Opened not long after the dramatic economic collapse of autumn 2008, discount designer store Peachfrog is coming up on its one-year anniversary party. In that time, with stock priced up to 90% off retail, the Williamsburg shop, located on N 10th St between Bedford and Berry, has become a magnet for bargain hunters from all around the Tri-State metro area.

Case in point: as I was interviewing metal sculptor-slash-Peachfrog-co-founder Bill Norton late Thursday afternoon, a petite middle-aged shopper piped in, “I came in from Freeport!”  That’s in Nassau County on Long Island.

The store’s dirt cheap designer apparel, accessories, home goods and cosmetics have gotten press in several publications, including The New York Times, as well as in local Chinese, Japanese and Polish-language papers, Norton points out.

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The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac) has been working hard on the India Street Mural Project for a few months now and it looks like they’ve made some serious progress (above). In tune with the coalitions goal of beautifying Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick through public art, the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition will hold a fundraiser, RE/PAINT RE/BUILD, this Wednesday (6/24) at Gallery 1889, from 7pm to 11p.

RE/PAINT RE/BUILD will take place at Gallery 1889 on June 24th, 2009, from 7PM to 11PM. The event will feature:

· RE/WARD – Silent auction featuring art from the mural project artists (8-10pm)
· RE/FUEL – Food by Chef Michael Sullivan from new Greenpoint restaurant Anella
· RE/CLAIM – Live found object portraits by artist Zito
· RE/DESIGN – Live screenprinting by the Brooklyn Printmaking Collective (bring your screenprintable goods!)
· RE/IMAGINE – Haircuts by designer/inventor/sculptor Dan Harper

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If you have walked by Bar Matchless in the last 24 hours, you may have been confused by a painted wooden board covering the bar’s hanging signage, reading, “St. Patrick’s Pub, Since 1932.” No, your beloved Matchless has not been replaced by an Irish pub with fictional history, rather, it has been commandeered as the set of a film by producers – George Lekovic and Frank Calo, the same forces behind Tribeca’s recent Serbian success, Here and There. According to Steve Giardina, a PA guarding the bar’s front entrance this a.m., the new film is called Three Girls. “It’s about immigrants who come to New York and struggle with it. One of them works at a bartender at St. Patrick’s Pub.”

The crew is in the process of doing reshoots on scenes mostly shot last year. They filmed stunts at the intersection of Driggs and Manhattan yesterday, were shooting in Matchless since it closed at 4am this morning, and will move to a location on Berry tomorrow afternoon.

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