Open Thread Wednesday

By on January 22, 2020 12:32 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • CassieVonMontague

    This week is the 50th anniversary of the death of John von Wicht, an abstract painter and muralist, who lived at 35 Clark St for many years.

    https://americanart.si.edu/artist/john-von-wicht-5178

    https://www.caldwellgallery.com/bios/vonwichtbio.html

  • Cranberry Beret

    According to NYC, there are about 600 properties in Brooklyn Heights categorized as “primarily 1-, 2-, and 3-family homes” (aka Class 1).

    They released data last week that says three-quarters of them are worth more than $5 million.

    50 of them are worth more than $10 million!!

    This doesn’t include any co-ops or condos, just houses

    https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/taxes/property-assessments.page

  • TeddyNYC

    They’re closing 5 stores in the city. No mention of which stores.

  • TeddyNYC

    Unless Amazon decides to take over.

  • Remsen St Strollin

    The court filings say that the stalking horse bid in bankruptcy from Shop Rite includes the stores in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Kips Bay, Chelsea, and Harlem. No dice on Brooklyn. Still could be someone that comes in to buy, but nothing yet. Will be really bad for that part of Red Hook I think… though I guess Hometown + Bklyn Crab will still make the immediate area a destination.

  • Banet

    What year was that?

  • aconcernedneighbor

    Can we talk about what we’re going to do when Fairway closes?

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

    They may not close. It looks like the company that owns Shop Rite and Gourmet Garage is going to buy the Manhattan stores. The Remaining stores may also be sold. But for the meantime there is no plan to close.
    https://progressivegrocer.com/fairway-sell-5-stores-distribution-center-shoprite-operator

  • steve

    Move out of Brooklyn Heights I suppose, with the BQE repairs looming and rents and overall real estate sky high, Manhattan is becoming a better option…

  • aconcernedneighbor

    Thanks for the link. I really hope you’re right!

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Absolutely. Manhattan deserves anyone for whom Fairway filing bankruptcy and the looming BQE overhaul are the dealbreakers for living in this neighborhood.

  • Andrew Porter

    Bizarre on again, off again bankruptcy or not news. Maybe just wait a while to see when the dust settles…

  • Andrew Porter

    Article from the April 26, 1987 issue. Probably available on the NYT website.

  • cool
  • Andrew Porter

    And he woke up the next morning in “The Village,” where he was Number Six…

  • cool

    Who is number one?

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s, Shelsky’s, Sahadi’s, Whisk, Damascus Bakery, the fruit and veg place and Dellapietra’s, all within a hundred feet or so of Court and Atlantic.

  • Bornhere

    In the late 1950s, his wife babysat for my sister and me (we lived on Clark at Willow), and would often bring us odd little gifts. She was a lovely woman.

  • Banet

    No, I mean what year did you move to the Heights. It was well before 1987 I suspect.

  • Andrew Porter

    1968, and still in same apartment!

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Huh? … One IS trivial – also, I guess “locovore” has passed its sell-by date – although I know Fairway has its fangirls & boys…. But the BQE – seriously, that could make opening one’s windows just a little “gutsy,” and I’m not sure the Heights would get or merit the silver medal if we had to deal with that for 10 years! And noise and traffic – and I wonder how soon Sahadi’s will exit Atlantic Ave. in favor of their new store in Industry City (propelled by the kind of payday the neighboring greengrocer’s land-owner will be getting in the near future.)

    SPEAKING OF WHICH, has anyone heard rumors (no, I’m not starting one!) that Fascati’s and some neighbors are living on borrowed time with yet another condo planned for not-so-quaint Henry St.?!

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Oh, I suppose I just see a lot of privilege in the motivation and ability to pick up and move around the city because of temporary annoyances in one neighborhood or other. And the suggestion that the people and amenities of Brooklyn Heights don’t outweigh the BQE problem doesn’t sit right with me.

    I’ve been growing more sensitive to privilege and class divides these last few years. I don’t actually mean to offend anyone.

  • BrooklynHeightzer

    I would agree with Steve, at least from a pragmatic point of view – if Manhattan offer a better value than BH, or any other neighborhood for that matter, why not leave BH and move to Manhattan?

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    I’m questioning the metrics by which a neighborhood’s value is being measured here. My contention is that BH is valuable because of the people who live here and work here, and the institutions that exist within the neighborhood boundaries (not within ten minutes’ drive outside those boundaries). The attitude of “oh, the inconvenient reality of keeping up with city infrastructure—even temporarily—is bothering me; I’ll just throw indefinite and expendable sums at the problem and move to Manhattan” speaks volumes about whether that person was ever actually invested in being a part of this community.

  • BrooklynHeightzer

    I would use market forces of supply and demand as the best and true metrics, these are certainly MUCH better than ” valuable because of the people who live here and work here, and the institutions that exist within the neighborhood boundaries” metrics….Besides, what is wrong with people living in Manhattan?

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Oh, nothing’s wrong with people living in Manhattan. If market forces are better metrics for someone than the redeeming qualities of a neighborhood that change more slowly than the time it takes to repair a section of highway, they should absolutely follow those metrics. The rest of us stay because we don’t follow those metrics, or can’t afford to. (Moving is expensive, too.)

  • Andrew Porter

    Actress Michelle Williams and her fiancé, director Tommy Kail (“Hamilton”) bought a house for $10.8 Million at the NE corner of Willow and Orange Streets:

    https://tinyurl.com/qvhfqyq

  • Andrew Porter

    For a great detailed and sharp panoramic photo of Brooklyn Heights in 1908, looking north from perhaps the Bossert, go here:

    https://www.shorpy.com/node/3893?size=_original#caption

    https://tinyurl.com/qrw8sab

  • Eddyde

    Looks like it’s from the Standish Hotel, not the Bossert.

  • BrooklynHeightzer

    Pragmatism vs. idealism….

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