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December 2023
Onward and Upward in Bushwick: They’re ‘Social Creatures’
When John Patrick Roach typed the word ‘band’ into the Craigslist search engine, he hadn’t played drums in seven years. All he knew was that he was ready for a change: corporate life working for a now-bankrupt digital startup was getting to him, but Roach’s desire to play again was present as ever. For the last few years, he’s been jamming in Social Creatures, a somewhat new band out of Bushwick.
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November 2023
It’s Pure ‘Poison,’ Playing At Unit J.
A new play opening this week at Bushwick’s Unit J says the best time to face grief is when it’s staring right back at us. The winner of a Dutch playwriting award a decade ago, Lot Vekemans’ “Poison,” made its off-Broadway debut seven years ago at the Beckett Theatre. Now, the story will unfold in a very small and intimate space in Bushwick, epitomizing what some critics have called the play’s “fiercely claustrophobic” nature. Hosted inside the home of local actor Richard Carrillo, which he also uses as the Unit J “performance space,” his tear-jerking performance offers an intimate look at loss itself.
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October 2023
‘We’re Building a Movement Here’
At 22, Chaia Berman-Peters decided she wanted to unite people from across the Jewish diaspora with her own genre of music. For her, “Kleztronica” was more than just a new sound— it has kindled a unique scene of queer young activists who are pushing for radical change.
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September 2023
Dromedary Has A Brand New Bar, And A Doughnut Shop
Local Tiki enthusiast says he isn’t closing the doors on Dromedary just yet, either.
In Bushwick, behind graffiti-streaked warehouses and 99 cents stores hides an entire universe of fast-paced clubs and upscale restaurants. Diverse performers, writers and artists pave new roads on back alleys and sidewalks. Sometimes, the neighborhood’s most wonderful spaces end up hidden in plain sight— which is what Dromedary Bar’s new sister, Ra-Ra Rhino, seems to be going for.
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September 2023
Bushwick Open Studios Keeps The Focus Local
The three day neighborhood arts fair arrives again this weekend
Cecilia Fabian—known fondly as “Chila” — never makes the same thing twice. Her crochet designs, which range from strange Alexander McQueen-inspired masks to intricate bikinis, are more than just unique. Her basement studio off Bushwick Avenue is more like a jungle oasis, adorned with hand-woven floral scarves and overgrown with colorful shawls.
“My slogan is ‘often imitated, but never duplicated,’” she told Bushwick Daily in her studio last Saturday, surrounded by her vibrant creations.
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September 2023
Art Therapy, Bushwick-Style.
A “safe space” can mean a lot of different things. In college campuses across the country, it can be a special, designated classroom where students can escape discrimination or harassment. In a corporate office, it can be a plushy room with an espresso machine. For others, it may not be as clearly labeled or classified and maybe it’s even your own bed. But for Brittany Knapp, who started Bushwick’s Art Therapy Place, safe spaces are something you create yourself—literally.
In late July, this theory inspired an unusual workshop—or “therapeutic interactive art installation”—where participants fashioned their own human nest. Creatively-inclined locals of all ages gathered amidst a forest of felt and fabric supplies, a pile of twigs, a handful of weeds and a heap of blankets and each mimicked birds, twisting and winding materials together.
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August 2023
Bushwick Gets Its First Historic District
When Carlotta Williams moved to Linden Street in the late 1980s, the neighborhood was different from today’s Bushwick. The bright corner coffee shop didn’t exist. The renovated townhouse down the street wasn’t listed for over $2.1 million. But despite the signs of development and modernization, Linden Street has held steadfast to its past.
One block of Linden Street, from Broadway to Bushwick Avenue has remained virtually unchanged—on the outside, at least. Williams had watched as her neighbors grew up and raised families in the same centuries-old brownstones. Now, thanks to a unanimous vote from the Landmarks Preservation Commission this past May, the block of 32 brick and brownstones will be preserved indefinitely as part of Bushwick’s very first historic district.
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Kenneal Patterson 