Open Thread Wednesday

By on April 16, 2019 11:19 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Share this Story:

  • Andrew Porter

    I’ve harvested 4 dozen more images from the Municipal Archives, and some are really incredible. Here, courtesy the Municipal Archives, is the NE corner of Love Lane and College Place in 1940; where the CVS is now:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d224470739b2ffaa3129b6da40479bea008db795ee84778872c99d1d7f00ec27.png

  • Banet

    CVS is the NW corner. And this isn’t the CVS building I don’t think. Their building is only 2 stories.

    So where is this?

  • Andrew Porter

    NE corner of College and Love Lane. You can see the tall apt. building on Henry in the distance. This, and the brownstones on Henry, were torn down for the building that became D’Agostino’s, then CVS.

  • Jorale-man

    That looks like the space where 160 Henry now stands (Bjork’s former digs). That was built probably in the 1930s, so this photo had to have been right before it was demolished (the cars looks 30s-ish too).

  • Bornhere

    I was really confused by it, but for old-timers, it was the back entrance to Bohack’s. Great image.

  • Banet

    Huh. Now I get it. It’s the back of the now-CVS. I’m surprised the CVS building is of such recent vintage. It looks older than that.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Andrew,
    Correct me if I am incorrect but this is where the garage was before becoming condos. CVS is on Henry Street.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    It was Bohack’s market before D’Agostino’s

  • Andrew Porter

    Here’s the building that became the condo, on the west corner (this photo from 1983):
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/652f749bce4ad24c912b2bbc9f71876b48a4f4792eb1c5cc4ce2d372c839152b.png

  • Andrew Porter

    NY Patch reports there’s a GoFundMe campaign to pay funeral expenses for the worker who died when he fell from 1 Pierrepont Street:

    http://tinyurl.com/y264rl7e

  • Andrew Porter

    10 minute travelogue of Brooklyn in 1949, has many views of BH from then:

    https://youtu.be/t4-sdgN8KfQ

  • Love Laner

    Thank you for sharing. Just donated.

  • Jorale-man

    Some signs of life at the Bossert Hotel. Someone left some planters out front with shrubs and plants in the past week or so. Meanwhile, two doors down, I saw some workers in the old Starbuck’s space a few days ago.

  • Banet

    There’s also a notice of a liquor license application on a lamp post on their corner. The hearing is May 1.

    Also, they’ve replaced the streetside awning poles — that used to be brass — with cheap aluminum poles. I’d complain to landmarks but I suspect an awning is considered a “non-permanent” structure that falls outside Landmarks.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Funny. The black population in Brooklyn was probably over 25% in 1950 and I didn’t see 1 African-American in the entire film. How curious. Thanks for the post.

  • Jorale-man

    Interesting – good eye on both. I’ve long suspected that taste may not be the strong suit of the Bossert’s new owners. Either way, they must be loosing a fortune on the building, they way it sits vacant year after year.

  • Local_Montague_Man

    One of the new owners has upside in waiting his partners out, and he has the means to wait. The partnership has already lost one hotel operator and to my knowledge do not have a contract with another operator. I wouldn’t hold my breath for an opening anytime soon. In fact I would be tempted to bet the hotel on Remsen opens first…

  • Jorale-man

    Think of all the money that nearby businesses are losing out on by not having guests in those hotel rooms. Granted, the Jehovah’s Witnesses apparently didn’t patronize local shops and restaurants, but a hotel could mean a lot of cash in the pockets of the Heights Cafe, Teresa’s, Lassen & Hennigs, etc. Real estate in NYC is nuts.

  • Banet
  • Cranberry Beret

    Whatever you do, don’t walk under the center of the awning which has been collecting water all winter and will someday burst at its seam.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Kinda puts the lie to the narration when panning the Statue of Liberty and the voiceover intones that America is a place of liberty, freedom from oppression, regardless of race, creed, color, etc., eh? (see around the 2:15 mark)

  • William Gilbert

    Not true. Check your facts before posting. The Black population of Brooklyn in 1950 was slightly under 8%, in 1960 it was about 14% and didn’t hit 25% until 1970.

  • Andrew Porter

    Tiny URL for article on Brownstoner here:

    http://tinyurl.com/y3gj63u4

  • Andrew Porter

    A reminder of the past days of glory, in one of my Bossert postcards:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f821448f2e485a9894eb535136cd99a91ebea4a17350b4112e2bec40d3c2a348.jpg

  • Local_Montague_Man

    maybe one of the reasons Montague Street has so many closed storefronts? Owners could be holding out for increased foot traffic numbers….