Open Thread Wednesday

By on October 25, 2022 11:22 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Remember Garden Place Halloween Party from 4PM till Dusk on October 31st. One of my favorite neighborhood events that expresses Brooklyn Heights best holiday communal spirit.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKDw3RB4oKM

  • Banet

    Not to mention the massive jack-o’-lantern display On Grace Court Alley. Right around the corner from Garden Place.

  • Banet

    Willowtown is absolutely part of Brooklyn Heights. The name Willowtown simply refers to a subset of our neighborhood. Not unlike the way people refer to the “fruit streets“.

  • Banet

    Oh dear God. Losing that housewares store would be a huge loss. I am in there on at least a monthly basis purchasing something to make my weekend home maintenance go more quickly. Just off the top of my head my recent purchases include a length of chain, a lock, an appliance light bulb, some paint, some foam brushes, some soil, a plunger, some sandpaper, some caulk, some wire cutters, a hose spray nozzle… the list is endless.

    The place on Montague is already insanely overpriced and understocked. If Brunos went away I can’t imagine the lock they would have on the market. :-(

  • Banet

    What a shame Care Cube didn’t go under a few months earlier – it would have been a MUCH better location for the Women’s Exchange than their new location under the UPS Store. Their new location is SO small and has stairs, which is a huge impediment to shoppers with strollers, which I suspect is a lot of their traffic. :-/

  • Bornhere

    And for some reason, the whole “fruit streets” thing drives me crazy. I’ve lived here for my forever, and I don’t remember ever hearing/using that term.

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

    Found the term in 1983 NYTimes article. Probably took off in the 90s.

    With all the calm of a dead-end street, Brooklyn Heights attracts not only people who value tranquillity, like writers, but also families. One resident says the fruit streets – Cranberry, Orange and Pineapple Streets – have an especially high concentration of children. The architect Theodore Liebman says: ”We never have to worry about the children. If we’re not at home and they run out of money, the merchants know them.” Over-the-counter credit with some merchants is one of many small-town patterns that persist in the Heights.

    https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/14/garden/in-brooklyn-heights-the-elegant-art-of-preservation.html

  • Bornhere

    I’ve done a bit of looking, and “fruit streets” also appears in Clay Lancaster’s “Old Brooklyn Heights: New York’s First Suburb,” from 1979. Next I’ll find out that “Billyburg” and “BoCoCa” were used in 1930 and totally lose my mind.

  • FatFreddy’sCatheter

    “Fruit streets” is code for “north of Clark, but not déclassé like (shudder!) Middagh or Poplar.”

    ;)

  • Jeremy

    I found a reference to our “Fruit Streets“ going back to the 1890s! Wouldn’t be surprised if the term was used at least occasionally before then, too. But I think it became more in vogue around the 1920s/30s. There were a lot of nostalgic articles & books at that time about Heights history (the nabe was more than a century old by that point) following another wave of development. Some talked about the Fruit Streets again. This was also when some flowery writer took license and invented (mostly) the story of Mrs. Middagh replacing the street signs in the North Heights with the fruit names. Seems to have been an evergreen phrase in real estate pieces ever since.

  • CranberryMama

    Does anyone know what the group is that keeps meeting in the evenings on the corner of Cranberry and Hicks since Friday? They seem to have some lights with them. All weekend the lights were Blue, and tonight 10/31 they are red. Maybe a silent disco? Or something Halloween related? The people at Ingas must know. Thanks!!

  • Cranberry Beret

    Are you sure it wasn’t just people checking out the big skeleton at the vet? Only half joking! I haven’t noticed anything. Same time every night?

  • Andrew Porter

    Here’s another photo of 15 Clark Street, from 1940. Click to enlarge:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e62899363765a1789ce3dbe8d99075c9fdbdd193987f0ce3881eb11c1bc2f947.png

  • Andrew Porter

    I was in there recently and the cashiers were tight-lipped about any possible closure.

  • Andrew Porter

    Article in Brownstoner about the sale of 24 Middagh Street (the really old corner house):

    https://www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/brooklyn-heights-24-middagh-street-contract-federal/

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