Brooklyn Heights Blog

The Montague Street Business Improvement District (”BID”) held its annual meeting at Eamonn’s yesterday evening. BID Executive Director Chelsea Mauldin (photo at left) said the BID must respond to the economic crisis by providing more services to businesses on Montague in, among other things, marketing and technology. As an example of marketing assistance, she cited a program the BID developed with Pratt, in which design students have worked with one merchant on Montague to create a new image, including sign, logo and cards.

The BID will try to address the vacancy problem by promoting “pop-up stores” for which landlords will extend short-term leases either for a specific event–in this connection she mentioned master pumpkin carver and Heights resident Hugh McMahon, who would like to set up a temporary space before Halloween–or as a trial for a possible longer relationship. Read more »

The award for zaniest headline goes to Mike McLaughlin of The Brooklyn Paper for this.

Hmmm…methinks young Mike’s (we hope) temporary state of deprivation may be affecting his writing style.

Velvets and James Brown? Can’t fault his taste in music.

Gothamist reports that restaurateur Neil Ganic will be opening his La Bouillabaisse, once an Atlantic Avenue favorite, in Red Hook next door to his other eatery, Lillie at 44 Beard Street: Read more »

According to this Brooklyn Paper story,
a California winemaker plans to open a winery in a nineteenth century warehouse building near Fairway in Red Hook. He intends to make wines from grapes grown on the North Fork of Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.

Tomorrow will be a first in history: three Cunard "Queen" ships: Queen Mary 2 (shown in photo), which makes Pier 17 in Red Hook its home port; Queen Elizabeth 2, on her final visit to New York after forty years of service before being retired to serve as a floating hotel in Dubai; and Queen Victoria, first Cunarder to bear her name, on her maiden voyage, will all be docked in New York.  Early risers may, from the Promenade or rooftop vantage points in the Heights, see the ships arrive: Mary to the south, heading for Red Hook, and QE2 and Victoria proceeding up the Hudson to the cruise ship terminal on the West Side of Manhattan.   The ships will depart their docks early in the evening and rendezvous near the Statue of Liberty, where there will be a fireworks display beginning between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., weather permitting, before they head for the ocean to continue their cruises.  This will also be visible from the Heights, though lower Manhattan (Battery Park and adjoining parks in Battery Park City) will offer better views.  (Thanks to reader CJP for correcting the time of the fireworks display.)