Brooklyn Heights Blog

BHB newshound @mopostal informs us the NBC’s Parks and Recreation, starring SNL alum Amy Poehler,  is slated to film around Henry and Clark Streets Monday between 5am - 6pm.

Manhattan has the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, the Guggenheim and more but Brooklyn Heights has snagged the Toy Museum.  The Brooklyn Eagle reports:

Brooklyn Eagle: Marlene Hochman, founder of The Toy Museum of New York (formally known as The Doll and Toy Museum of NYC) and local public officials will host a preview of the museum’s exhibitions at its new home on the second floor of 157 Montague St., this Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The museum, which possesses more than 500 toys, has opened a new, unique space to share its treasures with the community. Visitors are encouraged to come and enjoy this charming and magical setting located in historic Brooklyn Heights.

The folks at Gotham Sidewalks will host their inaugural Brooklyn Baseball bike tour Sunday (11/8) at 11am:

Most baseball fans know about the great Brooklyn Dodger teams of the 1950s…Jackie Robinson’s signing, the magic of Ebbets Field, or the meteoric rise of Brooklyn’s own Sandy Koufax. But did you know that baseball’s first superstar was a Brooklynite? And that the “Trolley Dodgers” began playing in Park Slope? This bike tour takes you from the roots of Civil War era “base ball” to the exodus of the Dodgers in 1957… all while rolling along one of the finest circuits of urban bike paths in the country. The route is about 10-miles long, includes some uphill biking, and takes about 3 hours.

Meet in Park Slope, Brooklyn in front of the Brooklyn Bicycles shop (some bike rentals available at a special daily rate of $25) at the corner of 9th St. & 6th Ave. Trains: F/G to 7th Ave.; or R/M to 4th Ave.

For more info on other Brooklyn Walking Tours, check out our Brooklyn Walking Tours page.

Getting in an accident stinks.   When the reckless wacko who sideswipes you is a cabbie - ostensibly a “professional” driver - it just makes things worse.

Our pal Brownstoner just posted this dispatch:

A few minutes ago Mrs. B was side-swiped on Pierrepont Street in a hit-and-run by a yellow cab with medallion number 3Y65; there were three small children in the back of the car. No one was hurt but we’re out a side view mirror. We reported it to TLC but don’t have a lot of faith they’ll do anything about it. It will be interesting to watch the slow wheels of bureaucracy turn though.

We’re glad no one was hurt.   The cabbie fled the scene.  Brownstoner says the hack knew he’d done some damage because, “Mrs. B chased him for a couple of blocks honking her horn so we’re pretty sure he was aware!”

Alexander Payne’s 2004 opus Sideways, which was a breakout role for Brooklyn Heights resident Paul Giamatti, has been remade in Japanese.  Director Cellin Gluck has unleashed his version of the film, with Giamatti’s character Miles transformed into the less edgy Michio, played by Fumiyo Kohinata.  The venue of the film is changed from Santa Barbara to the Napa Valley, which is more familiar to Japanese audiences.  That flip has at least one wine writer a little miffed and calling on Santa Barbara wine makers to try harder in making their brands more well known worldwide.

As for the movie itself, Japan Times writer Mark Schilling notes:

This is pretty much the approach of the entire film, which rounds off the original’s rough (that is, interesting) edges, particularly Paul Giamatti’s prickly wine-snob writer, while re-engineering the story for Japanese tastes.

This makes box-office sense, since a direct translation of the original would jangle local sensibilities like merlot in a sake cup. Gluck’s “Sideways,” however, has a play-pretend quality, like the Japanese boomers who dud themselves up in cowboy gear to listen to Hank Williams tunes at a club in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Not that there’s anything wrong with it — but you would never mistake it for the real thing, would you?

You really need to see the trailer… after the jump. Read more »

The hot mess that is One Front Street in DUMBO has lost its bid for a cabaret license, the Brooklyn Paper reports.   A Community Board 2 committee gave the application a big thumbs down last night.

Brooklyn Heights-DUMBO Brahmin/ Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition board member/ former Fulton Ferry Landing Association president Gary van der Putten is quoted in the report saying, ““I have lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and I have never objected to any new restaurant or establishment … But what happens is that these kinds of places get cabaret licenses then, all of a sudden, they deteriorate into clubs.”

In a blog post prior to the CB2 meeting, the FFLA reports that “over this last weekend, local Fulton Ferry residents complained about booming vibrations and shouting in the street from what appeared to be two all-night events at One Front.”

One Front owner Marcelo Pevida claimed that dancing [for the community!] would only be offered on the second floor of the venue while the first would remain dedicated to dining. Upon hearing that one DUMBO resident in attendance shouted “we don’t want to dance!”

Democrat Steve Levin completed his journey to coronation in the 33rd NYC Council District with a landslide win over his “competitor” in yesterday’s election.

The Vito Lopez protege won 91% of the vote against Conservative Party candidate Elizabeth Tretter’s 9% (who we’re not sure even knew she was running… really… seriously… anyone hear anything about her?).

This also marks the end of the Yassky era in D-33.  Godsky speedsky David and good lucksky to Mr. Levin.

Flickr photo via Paint the Town

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