Open Thread Wednesday

By on August 7, 2024 12:02 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter

    Ah, the rain-slicked Promenade. How appropriate!

    Here's a 1945 photo of the Manhattan skyline from the Promenade, taken by Albert Abbott:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55c30eab7591eef8005197a489fcf394141f7c4d0e4f635d8131a1bbcd985e82.png

  • AK

    Is there a way we can turn off the lights at Clarks Pet Shop after shining for 6 months straight :/ ? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a92d80cb3e34451f2ad1c2a646387b0480cf3a50195b691e1797105707bf6de2.jpg

  • Red Leader

    Did anyone see that Brad Lander is running for Mayor? What do we think of his chances?

  • Born in Bklyn Hgts

    There was no Promenade in 1945. Demolition of the warehouses below the Promenade did not begin until 1946. The Promenade opened in 1950.

  • Jorale-man

    Seems like a good time to tee up this Heights/DUMBO oldie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ml3nyww80

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6HyDDj6LVw
    "Born In Brooklyn Heights" is entirely correct. Construction didn't begin until 1946.

    I think it is time for a refresher course on the history of the Promenade. Fortunately, we have, on tape, two prominent members of the Brooklyn Heights community, who have since passed away, to help describe the historical record of this important development in Brooklyn Heights.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    My favorite clip of old DUMBO pre Walentas is a scene from "Scent of a Woman". It is amazing how this area has transformed from 1992 (when film was produced) to the current DUMBO with two luxury buildings added recently in 69 Adams and the creme de la creme Super Luxury building, dramatic 33-story Olympia Dumbo.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itr0jcR0S4s

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    Face it – the Promenade has a very murky future until/unless it's integrated with the Park it overlooks. And that's probably NOT even 1% of what it will cost to remediate the BQE, so it would make enormous sense to "fold it into" that work.

    (Of course, someone will look to squeeze 1% out of the $Trillion by xing it out of the spec, so it's no sure thing.)

    One of the many great things about the proposals of (?) 3 years back was thinking "What makes sense?" and "Can it follow the BBP model of paying for itself?"

    "Parks" and "Transportation" routinely think that way, and maybe, the City should set up an RFP for pay-per-ride elevator service between the 2. I remember some not very famous hily Italian town/city where 1 Euro seemed goug-y, but if you were a tourist or someone with groceries, it probably seemed like a no-brainer.

    I'm not sure I like that model, but I suspect that it's the only way it MIGHT happen before 2040.

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    I wonder who's paying for the electricity. Most of us remember when "Panorama" turned off the time-and-temperature thingie atop some old Watchtower building, almost certainly for just that reason.

    SPEAKING OF WHICH – roughly – what is one to make of the NYT story yesterday about the zombie big pharmacies? Narrowly, we're lucky in that 1 of our 2 HAS turned the lights back on, but the article suggests that if CVS' lease on its Clinton/Pierrepont location runs another 10 years, that's one's best guess as to how long it'll stay vacant 11 months a year.

    Can't ANYTHING be done? How is a tax on long vacant space NOT in NYC's best interest? If the Instrata condo owners had that "incentive" to re-lease, don't you think it'd get done in a hurry?

  • MaggieO

    what about a funicular, or are those usually built on actual hillsides…

  • fultonferryres

    This is a transposition error in the listing in the MCNY database. As you can see in this screenshot, the photo is assigned a date of ca. 1945, but the inscription was dated December 1954. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ed54b83ef7824ed8e228c3a025fb37ba3cac1ce501e4fc66cc32059aeed245f1.jpg

  • fultonferryres

    The gas station was located in Fulton Ferry.

  • fultonferryres

    Don’t you mean Clinton/Remsen?

  • Jorale-man

    Watched it many times – so fascinating to see how DUMBO has changed. Would love to see how that scene was filmed – they really do appear to be flying down Front and Water Streets.

  • fultonferryres

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fc60ecae40b18751b6f05a1cc22dc15e990cf90364774f54bcda64016ee1694.jpg From 1891 until 1924, cable cars traversed Montague Street from Court Street down to the Wall Street Ferry terminal, although the ferry itself ceased operating in 1912.

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    No. That's the one with LIGHTS ON – i.e., it's been repurposed as a supermarket. Diff is – per the NYT – Rite Aid declared bankruptcy, so whoever owns that space had much incentive to find a new tenant!

  • fultonferryres

    Foodtown borders Joralemon Street. The Instrata borders Remsen Street. Neither one borders Pierrepont, which is on the other side of Montague.

  • Andrew Porter

    Thanks; corrected!

  • Jorale-man

    A funicular would be great. I was recently in Lisbon and they're everywhere.

    Whatever the future of the promenade, I hope it doesn't involve the constant stench of marijuana smoke, which seems to be where we've arrived today.

  • Eddyde
  • More Hate in the Heights

    More hate in the Heights:

    https://nypost.com/2024/08/08/us-news/pro-palestine-vandals-release-crickets-splash-red-paint-over-columbia-execs-nyc-apartment-building/

    We need to stand up to bigots. This is quickly becoming too normalized. Where are you with your megaphone Joanne Simon, Lincoln Restler????

  • Andrew Porter

    This was first proposed more than a decade ago, and the BHB covered it at the time. It was supposed to be accessed via Bklyn Bridge Park, I seem to recall.

    You posted a weirdly long link. Here's a much shorter one:

    https://gothamist.com/news/floating-pool-in-nycs-east-river-inches-forward-but-opening-is-still-years-away

  • Andrew Porter

    That's on Orange Street, across from Plymouth Church.

  • MaggieO

    you're talking about the old CVS that was Spirit Halloween for a month last fall. Main entrance is on Montague and Clinton but the delivery entrance is on Remsen. The Pierrepont/Clinton corner is Saint Ann's, Saint Ann's, Chase Bank, Brooklyn Center for History.

  • MaggieO

    Yes! Bring back the historic cable cars in the form of a funicular!!!

  • Eddyde

    Thanks, I don't know why the link was so long, I simply copied it out of the browser?
    I remember the talk about the +pool here. I thought folks might want an update.

  • Jorale-man

    Norman Mailer's old apartment is for rent if you've got $13K a month lying around: https://www.curbed.com/article/norman-mailer-rent-apartment-brooklyn-promenade.html

  • Effective Presenter

    New York City Hall, office of Ewic, Mayor Ewic Adams smell of marijuana ALL over the building.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    https://nypost.com/2024/08/09/us-news/packer-coach-allegedly-out-for-inappropriate-interactions/

    Another potential controversy at one of our elite private schools in Brooklyn Heights.

  • lois

    and at least three are running for comptroller