Open Thread Wednesday

By on April 23, 2024 9:30 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    Love that photograph…. As luck would have it, the video referenced yesterday by its creator is both relevant and “adjacent.” Karl’s videos are simply masterful. Ken Burns obviously has much larger budgets, but Karl’s research and delivery are more than worthy of a place on Mary Kim’s “10 best” list – maybe, in a proposed “lifetime achievement” slot.

    Since BHB readership is highest on Wed and Thur. and lowest by the following Tuesday, I hope I may be permitted to re-post (from yesterday) … but not in the tiny format (OK for phone viewing) it had there.

    https://youtu.be/RnNYWi9aeQQ

  • Heights

    Is the High Street entrance on CPW open yet?

  • Brian Johnson

    Brooklyn Heights history makes the news
    How Eight Feet Jolted A $180 Million Real Estate Deal
    “The eight-foot strip is there because of a man named Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/19/realestate/st-francis-college-brooklyn.html

  • Sweeties

    Great story!

  • disqus_n3NxchRudM
  • Banet

    I’m here with my weekly check-in on the Montague Diner and I’m happy to report that I had a GREAT breakfast there in the last week.

    I had the “early bird special” at the counter and was waited on by a very sweet and attentive waitress named Peyton.

    I ordered the “Early Bird Special” with the eggs scrambled and bacon. The eggs were the best scrambled eggs I’ve had in memory. Soft, gentle creamy curds. They seemed like high-end hotel lobby restaurant eggs. For real, the only time I might have had eggs this good they might have cost 2x or 3x as much.

    The bacon was perfectly done. Not too soft, not crispy. And it’s hearty, chewy bacon — not cheap diner bacon. (Albeit only 2 slices, but ounce for ounce likely more bacon than any diner. And far tastier.) The menu says the Early Bird Special is only with bacon but my waitress asked if I wanted bacon or sausage or turkey bacon or avocado.

    The “fresh squeezed orange juice” came in a BIG glass (more juice than anyone should ever drink) and tasted fresh squeezed but I also saw 1 gallon commercially labeled jugs of the juice go by. Maybe it’s squeezed elsewhere and brought in by the gallon?

    The toast was rye. A little disappointing in comparison and I had to ask for butter and jam. But nicely, the butter is soft and the jam is not in a little plastic Welch’s tub.

    Bottom line, of my 5 or 6 meals there,. this one was the best. Here’s hoping they continue to get better and better and busier and busier and they’re around for decades to come.

  • Banet

    That price is unfathomably absurdly high. The house is somewhere between 5k and 6k square feet. For it to sell around $4,000 a square foot boggles the mind. I know it has a ton of light and a parking space and was just fully renovated but it’s also an oddly narrow house — 15′ (Or maybe it’s an oddly shallow house considering it’s door is on the “side”). I’d love to see a floorplan.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Hi Banet,
    If look at attached and scroll down, there are floorplans of 1 Sidney Place.

    https://www.nyc.gov/assets/lpc/downloads/pdf/presentation-materials/20220222/1-Sidney-Place.pdf

  • Jorale-man

    Agreed – and as someone who lives in the immediate vicinity, it’s not a $22m block of Joralemon either.

    Incidentally, I wonder what the story is with the modern-ish house across the street towards Henry? They’ve been renovating that now for what seems like 3 or 4 years. It must be getting a complete overhaul.

  • Banet

    Thanks, Karl.

    In my opinion, the floorplan actually does an extremely graceful job of working with the unusual floorplates.

    That said, there are a lot of smaller “bedrooms” and “larger” living rooms that feel like they’d be hard to assign purpose to.

    For example, if you’re rich enough to spend $20mm+ for a house you likely want a home gym. But the low-ceilinged, windowless basement isn’t a very gracious place for a gym… but the garden level rooms all have street-facing windows and you don’t really want to be watched either (not to mention the floor joists might not be enough to hold the weight of some equipment).

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    I’m not questioning your motives – I swear – but you should be comped next time around!

  • Andrew Porter

    If that’s what I think you’re talking about, it replaced a very ordinary suburban-looking house with shingle roof with one that looks like a carriage house for the building next door.

  • Andrew Porter

    Here’s the end of Remsen Street looking over the harbor in a photo from October 1886:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a4dfb89746e9cf2255476f7675786096c97fe1aafb196aa0a0c3469ba55af3f.png

  • Banet

    Amazing how little it’s changed in 140 years.

  • Banet

    Ha! No, I’m just excited to see someone trying hard to improve Montague Street after seeing 25 years of ups and downs (mostly downs).

    I used to really enjoy being a “regular” at a few places but once I had kids that fell away. I’m just trying to get back to it.

    I had dinner there last night and it was a mixed bag. But again, they’re trying! I encourage everyone to go and to be honest with your feedback.

  • Banet

    That’s the one he means. And yes, in ~1994 that ersatz carriage house went up. The same architect designed the one at the very end of Grace Court Alley.

    But yes, it’s been under renovation on and off for at least 3 years now. Which is nuts to me because it was already a stunning home that was on the Brooklyn Heights House Tour 10 or 15 years ago.

  • Banet

    I’m happy to report that one of the two head shops on Atlantic Avenue between Henry and Hicks is gone and the space is for rent.

    Now let’s just hope that the same will soon be true of the one on Montague Street and the one on Henry Street.

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, I remember seeing the photos of the 1950s suburban house that was there. From what little I can see from the street of this one, it appears they’ve completely gutted it down to the foundation.

  • MaggieO

    not sure what they’re doing inside specifically but i’m glad that they’re working on the exterior since one corner of the roof was clearly failing, gutter leaking, brick discoloring etc. It looked bad enough on the outside that it was almost surely visible inside as well.
    here’s a description of the work from the LPC approval: “construction of gray painted wood dormers with one-over-one,
    double-hung windows at the mansard roof; demolishing portions of the existing rear extension and
    constructing a new brick and metal clad, full height rear addition, featuring stepped massing with a set back
    at the west side, creating a third floor roof terrace; multi-light window and door assemblies; and an
    integrated gray painted metal clad stair bulkhead, in conjunction with raising the height of mansard roof by
    approximately 8” and the height of the adjoining stepped brick clad side facades to align in height with the
    mansard roof, as well as excavating a portion of the rear yard, exposing a portion of the below-grade level of
    the addition, and constructing associated retaining walls and stairs”

  • MaggieO
  • Sandy McCroskey

    I had eggs with bacon there last Saturday evening, and I was given several slabs of the fantastic bacon. I told my companion that I felt like it would have made sense if the eggs had cost $4 and the bacon $13, instead of the other way round. It was really an amazing amount of amazing bacon. I had to ask for butter, and the wheat bread looked like white, though they assured me it was wheat… but I wasn’t complaining!

  • AnonyMom

    Hey all, does anyone have any intel on Henry Custom Tailor on 98 Henry Street, next door to the 2/3 Clark Street subway entrance? My hisband dropped off a pair of pants last week, was told they would be ready & has a ticket. He called Tuesday to follow up, no answer. Went there Friday during business hours. Closed. This morning no answer. There’s no “gone fishing” sign in the window or a sense they closed permanently. Any info is appreciated.

  • Andrew Porter

    Walked by today, Sunday. No.

    Stereopticon image of High Street subway in 1955:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1ec887a7b505cad952169077a44715c0a473c03cda91dc0749943f4dc2d2286.png

  • Effective Presenter

    Not so long ago when that carriage house was built critics said that back in the day of a horse and carriage, the carriage house would NOT be constructed so close to the grand manor, the beautiful home due to horses, fecal matter, flies, etc.

  • cool

    Heat is turning on, does anyone have intel on the fountains in Walt Whitman Park?

  • Jorale-man

    Wow, sounds intense. The backyard excavation and rear addition must be no easy feat. The owners are certainly committed…

  • Red Leader

    Anyone know why Pier 6 was closed tonight? (Monday) There was a huge police presence and people had pretty much left.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Most likely b/c it’s spring break (NYC public schools) and nice weather. A ton of kids were in the park in the afternoon. I saw they closed Pier 2 around 5-6pm. I assume Pier 6 was same. Happens every year in recent memory.

  • MaggieO

    maybe a mad crush of folks trying to see the fireworks show? or was that Sunday night?

  • MaggieO

    i would be very surprised if they were working since there doesn’t appear to have been any construction that would clearly be necessary to resolve the drainage problem

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