#265: On Track

Transit Museum, Brooklyn

#269: Henry Street

Brooklyn Heights

Today's pick is of my favorite neighborhood numbers, all the more fun because of the serious retro vibe of the whole ensemble. It's a residential building, but the place looks like a David Lynch diner dropped in the middle of a Sesame Street brownstone block. Classy, quirky, and a perennial &7 favorite.

#277: Simple Stone

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

#279: Seven/Zed

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

#284: Jewel in the Claw

Red Hook, Brooklyn

284 Van Brunt Street is not only home to today's catch, it's also home to the Red Hook Lobster Pound, a place I like to call the jewel in my neighborhood's claw. Temporarily closed, the Pound's shutters are expected to roll up on April 1st, and you'd better believe there'll be no April foolin' once they do. A bike ride, a lobster roll, and a good book on Valentino Pier is the surefire first sign of spring. I can taste it already.

#285: Bespoked

Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn

Like yesterday's #286, this three-digit span belongs to a longer sequence of numbers, chopped off for the sake of convenience (and leaving me with the nagging feeling like I'm somehow cutting corners by, well, cutting corners). But the framing of the 285 inside of the bicycle wheel makes this one's charm pretty irresistible.

#288: America the Beautiful

Red Hook, Brooklyn

#290: Red Hook Pastoral

Red Hook, Brooklyn

A glimpse of bright barn-red color and a bit of asymmetry to keep things interesting. The perfect antidote for an overcast March day.

#292: Gowanus Mon Amour

Gowanus, Brooklyn

Gowanus gets a bad rap. A canal as well as a neighborhood, it's sandwiched between its more glamorous neighbors, places with Slope and Hill and Gardens in the names. Jonathan Ames, creator of the excellent show, "Bored to Death" wrote an episode called "The Gowanus Canal Has Gonorrhea!" Just in case you needed any more negative PR.

I used to be much more afraid of the Gowanus Canal than I am now, afraid each time that I'd cross the Union Street Bridge that down there in the rangy muck I would spy a three-headed carp, fearing that just by breathing in its bilious fumes I'd begin to develop a sort of biohazardous condition that would make me glow in the dark. Now, I play ice hockey on a sewage plant up on the Hudson, and my tolerance for gross bodies of water has declined substantially. :gingerly tucks flippers away, resumes writing blog post:

But there is beauty in Gowanus just as there's beauty anywhere else. These small, medieval-looking numbers stamped onto an address plate are a perfect example of the sort of thing you find when you're willing to slow down and look a little more closely.

#295: M.I.A.

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

These quirky distressed numbers on Baltic Street disappeared from the wall a few years ago, and I still miss 'em.

#297: Dull Lights, Big City

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Goofy and mismatched, these numbers look like vaudeville by way of the industrial revolution. I always wonder about the mischievous culprit behind these oddities. Was it truly all there was, or is there some grand design behind it all?

#302: A.I.R. BLDG

Gowanus, Brooklyn

Not really sure what the A.I.R. is all A.B.O.U.T., but the hand lettering on this sign is pretty good-looking.

#309: F Stops

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

This one's been a secret favorite for years. If you're ever near the Warren Street entrance to the Bergen F stop, you can spot this 309 over the door on one of the buildings. And if you squint really hard, you can just make out two pencil-drawn circles inside the zero and nine, giving it that extra homemade appeal.

#312: Area Code

DUMBO, Brooklyn

312 was my area code when I was a kid, and I still feel a connection with it. All Chicago phone numbers -- both the city and the suburbs -- were 312 until I entered the double digits, when Chicago kept 312 and 708 became the area code for the suburbs. It remained that way till the truly inglorious and forgettable 847 arrived, and I've stopped developing fond feelings for area codes ever since.

By the way, as for "Chicagoland," I never liked that phrase, but it rolls off the tongue better than "The Greater Chicagoland Area," which I should remember every time I stumble over "Columbia Waterfront District." It seems I'm destined to live in places that push the 140-character limit.

#321: Union Street

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

#329: Coat of Many Numbers

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

#331: Snow Day

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

#332: Shadowplay

Red Hook, Brooklyn

#335: Terra Cotta & Mocha

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

If J Crew needs someone to come up with sweater color names for their next catalog, I'm available. Just saying.

#345: DUMBO Darling

DUMBO, Brooklyn

It doesn't matter how many times I wander through DUMBO, I always manage to find some new cool stencil lurking on an unsuspecting wall to make me grin. This delicious 345 has all the hallmarks of an &7 darling: stark paint, hint of decay, well-crafted numbers (I'm a sucker for a sharpie 3), and a quirky touch with the dots between the numbers. A+.