Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Happenings: Free Pre GED program for 17-24 year olds

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The Brooklyn Public Library is offering free pre-GED classes for dropouts and other youth who are out of school and want to get their equivalency diplomas. Registration will be held on two days, March 16th and April 7th.

When: 10 AM to 2:00 PM

Where: Sunset Park Library
5108 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11220
Tel. 718-567-2806


Update for  September 2010 Click Here


[where: 11232]
[where: 11220]




 

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Rupert Murdoch buys Brooklyn Paper

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Over at the Gothamist they are reporting the acquisition of the Brooklyn Paper by the News Corp. owned by Rupert Murdoch. I have been an admirer of the Brooklyn Paper for some time. It's distribution has been lacking in our neighborhood. The paper distributed for free and printed in full color format has done a relatively decent job of covering the borough. As a recipient of their daily e-mail called updates I kind of hoped that it would survive in these rough economic times. The economics of running a print newspaper however, makes one wonder how much longer print newspapers can last with competition from the Internet. Murdoch has a tendency to restructure his properties and perhaps change their editorial policy as well. With the steep decline in advertising and advertisers looking for greater efficiencies and more bang for their buck you have to wonder if purchasing the Brooklyn paper was a savvy move. Of course only time will tell. I certainly hope that this means we will have the resources of the News Corp. behind it. So does that mean we will see more copies distributed here in Sunset Park? After the demise of the Sunset News we need some kind of replacement. Time will tell if the paper survives the coming depression.

[Where: 11232]
[Where: 11220]

Kings Hotel of Brooklyn is Ready for Prime Time

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Without much fanfare and by stealth of night Kings Hotel opened it's doors to the public last week and is already doing a brisk business. I was invited by the people running it to come on over and take a look as they wanted me to include their hotel on the mall I run on the Sunset Park website. I have to say that I was impressed. This is not a slapped together building reminiscent of most motels, rather it reminded me of one of the top notch Hotels I stayed at while I was in Hong Kong. Lots of marble can be seen everywhere. The quality is more in keeping for a hotel in Manhattan. But one thing I learned about the Sunset Park Chinese is that they like to do things with flair and class. The lobby is pleasing and inviting and though not grandiose in size is rather comfortable.


The hotel is designed to be a basic place to stay without frills. It does offer wifi on every floor and HDTV in every room making it a comparatively inexpensive place to stay that just happens to be 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan due to it's proximity (1/2 block) to the 9th Avenue D train station. It is also ideally located to nearby Maimonides Hospital and the Lutheran Medical Center. So if you are visiting patients there from out of town, it's the place to stay. It's also four blocks from the exits on the Gowanus Expressway. All in all if I were going to pick a spot for a hotel in Sunset Park this would be it. It's proximity to Brooklyn's Chinatown with it's abundance of restaurants specializing in asian cuisine makes that an added bonus. It's also three blocks from the Sunset Diner and fifth avenue which rates an abundance of Mexican and other hispanic restaurants. The Sunset Park area has an bundance of restaurants of every culinary taste.



The rooms are standard sized hotel rooms. Being that everything in the place is brand new it gives a very fresh look and appearance. The hotel has a total of 50 rooms with the usual mix of singles and doubles. The bathrooms are brand new and standard fare.



What surprised me were the hallways. Most hotels and motels are usually very carpeted and spartan in appearance, not Kings. The hallways have marble floors and mahogany doors and trimmings and a classic looking green wallpaper.


There is also the Karaoke lounge on the ground floor. Like many karaoke places it has a nightclub spacey look with lot's of neon at the bar. This should do well for visitors from China as that is a popular pastime among the Chinese. It was after all, built to serve the Chinese community of Sunset Park.



All in all we are hopeful that it's a resounding success. If it's marketed right, it can get some tourists and people who need a place to stay within easy reach of midtown Manhattan. If you just need a place to put your head on a pillow at night and want to see a different part of New York City besides Manhattan but want to get to the theaters in short order this place is it. In times when we have to watch our spare change the economy of staying in Brooklyn only a short jump from midtown then this is a good deal. All in all it looks like the Kings Hotel is off to a good start.

You can check out their rates at Expedia, calhotels.us, Hotels.com

Got relatives and friends coming to visit you here in Sunset Park? Tell them to stay at the Kings.


[where: 820 39th street, Brooklyn, NY 11232]
[where: 11232]
[where: 11220]
[where: 11215]
[where: 11218]
[where: 11219]


 

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