Williamsburg 30-Second Mystery Theatre: Case of the Trustafarian Tenant 6/6

Overjoyed at Claudia's solving the mystery of his trustafarian tenant, the Hasidic landlord Mr. Ratmansky pays her back by taking her to an avant-garde dance performance in Long Island City.

Saturday Night in Crown Heights: Simchas Beis Hashoeva Dancing on Kingston Avenue south of Eastern Parkway

(Video courtesy Ariel Sokolovsky)

(Video courtesy Alex Gorokhov)

Sunday in South Williamsburg: Purim Festivities on Lee Avenue

(Video courtesy Teis Eastwood)
(Video courtesy Marek Cejka) (Video courtesy vos9es) (Video courtesy Jacob Kornbluh)

Saturday Night in Williamsburg: Celebration of Kuf Alef Kislev at the New York State Armory on Marcy Avenue

The 21st day of Kislev is celebrated annually by Satmar Chasidim worldwide as the day R' Yoel Teitelbaum Zt'l the founder of Satmar Chasidis in America, escaped from Hungary and this year marks the 69th anniversary of the Grand Rebbe's escape from the Nazis. (Video courtesy shiezoli)

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: Mark Wholesale, Inc. Ribbon-Cutting Celebration at the Lot on Rodney Street and Broadway

Coming home from the concert at East River Park, as we got off the J train at Marcy Street, we heard klezmer music, and as we turned onto Rodney Street just north of Broadway, just behind where we're currently living, we saw a gorgeously decorated party at the vacant lot.

A poster at the entrance described this private party for VIPs as a "ribbon cutting" and names Mark Wholesale, Inc., which has its business on Bedford Avenue, so I guess they're opening something here. Cool.

There was a lavish display of lights, liquor and food under a big white party tent, and Hasidic men were gathering at small tables in front of it. Soulful klezmer music was playing, and a man with a sweet voice sung lulling songs in Yiddish. We stared from behind the chain link fence and listened to the pleasant, highly amplified music. The smell of seared beef - filet mignon? - made even a vegetarian a little swoony, so we left after a while of being outside, listening in.

Even as we write this at 10:30 p.m., from our bedroom, which faces South 5th Street, we can still hear the party band playing klezmer.

Sunday Afternoon in Williamsburg: Celebrating Easter, Passover and Spring at Grand Ferry Park

As the sun remained out and temperatures jumped into the 70°s on this Easter afternoon,

we headed out across Grand Street to the waterfront

and the joys of Grand Ferry Park, named for the 19th century Grand Street Ferry, which once carried farm goods and passengers across the East River to Manhattan.

One of the New York Times's most stylish reporters, Sarah Maslin Nir, had a piece in today's Metro section in which she wrote

Come the warm weather, New Yorkers become pleasure seekers; we’re an outdoorsy bunch — at least when the weather’s nice. . .

According to the calendar, it’s been spring for the past five weeks. But you could have fooled me. Since the vernal equinox on March 20, the official start of the season,

we’ve had nearly two weeks’ worth of days on which the temperature has not yet reached above 50 degrees. On average, this spring is two and a half degrees colder than usual.

And it has rained almost 20 of those days, making the season thus far 27 percent wetter than in most years (not to mention March 24, the day that shall live in infamy, when there was measurable snowfall). Still, dotted amid the gloomy days and the dreary ones have been a few bright, balmy afternoons

— fool’s gold, or so they’ve seemed. . .

Perhaps this afternoon was the real thing.

What we love about this spot is that you get a good view of all three bridges: the Williamsburg, the Manhattan and the Brooklyn.

We're grateful that it got as warm as 80° and that today's predicted thunderstorms held off

so that we could get out of that furshlugginer suit and tie and enjoy walking around Williamsburg in our T-shirt and shorts like normal people.