BUSHWICK — Bushwick Open Studios packed the neighborhood with visitors — but the free art festival also reportedly drew a spike in crime.
The popular galleries and blocks by the Morgan L train took a hit the weekend of June 1 — 3, with five larcenies and one robbery, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
Outside the Morgan L station at Harrison Place one man was punched and robbed of his wallet by two suspects Friday at 1:30 p.m., and later that day the director of Studio10 — among dozens of galleries in the hub 56 Bogart St. — reportedly had a set of keys stolen.
And the next day thefts only got worse, when a gallery worker's iPhone and laptop were reportedly stolen from the front desk at 56 Bogart St. Meanwhile just down the street a jewelry studio on 65 Bogart St. was robbed of a diamond ring, tenants of the building told the Brooklyn Paper.
Local gallery owners said thefts occurred earlier in the year as well.
"This is a sad coda to that weekend," Peter Hopkins, who owns the Bogart Salon in 56 Bogart St., wrote of the crimes.
"Laptops, iPhones, etc. are easy pickings," he said, noting that his building had seen "many more thefts this past year."