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Community Corner

🌱 Subway Surfer Killed + Lumber House Fire + BK's Live Rap Scene

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Brooklyn.

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(Patch Media)

Hello, everybody. Carlie Houser here with your fresh copy of the Brooklyn Patch newsletter, filled with everything you need to know about what's happening in town. Including updates on:

  • Williamsburg fire blazes all day Tuesday
  • How new Brooklyn venues are amping up the live rap scene
  • Another teen loses his life after surfing subway trains

But first, today's weather: 🌧 Afternoon rain. High: 42 Low: 36.

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Here are the top stories in Brooklyn today:

1. Firefighters fought all day yesterday after a blaze broke out at a lumber warehouse in Williamsburg. Just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning, a four-alarm fire broke out at 304 Hewes St., causing significant damage to the building, and spread to the three-story building next door. Sirens could be heard throughout the day as the fire burned into its fifth hour. As of Tuesday evening, the cause of the fire remains under investigations, and it was not immediately clear to police if the building was mixed-use, residential, or commercial. No injuries have been reported.

NBC New York

2. Choice venues throughout the borough are cultivating a future for the live rap scene in Brooklyn. Movers and shakers at famous new venues like Elsewhere and Baby's All Right are "doing their best to move beyond old, restrictive models that kept genres and audiences separated." Still to this day, and for a long time prior, live rap performances in New York City have been kept apart from the mainstream music scene — at some shows, police presence among the crowds the crowds can even be a deterrent and reflect a preconceived belief that violence, riots, and other disturbances will ensue at these live rap shows (as opposed to, say, a late-night, drug-infused rave in Greenpoint). However, some of Brooklyn's newest venues are evening the playing field and bringing live rap into the mainstream concert series — in many ways catching up with a genre whose music has remained popular among a massive and diverse audience for decades. Visit the link below to learn more about Brooklyn's ever-changing live music landscape.

Subscription / Rolling Stone

3. A 15-year-old subway surfer fell to his death on Monday while riding over the Williamsburg Bridge. Shortly before 11 p.m., the boy was riding atop a subway train as it passed over the Williamsburg Bridge when he hit his head on a piece of the span and fell under the train which ran over and killed him. The boy's death comes after an eerily similar event that occurred on Dec. 2 of 2022; a teen riding on the J train fell off as it was pulling into the Marcy Avenue station in Williamsburg. Roughly six months before that in late August, another 15-year-old boy lost an arm in a terrifying subway surfing incident in Queens. MTA does not differentiate between subway surfing incidents and others like passing between train cars or riding outside of trains; rather, all incidents are grouped together in one sum at the end each year. In 2022, there were more than 450 incidents reported, more than double from the previous year.

NBC New York

Today in Brooklyn:

  • Acoustic Live Sessions, Bed-Vyne Brew, Today @ 5 - 6 p.m. | Details
  • Art Exploratory with Live Music Relaxation Experience, Surya Sound Temple, Today @ 5 - 6:30 p.m. | Details
  • Crafty Hour Anniversary, Peaches Grand, Today @ 5 - 8 p.m. | Details
  • Industry City's Rye & Cassoulet Night, Gun Hill Publick House, Today @ 6 - 8 p.m. | Details
  • Celebrity Drop-In, Brooklyn Brewery, Today @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. | Details

🐝 Brooklyn Buzz:

  • CUNY students are helping to preserve an African burial ground in BK: "The site on Church Avenue in Flatbush was used to bury enslaved Africans in the 1700s." Learn more at the link. (CBS News)
  • Carmel popcorn ice cream? Get that and more fun flavors at the new Brix Haus ice cream parlor in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens: "As a pastry chef at Maialino, Locanda Verde and American Cut, it's appropriate that Tara Glick named her dog, a Frenchton, Brix, a unit of measurement for sugar. The name is now applied to Brix Haus, her new ice cream shop." That and more food news at the link! (Subscription / The New York Times)

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Alrighty, you're all good for today. I'll be back in your inbox tomorrow morning with a new update!

— Carlie Houser

About me: I'm a recent grad based in Brooklyn, NY. I love to write, run, read, and find new restaurants and venues around the city.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Brooklyn Patch newsletter? Contact me at brooklyn@patch.com

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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