Open Thread Wednesday

By on June 25, 2019 11:54 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Anonnymouse

    What’s up with 70 Henry ? What’s with all the elder home ads? Is this going to be an older folks community?

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    All 5 apartments are close to $5MM. Expensive elder home.

  • KBells40

    The ground floor is the leasing office for the new senior community that is coming to Clark St. The apartments above are separate/unrelated.

  • Montaguy

    I thought the former JW building corner Clark & Willow was to be made high end elder home.

  • Andrew Porter

    I stopped in the sales office yesterday. Michael Flores is the “Membership Director” and the new name for the place is “The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights.” Their website is

    watermarkbrooklyn.com

  • Andrew Porter

    Courtesy the Municipal Archives, here’s 71 Henry Street in 1961, before it was the Ace Wire Brush Company and then the office for the Brooklyn Eagle. Really plain mid-century industrial construction:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2484cba3c70262afd807e812bc83e3478debbc68bb10069491a279af69ef902.png

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Hi neighbors! Can anyone recommend a good rug cleaner in the area?

    Looking for a happy medium between price and quality treatment of a stain/smell…the offending cat has been soundly rebuked.

  • Andrew Porter

    Tazza, which I think became Amy’s Bread (could be wrong) on Clark, and then opened at 311 Henry Street, has recolonized Clark Street. A new branch is opening at 74 Clark Street.

    More info maybe on their website:

    amysbread.com

    There’s also some sort of massage/health place opening next door. Their sign involves words on the outside of the window glass. I stopped in and told them that Landmarks doesn’t allow this.

  • Jorale-man

    I can’t say I’m in love with the Amy’s Bread replacement for Tazza on Henry. I miss the old outdoor seating and more substantial menu (including freshly-made sandwiches and salads brought to you with real dishes and silverware, not plastic utensils). Amy’s pastries are pretty good, but it’s really become a take-out place now.

  • Robert Moses

    Amy’s is awesome — very high-quality baked goods and nice selection of sandwiches (try the grilled cheese). Not cheap but some of the best pastries and cakes you’ll find in NYC — buttercream icing better than Magnolia Bakery, even…

  • Bornhere

    I’m not sure this is correct; it doesn’t have the roof “levels” of the old Ace Wire Brush, and I’m not sure a “cafe” at 30 Henry would call itself 71 Cafe.

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

    Agreed, I thought the Ace building was purpose built as a brush factory. That’s based on vague memories of an impromptu tour of the place when I was a tween and a walkthrough in the 90’s right after Ace closed. Of course the building could have also been modified for that use.

  • W.R.

    What’s up with Quay tower! The tacky lettering at the top is awful. Pier 6 Las Vegas style.

  • Robert Perris

    Amy’s Bread has applied for a sidewalk café license.

  • Andrew Porter

    The photo was originally identified as 70 Henry Street, but that can’t be right. Can it?

  • Andrew Porter

    There’s an article in today’s NY Times about a celery juice fad which opens with, “In May 2018, Perelandra, a natural foods store and juice bar in Brooklyn Heights, sold 698 pounds of celery; in May 2019, they sold 1,245 pounds of it, according to Roland Auer, the store’s co-owner. He’s seen these patterns before.

    “A couple years ago cilantro shot up in popularity like this,” he said. “Last summer it was turmeric.”

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

    It’s most likely 71 Henry which would have been on the east side of the street, roughly across from where the BH Cinema was. It would have been demolished it to make way for the Cadman Towers.

  • Jeremy

    The restaurant was located at 53 Henry Street — SE corner of Cranberry. The 1940 tax photo shows a 4-story tenement on that corner, and I have a drawing of the block from 1949 that shows this 1-story building, so it dates to the 1940s. As Arch writes, east side of Henry and demolished with the rest to make way for the Cadman towers.

    The Brooklyn Historical Society has some pics of the front on Henry, which I’m uploading. A while back I also found some pics from someone on ebay selling a matchbook from the restaurant (uploading those too).

    The “71” in the name has nothing to do with the address. (The Cranberry side of the building was on a block with even numbers in the 90s.) My guess, based on the matchbook which says “Italian Dishes Our Specialty,” is that it refers to the 1871 Unification of Italy. (Maybe that’s me being a history geek, but what else could it possibly mean?!)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac0a8819e32fdbf86118b98540715ba5430b5b71ec0cb55b49228eb8346dcafc.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f445c56e8ec1f5a90136689a0e43f991f0a8b35bd58df4454d37d1ec57c037e4.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d510b30021a2f436b7a112090e8799cdf4834dc0c8f4f32669f36149f4888330.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ecf61809bcd1e9f80a49626d8d0d55a8983b5ecf8eeabf3014e0e3fedae43e7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/961cc3e54471c5e2d3629a5a30c53dad49320f9ccd49289f39c5cceda973cff4.jpg

  • Bornhere

    Great find; interesting remodeling, with the addition of the parking lot/reduction of interior space.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Word on the street that BQE Panel won’t recommend temporary highway on either Promenade *or* on BBP berms. Doesn’t give them a lot of room to work with!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46723318868e29d78492999821dc37d1e879ac7c4015c728d1785abdf4f7a088.png

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

    I think Andrew’s picture is showing the Cranberry St side of the building. Looking towards the rear of the restaurant.

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

    That would only leave the “Traditional” Lane by Lane or the Tunnel as options. Lane by lane would also be a nightmare for the Heights.

  • Bornhere

    So the pavement in Andrew’s picture would be the parking lot? Could be. The signage seems like a kind of big deal for that side, but if there wasn’t remodeling, that’s the answer. This was before even my time, but I’m amazed that I’ve never heard of the place. Again, neat find.

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

    Cool, thanks for settling that. Another theory; 71 could have been referring the original address of the restaurant, it may have then relocated and simply kept the name.

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

    Not sure there is a parking lot, those cars may be simply parked on Cranberry street and there may be a vacant lot on the north-east corner. The signage is wrapping around the corner of the building as evident in one of Jeremy’s pictures.

  • Bornhere

    Ack! I see it now! You’re right — and starting to get on my nerves :)

  • Jorale-man

    That would be nice. Hopefully they can get it approved before the end of the summer.

  • meschwar

    Anybody know anything about why the sprinklers at Walt Whitman park haven’t been on this year? Also Harry Chaplin playground.

  • Jeremy

    Arch FTW! Here’s the restaurant in the 1940 phonebook — located at 71 Pineapple. So much for my Italian history theory :/

    71 Pineapple is the current Vineapple space…has always been a rotating series of bars

    Still looking to find out why the original Henry St 4-story building came down in the 40s (fire?) and replaced with the 1-story one

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cef604319dec8816e47faad8b007073a52a07787a946c74e20dbfc0890eb4e8.jpg

  • Andrew Porter

    Yes, here, courtesy the Municipal Archives, is 45 Henry Street in 1940, with the vacant lot next to it where the restaurant was built by the early 1960s:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce4353631c70df8f05d2182ff119590be838eb3974ee21d6d6d4a55adfbca94f.png

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