American Flags in Bay Ridge- July 4, 2006

AMERICAN FLAGS IN bAY RIDGE BROOKLYN jULY 4 2006, originally uploaded by bayridgephantom.

From 68th Street, near Fourth Avenue

Happy July 4 From Bay Ridge - Bay Ridge Fireworks

Happy Independence Day.

Effective immediately, View from 103 will be folded into Bay Ridge Blog. This will remain a Bay Ridge/Brooklyn-centric blog, with the occasional comment on other subjects.

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Bay Ridge, and much of the rest of New York City, once would be ablaze in fireworks every July 4, and the days leading up to it. This was the case all through the 1960s , the 1970s, and the 1980s...up until the administration of Mayor Guiliani.

He put a stop to that. It was the right move, as fireworks are dangerous things. Kids used to get hurt every year.. An errant bottle rocket caused a house to burn down some blocks from here years back. But I truly loved fireworks when I was a kid. The bigger and the d the louder and more dangerous they were, the more I loved them. We used to ride our bikes up to Bath Avenue to buy them from a a local car service, behind which a garage was filled to the roof with fireworks of every description.

We'd set trash bins afire and throw mats of 1600 fircrackers into them. We'd set off cherry bombs, ash cans and M-80s all over the neighborhood, including in the subway exits, where they would make an unbelievable echo. Then it was down to the 69th Street Pier to set off more big and small fireworks, the bombs and the rockets. Whistling Jupiters, ***chasers, "Jap Rockets". It could be dangerous to walk down Shore Road or any street in the neighborhood. It's a miracle that juvenile delinquints like me and the rest never blew our hands off. It was another time. And good God it was fun!

Happy July 4, one and all.

josh's hand in bay ridge

josh's hand in bay ridge, originally uploaded by kris!.

Hi there

Sorry I have been pretty negligent in making posts to Bay Ridge Blog. I have been very busy at work, and the posts I have made recently have been to View From 103.

I'm thinking of combining the two sites, which would mean folding the other one into Bay Ridge Blog. It would still be Bayridgecentric, but would also feature my blatherings about other things. Will decide quickly.

New Look at Bay Ridge Blog

I hope you like it. I found this new template here. The template is called " iconic ".

The old imagery often had misaligned columns, which does not appear to be a problem here. It looks simple and clean. I've used the same template next door in the View From 103.

Subway Sandwich Shop

subwaystore 001, originally uploaded by bayridgephantom.

A Subway sandwich shop which opened on the corner at 68th Street and Fourth Avenue on or about June 8, 2006. It looks as though it is an Eastern European couple that own the place. Its clean and the sandwiches are good.

Verrazano Bridge

Verrazano Bridge, originally uploaded by michaelbrandon.