Brooklyn Heights Blog

Archive | September, 2006

Big Weekend in the Heights

by Homer Fink on 29. Sep, 2006 in Arts and Entertainment, Events, Fun

The 28th annual Cranberry Street Festival takes place this Saturday (9/30) starting at 11 AM. This year's fest includes a pet parade starting at noon, kids games, a fortune teller, music, a live DJ and plenty of used books and other items up for sale. All proceeds go the the Cranberry Street Association who help beautify our nabe with lovely plants and flowers all year long. See you there!

Also on Saturday, the historic Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims kicks off its Music on the Heights schedule. The first offering is for "all ages" especially children. Manhattan theater ensemble Treehouse Shakers (pictured) will perform Animal Rhythms, a music and dance piece based on African folktales. The show begins at 11 AM in the Plymouth Gymnasium. Tickets are $10. For more information call 718-403-9546 or plymouthchurch.org.

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Brooklyn, Paris Based Dramas Open at BHC

by Homer Fink on 29. Sep, 2006 in Arts and Entertainment

Opening today at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema I & II is Half Nelson,(trailer) rated R, a film about the relationship between a teacher (Ryan Gosling), a student and a drug dealer. The movie was filmed in and is set in Brooklyn.

Manohla Dargis writes in the New York Times: Dan (Gosling) wants to save one child at a time, like 13-year-old Drey (the newcomer Shareeka Epps), but he’s committing suicide one crack vial at a time. He’s plagued by such contradictions, some inherited, others self-generated, teaching in a part of Brooklyn that still looks like Brooklyn, trying to do good in the very neighborhood where he buys his drugs. (The film was shot, among other areas, in Gowanus.) The people here are mostly black and brown, and in a film not as mindful of race and representation, the whole thing might come off as sanctimonious or worse. This is dangerous ground for Dan, as well as for the film’s gifted young director, Ryan Fleck, and his writing (and life) partner, Anna Boden.

The very French Le Petit Lieutenant (trailer) also opens at the BHC today. It stars Nathalie Baye as a Pairs policewoman who has endured tragedy and attends regular AA meetings.

James Bowman writes in the NY Sun: As a long-time admirer of the beautiful Nathalie Baye, I found terribly poignant the moment when Commandant Caroline "Caro" Vaudieu of the Paris police — her character in Xavier Beauvois's new film, "Le Petit Lieutenant" — crumples after receiving bad news as if she has been shot. But it is also a reminder of what has been left out of this naughty French movie, namely sex. Sex implies vulnerability, and all of Caro's energies are required to prevent hers from being exposed. When, upon her return to the Parisian Criminal Investigation Division, from which she has been exiled to a more bureaucratic job, she breaks into that familiar radiant smile, it is only to remind us of what we will be missing for the rest of the film.

Brooklyn Heights Cinemas I & II
70 Henry Street
718-596-7070

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Murdoch Nabs Nabe Paper

by Homer Fink on 28. Sep, 2006 in Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Heights Courier and the 15 other Brooklyn and Queens neighborhood newspapers owned by Courier-Life will soon be property of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp –

New York Times: The News Corporation, owner of The New York Post, has broadened its metropolitan-area presence with the acquisition of two newspaper groups that have 28 weekly papers primarily serving Queens and Brooklyn.

With the move, News Corporation is increasing its reach to the boroughs outside Manhattan and the minority populations that have been strongholds of its main competitor, The Daily News.

While the price of the acquisition was not disclosed, someone close to the deal but not authorized to speak about the matter said News Corporation paid $16 million for the two operations: the TimesLedger and Courier-Life newspaper groups.

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Brooklyn Law Students Help Katrina Victims

by Homer Fink on 28. Sep, 2006 in News

From Brooklyn Record: Thirty-eight Brooklyn Law students have some big plans for this weekend — they'll be glued to their laptops, poring over criminal court documents from New Orleans. They're working to seek out inmates who've been "lost in the system," and have not seen a courtroom or a lawyer since Hurricane Katrina. This is the second phase of a project that began when law students gave up their spring breaks to travel to New Orleans and helped release a number of inmates who had been held in jail longer than the maximum sentences for their crimes would permit…

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Record Breaking Townhouse Sale in Contract

by Homer Fink on 28. Sep, 2006 in Celebrity Residents

While it probably didn't go for it's original asking price of $20 million — Curbed reports the lastest asking price was $12.9 — all signals suggest that the sale of 140 Columbia Heights will smash nabe records for priciest townhouse sale. Reports say that owners Peter A. Murin and Robin Jaffe Murin had listed the property through Brown Harris Stevens, it was later relisted with the Corcoran Group who are credited with finding the buyer and making the sale in today's NY Daily News. The couple purchased the home in 1992 for $2 million, The New York Times reported last year.

New York Daily News: Brooklyn Home Prices Reach the Stars: In Brooklyn Heights, the most expensive townhouse ever listed in the borough has a buyer. The high-priced Heights mansion – originally listed at a stratospheric $20 million – is under contract, Corcoran Group real estate officials said. "It'll be a record for Brooklyn if it goes through," said Corcoran spokeswoman Lara Berdine. Berdine wouldn't divulge the selling price of the 8,000-square-foot property on Columbia Heights with expansive views of the Statue of Liberty. The home, which Piano Man Billy Joel and "Lord of the Rings" star Liv Tyler had toured, remains listed for $12.9 million on the Corcoran site.

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Heights’ Hadden The Man Time Forgot

by Homer Fink on 27. Sep, 2006 in Arts and Entertainment, Health

The New York Observer writes about The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine, by Isaiah Wilner. It tells the story of Brooklyn Heights native Britton Hadden who led Time magazine until his sudden death in 1929.

New York Observer:Time's True Progenitor—Luce’s Rival Resurrected: Hadden was one of those gifted sons of privilege who reaped the full benefits of the age before meritocracy. In a world where rich men’s dull sons swarmed Ivy League campuses (while mute, inglorious Miltons struggled to escape the Midwest), his eccentric brilliance shone doubly bright. Hadden frequented speakeasies, wore torn sweaters to high-society functions and liked to organize baseball games as a break from intellectual labor. His stubborn refusal to be turned down for a job by New York World editor Henry Bayard Swope—“Mr. Swope, you’re interfering with my destiny”—well captures both his delusions and his grandeur. Only a fatal case of streptococcal infection, which killed him at 30, interfered with that destiny, throwing control of Time Inc. to his partner, freeing him to become the Luce of legend.

You may purchase this book and others with a Brooklyn Heights background in the BHB Store powered by Amazon.

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Heights History: Brooklyn Heights Railroad

by Homer Fink on 27. Sep, 2006 in History

On July 20, 1891 the cable cars connecting Brooklyn City Hall (now Borough Hall) and the Wall Street Ferry started running on Montague Street. The line was designed by Robert Gillham who was known for his work on the Kansas City Cable Railway. It ran until 1924, twelve years after the Wall Street Ferry stopped running.

There were a few accidents on the line including one on February 9, 1892. Three people were injured. The Brooklyn Eagle reported:

An accident that occasioned a great deal of excitement and injured three persons occurred this morning on the Montague street cable road. Car No. 6 was rolling down toward the Wall street ferry house at 9:30 o’clock in charge of B. Jay Raymond, conductor, and Thomas Halliday brakeman, when just at the turn of the hill approaching Montague terrace the brake chain slipped and the vehiclestarted on a bound and jump for the ferry house. Brakeman Halliday blames an obstinate coach driver for the trouble. He says that for several days he has been annoyed by a private coachman who persistently drove down ahead of his car in the morning and doggedly kept in the tracks, thereby obstructing the road. The wicked coachman was at his old tricks this morning.

Another accident occurred three years later:

Something unexplained happened at 8:15 o’clock this morning to car No. 5 of the cable line, which runs down Montague street from the city hall to the ferry. The car had just started on its way down the hill toward the hill when it stopped suddenly with a jar which threw all the passengers about like corn in a popper. Herman Beck, aged 15 years, of 188 Van Buren street was standing looking through the glass of the front door at the moment of the accident. He was thrown through the window but escaped with a cut chin.

More info on the Brooklyn Heights Railroad at Cable-Car Guy.

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Dashing Reporter and Scribe Bride Celebrate in Nabe

by Homer Fink on 26. Sep, 2006 in News

From today's Page Six:

WE HEAR THAT dashing Post reporter Clemente Lisi and Daily News scribe Kathleen Lucadamo got married at City Hall last Friday, then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with their families and friends to celebrate at Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn Heights.

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Old Grey Lady Covers Nabe’s SuperRabbi

by Homer Fink on 24. Sep, 2006 in Arts and Entertainment, Celebrity Residents

The New York Times had a great piece this morning focusing on Brooklyn Heights' own Rabbi Simcha Weinstein.

New York Times:Religion and Comic Books: Where Did Superman’s Theology Come From?: “I feel queasy when I read people who use pop culture to try to proselytize,” said Rabbi Weinstein, a member of the Lubavitcher Hasidic sect who is the campus rabbi at Pratt Institute. “And I didn’t want to enforce my own fantasy.
“But I knew the writers were Jewish. That’s a historical fact. And when I bought all the comics, and gave them my rabbi’s reading, I saw something there. Judaism is filled with superheroes and villains — Samson, Pharaoh. And it’s a religion rich in storytelling and in themes of being moral, ethical, spiritual.”

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Today’s Open Houses

by Homer Fink on 24. Sep, 2006 in Uncategorized

After a weekend of watching house flipping shows on cable, we're inspired by these potential bargain open houses today.

230 Jay Street (map)
1 BR coop
$309K
Broker: Brooklyn Heights Real Estate Agent: Jordan Glickstein
Open House today 12:30 PM – 2 PM

"Here is your chance to purchase a well-priced apartment in the Concord Village Complex. Spacious, western exposure, high floor and even wood parquet floors.

Your kitchen comes complete with stove and refrigerator in excellent condition, lots of cabinets for storage and has a built-in counter for dining."

St. George Tower and Grill Building, 111 Hicks Street, #2A (map)
1 BR coop
$319K
Broker: Brooklyn Heights Real Estate Agent: Ilene Zeins
Open House today by appointment

"Spacious 1 bedroom in the beautifully maintained St. George Tower and Grill Building (111 Hicks Street). The apartment is approx. 650 square feet, and is in original condition, has wood floors, and lots of potential with all the benefits of this excellent location. The apartment located in the Grill Building is adjacent to the St. George Tower Building. This location is steeped in history and charm. The building boasts a fabulous panoramic roof deck (amazing views), laundry rooms on every 3rd floor , professional staff, Eastern Athletic gym, and an on-site management office, close proximity to the Promenade."