Prior to Halloween, I published a series of short articles about amusing Halloween decorations seen around Brownstone Brooklyn. In each piece, I carefully analyzed the Halloween decoration in question and considered whether it was representative of some greater Halloween decoration idea. Today, I skimmed through my selection of photos ready for publication – all kindly retouched by the distinguished Victor V. Gurbo – looking for one upon which I could base a short article. Only through this process did I find, to my chagrin, that I had forgotten to publish a pre-Halloween article about what may have been the best Halloween decoration find of all: a little geen car with a hat. To be precise given the green hue of the car, it is the wicked car with a hat (the car looks very kind, however).
Having found these photos of a car with a hat, I was left with two options. Would I save this great Halloween find for October 2021 or would I publish it now, one week late? Fearing that I would forget about the find just under a year from now, I opted to present my pictures for publication. Although Halloween is past, I noted in my article on economical Halloween scarecrows that some Halloween decorations can remain seasonal even after Halloween. Let us say that the following pictures fall under this special category.
The Funny Green Car with a Hat in Gowanus
A couple of days before Halloween, I was walking down 3rd Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus. On a gritty stretch of Third, I walked past what appeared to be a car repair shop. Most of the cars both inside the shop and out were of the ordinary sort that would not cause one to think twice. However, one of the cars, pictured below, arrested my attention enough to make me stop and take the three pictures that are pictured below.
Five things stood out about the above car. Firstly, it was endearingly small. Secondly, it was clad in an unusual bright green. Thirdly, it had plants growing on its back. Fourthly, it had a broom on its hood. Fifthly, finally, but not at all least, the funny little car was wearing a witch’s hat.
Because the car bore a similar complexion to the Wicked Witch of the West, one must concede that the hat made the perfect Halloween costume for it. I must say, however, that I do not think that the charming car was actually a witch – it just played one for passers-by, much like the trick-or-treating maybe-ghost I saw in Cobble Hill.
General Thoughts on Funny Hats
In the 2016 presidential primaries, Senator Ted Cruz declined to don a cheese hat in a campaign stop in Wisconsin, stating: “There is an ironclad rule of politics, which is no funny hats.” While that may be a sound “ironclad rule of politics,” and perhaps a good rule for many non-political situations as well, we can safely say after considering the evidence that the rule does not apply to little green cars in Gowanus.
Update Notes
10/2/22: I made minor changes to the introduction to place references to the car with the hat and its wicked color in the introductory paragraph. I also changed headings in the article from level 3 to level 2. However, the rest of the article is unchanged, including references to events which happened in 2020.
10/8/22: I replaced the original versions of the car with the hat photos with higher quality versions. The new photos are the same two pictures, but I used Upscayl to sharpen them and clean them up.