Today, Ed writes about founding the Brooklyn Paper in 1979 on their website. It’s worth reading:

Brooklyn Paper: As I sat with a cadre of believers in Minsky’s Bar on Remsen Street back in 1978, envisioning a new kind of Brooklyn newspaper with the simplest of monikers, we strategized for the future — but certainly not for 30 years. We were young and somewhat reckless, and 30 years was a lifetime.

BHB  entertainment newshound Inna Chumikova sent us a photo and video of yesteday’s fake car crash on Cranberry and Willow Streets shot for the FX drama Damages. She comments, “Driver of the car was quite dizzy after crash other than that
everything went smooth.” Video after the jump.

The Danish Seamen’s Chuch [102 Willow Street] will hold its annual Danish Fair today and tomorrow.  Get yer Glogg on!

Photo by Aki Tuccu

A P.S. 8 parent  files this dispatch about last night’s reading event to benefit the school:

Despite drizzling rain, over a hundred people turned out for the first annual PS8 Night to Celebrate Reading Event at Umbrage Gallery in Dumbo last night to hear from over a dozen local authors, as well as actor/director/producer Gabriel Byrne. The event featured well-known authors such as Tad Friend, Warren St. John, Paul Zelinsky, and Josh Neufeld, as well as PS8 parent Melissa Milgrom and future PS8 parent Beth Feldman and others. After much coaxing, Gabriel Byrne joined author Arthur Phillips in an unplanned enactment of Phillips’ The Song is You: A Novel, which required “someone who can act a bit and has an Irish accent,” said Phillips, pointing to Byrne at the back of the room. Byrne reluctantly joined Phillips at the microphone to play a young female Irish piano teacher, much to the audience’s amusement. He finished his piece with a reading from James Joyce’s “The Dubliners.” The event raised money for the school’s enrichment programs and other necessities, and was made possible by generous donations from local businesses, authors, and publishers.

More photos by Aki Tuccu here.

Photos by Karl Junkersfeld

A BHB tipster writes in:

Nothing yet on the yellow Health Department signs adorning Le Petit Marche?

Matthew Parker comments:

Earlier this morning I walked by Le Petite Marche on Henry St. There are two Board of Health signs on the front windows ordering the restaurant closed.

I saw workers inside cleaning up.

NYC  Department of Health public records show that the restaurant racked up 23 violation points on November 11.  While high, that is still technically a “pass” for inspection.   Violations mentioned in the inspector’s report:

Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin infestation exist.
2.) Personal hygiene inadequate. Clean outer garments, effective hair restraint not worn.
3.) Evidence of, or live mice in facility’s food and/ or non-food areas.
4.) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

DEVELOPING…

Rezso Kasztner, a Jewish-Hungarian journalist who helped Jews escape Nazi occupied Hungary but later was wrongly accused of collaboration with the Third Reich by an Israeli court — leading  to his assassination – is the subject of a biopic by Gaylen Ross of  Brooklyn Heights.

The Brooklyn Eagle interviews Ross this week.   It notes that she was able to track down and interview Kasztner’s assassin, Ze’v Eckstein, for the film.

Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt with Nazis, is currently playing at Cinema Village in Manhattan.

BHB tipster “TF” ran out in the rain to catch opening day at Iris Cafe at 20 Columbia Place.  He says, “I can’t wait to go there for lunch. It’s adorable and the people were super friendly.”

Read the entire memo after the jump.

Flickr photo by Tom Rupolo

What’s on your mind? Comment below!

I was walking home tonight down Columbia Place and noticed that one of the formerly empty storefronts was no longer empty. I stopped and talked to the person there. Apparently it’s going to be a coffee shop and will be open this Thursday. It’s called Iris Cafe. As a resident of Riverside Apartments, I for one am very excited!

The Iris Cafe is one of the new restaurants revitalizing the Riverside Apartments strip.   An Italian restaurant is planning to open soon in the old River Deli space.

NY1 has a full video report.

Damages to Film in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday
The (Anti) Social Media World of Rex and Guder
Thugs Lift Hot Wheels on Cranberry Street
Park Progress: Thirty-third Report–It’s beginning to look a lot like a park!
“Holiday Thursdays” at Brooklyn Women’s Exchange
Cops Still Seeking Pierrepont St. Attacker
84th Precinct Police Blotter – 11/10/09
Terra Cotta Will Be Replaced at 111 Hicks Street
MGMT Frontman Loves Brooklyn Heights

Should we continue this weekly round up?  Comment below.

Brooklyn Heights is no stranger to the FX drama Damages which filmed much of its second season in and around Brooklyn last year.    Oscar winner William Hurt took up temporary residence on Willow Street during the filming and even caused some controversy at a local bistro.

The series is now shooting its third season, stopping recently in Ditmas Park, and will set up shop around Cranberry and Willow Streets this Thursday. That means if you’re parked around there you’ll need to get your car off the street by 10pm or risk “relocation”.

While Hurt is not expected back this season, the show has added some more star power to its cast: Campbell Scott, Martin Short, Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine and Reiko Aylesworth.

NY1: Tucked away inside St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn Heights is a treasure trove of toys. The Toy Museum of New York has opened on the second floor of the church, and its one room is packed with hundreds of toys dating back to the 1870s.

“We’re so thrilled to finally show New Yorkers our collection, and we welcome everybody to come and see us,” says Toy Museum founder Marlene Hochman.

All of the items on display are donated, from Lincoln Logs which first debuted in 1916, to an original 1939 View-Master, to a 1950s Lego set. The most recent toys in the collection are from the 1980s.

Lost City: I’ll wager that no stretch of pavement in New York City more completely takes you back in time than the stretch of Middagh between Henry and Willow Streets. Why? Because it is here, perhaps, that there is a greater concentration of well-preserved, wooden clapboard houses than anywhere else in the burg. This is because the street was one of the first built in this, New York’s first suburb. Most of the houses date from the 1820s. Together, they emanate a sense of beauty and peaceful simplicity that causes your racing heart and mind to slow down a speed or two.

Joe Daiuto's MySpace gun show in his graffiti laced room

We’re learning more about admitted graffiti “artists” and members of the  ”millennial” generation  Rex Ikwueme and Joe “Guder” Daiuto, who frustrated Brooklyn Heights residents recently with a spree of spray paint and magic marker powered vandalism.

Both “artists” have left a trail of social media breadcrumbs which reveal a little bit about their personalties and world view.

Daiuto’s MySpace profile shows the 19 year old posing shirtless in a room laced with graffiti, while his blog on the social network includes what appears to be surveillance video of two “taggers” on a roof.   He also attempts to drop the “N” bomb in its colloquial manner but manages to spell it wrong (or any of its hip hop variations for that matter).

As for Rex Ikueme, he claims to have been an extra in hipster rock band Passion Pit’s video for “The Reeling”.   Known for their complex arrangements and gifted musicianship, Passion Pit are serious musicians and artists who graduated from the prestigious Berklee School of Music.  What is  ”artist” and Pace University student Rex up to during his matriculation?  This YouTube video provides at least one piece of the puzzle:

This next video brings new meaning to the phrase “higher education” as Rex and friends frolic in what appears to be the St. George dorms:

Chillen w/ Tony boobs n’ shiet from rex ikwueme on Vimeo.

A glance at Rex’s Twitter feed (@themiddleman) shows a very social but average 20 year old with a slight obsession for Nudie jeans.   There is also one tweet from November 11th  that suggests contrition on his part:

Life experiences always humble my personality. I aint invincible after all. Thanks fam!(@stephaniethb ,momma, bevski, sistaz)

One more thing, Rex’s Twitter profile lifts a line from legendary Brooklyn born Hip Hop star Busta Rhymes — “Respect my conglomerate“.  Mr. Rhymes spent years building a reputation in the Hip Hip community based upon his talent and the swagger exhibited in that song is well earned.

After having what amounts to be a minor run-in with the law, we hope that  both Rex and Guder take Mr. Rhymes’ example and learn the true meaning of respect and how it is earned.

Note: Thanks to No One of Consequence and X as well as other commenters for doing some of the leg work for this piece.  We’ve also reached out to Rex via Twitter, offering him a chance to tell his side of the story directly to our readers.  The same offer applies to Mr. Daiuto who also has been contacted by BHB/The Brooklyn Bugle.  - Homer

BHB newshound “BP” sent in this photo of an Infiniti M45 parked on Cranberry between Henry and Hick Streets.  Its wheels were stolen at some point in the last few days.  Our tipster adds, “ Looks like the cops are on the case already as there is white fingerprinting powder on the sides of the car.”

Brooklyn Paper: “Firetrucks are definitely going to be a problem,” Ishwar Patel, an on-site inspector with the Department of Design and Construction told The Brooklyn Paper.
But he quickly backtracked — a bit.
“I’m just the inspector,” he added. “This is not my issue. The DOT [Department of Transportation] sends the designs, we implement them.”
But Patel did say that firetrucks would almost certainly have to go up onto the sidewalk to make a left turn from Hicks Street onto Joralemon Street.

NY Post:  ”It is amazing the change in Brooklyn in the last dozen years or thereabouts. I’m going to have dinner tonight in Brooklyn,” Hizzoner said yesterday as he announced the city’s deal to buy land in Coney Island. ”Time and time again, when I say, ‘Where do you want to go to have dinner?’ Friends who’ve come from out of town pick restaurants in Brooklyn, and that is really different,” the mayor added. ”They didn’t used to before. Maybe one or two in [Brooklyn] Heights, but Brooklyn has really come back.”

So is Noodle Pudding THE restaurant you’d recommend friends and tourists check out in Brooklyn Heights?  BHB contributor Karl Junkersfeld, who sent us this link, would agree.  Us?  We’d say Jack the Horse in the neighborhood or Henry Public in Cobble Hill among others.  How about you?

The Brooklyn Eagle profiles 28 Middagh Street and its current owner Richard Carlson today.  The home which has undergone extensive renovation is up for sale, priced at $4.2 million.  Interested parties (and lookey loos) can check out the property during Open Houses held this and every Sunday between 2pm and 4:30pm.

Broker: Gabriel Ford for Brown Harris Stevens 718-858-3876

Flickr photo by jglsongs

What’s on your mind?  Comment below!

Director Paul Wohlstetter has posted a music video he shot with Canadian singer/songwriter Carmine Paradiso here in Brooklyn Heights. He writes on YouTube:

I spend the summer in New Jersey and New York. I had produced an album for a guy named Carmine Paradiso. We had a great time making his CD. He came to visit me and he had a song called “Brooklyn”, so we decided to go to my old stomping grounds.. near Brooklyn Heights, the Promenade and the Brooklyn Bridge one sunny day and shooting some footage. Alot has changed since the early nineties. We had a lot of fun and we ended up turning into a music video for his song. We also shot footage for a song called “Catey” all over Jersey- which is the second music video. For a guy from Vancouver, Carmine seems to have a lot of New York in him… call us the Brooklyn Brothers.

Brooklyn Heights resident, former NYC mayoral candidate and world renown author Norman Mailer died two years ago today from acute renal failure.   We thought it appropriate to remember the cantankerous writer with this clip from his 1968 appearance on Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.

Also, today’s Brooklyn Eagle has an interesting retrospective on Mailer.

This just in [with photos] from BHB community member Andrew Porter:

They are throwing gorgeous pieces of yellow and green and black art deco terra cotta into the dumpster on the Pineapple Street side of the St George Tower, just across from my building. It’s there right now. I suspect the dumpster will be replaced with another one tomorrow, when Alt Side of the Street empties that side of the street.

I’m going over to try to save some of the pieces. They look round, like they’re from chimneys.

This is sadly similar to the demolition of an art deco tile mural from the Easter Athletic Club, housed within the St. George, earlier this year.

For more information call Heights Chateau at 718-330-0963 or email them at info@heightschateau.com . Tickets are $30.

Brooklyn Heights resident and hipster icon Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT talks about living in the neighborhood and making the band’s new album with New York Magazine (they’re on the cover this week with other NYC bands):

New York Magazine: I never thought I’d live in Brooklyn Heights,” muses MGMT front man Andrew VanWyngarden, as he strolls down the leafy streets of the neighborhood where he resides, and where MGMT are finishing work on Congratulations, their follow-up to 2007’s neopsychedelic smash, Oracular Spectacular. “But it’s a nice place to come down off tour.”