Greenpoint Stories

Dear Readers, Welcome to Greenpoint Stories,

I am interested in capturing a time and place in this swath of land called Greenpoint. When I introduce a place, be it a restaurant, a bakery, the corner store, I want to glean for the reader a bit of history: of the workers, or owners  and the products sold; the what, the why and the how, the history- long ago, from decades ago to more recent measures of time, as recent as the year before this, or the two years before this year, before the scene of Williamsburg converged with Greenpoint, this once outpost. Once, I wished it had more amenities: good coffee, restaurants and better products in stores and I had disdain, that was way before it was co-opted by the more hip crowd.
 I could see that the migration from Williamsburg would inch northward and all the vestiges of the WWII generation: their product and signage would disapear.
I admit I once thought it ugly; I didn’t get it, but Greenpoint grew on me! I have long been smitten.

So, readers, this is the angle I am going after in my blog, the little places that have a story to tell, which may, or may not be around much longer, and not the ones which have a crowd and reviews in the Times.
Here are some places: the video store (I am currently renting movies of  Elizabeth Taylor; a retrospective at home and the fellow working was spontaneously telling me about the movie); the little Turkish place with the Kurdish owners and the over-bright son, a walking encyclopedia of Syria, Turkey and Israel; the butcher, and the places to get the best Ukranian borsht and the beauty parlors, the few remaining). But mostly, this blog is a homage to the people and places of Greenpoint,the stories of those who have made Greenpoint what it is and for the generation that is now remaking it, anew, to see what came before! 

Photos and possibly a little clip of commentary , audio, video and photos will accompany the stories.

Dear Readers, I will show you what I’ve got as I get it!

Greenpoint Stories, Genevieve La Riva