Frederick Cook; he's like Shackleton to us Frederick Cook claimed to have discovered the North Pole. His mansion continues to stand, though shuttered in plywood, at Bushwick and Willoughby. The mansion is one of the more elegant along southeastern Bushwick Ave. Cook is also evidently one of the earlier residents to sport the '02-era hipster coat w/ fluffy hood. More on him to follow.*

*The always impressive Block Magazine gave us a little taste last week (of what we already know!):blockmagazine.com/neighbor.php.1 But we can forgive the limited reporting ("calls to property owner unanswered," etc), because when you think about it, that was really Cook's style anyway. What got him in trouble wasn't the dubious claim to have first discovered the NP, but the stock fraud. And at a time of the year when it's probably least fun to give money to the government, and tempting to just "run away!/run away!"--to go and rediscover some pole, perhaps--it's easy to want to forgive old Freddie.

1 The story does come with a sidebar of three "tourist/history buff" attractions, including the truly elegant St. Barbara's at Central and Bleeker. But I have to go ahead and disagree on the claim that any of it is "just a short walk from the Marcy J stop." For a paper that now supposedly covers Williamsburg, Greenpoint, AND Bushwick, why try to make the point to say that all of Bushwick's attractions are just a short jog from new Brooklyn's REAL nexus? Especially when the J train happens to come RIGHT OUT to Frederick Cook's doorstep after another couple of miles. And what sight-seer wants to walk under the Broadway train platforms for two miles? Unless you're looking to spot some of the old hotels and flop-houses, the old storefronts w/ stenciled names and hints of terra cotta peeling away behind the elevated tracks, or you just want some fried chicken before getting hit by a bus, I wouldn't recommend it.

-Dave