Brooklyn -- As Old School As It Gets -- this t shirt features a stylized design of the great borough of Brooklyn and its major thoroughfares.  We all know that Brooklyn is the uber-capital of cool of the entire known universe, and there is no shortage of Brooklyn gear and apparel out there.  But we have a deeply soulful connection with "Kings County" and we think this is THE must-have Brooklyn tee whether you are A) a real, old-school Brooklynite, or B) a hipster Brooklynite (nothin' wrong with that, just sayin'!), or C) a visitor who has become a fan of BKLYN.  Let's face it -- if it says BROOKLYN on it, it's cool.  Especially T-Shirts!

According to Chris:

I was born in Brooklyn.  My parents lived near 18th Avenue & 50th Street, putting us into Category "A" from above (and at that time there was NO "Category B" and a TINY "Category C") -- we moved away when I was in Kindergarten, so that's why I don't have an accent.  Growing up, almost every year, we'd drive up from FLA to visit relatives, mostly in Long Island (See "Everything is Stronger in Long Island" for more) -- but would occasionally venture into the 5 boroughs to visit the few who had not moved to suburbia.  Throughout my childhood, I remember Mom & Dad painfully longing for: a) REAL NEW YORK PIZZA, b) REAL JEWISH BAGELS, c) REAL NEW YORK CHINESE FOOD, and at various other times, "a real Italian Deli", an Egg Cream, Italian Ices, Black & White Cookies, and things they sold from carts like Hot Chestnuts, Knishes, "real New York hot dogs", and so forth.  We would try to get as much of all of the above in our couple of weeks in NY before we headed back down I-95 thru "Elvis Country" - as Paulie Walnuts would have described it back then.  I still try to have as much of the above as possible every time I'm in NY.

In any case, I didn't make it back to BKLYN much until the past 8 or 9 years, and WOW has it CHANGED.  While places like Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Borough Park, Brownsville, and Brighton Beach remain steadfastly unfashionable and ethnic, I was to discover over time the supernova-like explosion of ultra-hip-dom in places like Park Slope, DUMBO, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, et al.  I took several extensive trips, one with my employees, on foot and by car, all around Brooklyn from Sheepshead Bay, all the way around to the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was like trying to sip from a blasting firehose of supreme interesting-ness and cultural and topographical drama.

So while Brooklyn is now a sparkling jewel of coolness, I'm no bandwagon fan, I was born there, b*tch!  And cannot wait to go back for more. Some of my fave stuff...

• The Gowanus Canal - I remember my older sister's boyfriend telling me you could "strip furniture" in there and if you dipped your toe, it would dissolve.  I finally got to see it face to face this past year, and get to see the actual beginning of it

• The SMITH & 9TH Street Elevated Subway Station - NYC's highest station, it appears briefly in Goodfellas, and it's super-cool, this huge crumbling cement train station in the sky

• The BQE - LOVE IT.  The most gritty, dangerous, congested, contorted urban expressway in the world.  All of "I-278" in fact, from the Oil Refineries in Elizabeth NJ, across Staten Island, the Triboro, the Bronx, etc

• The Verrazano Bridge - LOVE IT - The greatest bridge on EARTH.  My Mom & Dad had pix of it from when it was under construction, from Shore Road in the 60s - I finally got to really absorb it this past year, and of course the scene from...

• Saturday Night Fever - Amazing Movie, although maybe not the best advertisement for Brooklynites and "Italian-Americans" but great flick.  We went by Tony Manero's house this past year

• My Obscure Choice for Best Brooklyn Pizza - DELMAR PIZZERIA - 1668 Sheepshead Bay Road - it is fantastic

• The Streets with Elevated Subway Tracks - maybe it reminds me of home (Chicago) but I love 86th Street, McDonald Avenue, Shell Road

• Brooklyn Bridge - Awesome, nuf sed.  Although I dig the Manhattan & Williamsburg Bridges too

• Brooklyn Heights Promenade - most amazing urban view ever.  I got a kick out of the name "FRUIT STREET SITTING AREA" (there are benches where Cranberry, Orange, and Pineapple Street meet the water)

• Birthplace of Bugs Bunny

• Birthplace of Michael Jordan**

You rock, Brooklyn - Love, Chris
PS - Check out some of our Brooklyn Pix - Here and Here

** Born in Brooklyn, Grew Up in The South, Became Famous in Chicago, I can relate :)