobbied for open government and advocated for affordable housing in the city.

This is the World War I American Expeditionary Forces Memorial Boulder, honoring the three million troops who embarked from Hoboken to fight in Europe.

We're grateful we got such a nice morning off to have our iced tea and sandwich and walk around Pier A Park.

But it was time for us to get back to New York City. We'll be back in Hoboken when we can.