Eccentric Eddie Lives On

Our day began with what could be our last stop ever at the 'Toy Tower' in the East Village. Sadly, this local landmark is due to be torn down any day now. Although, knowing the way the city moves, I wouldn't be surprised if it hung around for a bit. Here, our groups sheds a tear for Eddie, its creator, who's mischievous ways seemed to permeate the city on this spring Tuesday.Eddie's eccentric spirit stuck with us the rest of the day as we encountered one odd thing after another. In DUMBO we met a woman walking her piglets!? I'm not sure why they squirmed away from me, but after one sniff they acted like I was the one who smelled and headed in the other direction.
In Red Hook, I intended to take the group to one of my favorite stops--- a huge warehouse full of cars used for movie shoots. Last week, this warehouse had police cars and buses from every decade; pimped out cars and burnt out cars; taxi cabs and Cadillacs; and it was home to Thomas the Train. This week it was all gone. It was amazing. Just one big empty warehouse about 1 km in length. I have a hard time imagining how they removed all those cars in one week and I wonder where they are now. After snooping around a bit, a van pulled in the entrance and suspiciously approached. Upon realizing that we meant no harm, he explained that the "City Office of Redevelopment" was evicting them and then he tried to sell us their old office furniture.
After leaving the warehouse, we looped around the back of the building only to stumble upon something else I'd never seen before. Moored to this normally empty Red Hook shore line was looked to be a massive Naval submarine. My guess is that it also had something to do with movie shoots although I really have no idea.I have looked into these things (the disappearance of the cars and the random appearance of the 'submarine') but found nothing so far. If anyone hears anything, let me know. I look forward to the new changes that are sure to await us next time we're down in Red Hook.