Open Thread Wednesday 3/30/11

By on March 30, 2011 12:51 am in Brooklyn Heights

What are ya packin’ this week? Comment away!

Flickr photo via ChelseaWa

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  • David on Middagh

    @soulman: I play up my own curmudgeonliness sometimes, and I have taken pics for people before, but when I’m walking quickly–exercising–being flagged down to gratify someone’s ego feels like an unnecessary intrusion.

    All right, all right: I hate people. There. I said it. Cats rule; people drool. If you are a cat, I will take a picture of you. Else, you can find another tourist.

  • AEB

    Soulman, I would ask Ms. Torres, the school crossing guard at Middagh and Hicks, about the missing cans.

    At one time she had a penchant for “repurposing” at least one of them, and as we well know, once one starts with that sort of thing..well, it’s a slippery slope.

  • MM

    Does anyone have any recommendations for a good but not overly expensive tailor in the neighborhood? I have a bridesmaids dress that I will likely need tailored & the bride strongly recommended not using the bridal shop’s tailor.

  • WillowtownCop

    Am I the only person horrified by the cartoon yuppies in the One Brooklyn Bridge Park ads? Can we sign a petition to make them stopping running it and attracting those kind of people to the neighborhood?

  • JM

    When I’m on/around the Promenade, it always makes me feel good to see foreign tourists enjoying the beauty that is Bklyn. I don’t mind snapping an occasional pic or giving directions and I’ve always been thanked very sincerely by the folks who ask. But I would definitely say just look the other way when you feel the ask coming (and you can) and people will pick up on that.
    Willowtown Cop- YES YES YES! My wife and I have to roll each others eyes back into place when those freakin’ 1 BBP ads come up. Are there really people who aspire/respond to that image? Now if you’ll excuse me , I must go and enjoy my view and…. a fine aged cognac.

  • T.K. Small

    WillowtownCop & JM thank you for confirming my repulsion at these commercials. The campaign makes absolutely no sense.

  • GHB

    I know this is getting old, but has anyone heard about the Clark Street entrance to the Promenade and when it might be fixed? It’s almost 10 months…

  • gc

    Those same yuppie images are also painted in various scenes in all the windows of the vacant storefronts down at 1BBP. Go have a look someday. It’s quite a sight!

  • nabeguy

    soulman, did it ever occur to you that maybe the sanitation crews got tired of dumping your dog’s deposits into their truck and decided to haul the can away?

  • Monty

    As someone who lives in BH and works in Times Square, I can attest that we get a very high class of tourist. Let the gawkers in jean shorts have Times Square. Only the most in-the-know tourists make it to Brooklyn and I think they should be rewarded. Let me spend their money and take some pictures.

  • Cliff Sutherland

    In response to Giving Tree…I would be happy to help with your exterior door painting project. You can contact me at sutherland.cliff@gmail.com. References are available.

  • lifer

    I have never in my life ever seen someone say “no” when a tourist has asked someone else to take their picture. This literally takes seconds. You people are unreal.

    The ads at the bottom of BBP are pretty sadly hilarious. And someone got paid for that campaign!

    The people portrayed in that ad campaign and the photo poopers on the promenade do not represent what the surrounding neighborhoods are about at all.

  • http://Building Jeffrey J Smith

    I agree with (gasp) soulman. I always try to assist tourists/visitors
    to the Heights.

    Everyone I feel should do everything reasonable to make feel
    welcome every visitor to the Heights of good character

    But last month I was on the prom a nice looking couple got to talking to us noticed my camera and asked me to take a few pictures of him and his GF with my camera and then download the pictures to him(!) But he WAS an employee of an important NGO which we carefully watch (so the contact was fruitful) anyway I shot like six shots and sent them on later that day due to the value of the contact.,.

  • David on Middagh

    @lifer: If you were jogging, would you halt to take someone’s picture? If you were biking, would you dismount? If you were in your car, would you pull over?

    Well, when I’m walking, I’m exercising, and momentum is momentum. I don’t walk slowly, either, I walk quickly and purposefully. Why tourists try to flag me down I’ll never know. There are always others around–other tourists!–also meandering about with little clicky things in their paws.

    And why do they always want a picture with the sun shining into the lens and my face as it silhouettes them against the skyline? Jeez, just take the scenic picture yourself and Photoshop in a little black, unrecognizable figure afterwards.

  • Beth

    We are not obligated to take photos of tourists just because we live here. Everyone has the right to say no. There are tons of valid reasons why someone might not want to, not that they even need a reason.

  • A Neighbor

    Of course, you can’t be expected to take a picture if you are running or riding a bike.

    But is it really so much to expect that you would gladly give a gift of kindness and take someone’s picture? Many people do much more for others every day. The world works better that way. And what about a smile with the picture — you might make someone’s day a bit happier.

  • lifer

    You are absolutely not obligated to do anything you don’t want to, and you do not need a reason why you would say no. It’s simply a nice thing to do .

  • Buddy Holly

    Passed by the old pizza stand on Adams and Willoughby. It was closed, the doors locked, and the insides were being removed.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMezwtB1oCU&feature=related

  • Linda

    Although I hate anyone asking me to take their picture I must confess that on two occasions I have given mini-tours to tourists.
    Just last week I took a lovely woman and her son (from England) down to the Promenade so that they could take pictures. The woman had asked me for directions to the bridge as she heard that if you walk to the center of the bridge you can get a nice picture of Manhattan. Apparently she had not heard of the Promenade so I took her and her son there. I am always delighted to see the reaction of tourists when they step onto the Promenade for the first time. Her reaction was “this is just like the view on the telly”.
    I love Brooklyn Heights and I am happy to take tourists on a mini-tour but I still hate taking pictures!

  • RamonaQuimby

    Linda–I agree. I think most of the tourists that come to brooklyn heights are lovely and, as I said above, I’m happy to share it with them, give directions (sometimes in crappy German or French–that’s always fun), etc., but I still don’t want to take their picture. I’m pretty sure the people on this blog would freak out if, while taking some tourist’s picture, my dog knocked over a little kid because I wasn’t paying attention to him. But the dog aside, it just makes me extremely uncomfortable.

  • http://Building Jeffrey J Smith

    So many people are so self absorbed-a great part of the value of one’s life is the positive effect you have on other’s lives. I’ve
    met really great people from all over the world on the prom. You
    just have to exercise some basic judgement as to the person or group you are about to deal with.

  • http://Building Jeffrey J Smith

    I always try to give some of the less known history of the Heights.
    I’m always tempted to mention some of the wilder incidents, the
    cornering of mad dog coll, the location of mailer’s going postal
    etc. But I stick to the major political and finacial “influences’ which
    the heights was base to.

  • Monty

    Is Brooklyn the New Paris? Yes, someone wrote this article.

  • stuart little

    this is such a snooty neighborhood isn’t it ? people don’t like to take a second to do a favor for a visitor. that is so self-absorbed and nasty.

  • nabeguy

    Mrs. Fink (Mrs.!! Oh, you’re such a post-modern feminist), Try Lassen & Hennigs. A bit pricey, but they do deliver on weekends (I’ve used them for weekend B’day parties)

  • Melissa

    Mrs. Fink, we used Downtown Atlantic (on Atlantic Ave) for a small gathering in our apartment. Owned by a local family, they were very accomodating (offered me several different menus to choose from), inexpensive, delicious and charged very little to deliver. http://www.downtownatlantic.com/ Good luck!

  • Melissa

    Yes, they delivered to the Heights on the weekend. I remember that the first menu choices they offered weren’t what I had in mind so they came back with other options (In addition to the standard restaurant menu, they offer a catering menu as well). The other caterers I looked at in the neighborhood were much more expensive and less flexible. I hope they work out for you.

  • Little Lou

    Does anyone remember the homeless lady that used to wear a leather jacket and had pig tails? Not the same woman who died and used to sit in front of hot bagels. I was having a convo with someone about all the characters that used to roam BKH… I wonder what happened to her.

  • Heightser

    Little Lou – I remember her. Haven’t seen her in ages.

  • AL

    “Pigtails” died

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