I love you, Fort Greene

Chez Lola. Never really loved the food here, but the front has always made me think of a super great clothing store in Vancouver, whose business cards looks exactly like the store front.

The clothing store in the old cleaners rocks and carries APC which thankfully did not open until I left, because I would have gone there way too much.

One of my most favorite blocks, South Portland.

The Masonic Temple on the corner of Carlton and Lafayette Avenue.

I read an article on Fort Greene, Brooklyn today, in the New York Times. This is the first neighborhood that I lived in when Kenny and I moved to Brooklyn more than five years ago. While initially freaked out by the fact that at that time, Pathmark was the only grocery store option nearby, I soon got over it, as I had fallen in love not only with our amazing apartment (despite the "rat incident"), but also with the beauty and character of the neighborhood itself. I have never felt more at home anywhere in my entire life as I did when we lived on Lafayette Street in Fort Greene. When we had to move, I cried, and I hope that someday, I can afford to buy an apartment in Fort Greene... because even though I am not sure I want to continue living in New York, or even the USA, I think I might stay forever if I could live in Fort Greene again.

The charm of laying in bed and hearing not only the cheerful chime of the G train doors closing, but also the occasional bus stop scuffles and fist fights that would occur when Mo's closed at 4am, and the drunk patrons would be waiting for the bus right in front of our house. 

There were the small kids who thought it was fun to try to hassle me — a girl who slapped my head while I was walking down Hanson Place and a elementary school kid who tried to steal my Palm Pilot from my hands on Lafayette Street; and the amazing neighbors that we met and befriend, Kate and Doug; Richard the mayor of Adelphi Street; our friends who moved to Fort Greene, like Rich and Chloe, Susanna and Mitch, the list is endless. 

I used to run across the street to Ralph's Meat Corp in the middle of baking cookies, cakes, whatnot, to pick up more flour, butter, because I invariably never had all of the ingredients on the recipe — sometimes even in my pajamas would I run over there, and one time I left my recipe on his counter and had to run back. 

I loved buying my annual red geraniums from Gardel's garden shop on South Portland, getting a slice (this was very, very rare) from Not Ray's, and dropping off my dry cleaning at Jody's place on Fulton Street, where she always could be counted on to give me honest and unsolicited advice with regards to things such as my weight (wow, you've gotten big, huh?) to my dry skin (it looks like you have dried rice stuck to your face!).

Walking home from BAM was a breeze, and it was such a delight to go see a dance performance and then be able to walk home in two minutes, practically; especially if I had to go to the bathroom. The C train stop was around the corner, and took me under five minutes to get from my bathroom to the platform.

And while you might wonder how I could love the potential palm pilot snatchings and the rat eating cupcakes on our front steps, I simply just loved it all. I mean, yeah, at the moment, I was like, "what the fuck, there are 14 rats eating the leftovers of Sheri's bridal shower, on our front steps!" But you know how it is, once the heat is turned back on, and the rats are eliminated via some guy Kenny found on Craig's list under "intrepid tarp removal," then it's easier to look back and see just how lovely life in Fort Greene was.