Long Live The City Reliquary
September 18th, 2009
Thursday night we had the ridiculously good fortune to play the City Reliquary, in Williamsburg. What’s that, you ask? It’s a little museum packed full of New York City trinkets, relics, core samples, seltzer bottles, photos and lots more. And out back, where we played, are a big garden, yard, stage, strings of colored lights, a salvaged neon sign, a makeshift bar and a tree house. It’s an oasis, sitting right there where Havemeyer and Metropolitan meet. Who knew? Dave, the fellow who founded the place, is really into the community and big supporter of local music (thus, we were there). He’s also about as nice a guy as you could ever hope to meet. In fact, everyone we met there—from the folks who help run it to people who’d just stopped by to check it out—is top-shelf.
If you are at all curious about New York’s history, about what this place was like before we all got here, the City Reliquary is worth a visit. You’re guaranteed to learn something* and meet someone cool. Win-win, right? Right. So go.
*What did we learn? Looking at an 1865 map of Manhattan, we learned that what’s now known as Roosevelt Island used to be called Blackwell’s Island.
