The Brooklyn Historical Society is continuing to provide public programs on line. This coming Friday, June 19 at 12:30 p.m. BHS will present the latest in its “Bite-Size History” programs — they supply the history; you supply the bites. This one will look at Muslim history in Brooklyn through the lens of a notable land […]
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The King of Staten Island Has a Brooklyn Heights Connection
Unfortunately, it’s one that proved tragic. In an interview by Spectrum News NY1’s George Whipple with Saturday Night Live cast veteran Pete Davidson (photo), co-author and star of The King of Staten Island, along with co-author and director Judd Apatow and co-star Marisa Tomei, it’s described how the life of movie’s central character, Scott Carlin, […]
Brooklyn Historical Society Provides On Line Brain Food at Lunchtime
The Brooklyn Historical Society will provide a series of five free lunch time on-line discussions about objects in the Society’s collection The first of these will be this Friday, May 22, starting at 12:30 p.m. Here’s what’s in store: Join us for lunch! Our lunchtimes series Bite-Size History begins May 22 with BHS historian Nalleli Guillen who will provide in-depth looks […]
Zoom Chat with Brooklyn Heights Preservation Pioneers the Pearsalls and Preservation Advocate Anthony Wood Wednesday Afternoon
Those of us interested in Brooklyn Heights history and architecture consider Clay Lancaster’s Old Brooklyn Heights an indispensable guide. Thanks to Brownstoner we’ve been alerted to an event coming up this Wednesday afternoon, May 20, starting at 3:45. This will be a conversation, available on Zoom, among Heights preservation pioneers Otis and Nancy Pearsall and preservation advocate Anthony C. Wood of The New York […]
Brooklyn Historical Society Presents Free On Line Events; Collects COVID-19 Memorabilia
The Brooklyn Historical Society‘s two locations, at Pierrepont Street and in DUMBO, are closed for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis, but the Society remains active. It has online access to exhibitions and is presenting some free online programs, the earliest of which is this Thursday, April 30. BHS also has a COVID-19 Project that seeks to collect material, whether […]
Daily News on 90 Year Old Unsolved Slaying of 84th Precinct Cop
Rocco Parascandola, in the Daily News, tells the story of how, ninety years ago tomorrow, Patrolman Walter DeCastillia, assigned to what is still our local 84th Precinct, was gunned down and killed in a crime for which no one was brought to justice. Patrolman DeCastilia was guarding a cash payroll transfer at a business on York Street in […]
Brooklyn Heights: Den of Spies?
It’s fairly well known that Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, the Soviet spy who was caught, convicted, and later exchanged for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, lived in the Heights, specifically at 252 Fulton Street, near Clark Street, a building later demolished to make way for the Cadman Plaza apartment towers. The story is told here by […]
Kristallnacht and Pittsburgh Synagogue Murders Commemorated at City Tech Thursday
This coming Thursday, November 7, starting at noon, City Tech’s Jewish Faculty and Staff Association will host at the College’s Atrium Amphitheater, at 300 Jay Street, “From Kristallnacht to Pittsburgh and Beyond.” On the night of November 9-10, 1938 rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews […]
“Overlooked No More”: Elizabeth Gloucester
Elizabeth Gloucester made her name in Brooklyn Heights in the 19th century, and last week, her name became much better known, thanks to the “Overlooked” series in The New York Times. “Overlooked” is a series that redresses oversights of the past, acknowledging the lives of people who, for reasons of race, class, sex, or ethnicity, were […]
Honoring Our Heroes of Middagh Street Ladder 118/Engine 205 – Never Forgotten
The following is courtesy of Bonnie Burke who shared the vignettes she wrote shortly after 9/11 about the firefighters from Ladder 118/Engine 205 who sacrificed their lives on that day. May our heroes never be forgotten. Captain Martin Egan Captain Marty Egan, a 15-year veteran of the department, was only 36 years-old when he died […]
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