Page 1: It’s our annual end-of-the-year triple issue! And there’s no better way to get all your favorite Brooklyn Paper graphics, columns, news articles, pictures and retrospective tributes than by clicking the headline above and downloading a complete version of print edition. Makes a great Christmas present or stocking stuffer! Keep hustlin’, Brooklyn!

Living high in the hog! This house is made of pork

By Stephen Brown

Downtown: Want to save the earth? How about living in a house made of pig flesh? Comments (7).

Brooklyn Women of Distinction

Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009

Merry Christmas to all!

Look, we’re going to take a few days off to let everyone soak in the Christmas spirit (and see “Sherlock Holmes”), so check back with us on Monday, Dec. 28 for some fresh news. Merry Christmas, Brooklyn!

Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009

Love it or hate it, here’s our look back at 2009

The Brooklyn Paper / Jeff Bachner

To some, it was the worst year in decades. To others, it was merely horrible. But for us at The Brooklyn Paper, 2009 will go down in history as another 12-month period when lots of interesting, important, newsworthy, exciting, traumatic and Atlantic Yards things happened. Comments (4).

Flea of the lords!

By Stephen Brown

Shopping: One of the borough’s most glorious indoor spaces — a veritable cathedral to retail — is going to host a flea market. Comment.

Theater company robbed!

By Stephen Brown

Brooklyn Heights: Someone stole big bucks from the small Heights Players. Plus all the other crime news from Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown and DUMBO’s 84th Precinct. Comment.

Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009

Marty bought $1.45M home with hard work — and a big slip-and-fall case

By Stephen Brown

Windsor Terrace: Oh, and let’s not forget impeded marital congress! It’s all there in the court papers! Comments (19).

Council OK’s Broadway Triangle rezoning

By Andy Campbell

The Brooklyn Paper / Andy Campbell

The City Council strongly backed a plan to encourage residential development inside the now mostly commercial “Broadway Triangle” on Monday, but the battle isn’t over as a coalition of 40 North Brooklyn community groups announced an expansion of its earlier lawsuit. Comments (7).

He’s making wine — in Red Hook!

By Stephen Brown

Shopping: Buying local is all the rage in Brooklyn, but the enthusiasm has yet to extend to wines. But that’s about to change now that the Red Hook Winery is selling its first vintage. Comments (2).

Here’s a resolution you can keep: You will not spend too much this New Year’s

By Andy Campbell

It’s New Year’s Eve and you know the drill: Fork over $100 for a couple of drinks, two wilted hors-d’oeuvres, and a grim resolution to not spend a dime until your next paycheck. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Comments (2).

It’s a grand ‘Union’ for Court Street

By Gersh Kuntzman

Shopping: A new Union Market will open today. Comments (2).

Bridge-and-tunnel crowd ruins our columnist’s night at Brooklyn Bowl

By Andy Campbell

Campbell’s Soup: All he wanted was a filthy, freaky, nasty Brooklyn dance party, but all he got was a bunch of Manhattanites drinking Haterade. Comments (14).

Help send these dancers to Scotland

By Barry Shifrin

Park Slope: Park Slope’s own teenage dance troupe is one high-step closer to strutting its stuff on the world stage. Comments (10).

Monday, Dec. 21, 2009

Prospect Park is resplendent in white — and don’t move your car!

The Brooklyn Paper / Efrain Gonzalez

Enjoy the snow for one more day — without having to worry about alternate-side-of-the-street parking. Comments (1).

Rejection! Court turns down Yards foes in suit over MTA’s sweetheart deal

By Stephen Brown

Atlantic Yards: A state court has once again rebuffed an effort to throw a wrench in Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards machine, rejecting a lawsuit that accused the MTA of improperly selling its Vanderbilt rail yard by not seeking new bids after reopening the original 2005 deal with the developer this summer. Comments (10).

Solar power car guy is just waiting for customers

By Stephen Brown

Columbia St Waterfront: Finally, there’s a way to get around town without polluting or burning anything (or walking!). Comments (2).

Not so ‘Brief’! St. Ann’s Warehouse extends hit show

By Barry Shifrin

Theater: One of the most successful shows in the history of St. Ann’s Warehouse has been extended. Comments (1).

So what if her tree stinks — Smartmom’s Christmas is wonderful

By Louise Crawford

Smartmom: The family is together in Brooklyn — where it belongs. Comments (2).

Ring in the new year with Melissa’s gingerbread spice cake

By Melissa Murphy

Shopping: I have loved gingerbread since I was a little girl, when I made it for my dad, served warm and topped simply with fresh whipped cream. Just the smell of it baking makes you warm and toasty all over. Comments (5).

Dar Williams returns for her annual post-Xmas gig

By Meredith Deliso

Music: Along with the Christmas trees hawked on street corners and vacant lots, decorations on main drags, competing versions of “The Nutcracker,” one thing that’s come to be expected each holiday season is a post-Christmas show at Southpaw from Dar Williams. Comments (1).

Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009

Big bust! Snow ruins topless protest on Bedford Avenue

By Andy Campbell

The Brooklyn Paper / Andy Campbell

Mean Streets: For the second time in a week, bicyclists’ attempts to protest the city’s removal of the Bedford Avenue bike lane were foiled by the weather. Comments (8).

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009

Man, you gotta see the crash picture from Red Hook

By Gersh Kuntzman

Mean Streets: That was one pretty serious-looking accident at the troubled corner of Van Brunt Street and Dikeman Street in the heart of Red Hook on Friday afternoon. Comments (3).

Cover up! Bike advocacy group calls for no topless ride on Bedford tomorrow

By Gersh Kuntzman

The Brooklyn Paper / Andy Campbell

Mean Streets: At least one group of bicycle activists is not excited by the planned Bedford Avenue topless bike protest through the Hasidic portion of Williamsburg on Saturday night. Comments (17).

OyPhone! Thieves are picking Apples right out of people’s hands!

By Gersh Kuntzman

The latest example of a growing crime trend. Comments (8).

It’s a real sign of confusion on Washington Avenue

By Barry Shifrin

Mean Streets: It may be the longest, and the most-confusing, bus stop in all of Brooklyn — and it’s running roughshod over Prospect Heights drivers. Comment.

Big money could ‘PAVE’ the way for new Red Hook school

By Stephen Brown

Red Hook: A controversial charter school sought to diffuse mounting tensions inside the Red Hook building it shares with a public school by dropping the bombshell news that has almost all the money it needs to build its own permanent facility. Comments (15).

Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009

Ride on! Bridge ‘Park’ directors accept Jane’s Carousel

By Andy Campbell

Bridge ‘Park’: A DUMBO real-estate titan and his wife’s dream of donating her lovingly restored, 1920s-era carousel to the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront development was finally realized on Thursday when state officials finally accepted the gift. Comments (7).

Suit: Church used its ‘Vito’ power

By Andy Campbell

The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan

Williamsburg: A major atheist group and a priest are suing the borough’s Catholic leadership, alleging that the church violated its tax-free status by making thousands of pre-recorded calls during the November election campaign that endorsed candidates favored by Assemblyman Vito Lopez. Comments (6).