Open Thread Wednesday

By on December 10, 2024 11:51 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Nosey Neighbor

    L&B Spumoni Gardens finally opened in DUMBO

  • Andrew Porter

    The ornate cast iron arches and balconies in Claude's photo are actual recent additions to that house, which underwent an extensive renovation.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Why do you say that? Yes house has had 2 big renovations in the recent series of rich owners. But think the ironwork has always been there (maybe recently cleaned up). Would be interested to see if you have old pics!

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    2 related thoughts…. I saw "life" (people) in the smoke shop on Henry Street – every bit as blight-y, imho, as a pawn shop would be … and MORE likely to be violating either the letter or spirit of many laws on the books. (I fear that the worst aspect of our Civil Courts – wrist slaps for anything where nobody died – will see the store re-open for business before too long. Yes, as of this past weekend it was closed, but it certainly hasn't been prepped for a legitimate tennant.

    So #2 (thought) is that there seem to be people on this blogh who are handy with databases. The Village Voice used to identify the very worst landlords, and it seems to me that if Mr. or Ms. X mumbles, "It's just business" every time they rent to lowlifes, the community deserves to know what bad neighbors (sleaze) those landlords are. Maybe, shame would result in the many holes in the Hts' retail network getting patched. Amazon and others like it clearly have upended retailing, but no butcher, fish or cheese monger, shoe store – I'll bet there are 5 other equally obvious ones that I'm overlooking – in Brooklyn Hts is not healthy!

    I know that small animals have some very vocal lovers on this forum, but when cats' needs are better served than those of their humans, something should be done!

    Since there are no lobbyists for "smoke shops," the BHA should use its clout to deal them a death blow. The BHA had a well-intentioned initiative to make retailing in our community healthy again during & after Covid, but like so many things, they've moved on when they should have doubled down.

  • MaggieO

    looks like the death knell for the Brooklyn Macys is ringing. haven't seen a date for the store's closing yet but it's coming!

  • MaggieO
  • Banet

    According to a variety of sources online, while they Macy's building was sold, the new owners are leasing it back to Macy's for some time.

  • Banet

    So I stopped in the new store — the Art of Play — that was mentioned on this blog last week. It's on Atlantic, between Hicks and the BQE on ramp.

    It's a lovely little jewel box of a store. Absolutely tiny — maybe 300 square feet. Every item for sale was very carefully selected and very artfully displayed.

    Their merchandise is a bit hard to describe — think physical puzzles and seemingly impossible trinkets. Floating, illuminated lightbulbs. Jigsaw puzzles hand-cut out of real quarters. Wooden, Japanese "puzzle" boxes. Those intricate connected pieces of metal that you can't seem to take apart… until you do.

    It's not for everyone but you should stop by as it might just have a gift for that special someone.

    Oh, and one of the owners is Adam Rubin, the author of the children's classic — Dragons Love Tacos. He was there all Sunday and was quite friendly and chatty.