Open Thread Wednesday 12/10/08

Is the tree lighting on the Promenade tonight? If so, does anyone know the exact time?

Tree lighting followed by caroling starts at 5:45.

Matt, that kind of inter-agency communication break-down is the norm. I work on Hudson Street, which has been paved, and torn up and re-paved so many times, I beginning to think they’re using is as a training facility.

what’s going on with the partially collapsing house at monroe and clark? the scaffolding is partly gone and there appears to have been construction work done.

Just got a used piano and looking for recommendations on a tuner and someone who gives lessons (for both an adult and a young child neither of whom have ever played before)

Thanks

Dear god, Claude!! I won’t sleep for weeks.

Just promise me they’re not radioactive….

This being an Open Thread Wednesday, where anything goes, I will post this – even at the risk of annoying those who can’t stand the fact that many of us write about Montague Street the way it used to be. But please – I’m obviously older than you are, so bear with me. Having not walked up and down Montague Street with a camera when I was a child, it drives me crazy that although I grew up in this neighborhood, I can’t put the pieces together. I try to recall what was on that street in the 50s and 60s (maybe extending into the 70s) and this is what I come up with: Silver’s (always #1 on my list); Womrath’s, Lassen & Hennig’s (when it was on the north side of the street); the Piano Bar, Nettie’s (now Banana Republic); Old Mexico, the Chinese laundry (still there); Peter Reeve’s (Einhorn? Bohack? – I’m not clear on those); Mammy’s Pantry, Sam’s Meat Market (in the Corcoran corner spot); the Chinese restaurant upstairs (now Hair Profiles); Pincus Framing (now Montague Art); a restaurant with a fish net in the window (maybe in the Radio Shack spot); Kleinman’s Pharmacy – and – well, that’s where it stops. Can anyone fill in the missing pieces?

This is scary that I actually remember this, but wasn’t there an episode of Gilligan’s Island with giant vegetables that they were able to grow from some radioactive seeds?

Also, is anyone going to the community board meeting this evening? Is being held at congregation Mount Sinai, if you are interested.

Since 47, I moved here in 1977 and remember a vegetable and fruit vendor in the middle of Montague on the north side between Henry/Hicks, also a small record store right near it. Between Henry and Clinton was Meneuirs Art Gallery on the street and Perelandra up the stairs. Wasn’t there a Lenny’s Clam Bar in the late 70’s? i sorta remember red and white stripes. Capulet’s on Montague where Bon Gusto is now. And the Saloon where Housing Works is now. OMG, my brain cells are being tested and they’re losing.

From the enumeration of ’50s-’70s M. Street stores, it sounds like the tenor of the area wasn’t much different from what it is now.

Was it? I mean, it must’ve had a greater mom-and-pop contingent, yes? And what, for example, did William H. Van Vleck sell? I’m flashing on that store in the move version of The Big Sleep that sold “rare books” but that actually purveyed oo-la-la porn.

Dallas Jones BBQ on ATL only taking Amex now. Great move guys.

Since47 (hi!)-
Have you forgotten Rozelle’s Hair Salon (although it was probably just a “beauty parlor”), probably where Hair Profiles is now?
And, Melanie, I agree that, for a short time in the 80s, there was a HUGE produce store, but I think it was more where Jennifer Convertibles is now. And where the vegetarian restaurant is now (upstairs from Andy’s), there was Stuff ‘n’ Nonsense in the 60s — great clothing.
Wasn’t Connecticut Muffin Old Mexico? Or was it the vacuum-repair place?

Francine – what you infer is not true. Montague Street was far, far more interesting than compared to what it is now. There were more interesting stores and places to eat and drink. Mind you it was not the end all, but you could spend a good deal of time there on a weekday night or weekend and really feel that you had a good time out.

It is a pity to see what it has been reduced to today. I blame the greedy landlords and the Brooklyn Heights Association and their push to get “clean” tenants into the Montague Street locations. Pity. When things happen slowly it is harder to see the change for the worse!

Alas, Francine, I’m afraid that BH’s boho days are (long) over. An infusion of hip occurs in neighborhoods that are, at least initially, relatively cheap to rent in. Not exactly the BH story.

The heterogeneity/raciness for which you (and others) long requires demographic diversity, but…see paragraph above.

As far as commercial property is concerned–there’s relatively little store-stock in BH, and landlords ARE greedy. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the five (!) vacant stores on Henry near Cranberry. I’m not betting on cool, idiosyncratic restaurants, clothing shops, or even a bar making the cut.

@AEB, I haven’t been by Noodle Pudding in a little while, but if I recall correctly from last year, the “cabbages” are purple kale (http://flickr.com/photos/dhrumil/2153034252/) which are not only edible, but rather delicious.