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Adam Yauch Park Closer to Reality: On State Street In Brooklyn Heights

Adam Yauch Park Closer to Reality: On State Street In Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Heights Blog community’s effort (ignited by “She’s Crafty”) to rename Squibb Park to Adam Yauch Park went viral today.

Our Facebook page now has more than 1,300 “Likes” and the idea has been covered by the Hollywood Reporter, Gothamist and 1010WINS Radio, to name a few. But a funny thing happened on the way to critical mass: We found out about an effort by Adam “AdRock” Horovitz and his wife Kathleen Hanna to fix up and rename the baseketball courts at State Street Park after Yauch.

Late this afternoon Ms. Hanna contacted us via Facebook, saying:

I just wanted to let you know that Adam “Adrock” Horovitz has already begun working with the Parks Commissioner to fix up and rename State Street Park where Yauch actually played as a kid to Adam Yauch Park. It would be great to get people behind THIS idea as it won’t hurt the Squibb family….Thanks, Kathleen Hanna

Since receiving that dispatch, we have confirmed with the Beastie Boys management and publicist that this plan is real and going forward. Right now the effort is focused on the basketball courts and not necessarily adjoining Palmetto Playground.

The Brooklyn Heights Blog community ENTHUSIASTICALLY supports this idea. We have updated the Facebook page* to reflect this and encourage all those who agree, their friends, family and friends of friends to continue to “Like” the page and share our strong desire to make Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights a reality.

*Note that Facebook does not allow users to change names of pages with 200+ likes. While the name of our page remains the same, we no longer advocate changing the name of Squibb Park. We are 100% committed to doing all we can to making Adam Yauch Park a reality on State Street.

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Heights’ Resident Lena Dunham’s HBO ‘Girls’ Renewed For Second Season

Heights’ Resident Lena Dunham’s HBO ‘Girls’ Renewed For Second Season

HBO’s sad-sack series “Girls,” created, produced, directed, written by and starring Brooklyn Heights resident Lena Dunham, has been renewed for a 10-episode second season. The show revolves around the lives of four 20-somethings navigating love, life and careers in New York City post-college. Judd Apatow is an executive producer.

“Girls” debuted April 15 on the premium network, and has averaged 3.8 million viewers, per HBO. Continue Reading →

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Let’s Make It Happen: Rename Squibb Park to Adam Yauch Park

Let’s Make It Happen: Rename Squibb Park to Adam Yauch Park

READ IMPORTANT UPDATE HERE.
Commenter “She’s Crafty” suggested in a comment on BHB that Squibb Park be renamed Adam Yauch Park to honor the Brooklyn Heights native and Beastie Boy MC who died earlier this month at the age of 47.

We couldn’t agree more. We hope you do too. A Facebook page has been set up to garner support and we encourage you to “like” it as well as voice and share your thoughts here in the comments.

Here’s our brief mission statement from FB: Continue Reading →

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Babs Returns To Brooklyn Roots With October Barclays Concert

Babs Returns To Brooklyn Roots With October Barclays Concert

Barbra Streisand’s Brooklyn roots are certainly no secret. She was born & raised in the borough and graduated in 1959 from Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush. However, she has not performed publicly in BK since then, some 53 years ago… until now. As the mainstream press has proclaimed, Babs, now 70, is returning home for a concert Thursday October 11, at the spanking new 19,000-seat Barclays Center.

Streisand said, “Brooklyn to me means the Loews Kings, Erasmus, the Yeshiva I went to, the Dodgers, Prospect Park, great Chinese food. I’m so glad I came from Brooklyn‚ down to earth. I guess you can come home again.”

Wonder if home will also mean a stop by the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where she filmed scenes for 1974 film “For Pete’s Sake,” with Michael Sarrazin. Continue Reading →

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Remembering Brooklyn Heights Native Beastie Boy MC Adam Yauch

Remembering Brooklyn Heights Native Beastie Boy MC Adam Yauch

Beastie Boys member MC Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died today at age 47 from cancer, grew up in Brooklyn Heights, where he taught himself to play bass as a teen and formed the trio with Mike “Mike D” Diamond & Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz on his 17th birthday. Mike D, meanwhile, was a graduate of local St. Ann’s School.

Despite bios alleging Yauch was raised in Midwood, Brooklyn, he actually attended Edward R. Murrow High School in that nabe and was raised in the Heights, according to numerous obituary posts Friday.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz issued the following statement: “Brooklyn, the Creative Capital of New York City, has made so many great contributions to music and the arts, and in the world of hip hop, they don’t come much bigger than Brooklyn native Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch and his fellow Beastie Boys. Continue Reading →

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BK Tweets: Reaction to the Death of Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys

BK Tweets: Reaction to the Death of Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys

Brooklyn Bloggers, luminaries and fans took to Twitter in reaction to the death of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch today: Continue Reading →

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Quote Of The Day: Actress Ana Gasteyer Praises The Promenade

Quote Of The Day: Actress Ana Gasteyer Praises The Promenade

ABC comedy Suburgatory cast member and former Saturday Night Live regular Ana Gasteyer, who resides in DUMBO, is profiled in New York magazine’s Daily Intel.

Among the questions New York mag tossed at the actor, singer and comedienne: “Where do you go to be alone?” Her response: “The Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. But I have small children, so I’m not really ever alone.” Continue Reading →

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Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick To Call The Heights Home

Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick To Call The Heights Home

Paul Giamati, meet your new neighbors. Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick are purchasing a pair of townhouses in south Brooklyn Heights on State Street near Sidney Place. The New York Daily News‘ real estate guru Jason Sheftell reported late Friday that the family is closing in on a contract, after purchasing a Manhattan townhouse on East 10th St. two years ago that they never moved into.

In 2011, Parker filmed I Don’t Know How She Does It in Brooklyn Heights. Check out our coverage here.

The couple currently resides in a townhome in the West Village on Charles Street, near West Fourth Street, with their son James Wilkie, 9, and twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, almost 3. A source told the Daily News, “They loved the West Village but wanted something more private, laid-back and discreet.”

Continue Reading →

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Capote House Buyer ID’d As <em>Grand Theft Auto</em> Designer

Capote House Buyer ID’d As Grand Theft Auto Designer

The New York Observer identifies the buyer of 70 Willow Street as Dan Houser, creator of the popular Grand Theft Auto series of video games, and co-founder of Rockstar Games. The Observer story notes that the seller, Nicholas Callaway, a long time publisher of coffee-table books, is also involved in the digital world, having started a company, Callaway Digital Arts, to design and market mobile apps, especially for the iPad.

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Say ‘How Do’ To Your New DUMBO Neighbor: Anne Hathaway

Say ‘How Do’ To Your New DUMBO Neighbor: Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway seems to have a penchant for Brooklyn. The Oscar-nominated doe-eyed actress—who is starring next as Catwoman in this summer’s “The Dark Knight Rises”—has just moved from her BK Prospect Heights home to… DUMBO.

Both Curbed and Gothamist are reporting a goodie bag of details: She and fiancé Adam Shulman have moved into a rental unit in the Clocktower building at 1 Main Street, setting up house in a 1BR with home office going for $6,400 a month. Continue Reading →

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Bowery Boys: “10 Fabulous Facts About 70 Willow Street”

Bowery Boys: “10 Fabulous Facts About 70 Willow Street”

With the yellow house at 70 Willow Street where Truman Capote once lived fetching the highest price for a single-family home in Brooklyn history last week, New York history blog The Bowery Boys has come up with a delectable post “Ten fabulous facts about 70 Willow Street.”

Read all about the home being a destination for the anti-women’s Suffrage movement, its donation to the Red Cross, Capote’s love for the Heights and Jackie Kennedy’s lunch date there. And scandalous anecdotes, like the fact that Continue Reading →

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New York Mag Björk Feature Offers Glimpse Inside Her Heights Home

New York Mag Björk Feature Offers Glimpse Inside Her Heights Home

New York magazine offers an exhaustive (if not exhaustingly long) feature on Björk’s new album “Biophilia,” including some revealing details about the Icelandic singer’s Henry Street home in Brooklyn Heights.

The Feb. 26 piece by Nitsuh Abebe shares that “Björk lives in a bright, orderly penthouse in Brooklyn Heights, at least during the third of the year when she’s not in Reykjavík or on tour. I manage to meet Björk in the most unmagical way possible: while exiting a typically narrow Brooklyn-apartment bathroom that she’s paused in front of.” Continue Reading →

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Theater 2020 to Present Free Dramatic Reading Saturday, February 25

Theater 2020 to Present Free Dramatic Reading Saturday, February 25

Our Brooklyn Heights neighbors at Theater 2020 (read more about them here) will present a free dramatic reading (not a staged play: actors will be seated and reading from scripts throughout) of a new play by Lynn Marie Macy, Lady Susan or the Captive Heart, a Jane Austen Bodice Ripper, at the Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, Cadman Plaza West and Tillary Street, on Saturday, February 25, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. After the reading, there will be a discussion session with the playwright. As this is a work in progress, which Theater 2020 plans to mount as a full stage production later this year, you may contribute to its development.

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The Brooklyn Bugle’s <em>Knishes</em> Preview at Brooklyn Heights Cinema a Success

The Brooklyn Bugle’s Knishes Preview at Brooklyn Heights Cinema a Success

Accordion music, knishes, and egg creams, along with our Heather Quinlan, greeted upwards of 100 guests at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema this evening to see a preview of Heather’s work-in-progress film If These Knishes Could Talk. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand to give a short talk on the Brooklyn accent, which he, naturally, considers the true American speech (never mind those people who say the real McCoy is found in Buffalo). He also described how one of the best kosher delis in Brooklyn has passed from Jewish to Italian to Egyptian Muslim hands, while remaining kosher. Marty was treated to a birthday knish with candles. Continue Reading →

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That’s Our Girl: Neighbor Björk Performs In Queens To Support “Biophilia”

That’s Our Girl: Neighbor Björk Performs In Queens To Support “Biophilia”

Brooklyn Heights resident Björk has launched a combination concert & performance art event in support of her new album “Biophilia,” at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. If you missed her opening set Friday, she will encore Monday 2/6, Thursday 2/9, Sunday 2/12 and Wednesday 2/15. Continue Reading →

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