The last few weeks of school have a rhythm everyone in the neighborhood knows. Sports awards nights, proms, graduations the particular exhaustion of June parents everywhere. We see you!
This week we've also got new shops, a cocktail bar in the works, 89 animal sculptures at Powerhouse Arts, and the mayor of New York using our neighborhood as a backdrop and validation for his biggest announcement yet. Almost summer. Almost there.

Now Open / Coming Soon —  Steven Alan returns to Court Street, a new antiques shop opens near Bell House, a cocktail bar from the Royal Palms crew, and Alma Negra opens another spot

The Big Story — Block by Block Starts Here

Things to Do — From Short Films to Afrobeat. Your Week Is Covered.

The Local — Fifteen Years of Egg Creams and No Plans to Stop

Development Watch — The Neighborhood Is Still Going Up!

Quick Hits — An affordable housing lottery closes Sunday and favorite yoga studio moves

Steven Alan Is Back on Court Street
196 Court Street
Now Open
The original New York multibrand boutique is back in Brooklyn. Steven Alan closed all its stores in 2019, reopened a Chelsea location in 2024, and has now quietly landed on Court Street in the former Su'juk space. No fanfare, no press release, just open. The shop carries men's clothing, jewelry, ceramics, and accessories, the same mix of clean, considered objects the brand built its reputation on. If you blinked and missed the first run, now's your chance.

Autumn's Attic Opens at 152 9th Street
152 9th Street
Now Open · Grand Opening Party June 6, noon–5pm
A new antiques, vintage, and retro shop just landed in Gowanus. Autumn's Attic opens its doors Saturday with a free grand opening party, music, drinks, and snacks included. If you're heading to the Bell House, there's now a reason to show up extra early.

Shania's Max Bet Is Coming to 3rd Avenue
317 3rd Avenue
Coming Soon · July 2026
The former Dirty Precious space has a new identity. Shania's Max Bet is a cocktail bar from Robin Daily, Mike Brown, and Jericho Davidson, who all met at Royal Palms 11 years ago, where Daily bartended. The name comes from the crew's annual Atlantic City Friendsgiving trip. Expect martinis, Midori Sours, and the kind of place where the third drink always seems like a good idea.

The Team Behind Alma Negra Is Opening a Second Restaurant
191 5th Avenue
Coming Soon · Opening within the next four weeks
Apapachó, a housemade tortilla-focused Mexican spot, is coming to 5th Avenue from the owners of Alma Negra on 4th Avenue. If you've eaten at Alma Negra, you already know what these two can do with a tortilla. Hat tip to The Park Slope Walk for the heads up.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani started his morning in Gowanus. He walked past towers under construction, past NYCHA buildings whose tenants have been organizing for years, past a canal that is only now, after decades of neglect, beginning to come back. Then he walked into Powerhouse Arts and announced the most ambitious housing plan New York City has seen in a generation.

The plan is called Block by Block. It targets 200,000 new affordable homes and the preservation of 200,000 more, backed by a $22 billion capital investment over five years. It includes new tenant protections, a push to build near transit, and a mechanism to preserve affordable apartments that would otherwise be subject to rent increases and eviction. The details are complex, and the politics are complicated. But the choice of venue was not an accident.

Gowanus is the argument. The rezoning approved here in 2021 is exactly the kind of thing the mayor wants to replicate across the city. New towers going up, affordable units coming online, a neighborhood absorbing density without losing its character. Or at least trying to. The infrastructure that's supposed to keep pace with all those new residents (transit, schools, grocery stores) is a question this neighborhood is still waiting to have answered.

What matters for us is this: the mayor of New York looked at Gowanus and saw proof of concept. He chose Powerhouse Arts, a building the community fought for years to preserve as a cultural space, to make his case. Whether Block by Block delivers is a question the whole city will be watching. But Gowanus got to be where it started.

Tootsie's Video Vault at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Sat June 6 · 7:30pm · $12
The indie short film festival that started in someone's living room is now in its sixth year and still going strong at Littlefield. An eclectic program of short films, a bar, and no multiplex energy whatsoever.

The Nursery: Henrik Schwarz + Love Injection at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Sun June 7 · 4pm · Tickets from $24
The outdoor season at Public Records opens up for real this weekend. Henrik Schwarz plays live in the garden, Love Injection opens. One of the better places to spend a Sunday afternoon in this neighborhood when the weather cooperates.

Night Sweats with Mark Little at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Sun June 7 · 7:30pm
Mark Little is an Irish comedian with a very specific kind of unhinged stage presence. If you know, you know. If you don't, Sunday night at Union Hall is a fine place to find out.

The Moth StorySLAM at Bell House
149 7th Street
Mon June 8 · 8pm · Tickets from $15
Ten storytellers, one theme, no notes. Doors at 7pm if you want a seat.

PHA Summer Party at Powerhouse Arts
322 3rd Avenue
Wed June 10 · $100 · Free opening June 11
The benefit party for The Ark, Powerhouse Arts' first major summer exhibition, happens Wednesday night with food, drinks, and 89 animal sculptures curated by Eric Fischl. Tickets are $100 for the party. The exhibition itself opens free to the public Thursday June 11 and runs through August.

Rooftop Films: Computer Chess at The Old American Can Factory
232 3rd Street
Fri June 12 · 8pm · Tickets from $13
Rooftop Films is in its 30th season and screening Andrew Bujalski's cult Sundance winner in the Can Factory courtyard. An off-kilter comedy set at a 1980s chess software tournament, under the stars, two blocks from the canal. Very Gowanus.

Antibalas at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Sat June 13 · 6pm · Free
BRIC's 47th season is underway and Antibalas headlines the second weekend. Brooklyn's own Afrobeat orchestra, free in Prospect Park. Bring a blanket.

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain
513 Henry Street
Mon–Fri 2–10pm · Sat–Sun 1–10pm

The building at 513 Henry Street was a pharmacy for most of the 20th century. When it finally closed, it sat empty for years, the original penny tile floors buried under grime, the tin ceilings hidden, the old medication drawers still stocked with vintage Advil, Old Spice, and Bianca breath drops, forgotten behind drywall. In 2009, siblings Peter Freeman and Gia Giasullo signed a lease and started pulling it all back out.

The restoration nearly didn't happen. The structural repairs the old pharmacy needed cost more than the original budget could bear. Then a casting director for the Discovery Channel's Construction Intervention pulled up out front, glanced at the windows, and the rest took care of itself. A crew of 60 showed up and restored the space in under five days. Freeman tracked down a Bastian Blessing soda fountain on eBay that weighed over a ton. On May 6, 2010, the corner came back to life.

Fifteen years later, Brooklyn Farmacy is one of those places that feels both frozen in time and completely alive. The penny tile is original. The tin ceiling is original. The drawers behind the counter still hold the old pharmacy labels. The nine red counter stools swivel. Peter, who calls himself the Head Jerk, won the National Egg Cream Invitational last spring. Gia runs the creative side and co-wrote a book on soda fountain history with him. The menu is exactly what it should be — egg creams mixed to order with house-made syrups, ice cream floats, milkshakes, and sundaes that take the format seriously. The Sundae of Broken Dreams layers caramel sauce and broken pretzel pieces over ice cream and hot fudge. It has its own cult following.

School lets out this month. The line out the door on Henry Street is about to get longer. If you've never brought a kid here for the first time, this is the summer to fix that.

The Corner of 3rd and Union Is About to Change
Developer Avdoo & Partners paid $29.4M for the former S.J. Fuel Company industrial site at 3rd Avenue and Union Street in late 2024. Two separate 8-story buildings are planned, 86 units at the corner address and 39 more on the adjacent Sackett Street lot, designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. Expected completion 2027.

A 15-Story Building Is Coming to 7th Street
Permits filed in January 2026 for a 15-story, 85-unit mixed-use building at 246 7th Street, one block from Bell House. Developer Rogers Equities has already permitted demolition of the existing two-story structure on the site. No completion date announced, but the permits are in, and the clock is running.

The Westmark lottery closes Sunday. 153 affordable apartments at 325 Bond Street, between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal. Studios from $903/month, one-bedrooms from $960, two-bedrooms from $1,142. Income range $34,766 to $109,920 for truly affordable units. Apply at NYC Housing Connect before midnight Sunday.

Jivamukti Yoga has a new Brooklyn home. The well-regarded studio moved from Manhattan to 267 Douglass Street, 4th floor, and held its inaugural class last week. Open level classes, by donation. Check jivamuktiyoga.com for the regular schedule.

The end of the school year is one of those things that sneaks up on you and then hits all at once. Enjoy the last few days of the routine.
Summer is right behind it.

Exploring Gowanus · Every Saturday
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