Presentation given by Keith Williams of The Weekly Nabe (www.theweeklynabe.com) to the OpenBag brown-bag lunch series at OpenPlans, January 30, 2013.

1. The Weekly Nabe
an experiment in urban exploration
Keith Williams
OpenBag lunch
January 30, 2013

2. What it is
• Blog focused on individual neighborhoods in
Brooklyn
• I plan to research and visit each
• The next neighborhood is chosen randomly

3. How it started
• Ignorance of Brooklyn history / geography
• Newfound free time
• Interest in writing

5. Defining a “neighborhood”
• List taken from DCP’s website (80 total)
• Includes several “ghost neighborhoods”
– Mapleton, West Brighton, Plumb Beach
– CUNY’s Center for the Study of Brooklyn has 63
– More neighborhoods = more time
• Sought consensus on boundaries
– Neighborhood guides, books, Google maps
– Obviously, some people complained

6. Where I am right now

7. Typical schedule
• Neighborhood selected
• Research at BPL’s Brooklyn Collection
• Write post on some historical aspect
• Visit neighborhood
• Write post on the visit
• Post more pictures

8. Neighborhood selection
• It makes a great gift

9. The Brooklyn Collection

10. Choosing a historical topic
• Is the neighborhood’s general history available
online?
• If not, do it
– Most of the eastern neighborhoods
• If so, find something more specific

11. Visiting the neighborhood
• Plan route in advance
– Coverage depends on size of neighborhood
• Try to go on a nice day
• Modes: bus, subway, bike, walking
• Sometimes set up meetings with residents

12. Writing up the visit
• Usually in narrative form
• Illustrate with photos from the trip

13. Photos

14. Time considerations
• Researching
– Collecting and sifting through material
– Structuring and writing the post
• Visiting and photos
– Going
– Writing
• Upkeep on the site
– Tagging and captioning photos
– Making the site look nice

15. OK … so why might this be interesting
to OpenPlans?

16. The Jamaica Bay Project

17. 1960s NIMBYism

18. I love old maps

19. Interesting anecdotes
• Brownsville was known as “Little Jerusalem”
• Weeksville was the second-largest free black
community in the U.S. in the 1850s
• Plumb Beach was invaded by the U.S. Army
• The original caretaker of Washington
Cemetery invented a “flying machine”
• Flatbush water was so bad there was a
celebration when it was shut off

20. Sobering realities
• White flight
– Study of Canarsie
• NIMBYism
• Murder, Inc. and the Mob
• Bias toward richer communities
– Politicians
– Media

21. Perk: old-timey journalism

22. PPW – same as it ever was