Elvire Camus

City Aquarium in Greenpoint; the ebb and flow of living art

October 19, 2010 By Elvire Camus Leave a Comment

A New York tri-system developed for the founder of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde restaurants.

Greenpoint-based City Aquarium is a twelve-year-old company that imagines, builds, designs, and maintains unique custom-made aquariums. Many of their clients are billionaires, hotels, showrooms, and municipal aquariums. To name a few examples, a 1,200 gallon, two-sided viewing tank sitting in one of Honda’s showrooms in New York City was developed and is serviced by City Aquarium each week.

The 30-foot-tall cylindrical aquarium of Dream Hotel, also in the city, was built by the company. “Several of my clients have asked me not to reveal their identities,” founder Justin Muir confides. As for the ones he is allowed to mention, some include the royal family of Kuwait, artist Tony Ourseler, entrepreneur Alan Wilzig, and Yankees baseball player C. C. Sabathia.

New Shop “Frames on L” Shares Space with Metro Photo

August 15, 2010 By Elvire Camus Leave a Comment

Framer and artist, Erik Costello with one of his 3-D collages.

Photo & Story by Elvire Camus

“Frames on L” offers clients the classic range of frames: from baroque style to modern with clean edges, but it also offers off-beat styles—like a black, gothic style frame, festooned with 3D skulls.

Be Student and Teacher at School of the Future in Greenpoint

July 23, 2010 By Elvire Camus Leave a Comment

Major in Seed Bombing, Minor in Gunk

The location of a month-long series of free workshops sponsored by School of the Future, an alternative-style, inter-generational school, is a little known, underutilized park called Sgt. Dougherty Park at Anthony Street and Vandervoort Avenue—at the northern-most edge of Greenpoint, under the BQE.

“It’s an empty park where nothing ever happens. We felt like it needed our help!” said the school founders Cassie Thornton and Christopher Kennedy, who for the occasion also lugged along some colorful benches and books to spruce it up.

Drink a Lot of Water!

July 7, 2010 By Elvire Camus Leave a Comment

When it’s 100 degree weather outside and feels as if someone has turned the heat way up in the streets of Greenpoint/Williamsburg, there is no magical recipe: chances are you will sweat a lot and stop in every café on your way, because walking around town for too long in this heat, is simply not possible!

In the neighborhood, everybody has their own way of dealing with the record high temperatures, but they all agree that the number one rule is to: “Drink a lot of water.”

That’s among Alicia and Maria’s advice: “Stay in the shade and drink a lot of water.” The home attendant and her charge were sitting on a bench in the McCarren Park with a bottle of fresh water in a bag, and moving as little as possible. Maria, 82 could not have left the house this morning if it wasn’t for the warm yet cherished wind that was in the air, said Alicia. “Even if it is hot air, it’s still air!”