Open Thread Wednesday

By on February 1, 2023 7:35 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo: Martha Foley

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  • Suzanne Q

    I’ve heard that quantity matters. Keep filing – and better yet, get a few other neighbors to file too. If nothing happens, send the numbers for the 311 complaints to Councilmember Restler’s office and they can follow-up.

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

    The anchor was there because the building once housed a ship charter brokerage. It remained after Merrill Lynch moved in. It was removed when Merrill left and it became a restaurant; naturally, the owner wanted the sidewalk space for outdoor dining. Some of us wanted to move it to the Promenade, but the Parks Dep’t said its weight would be hazardous. I’m not sure what’s become of the anchor.

  • aeshtron

    Aitken Place hides in plain sight.

    “Rev. Ambrose S. Aitken became pastor in 1941. Father Aitken renovated the school and established a residence for the convent next to the school. Prior to the new convent, the Sisters resided at the Community Convent on Congress Street. In 1942, Father Aitken, beginning preparations for the Parish Centennial, made improvements to the church such as painting, installing a new roof and a new approach to the front of the church and renovating the pews and kneeling benches.”

    https://www.stcharlesbklyn.org/history/

  • Jorale-man

    Thanks, good suggestions. I’ll try and nudge my neighbors. I know others who have complained about this building for a while and the city seems to look away. Restler’s office is a good idea too.

  • Jorale-man

    Interesting…Didn’t realize the street name was so recent. I always figured every local street was named in the 19th century.

  • Andrew Porter

    Fulton Street was renamed Cadman Plaza West for the Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, a now-nearly forgotten priest, last century, at which time Cad Plz East was renamed from Washington Street, this side of the BQE.

    Dumbest local renaming ever!

  • Jorale-man

    Well, maybe not much of a complement to be named after a Robert Moses project (even if it did bring some benefits to the area in the form of a park).

  • cool

    I wonder what that parade is.

  • William Gilbert

    Actually, Cadman was not a priest, but a Congregational Minister. And you’re spot on that it was a dumb re-naming!

  • Derval Whelan

    wasn’t it a Design Within Reach store before it was a restaurant? The anchor and a commem-oration plaque in the sidealk were both removed then

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

    You’re right; I’d forgotten about Design Within Reach. Still, I have a specific memory that the anchor was there until the restaurant moved in and had it removed to free space for outdoor tables.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Yes, posters for “Chama Mama – Coming Soon” are now up in the windows. This is great news!

  • Lucky Larry

    What a beautiful structure. Shame to have lost its original detailing to owner neglect.

  • Effective Presenter

    We collect nautical things that anchor would have been a great addition to our collection.

  • LEFTOVER

    Litttle correction… Msg. Aitken.

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

    I went back to the BHB archives to see what had been posted about the anchor. The latest post in time was on November 4, 2015, and noted that the owner of the anchor, Mr. Wolf Spille, former owner of the ship brokerage that had occupied the building, had it stored in a shipyard on Staten Island. He hoped to have it placed on the Promenade, but the Parks Department nixed that idea. http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/77400

  • Banet

    Correct. It was a Design Within Reach before it was the Friend of a Farmer. But before that it was a high end audio installation company. The anchor was there until the restaurant opened. The anchor could have been added to a Promenade entrance where they now have small boulders to prevent cars from driving on the Promenade.

  • Mike Suko

    I wish I had had a camera…. Although I might not have braved the Mt. Washington-level cold to use it if I had….

    Sat. A.M. – the recent one where even the NON-wind-chilled temps hovered around zero…. Making a “milk run” to Key on Montague (having seen CVS shuttered still at around 7:45.

    A LINE (out of Apt. 4F) all the way to the “Loft’s corner” – roughly 50 people … some of whom may have thought, “The line probably won’t be crazy long TODAY!”

  • Mike Suko

    No big deal, but the link above has tons of drawings, and “Landmarks” DID approve a design that is remarkably (foolishly, too, given that Clark St. is the furthest thing from “historic” on that block) faithful to the old design.

    And – ah! – the shed came back in a matter of days. Maybe, MaggieO nailed it – that even the SHED was in danger of falling down & had to be replaced.

  • JaneonOrange

    My husband was on line, thinking the same thing, but apparently there was a SWEATSHIRT giveaway!

  • Andrew Porter

    The lower part of the building on the right was once a garden for the rest, which started as a mansion, then an apartment building.

  • Andrew Porter

    In my reply to Lucky Larry in the thread about 100 Clark Street, the 1960s photo didn’t load (maybe because of Disqus’s new format where comments on comments get narrower and narrower.

    So, here. Click to enlarge:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c738f05fa3a64d2a92dec0c76594492f15f5c683b5615a7dda61a1339e0e71d7.jpg

  • Andrew Porter

    For Lucky Larry: here’s the photo of 100 Clark Street in the 1960s:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c738f05fa3a64d2a92dec0c76594492f15f5c683b5615a7dda61a1339e0e71d7.jpg

  • MaggieO

    ugh. it’s not always a good thing to be right :)

  • Mike Suko

    Actually, when I looked today, I saw that there’s a ledge an akward 6 feet or so above the sidewalk…. It’s just possible that that height was just wrong for the old shed. The ledge forms the base of a “bump out” window, and it looks unconstructable with the shed in place.

  • Jorale-man

    Crazy. I didn’t leave my apartment building for two days. I somehow don’t see myself making a croissant run in such weather…

  • lien49

    Wasn’t that also the location of Innovative Audio, purveyor of high-end home audio equipment?

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

    Yes; I’d forgotten that, too. That building went through many changes of tenancy during my time in the Heights.

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