let's move to williamsburg!

I think our favourite New York City neighbourhood would have to be Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was lightly snowing when we stepped onto Bedford Ave and from that point we were smitten with this young, creative, eclectic and friendly district. Williamsburg is a haven for artists (it has definitely become a new art district in New York City), students, young families and New Yorkers who like to be a little removed from the hectic pace of Manhattan and seem to really enjoy organic food. We wandered along Bedford Ave, Wythe Ave and laced our way from North 3rd to North 11th street.


Jason found bliss at Ear Wax Records – walking away with a tidy bundle of vinyl including fantastic recommendations from the lovely staff who knew exactly what to give him once they spotted what he was into.

He picked up some Daptone Label records (which included Sugarman Three, The Mighy Imperials and of course Sharon Jones), Jimmy Castor Bunch, a compilation called Fallin Off the Reel and The Baby Huey Story by Baby Huey.


We stumbled upon so many great stores with vintage clothing, handmade jewelry, books, clothes, weird knick-knacks…..and everyone we spoke to was relaxed and chatty. Williamsburg was a bit of relief from Manhattan - where we felt invisible.

We had a great lunch at Relish, a retro diner that we overheard is frequented by performance artist Reggie Watts (who performed his vocal sampling gymnastics/comedy at the Brisbane Powerhouse in 2009). Spoonbill & Sugartown Books which is part of a really interesting arcade, is an indie bookstore a bit like Avid Reader with a great back catalogue and strange but interesting additional offerings including a Tits and Totes 2010 Calendar (just let your imagination take care of the details).
Locals assured us the place for coffee was Blackbird – a cosy café where we sipped some mean hot chocolates while listening to something that sounded like Animal Collective.














North 3rd street was a little treasure trove – we loved the second hand bookstore, Book Thug Nation which has regular events and some pretty bizarre masks guarding the shelves, across the road is a Mexican chocolate company (you can smell the goodness from down the street) and a great vintage shop next door.


I started daydreaming out loud that we should move (somehow?) to Williamsburg but then Jason gently reminded me of how little tolerance I have for a New York Winter and so we came home happily to the warm summery bosom of Brisbane.

indie booksellers new york style

So you would think that two people who work in bookstores 5 days a week might not make visiting bookstores a priority during a holiday in New York City. Well, like moths to a flame we couldn’t help ourselves from huddling in between shelves of new and old books and combing through sale tables on footpaths. We did exercise some self-control in how many books we bought but in some cases those little bundles of word (and picture) joy just had to be ours!

Bookstore Highlights

1. McNally Jackson, NoLita
Snowflake paper cut-outs adorned the windows of this two level bookstore with an attached café. This was a classy indie bookstore (no visible x-rated material!) with articulate shelf tags of staff recommendations and a literature section classified by global region (Australia got about a 70cm shelf). My heart sang when I saw The Boat by Nam Le on the front table of highly recommended new releases and I was slightly befuddled by the Paul Auster section guarded behind the staff counter.



2. The Strand, near Union Square
The Strand Bookstore is legendary – 83 years worth of a whole of books, 18miles of books! This place is dangerous, we almost felt drunk with book overload. There are a lot of discounted titles at The Strand, so you can definitely find a bargain and signed copies abound (I scored a signed copy of The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore). Somehow we only bought two books!


3. Book Book, Greenwich Village.
A little shop with great books – I found a collection of short stories by William Trevor (Krissy at Avid was very pleased!)


4. Book Thug Nation, Williamsburg
Very cool second-hand bookstore started in October 2009 by some indie street booksellers. Literature abounds as well as freaky masks that guard the shelves. I found a really interesting journal/zine called Cometbus and the guy running the store was the friendliest bookseller we came across. We were very impressed by the table in the corner adorned with an electric kettle and masked bust offering free tea and coffee. This bookstore also has regular interesting events.


5. Spoonbill & Sugartown, Williamsburg
I think this would have to be our favourite bookstore that we came across in New York. Equipped with a fat cat to warm up your books, there was a great back catalogue and strange but interesting self-published work, including the 2010 Tits and Totes Calendar. We picked up a gem called This is Your Book, This is My Book – a book published by the bookstore celebrating their operation as an independent bookseller for 10 years with photographs of customers with their newly acquired books, writings by staff, drawings and more! There was a glass cabinet of collectable books and heaps of sale books too.


6. East Village Books, East Village
We loved the East Village for all its vintage stores and delicious cheap food, but we also loved this bookstore. Sure, the staff were a little surly but what do you expect from a shop with shelf labels that include “Anti-This Establishment”. There was also an odd shelf of ceramic figurines that just fitted in perfectly into the wonderfully eclectic collection of this bookstore. Out the back (kind of outside) is a discounted books section, there is some really interesting and expensive-ish collectable books in plastic pockets pinned to the wall facing the counter and some records too. We scored some great finds: short stories by J.D. Salinger, a near-new copy of Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine and a highly recommended film theory book on horror, called Men Women and Chainsaws.


7. Community Bookstore, Park Slope
We walked into this small, cozy store to witness a familiar scene. A lady walked in and was telling the bookseller at the counter how much she had loved a book she had bought there and that she had recommended it to all her friends. Then she proceeded to pick up book after book off the new release table asking the bookseller about each one, and being regretfully informed that the bookseller hadn’t quite managed to read all of them yet! After this we headed further into the book store to find a resident rabbit, cat and lizard alongside a comfy couch to peruse your books. It was a little messy too, which we liked!

this is how i think of you #5

New Years Eve

Times Square was never really an option for New Years Eve for us. After news reports of sniffer dogs looking for bombs and snipers on roofs, we decided against going to the square (which isn't really a square shape at all). We did have an idea to go back to Brooklyn Bowl to see Q-Tip DJ, but left getting tickets until a bit too late.


Instead we went to Greenwich Village and had Magnolia cupcakes in the rain.



Then we went back to Fat Cat, where we had previously seen Naomi Shelton. There was a fantastic ensemble funk band keeping people entertained.


We drank bad wine from glass tumblers and played scrabble all night. It was about as far from Times Square as you could get.

shake it like sharon jones

We will always remember December the 30th, 2009. First we visited Central Park Zoo to see some very sleepy animals and acquired our most prized possessions from New York (see the photo below).

Next our beautiful friend Hanna, aka Shpetzi, came all the way from Berlin to spend a couple of days with us over New Years. But the joy of this day culminated in experiencing the incredible: Miss Sharon Jones. Our happy trio danced and marvelled at this living legend that we all want to be when we grow up at Brooklyn Bowl, a kooky, retro styled live music venue/bowling alley in Williamsburg.

For anyone who doesn't know, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are a much loved and highly acclaimed contemporary funk/soul outfit from Brooklyn.


We'll let Sharon speak for herself... needless to say, you should take any chance you can to see her live.