Open Thread Wednesday

By on April 20, 2022 10:51 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Alex

    Are we still on track for Clark St reopening by April 30 or nah?

  • kizz

    Blank Street Coffee opened on Monday, April 18th. Today, Wednesday, 04/20, they are giving away free coffee all day.

    They are located at 147 Montague.

  • kizz

    Yes. In fact, it will be open one week sooner. The project will be completed on Sunday, April 24th and the Clark Street subway station will be fully operational on Monday, April 25th.

    This was confirmed with the construction crew this morning.

  • Andrew Porter

    And by my talk with them yesterday.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’ve always appreciated those buildings and the plantings in front of them, Claude. Here’s a photo I took during the first months of the lockdown when the flowers were at their finest (click to enlarge):
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1500c6cc5a5eeb0d13e852912a52ab586057ff020619831725b733a4fc3578b8.jpg

  • Andrew Porter
  • Alex

    Have you tried it? Hope it’s good. This neighborhood desperately needs more trendy coffee shops.

  • winchell’s cavanaugh

    Catalytic converter stolen from under a car parked on Cranberry off Hicks 2 weeks ago.

  • Maya

    It’s amazing – I’ve been going to the one in Cobble Hill recently and am SO glad they opened up a location here. Went to get a free coffee today and the staff was really friendly and on point despite being slammed. Recommend the pistachio iced chai :)

  • Jorale-man

    Willow near Pierrepont? There’s a sequoia tree in the front yard of one of those houses (not a giant, obviously but still rare for around here).

  • kizz

    The coffee is very good, however I wouldn’t agree that the neighborhood “desperately needs more trendy coffee shops.” We have Gregory’s, Joe Coffee, Alice’s Tea Cup to Go (serving Brooklyn Roasting Company), Arabica, Kaigo Coffee Room, Sippy Cafe, Vineapple Cafe, Neighbors (down at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge), and now Blank Street Coffee now. A stand-alone Brooklyn Roasting Company coffee shop will also be opening at 1 Clinton Street this summer. Then, you have everything else I may have forgotten or is not “trendy” and also the other shops just outside the neighborhood borders.

    How many more will be sufficient?

    We need different business to compliment the glut of coffee shops, namely a great bookstore for starters.

  • Steve R.

    Yep, us too. Especially annoying since we pay for a garage space but I just couldn’t resist the spot I found on Joralemon just off Hicks. My mechanic tells me that there were multiple cars brought in within a day. Seems that they hit the neighborhood. Glad I have Comprehensive Coverage and that New Xcell is great at expediting repairs.

  • CassieVonMontague

    I once stopped at the one in DUMBO at the end of the day and the barista gave me a bunch of free pastries. It’s had a special place in my heart ever since.

  • CassieVonMontague

    sounded like sarcasm

  • Alex

    Gregory, Joe, Alice’s Teacup and Vineapple aren’t really trendy. Arabica is but that’s in Dumbo. We need something like Maman in the UWS, Devocion in Wburg, Blue Bottle, etc… more trendy in design/mid-century modern/plants.

  • Effective Presenter

    DUMBO not Dumbo.

  • Banet

    Not a sequoia but a Dawn Redwood. Thought to be extinct for a long time as I recall.

  • Jorale-man

    Ah, I knew it was one of the big trees from northern California…

  • C.

    Have to say, I was really disappointed with it. I only drink cold brew and it was absolutely the worst cold brew I’ve ever had. It completely lacked any flavor at all. Cold brew should have full, rich flavor, but this just tasted like really weak iced coffee. I actually don’t believe it really is cold brew. There’s no way this steeped overnight. I’ve tried them twice and it’s been the same both times. I can’t really go to a coffee place that doesn’t know how to make a simple cold brew. It’s a shame, because it’s a really cool place and they did a great job with the design. Very cool aesthetic, just shockingly bad cold brew. Guess I’ll have to wait for Brooklyn Roasting to open in 1 Clinton.

  • Mike Suko

    Whether or not the “we need more good coffee places” was ironic, in whole or in part, … I think the first rejoinder is so well put. As I said about the now 2 “head shops,” you have to remember that for all the current vacancies in BH (mostly on Montague at this point), space is absolutely finite, arguably shrinking as some residential buildings do NOT choose to have any retail at street level.

    So, one more coffee shop, clearly NOT “moving the needle” except for what is likely only a handful of fanboys, means that some other genuine and altogether absent community need/amenity/call it what you will goes unmet. And the irony is that if there’s a single successful patisserie, say, in a neighborhood, a 2nd or 3rd will open to take advantage of now demonstrated “demand,” and the opposite is also true. The absence of a fishmonger for – 20 years or more; could be much more … or I might be overlooking one – sends a message to someone with a dream (or an existing store, looking for a 2nd or new location) that “It probably wouldn’t work there.”

    Obviously, the “barriers to entry” are about as low as could be re coffee, and the margins are high, and it’s a roaring fire where tens of thousands of New Yorkers have actually worked in such places (and figure that they can make a go of it.)

    I’d also be interested if ANY of these numerous stores does much (anything ?) re “building community.” Maybe, that’s a Vermont/sixties concept, but one only has to look at “Books Are Magic” to see what a little vision can do along those lines.

    Last thing, since there are obviously some coffee lovers afoot. What restaurant serves a consistently “good cup” at the end of a meal?

  • Andrew Porter

    Need more cellphone and real estate stores! Oh, wait…

  • Andrew Porter

    Dawn Redwoods. Seeds brought back from China in 1941. One was growing behind the building next to the Montague Street Promenade entrance but was removed. Another is next to the Unitarian Church on Monroe Place. See:

    https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/great-trees?id=1

    There’s a grove of them in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but behind a fence in the maintenance area.

  • KDHicks

    +1 on the great indie bookstore front

  • KDHicks

    So weird — I’ve had cold brew from them at other locations and has been consistently great. Maybe they’re just still getting everything set up.

  • KDHicks

    Yes, it’s exciting to see some of the retails spots getting filled on Montague St. – among them, a new deli, a new croissant place, a new apothecary (does anyone know what this is?), and a new restaurant (same, anyone know what this is?).

    There has never been more of a need for community and hoping these spots seize on that opportunity – think a lot of BH folks are craving more of a neighborhood connection. A bookstore, place for readings or open mic nights, would be great or just some kind of town square concept. A co-op market (with a fish monger, butcher, etc.) would be great and on the hospitality front, think a craft beer + natural wine bar on Montague would do well.

    Fingers crossed that the landlords are considering community-building on the street.

  • Effective Presenter

    Community Relations left Brooklyn Heights when Brooklyn Union Gas, National Grid left 195 Montague Street for One MetroTech Center.

    Corporate citizens, community partners are no longer in vogue.

    The world has changed.

    Kevin

  • C.

    I tried two different locations.

  • Mike Suko

    Love KDHicks optimism/possibilities/etc. and recognize that Eff. Pre.’s cynicism is probably somewhat realistic. But I’d like to think that SBUX is VERY DIFFERENT from the dozen Heights-and-nearby coffee vendors. Yes, it’s easy to focus on “how many cups?” and “what’s the average check?” but Books are Magic (yes, I’m a fan, but not plugging it except as illustrative) proves that you can do good and – as a result – do well. Of course, one can patronize the coffee spot closest to one’s apt., but common sense says that people are willing to walk an extra few minutes if there’s something – yes, it could be the coffee, but more likely it’s something else – that makes that easy to justify.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Dawn Redwoods have the scientific name Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, so they have some kinship with the sequoias of California.

  • Andrew Porter

    Tolkien’s Ents would know…

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