Gowanus Garage

Posted by 141drew Posted onNov 5, 2015 at 9:54 AM and filed under Featured Spaces
Updated onUpdated on May 20, 2021 at 6:38 PM


This is a short video about an eccentric guy with a car collection in New York City. The collection is interesting enough, but what amazed me is that this guy has the square footage in NYC to host a 58-car field. Admittedly, the footage is short on shop details… But I thought you guys would dig it anyway.


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MichaelBikel

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This is what happens when your just crazy enough and you have just enough money. Pretty cool. What does he say at the end?
 
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zmotorsports

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Awesome video. Hard to believe that is in NYC, but that is based solely on my perception as I have never been there. Just what I picture real estate at in my head.

Mike.
 
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oberst

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Nice guy, has some really cool stuff in that garage of his.

Thanks for sharing that vid!
 
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NUTTSGT

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Marcm157

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NUTTSGT said:
Unless he bought it many years like in the 60's or something. He might have got it for a decent price back then and been filling it up ever since.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't think about that and if that is the case I can only imagine what its current value is...
 
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Ponchoguy

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Ryan said:
This is a short video about an eccentric guy with a car collection in New York City. The collection is interesting enough, but what amazed me is that this guy has the square footage in NYC to host a 58-car field. Admittedly, the footage is short on s...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
Click to expand...

I can't get the video to work, I'll have to try at home. Gowanus makes me think it's Brooklyn, NY....

I can tell you that in NYC there are enclaves of old cars. Drive through Williamsburg, Greenpoint and the like and you'll see them, many times with out of state plates. As these become "hipster" areas, you'll see influx of people from out of state. 20 years ago, these were areas that you wouldn't venture in, day or night.

Down on Fulton Street in Brooklyn by the water, there was a guy with a bunch of old cars, I believe they were movie cars. In fact, Bananarama's video "Cruel Summer" was filmed at that gas station in 1985. I couldn't believe it until I froze the video and saw "Old Fulton Service" on the door of the shop. I've been in there, it's a Gulf station now and throwback to a previous era.

In driveways in the oddest places you'll see an old car tucked away. They're out there here in NYC!
 
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my58

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It is definitely Brooklyn. The guy is Lenny Shiller. He is a good guy in his community and supports lots of community groups by doing fundraisers at his shop.

Until recently you could have bought places like that really inexpensively. Tenaments that were abandoned flop houses and rodent infested buildings are now selling for huge bucks.

He bought the place 1996. Here is an article on Lenny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/automobiles/collectibles/05EGO.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


Man.. California took the Dodgers now they need the pizza and the ability to play the numbers.
 
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rlitman

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Marcm157 said:
Yeah, I didn't think about that and if that is the case I can only imagine what its current value is...
Click to expand...

Well, there was a time that the Gowanus Canal was possibly one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world (even back in the 1990's when this property was bought). I don't know if it will ever be opened to fishing or swimming (and almost certainly never to shellfishing), but it is open to kayaking now. That alone is saying something about it's improvement over the years.

http://www.businessinsider.com/9-horrifying-things-about-brooklyns-gowanus-canal-2013-10

There were plenty of blighted properties in NYC that were nearly valueless in the '90's. Some are worth a fortune today, but even in the worst case they increased in value significantly.
 
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Jere

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58 cars to choose from and he rides the bicycle to get there, eccentric indeed!
 
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rohartman

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WOW, very interesting. He said at the end "that he was going to leave it to somebody someday" I wonder how you get on that list?
 
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joel63

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Awesome!!!!

I wish I could have done something like he has.

I feel the same way he does towards cars.
 
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Ponchoguy

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my58 said:
It is definitely Brooklyn. The guy is Lenny Shiller. He is a good guy in his community and supports lots of community groups by doing fundraisers at his shop.

Until recently you could have bought places like that really inexpensively. Tenaments that were abandoned flop houses and rodent infested buildings are now selling for huge bucks.

He bought the place 1996. Here is an article on Lenny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/automobiles/collectibles/05EGO.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


Man.. California took the Dodgers now they need the pizza and the ability to play the numbers.
Click to expand...

Brooklyn is filled with warehouses like that. Behind all the graffitti and former industrial dumps, there's a lot going on.

Here is the video I was talking about earlier:


That is the (at the time Texaco) Fulton Service Station on Front Street by the water. When you hang a left you are under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway covered roadway. That station is still there, now a Gulf Station. I stopped there once to take a leak (brutal traffic). The place was loaded with old vintage iron.

The Mack (appears to be an R Series) looks like it has the paint scheme from NEMF (New England Motor Freight).

As an aside and a fun fact, one day I was stuck in traffic under the covered roadway. I was giving a coworker a ride home. A news reporter came up to interview me stuck in traffic.

I instantly recognized her and told her. I said, "You're Lisa Evers, you're Curtis Sliwa's (of Guardian Angels fame) ex-wife". She laughed and interviewed me....
 
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Ponchoguy

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For those outside of NYC, this is what folks in many parts of the city would often see circa 1979-1982. It was indeed the wild west of sorts...I am from the suburbs, so we didn't have this, but when I'd go visit my aunt in Brooklyn, I can remember seeing this (and other trains) roaring by.
 

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NYBODYMAN

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That was an awesome video. Being from NY, I see tons of warehouses and buildings with those windowless roll up doors and I always want to know what's inside.
 
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BRENT in 10-uh-C

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If you do a Google search for "California Pie Company, Brooklyn", it will show the address for Lenny's place is on Douglas Street. Nice collection!
 
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metalhead212121

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my58 said:
It is definitely Brooklyn. The guy is Lenny Shiller. He is a good guy in his community and supports lots of community groups by doing fundraisers at his shop.

Until recently you could have bought places like that really inexpensively. Tenaments that were abandoned flop houses and rodent infested buildings are now selling for huge bucks.

He bought the place 1996. Here is an article on Lenny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/automobiles/collectibles/05EGO.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



Man.. California took the Dodgers now they need the pizza and the ability to play the numbers.
Click to expand...

Its Park Slope Brooklyn to be exact. I have a "friend" that lives there. I also have another "friend of a friend" that either was part of OR the creator of "Bit Strip." Both of these guys live in Park Slope. 1 million dollars for a place doesn't exactly go far in Park Slope.....

I can only imagine what the property alone is worth..
 
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TooMuchHair

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I really enjoyed the video and all of the stories about Lenny, thanks. My son's office is only a few blocks from there.
 
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68 sat

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A look into my future if I keep stopping by garage sales. Great story
 
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Oldbear

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Us "younger" guys need to spend more time with those older guys... Lenny reminds my of my old friend and mentor that past away a few years back.

Thanks for the video. I dug it.
 
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