We have been so excited about the reopening of the Carroll Street Bridge. It’s a funny thing to be excited about, but we now know that many of our neighbors felt the same way. It’s a big deal. It reconnects two parts of our community and makes some of our commutes a little easier and more pleasant. Monday proved we were all thinking the same thing: there were multiple parties on the bridge, an impromptu singalong, and community groups holding meetings mid-span. People genuinely enjoyed checking out the bridge's mechanics and its new, improved look. We hadn’t considered that this span, this piece of infrastructure, would become a destination and meeting place. But if that’s what it becomes, we are all for it.

We’ve got a lot more going on this week. A new book about old Gowanus, a restaurant opening on Court Street, a party on the canal Saturday night, and more towers going up than we can count. Let’s get into it.

Now Open / Coming Soon —  Court Street gets a tavern, a new gym opens on Smith Street, and three neighborhood spots we love that you should know about

The Big Story — Someone finally wrote the book on old Gowanus

Things to Do — Canal party, Immortal Technique, The Moth, Gary Gulman, Public Records and Bell House, and more

The Local — A Sicilian pastry master learned from The Magician. Fourteen years later he's still on Court Street.

Development Watch — Douglass Port is leasing, Nevins Landing pre-leasing in July, and two more towers going up

Quick Hits — Estancia Piola closes on 3rd Avenue, and the Gowanus Esplanade needs your input by Monday

Court Street Gets a Tavern
Trudie’s Tavern
524 Court Street
Now Open · Sun–Thu 4–10pm, Fri–Sat 4–11pm · Closed Tuesdays
The space that housed Buttermilk Channel for 16 years has a new name, and the people behind it have done their homework. Trudie’s Tavern is the most ambitious project yet from RAD Restaurants, the Brooklyn group behind Gertie and Gertrude’s. Where those places leaned into the Jewish deli tradition, Trudie’s goes bigger. Its a proper American tavern with a rotisserie program at its center, a raw bar, martinis in frosted mugs, and a menu that includes a very large latke and an oversized schnitzel for two. Chefs Mike Cain and Eli Friedman (Edith’s, Mile End Deli) are running the kitchen. There’s a 12-seat bar, 60 seats inside, 30 more wrapping around the corner exterior, and a hand-painted mural by local artist Izzy Bulling.

A New Gym on Smith Street Is Throwing a Party Saturday
Impact Group Fitness Brooklyn
491 Smith Street
Now Open · Grand Opening Party Sat June 20, 8am–12pm · $10/class
A new group fitness studio recently opened on Smith Street, and they’re throwing a party this Saturday morning: $10 classes, raffle prizes, treats, and matcha. Partners include Othership, Studio S Brooklyn, and Lift. A low-stakes way to check out a new spot in the neighborhood.

The Restaurant Where Every Plate Has a Backstory
Emma’s Torch
345 Smith Street
A nonprofit restaurant that trains refugees and immigrants in culinary arts, then employs its graduates in the kitchen and front of house. The food is genuinely good, and the side garden is one of the best outdoor spots on Smith Street. Breakfast and lunch, six days a week.

A Quiet Gem Beside Carroll Park
Ayoon
331 Smith Street
Wed–Mon 11am–7pm
A woman-owned lifestyle boutique across from Carroll Park curating jewelry, clothing, textiles, art, and ceramics from designers near and far. Currently showing a pop-up installation of Tunisian artists in the front window.

The Bookstore With a Bar, Run by a Novelist
Liz’s Book Bar
315 Smith Street
Opened in 2024 by novelist Maura Cheeks, named after her grandmother, Elizabeth Parker. A mahogany bar greets you when you walk in. The books are in the back. Coffee and Bien Cuit pastries by day, wine and beer by night. They run a Literary Fiction Book Club and a Staff Picks Book Club if you’re looking for a reason to come back. Black-owned, woman-owned.

Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood  |  Vincent Coppola

Before the Whole Foods. Before the rezoning. Before the towers going up along the canal there was a neighborhood that smelled like the end of the world and felt like the center of it.

That’s the Gowanus Vincent Coppola grew up in, and it’s the subject of his new memoir Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood, published this week. Coppola, a former Newsweek reporter, was a second-generation Italian kid in mid-century Gowanus, a neighborhood then defined by the Mafia, the Catholic Church, and a canal so polluted that his Uncle Honey’s standing warning to the kids is unprintable in this newsletter. They never listened anyway.

The cast of characters includes a four-foot-tall wiseguy who walked a lion on a leash, a predatory priest, mobbed-up undertakers, and three wayward brothers. Kirkus called it “a beautifully written elegy to a vanished world.” Publishers Weekly called it “fast-paced, vital, and characterized by a complicated nostalgia.”

We can tell you that it is a great read and looking around us it’s hard to believe he is writing about the same streets we walk on. Support your local bookstore and pick it up this week. Available at Books Are Magic and wherever books are sold.

Creatures of the Canal: Carroll Street Bridge Reopening Party at Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse
420 Carroll Street
Sat June 20 · 4–10pm · Free · RSVP at luma.com/creatures
The Carroll Street Bridge just came back after five years, and the neighborhood is throwing it a party. Creatures of the Canal is a bioluminescent block party put together by Mookntaka, Arts Gowanus, the Gowanus Dredgers, and the Van Alen Institute. Costume-making from 4–7pm, block party with food and drinks 4–9pm, paddle parade on the canal at 7:30pm, and at 8pm Mookntaka's inflatable sculptures float down the water in the dark. Afterparty at the Dredgers boathouse at 9pm. Rain date July 25.

The Craft at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Sat June 20 · 6pm · 21+
Harlem-born rapper and activist Immortal Technique headlines, joined by Substantial and Vel Nine, hosted by Tonedeff and Pchen with DJ Priority. Immortal Technique is a legend of underground hip-hop, known for sharp political lyrics and a ferocious delivery. Good Saturday night if the canal party has you ending the evening early.

The Nursery: Bradley Zero + Pender Street Steppers at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Sun June 21 · 4pm · Outdoor
Afternoon outdoor session in the garden. Bradley Zero is a DJ and founder of the Rhythm Section label out of London. Pender Street Steppers are a Canadian house duo. Good Sunday option.

The Moth StorySLAM at Bell House
149 7th Street
Wed June 24 · 8pm · Doors at 7
Stories told live, without notes, on a theme announced at the door.

Pizzazz with Gary Gulman at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Wed June 24 · 7:30pm · Doors at 7
Gary Gulman (HBO, Comedy Central) does an extended set of new material and brings in a few of his favorite comedians. Gulman is one of the better working standups, and this is his regular Brooklyn residency. Worth knowing about.

Josh Gondelman, Jean Grae & John Hodgman IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Thu June 25 · 7:30pm
Three very good comedians on one bill. Gondelman's warm and precise, Grae is chaotic and brilliant, Hodgman is Hodgman. This is a good one.

Abby Govindan: Pushing 30 at Bell House
149 7th Street
Fri June 26 · 7pm
Sharp, self-aware comedy from a rising voice. Good Friday night option if you're not at Trudie's.

The Nursery: Maribou State at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Sat June 27 · 1pm · Outdoor
The outdoor Nursery series continues. The UK electronic duo Maribou State will be mixing organic instrumentation with deep house. Afternoon, outdoor, canal-adjacent.

Sunday Funday: Threes Brewing x Good Time Pilates at Threes Brewing
333 Douglass Street
Sun June 28 · 11am · Followed by beers
Reformer pilates, followed by cold beer and hangs. In theory healthy. In practice, a Sunday morning at a brewery.

The Ark at Powerhouse Arts
322 3rd Avenue
Through August 30 · Wed–Thu 12–7pm, Fri 12–8pm, Sat 11am–8pm, Sun 11am–5pm · Adults $18 · Students/Seniors $10–12 · Kids $5
Powerhouse Arts just launched its first major public exhibition. The Ark brings together 90 animal sculptures and installations by Kiki Smith, Maurizio Cattelan, Wangechi Mutu, and dozens of others, curated by Eric Fischl. The canal context makes it land differently here. A serious show in a neighborhood that's earned it.

World Cup Watch Parties at Powerhouse Arts
322 3rd Avenue
Ongoing through tournament · Free
FIFA World Cup 2026 watch parties for late-day matches in their sunlit, air-conditioned Loft. No sports bar energy required.

Pasticceria Monteleone
355 Court Street
Tue–Sun 7am–7pm  ·  Closed Mondays

The Monteleone name has been on this block since at least 1902, but the family behind today’s pastry shop is a different chapter in that story. Antonio Fiorentino and his family took over the space in 2011. Fourteen years in, he shows no signs of slowing down.

Fiorentino was born in Porto Empedocle, in the province of Agrigento, Sicily. He emigrated to New York with his parents in 1977 at 17, settling in Bensonhurst. He learned his craft from his uncle Domenico, a pastry master the family called “il Mago,” the magician. “I learned so much from my zio,” Fiorentino has said. “A great man and pasticciere.” He spent years inside il Mago’s kitchen before he understood enough to open his own.

In 2011, he opened Pasticceria Monteleone on Court Street with his wife Teresa and their children. The whole family works the shop. The baking goes on for eight hours a day, six days a week. The menu is traditional Sicilian: cannoli, zeppole, sfingi filled with ricotta, lulu dipped in chocolate, cassata cake, sfogliatelle, and marzapane shaped into remarkably realistic fruits and Easter lambs. Prices are kept deliberately fair. On a block where rents have tripled and the neighbors keep changing, mini pastries at $2 is a quiet act of resistance.

The neighborhood around the shop has transformed almost completely in the years since the Fiorentinos arrived. The new residents don’t always know the history of the block they moved to. Monteleone is one of the places that can tell them. The cannoli haven’t changed. The marzapane lamb hasn’t changed. The eight-hour baking days haven’t changed.

Whatever comes next on Court Street, il Mago’s recipes are going to outlast it.

Douglass Port Is Done and Leasing Now
251 Douglass Street
Work has wrapped on Douglass Port, the 15-story, 260-unit building developed by Charney Companies and Tavros Capital, designed by Fogarty Finger. Charney confirmed to us this week that units are releasing now. The pleated facade is fully visible from the water.

Nevins Landing Pre-Leasing Starts in July
320–340 Nevins Street
Charney Companies also told us this week that pre-leasing for Nevins Landing, the twin-tower development at 320 and 340 Nevins Street, will most likely begin in July. The project yields 654 units across two buildings, developed with Tavros Capital. This is the first confirmed timeline directly from the developer.

200 Douglass Is Going Vertical
200 Douglass Street
A new building permit issued in December 2025 covers a 22-story, 270-unit mixed-use tower developed by Midwood Investment & Development and designed by Ismael Leyva Architects. Construction is active.

Six Stories Coming to Boerum Hill
92 Boerum Place
A new building permit filed in January 2026 calls for a six-story residential building at 92 Boerum Place, with B.O.S.S. Associates as general contractor. Below-grade work was underway as of spring. Anticipated completion Winter 2027.

The Gowanus Esplanade needs your input, and the deadline is Monday. Public comments are open through June 22 on the esplanade construction between 9th Street and Huntington Street. The Gowanus Dredgers are asking for feedback on safe water access and egress along the waterway. Takes five minutes right here.

Estancia Piola has closed on 3rd Avenue. The Argentine steakhouse confirmed to us that the Gowanus location is done, though the restaurant lives on at their Tribeca outpost. Follow them at @estancia460 for updates on what’s next.

The canal used to smell like the end of the world. Now it has a book, a party, and a paddle parade. Progress.

If something's happening out there, we want to know about it. Email, photo, neighborhood gossip — we'll take it.
[email protected].

Exploring Gowanus · Every Saturday