Open Thread Wednesday 3/21/12

I’m looking to have a few home-improvement projects done this spring (replacing closet doors, repairing cracked tiles, etc). I’ve called a couple renovation places in the area, including Perfect Renovations on Atlantic, but they all seem to be focused on large projects (i.e. gut-renovation of entire brownstones). I’m having a hard time finding a company geared towards smaller home-improvement projects. Can anyone recommend a company serving Brooklyn Heights that falls in that middle area between handyman and full-scale renovation? Thanks!

It is almost noon, and there are only two comments above me!? Good citizens of Brooklyn Heights, we had zombies in the neighborhood yesterday! Surely there must be something to complain about…

I’m sure many of you have seen the “NYPD DON’T TRUST” graffiti on the Remsen Streets sidewalk and on the wall across from Hunts Lane. I really hope the owners don’t put off wiping these areas clean. Allowing graffiti to fester will only invite more.

@GHB: Sure … and Key Food really sells the key foods you should be eating … Clark’s Diner is really owned by a guy named Clark … and there is a great wall around the chinese food at 60 Henry Street (or at least there should be!).

I have seen the graffi about the NYPD in a couple of places not just Remsen. It has been almost two weeks. When does festering officially start? Three weeks?

Has anyone gone to the DMV at Altantic Terminal? Is it better or worse than going to the midtown license express?

i’ve been to the DMV at atlantic terminal… and believe me the word TERMINAL is fitting. the joint is absolutely MOBBED, despite dozens and dozens of agents. you’re given a number when you register, then typically wait at least an hour to go to the window… it’s a nightmare. DMV express on 34th is the way to go, believe me!

@Knight, I won’t even ask what you can get at Crumbs

Reply to GHB (March 21, 2012 at 11:28 am):

Can’t say if they’re the best, but they’ve been in that location for as long as I remember, which is back to 1954, in the Heights.

The DMV on Greenwich Street usually runs quite well, but I had a very amusing experience there one time. Other than frustrated and angry customers, it seems that they also have employees with anger management issues. With this particular instance, two employees erupted in a loud shouting exchange. A male supervisor came over to breakup the commotion, whereupon one of the original protagonists, accused the supervisor of shoving her. This resulted in a whole new stream of invective.

Even by DMV standards, this was an usual and all of the customers were quietly staring at the situation. At this point, the original DMV combatant who had started to scream at the supervisor realized that everyone was watching her. Clearly she was embarrassed at her behavior and figured that she should explain what was going on. In a perfectly reasonable tone of voice, we then learned that “her parents didn’t raise her like that” whatever that means…

As for Atlantic Terminal, try to get there towards the end of the day. The DMV staff start working fast around 3:30 PM. On a personal note, I got into a shouting match with a smelly Rastafarian that didn’t like my wheelchair. Only in Brooklyn!

A random question for Heights history buffs: When did the lobby of the Hotel St. George get turned into the IRT subway entrance? The way it looks, the lobby probably once had a grander entrance and the subway was somewhere off to the side. It’s a pretty odd configuration and one would assume that wasn’t how the building was originally designed.

Jorale-man —
I’m at work and trying not to get too sidetracked here, but nostalgia trumps reality….
The subway entry was never the St. George lobby. The newsstand was, as far back as I can remember, always there, although its footprint was smaller (and L-shaped), and there were random little shops (Rocky seems to always have been there, and there was a tiny stationery store). There was also a huge attached drug store/pharmacy that occupied the liquor store space, with entrances from the street and the subway area.
The lobby of the St. George could be accessed from the columned entrance on Clark or the now closed-off area next to the turnstiles.I don’t recall there being anything else in the subway arcade, itself, but maybe someone else can clear that up.

@Jorale-man, I think bornhere mentioned the person I would ask. Is “Rocky” the silver-haired barber next to the shoe repair shop? That guy knows more about the St. George than St. George himself probably does! Great guy, decent barber, and really interesting to chat with.

AmyinBH – The DMV at Atlantic terminal is the worst, and the one in Coney Island is no better. We ended up going to the one in Staten Island and were promptly and courteously serviced.

@bornhere and @knight – thanks for the info. Somehow I always assumed that what you see there was once a grand lobby that was later converted. But apparently not – I’ll have to go talk with Rocky one of these days!

It’s really a shame how some dog owners, and probably some dog-walkers, don’t seem to care about cleaning up after their dog(s). While I know most dog owners are responsible, it does make someone who doesn’t own a dog suspicious of all dog owners. Maybe taking pictures of these irresponsible owners will shame them enough to clean up. I’ve had visitors comment about it and all I can say is “some people are lazy and don’t care about keeping the sidewalks clean”.