A Sunday in Fowler Square

June 17, 2019 Noah Goldberg

Fowler Square before the rain started on Sunday, June 16, 2019. Eagle photo by Noah Goldberg

Fowler Square — before the rain started. Eagle photo by Noah Goldberg

Paul

Paul is a lifetime Brooklynite and a retired former Verizon worker.

“The demographics have changed dramatically. It was still a variety of ethnic types back then. And the buildings themselves have changed enormously,” said Paul, who prefers old buildings to new developments.

“The clock building used to be the biggest building around here. The buildings, the people, the population has increased dramatically. For the most part it’s all been good, positive change. But there is more homelessness and housing in general has gotten way out of hand in terms of affordability. Unless you have a darn good income, it’s not going to be a good place to retire.”

Gabriel and Aheli

Gabriel and Aheli, who live in Fort Greene, spent Sunday in Fowler Park eating salad and Cheetos. It’s Aheli’s birthday tomorrow, and they decided to eat lunch in the square before buying groceries to make bolognese Sunday night. They’ve been dating for about five years.

A still from Gabriel's proposal. Eagle photo by Noah Goldberg — A still from Gabriel’s proposal. Eagle photo by Noah Goldberg

Gabriel proposed to Aheli in the Maldives and recorded the whole thing with a drone.

Sam

Sam Eifling waits for his friend to come to Fowler Square so they can play scrabble. Eagle photo by Noah Goldberg

“I’m meeting a friend to play scrabble, if the sky doesn’t just open up on us,” said Sam Eifling, who has lived all across Brooklyn, in Sunset Park, Prospect Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and now Gowanus. “I’ve sort of triangulated this section of Brooklyn,” he said.

Eifling works as a producer on a TV show, and before that he worked as a reporter for the Lexington Herald Leader, the Chicago Tribune and at Florida Today.

Hyunwoo

Hyunwoo Ward, from Chicago, is a junior at Wesleyan University. Sunday afternoon he was sitting in Fowler Square waiting for a friend to finish their shift at nearby Baba Cool. “I’m staying with a friend of mine in the Bronx. We’ve been here all summer, but are leaving on the 19th to Chicago and then Korea.”

“I like it here, but a lot of these restaurants piss me off. It’s so expensive and bougie,” he said.

Michael and Shaun

Michael and Shaun have been dating for one month — or six months, depending on when you start counting. They met officially in the bathroom of a club in Los Angeles, where they made out. Michael was wearing “an onion skin transparent poncho.”

Today they enjoyed bagels and coffee from La Bagel Delight.

Greg

Greg smokes a cigarette in Fowler Square. He came to the United States more than 20 years ago. From where? He won’t say. What do you do, Greg? “It’s personal. I work.”

Where in Brooklyn do you live? “It’s personal.”

Gisburg

Gisburg, a singer and composer who lives in Greenpoint, waits for a friend who is over at the BAM Film Festival. “I was on the way to Mo’s Bar, but I thought, it’s nicer to wait here than a bar.”