Open Thread Wednesday 4/8/09

By on April 8, 2009 12:08 am in Brooklyn Heights
Flickr photo of $8.99 toothpaste at Gristedes by ystrickler

Flickr photo of $8.99 toothpaste at Gristedes by ystrickler

It’s Open Thread Wednesday and it’s why they hate us for our freedom.  What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • josh

    Picking up the convo about former St Senator Connor – funny article in yesterday’s Daily News about him and other ex politicians and their license plates –

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/07/2009-04-07_politicians_not_in_office_but_dont_tell_.html

    As coincidence would have it I actually saw him on Montague Street at 8:30 AM yesterday sitting in his idling car reading a paper waiting for the meters to become active at 9AM…. (and at the time I didn’t know about the article but he was reading either the post or news – quite possibly reading the article about himself and his license plate – the irony!)

  • alex

    I heard rumors of Easter services on the promenade. True? Any other Easter festivities worth attending?

  • AEB

    Hell’s bells! NINE BUCKS FOR A TUBE OF TOOTHPASTE! Good thing we’re not living in a period of economic…downtown.

    Way to go, Gougestedes!

  • Eddy

    Gristedes well knows the PT Barnum philosophy of business “there’s a sucker born every minute”

  • AEB

    Where are the taggers when they could actually perform a useful civic function: decorate Gristedes’ windows with the word

    “Gougers” or similar.

    Not that I’m advocating the destruction of private property…..

  • Monty

    I just checked cvs.com (http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/shop_product_detail.jsp?filterBy=default&skuId=586099&productId=586099&navAction=push&navCount=4&no_new_crumb=true) and the same toothpaste costs $4.39. How the hell does that place stay in business? Peas and Pickles is essentially an overgrown deli, but it still has better prices.

  • BB

    Whoever took the picture of the toothpaste should have moved a little bit to the right to snap a photo of the toilet paper.

    This might be TMI — but the price of butt paper has gotten so out of hand that I am debating whether to continue being a gentile member of society or go ROGUE!

  • Publius

    Dana Rubenstein has a profile of Councilmember Yassky here: http://tinyurl.com/czssjx

  • EAC

    Trader Joes has good cheap TP.

  • Jen

    Has anyone seen kosher for Passover Coca Cola anywhere in the neighborhood? It’s usually in 2-liter bottles with yellow caps. No luck so far at Peas & Pickles, Grosstedes or the bodega in the Clark St station.

  • No One Of Consequence

    You don’t actually expect Grosstedes to be at all accommodating, do you?

  • nancy

    Try Keyfood on Montague. I saw them there

  • http://mermaidsonparade.blogspot.com melanie hope greenberg

    Shameless Wednesday plug.

    My art exhibition is at the Brooklyn Central Library. There’s 28 display showcases featuring original art from 7 of my picture books.
    Click my name to see the installation on my blog. Thanks.

    Brooklyn Central Public Library – Grand Army Plaza – Youth Wing
    “ORDINARY INTO EXTRAORDINARY” April 7 – June 13, 2009
    Melanie Hope Greenberg celebrates 20 years in picture book publishing
    with a retrospective of her picture book art portraying New York City’s urban communities.

  • nabeguy

    Whoever was doing the pricing must have mistook the brand for “Arm and a Leg”

  • bornhere

    nabeguy wins. Very, VERY funny.

  • AEB

    (In re the Armando’s sign issue, Judy Stanton and Co. would do well to check out Heights Limousine near Orange on Hicks.

    In front of the operation a toilet, painted a very ugly brown, has been stationed. It now serves as a combined planter for dead foliage and ashtray.

    Definitely not worthy of landmark status.)

  • Pierrepont

    Speaking of insane rip-offs… Michael Towne wants $53 for a bottle of Don Julio blanco tequila… two blocks south, at Montague Wine & Spirits, the same bottle is $43, if memory serves. (Caveat: that was the differential last weekend.) That’s as egregious as $9 toothpaste, in my book.

  • benita berman

    Is anyone aware that the art deco mosaic mural from the original St. George Hotel pool is slated for destruction very shortly when the present pool is renovated. I wonder if it is possible to save this piece of old Brooklyn Heights history. I grew up on Clark Street and graduated PS8. My family owned two brownstones on Clark (which are no longer standing) and one on Pierrepont and the St. George was our neighborhood pool and I would hate to see a piece of it destroyed. Perhaps it can be moved. I don’t believe “Landmarking” applies to the interior of buildings. Comments?

  • Senor Salsa

    Benita Berman,

    How would one get a chance to see this mosaic?

  • No One Of Consequence

    Benita, I belive you will find remnants of said mosaic in dumpsters on Hicks at Pineapple.
    So, looks like it’s a done deal.

  • nabeguy

    Nooc, do you know that as a fact? I’m there.

  • nabeguy

    F’ing philistines. Took them all of one day to undo the painstaking labor of true craftsmen who probably toiled for weeks if not months to create this intricate mosaic. Having retrieved some pieces from the dumpster, I can attest to the exactitude that went into this project… not only from the subtlety of the tints used in the ceramics but to the precise spacing between each handset tile. Good luck trying to get this kind of work today. In the meantime, the LPC and BHA dither over Armando’s signage. What a disgrace.

  • benita berman

    I called the BHA on Monday morning to let them know about the planned destruction of the mosaic, but they did not seem to think there was anything that could be done, since landmarking only applies to the outsides of buildings. As a painter and art teacher I was appalled to learn of the plans to destroy the mural. I contacted the NY Times, who thought it would make and interesting story, but it’s obviously too late now. Didn’t the owners of Eastern Sports know there are cracks in the Sistene Chapel? I will post the pictures I took of the mural and other vintage tile work and signage around the pool on apple’s mobile me site. I have a photo gallery page. The address is gallery.mac.com/benitaberman. The album will be called St. George Pool. Click on it and enter the username of mosaicpics and the password artlover. If anyone wants to see what was left of the old historic pool, check it out.

  • bornhere

    Unfreakingbelievable. I can’t quite grasp that the mural has been tossed. Whose (short-sighted and stunningly mindless) decision was this? Nabeguy — treasure the pieces you were lucky enough to salvage; maybe that’s what it all comes down to.
    Was this not something open to argument/debate/discussion/alternative??

  • nabeguy

    Thanks Benita, it’s comforting to know that there’s something left for posterity. As easy as it is to demonize EA for their cavalier approach to re-modeling, it’s the landlords that allowed them to chop up the property that are really at fault.

  • benita berman

    I only learned of this when I visited the pool over the weekend with my camera in hand to take some pictures of what was left of the old pool. The lifeguard told me to be sure to take a picture of the mosaic since it was coming down next week. I spoke to the health club manager and she told me it was coming down because it was unrepairable – you can see the crack in the picture. It wasn’t falling down – they deemed it “unsightly”. Ridiculous – all old art shows the damage of time, elements, etc. I was unable to marshall any support – I also posted an alert on the St. George Tower Yahoo group website, but I didn’t receive any answers or comments. Brooklyn Historical Society was closed on Monday and Tuesday and I got nowhere with Brooklyn Heights Association or the NY Times. I don’t know if they needed any permits from the city, but in any case, it’s gone now. Nabeguy, did you retrieve enough tiles to share? I would love to have some.

  • nabeguy

    Bornhere, if you’re not familiar with the Yahoo group dedicated to the St George, check it out. I grabbed as many pieces as I could for the members of the group that might be interested in a genuine piece of the St George. It’s truly stunning work that you’d be hard-pressed to find an equal to in todays mass-produced world. Not to wax too nostalgic, but in looking at these fragments, you can really get s sense of the pride that the workers put into their jobs in an era where people defined themselves by their individual skills.

  • nabeguy

    Benita, I have one with your name on it.

  • No One Of Consequence

    It’s ok to demonize the owners of EAC. You won’t be the first.

  • nabeguy

    What exactly is up with that NOOC? They’re like the Gristedes of the fitness world, and yet they still survive. Personally, I’m not a member but my wife is and, after this, I’m pulling her membership. Better my spouse gains a few pounds than the neighborhood losing a few treasures.

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