Archive | October, 2006

Autumn on the Promenade

45462687-L.jpg

 

Photo via Joshua Trupin on Smugmug

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Heights Painter, Curator Subject of D.C. Exhibit

00083072.jpg

Katherine S. Dreier. (American, 1877-1952). Abstract Portrait of Marcel Duchamp. 1918. Oil on canvas. MoMA

New York Times: Societe Anonyme: Modernism for America: Katherine S. Dreier (1877-1952) was a painter, collector and patron with a small private fortune, a passion for Modern art and a fashion sense that rivaled Eleanor Roosevelt in dowdiness. Her parents were well-off German immigrants in Brooklyn Heights who reared their children to be movers and shakers. Dreier’s two older sisters were leaders in the women’s labor movement. Dreier, active in women’s suffrage, made art the object of her similarly formidable brains, energy and organizational skills.

In 1919, with Duchamp as her muse, Dreier more or less invented the concept of the modern-art museum, which she envisioned as an institution of international scope dedicated to making the art of the moment comprehensible to the public, through exhibitions, publications, lectures, concerts and a library. She would later, somewhat painfully, watch Alfred Barr bring the idea to fruition in the 1930’s with the Museum of Modern Art, helped by a more diplomatic personality and substantially more financial support. (Dreier was no Rockefeller.)

“The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America” continues through Jan. 21 at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. (202) 387-2151.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

There Go the Judges

New York Daily News: Feds Work to Give Parks Its Old Lot: As downtown Brooklyn leaders battle to push state judges' cars out of a city park, a federal court parking lot is being turned back into open space.

Federal court officials closed down most of their parking lot in Walt Whitman Park next to the old federal courthouse Saturday and are handing the property back to the Parks Department – along with some cash as a thank you.

The city is getting $3.9 million from federal officials for using Walt Whitman Park – money that will be used to fix up the long-neglected park off Cadman Plaza.

"We're thrilled. We can't wait to get it back," said activist Irene Janner, who is fighting to push 50 judges' cars out of nearby Columbus Park between Brooklyn Supreme Court and Borough Hall.

Federal officials contracted with the city 10 years ago to take over half of Walt Whitman Park for cars and equipment while the new federal courthouse was built. It opened in January.

This week workers will begin removing the fences, digging up asphalt and reseeding Walt Whitman Park.

"[State judges] should move out of Columbus Park in similar fashion," said Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton. "And the same thing should apply to [Columbus] Park: They should pay to restore it."

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Torched Ride

274338228_1fa288ca93.jpg

Photo via kazatzka's Flickr photostream 

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Police Blotter: Thugs Lurk on Cranberry Street

atm big 02.jpgThe Brooklyn Papers reports that a 22 year old man was robbed at knifepoint at the corner of Cranberry and Willow Streets on October 13 at 6:30 pm.

When the man informed the three knife wielding felons that he had no cash, they forced him to a "nearby ATM" on Henry Street where he withdrew $200.

The criminals are described as "three black males, one of whom was described as 5 foot 8 inches and was last spotted wearing a black jacket and black skullcap."

One of the interlopers warned the victim that "if you call the cops, we'll hunt you down."

Odds are New York's Finest will apprehend these skells-in-waiting before that can happen.

If you witnessed this crime or can offer leads in this case, call the NYPD's CrimeStoppers 1-800-577-TIPS.

 

Read full story · Comments { 2 }

These Droids Speak Whoopass

dtdsb.JPG

"Well, now I know what it feels like to be A-Rod," Brigate Bocce team capo Homer Fink said after the team's fourth straight loss in the Floyd NY bocce league. This week's humiliators were Do These Droids Speak Bocce who soundly beat the double B's  7-1, 7-0.

The match started under odd circumstances as members of both teams dabbed up a mystery liquid from the court. The wetness was clearly left by crazed Premiere League fans who had been there since mid-morning watching today's matches. One rough n' tumble character muttered to Fink, "Oy, even Sheffield United has won a match this year! Your club is pathetic!!" He then launched into some sort of English football song to the tune of Volare.

"La squadra si è dimenticata come giocare," Fink told the crowd of reporters after the match. "Vinceremo la volta prossima anche se significa il reclutamento un nano e del qualcuno Giapponesi."

Next week Brigate Bocce faces Vini Vidi Bocce. "They've got cool jackets," Fink says.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Today’s Open Houses

i-21.jpg35 Clark Street  Apt E4 (map)
2 BR, 1 Bath
Co-op
$669K
Open House today 2 PM – 4PM
For sale by Owner
NEW LISTING in prime Brooklyn Heights location. Stunning two bedroom/one bathroom prewar coop in exclusive elevator building located just one block from the 2/3 train and 1.5 blocks from the Promenade. The apartment is in move-in condition, has the original detailing and hardwood floors throughout plus a renovated kitchen with custom cabinets and washer/dryer.

_525401-4_d.jpg35 Pierrepont Apt 6A (map)
3 BR, 2.5 Bath
Co-op
$2.2 Million
Open House today 2 PM – 4 PM
Broker: Brown Harris Stevens Agent: Gabriel Ford

Light filled spacious family home. Entrance foyer connecting living room, with south light, and wood burning fireplace,. large bedroom or library and formal dining room. Family style kitchen and family room with skyline views. Laundry room and half bath. Master bedroom with its own bath and great closets. Third bedroom and hall bath. Glorious views from common roof deck. 24 hour elevator attendant. Best location.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

New Steakhouse Part of Pricey Trend

Mike's Kosher Steakhouse on Clark Street has received some press as of late, however today's coverage in the New York Times is not due to its tasty menu but rather its dubious distinction of being part of a new trend at NYC eateries — skyhigh prices.

New York Times: Entrees Reach $40 and Sorry the Sides Are Extra: “Forty is the new 30,” said Richard Coraine, the chief operating officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, which recently began charging $42 for a 1¾-ounce appetizer portion of lobster at lunchtime at the Modern in New York. Ten percent of its lunch patrons order the dish, it says.

Hovering just below the $40 mark is an even vaster group of $38 and $39 entrees, waiting to cross the line like thirtysomethings approaching a zero-ended birthday. The arctic char at the Indianapolis branch of the Oceanaire Seafood Room chain is $38.50. Metropolitan Grill in Seattle serves shrimp scampi for $39.95. At Mike’s, a new steakhouse in Brooklyn Heights, $9.95 chicken nuggets share the menu with $38.95 veal chops.

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Nightmare Neighbors

The New York Times writes today about nightmare neighbors and unfortunate living conditions. Featured in the piece is a Brooklyn Heights story.

22cov-190.jpgNew York Times: The Last Straw: Gerard Splendore, an associate broker at Halstead Property, said his worst experience unfolded in the Brooklyn Heights co-op he bought in 1997 and shared with his wife and two children: their upstairs neighbors’ newborn baby began crying four to five hours a night.

“We were hysterical,” Mr. Splendore said. “We went upstairs and said, ‘Is there anything we can do to help you?’ ”

The neighbors reacted defensively. “They started to avoid us,” he said. “They were obviously not having any sleep either, and they were irrational.”

The baby finally calmed down, and that family moved on. In came a single European woman. “She just had no concept of how much sound could travel,” Mr. Splendore said. “She used to play rock music really loud.”

At other times, there were other noises, equally disturbing. “It sounded like she was dragging trunks,” he recalled. “And she wore big platform shoes that she would take off when she got home and throw them across the room one at a time. We literally waited for the other shoe to drop.”

A board emissary was dispatched, to little effect.

Two months later, Mr. Splendore was startled awake in the wee hours by a “gigantic crash” overhead. He swore, leapt from bed and tore upstairs.

“It sounds like the end of the world is going on here!” he said he told his neighbor when he confronted her at the door.

The neighbor apologized for dropping her television from what Mr. Splendore believes was a ladder. But he and his family had finally had enough. They sold the apartment and bought a house in Bay Ridge.

 

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

New Capote Biopic Opens at BHC

Infamous (trailer), rated R, a biopic covering the same ground as last year's Capote opens today at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema I & II.

infamous3.jpgGinia Bellafone writes in the International Herald Tribune: What distinguishes "Infamous" from last year's "Capote," the film with which it is inevitably being compared, is its sustained frothiness of tone. That is a quality rooted in Capote's legendary social energy, concentrated as it was in the giddy company of Diana Vreeland, Babe Paley, Slim Keith and Marella Agnelli, a woman who apparently thought nothing of arriving at an intimate dinner wearing the sort of high-collared costume that would not be out of place at a Renaissance fair.

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

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Dev Board Nixes Trolleys

brooklyn_montague_1905_001.jpg

One man's Idea to have trolleys return to Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, similar to the Montague Street trolleys pictured above, has beed derailed. 

Brooklyn Papers: Trolley Idea is Derailed: A Brooklyn man’s dream of restoring the borough’s fabled trolleys looks like it’s being derailed by planners of a waterfront development along the Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO shore.

Arthur Melnick, who has spent a decade as a Quixotic promoter of trolleys as clean and efficient transportation, presented planners with his proposal for a three-line streetcar system linking the so-called Brooklyn Bridge Park to Borough Hall, the BAM cultural district and Red Hook.

Several years ago, park planners said they were open to the idea of historic light rail, but this time, they dodged Melnick’s trolleys.

“There are other things like jitneys” that are being explored, said Jee Mee Kim, one of several consultants hired by the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront Local Development Corporation to study transit links to the waterfront development.

Others indicated that the closest Melnick might get to his dream would be a mere facsimile.

“We could have a jitney [bus] that looks like a trolley, like they have Downtown,” said Hank Gutman, a DBWLDC board member.

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Dukes of Brooklyn Heights

272531065_9e1a8dee22.jpg

 

Photo via Polychester's Flickr photostream

Read full story · Comments { 3 }

Heights History: 215 Montague Street

21617773.jpg

The structure that once stood at 215 Montague Street is gone, replaced by a commercial building anchored by Commerce Bank, but the address has earned its place in history. As the “Front Office” of the Brooklyn Dodgers it was where club President/GM Branch Rickey broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier on August 28, 1945 by signing Negro League star Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs.  While Robinson was not the number one player in the Negro Leagues at the time, Rickey chose him for his strength of character and his background as an athlete who lettered in four sports at UCLA.  Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

On the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s MLB debut, author Norman Mailer  — who recalled living in Brooklyn Heights while finishing The Naked and the Dead at the time — told the New York Times: “He became a heroic figure because he was a protagonist…And not only that, everyone knew he was a protagonist.”

A plaque honoring Robinson and Rickey was placed on 215 Montague by the European American Bank in 1998.

jackie_plaque.JPG

Get books about Jackie Robinson at the BHB Store powered by Amazon.

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Capote Items Up for Auction

erez.jpgSome possessions once owned by the late author Truman Capote, who during the late 1950s and early 1960s resided in the 70 Willow Street basement apartment made famous by his essay A House on the Heights, will be auctioned off in November. The items belong to Joanna Carson, a former wife of late talk show host Johnny Carson, who was Capote's friend and confidant.

In a press release about the auction to be held on November 9 in Manhattan, Bonhams writes: The Truman Capote collection consists of hundreds of items providing a unique and fascinating insight into the life and character of the man. Highlights include the tuxedo worn in 1966 to his famous Black and White Ball at The Plaza Hotel; his personal pair of ice skates; the intriguing collage boxes he created in the early 1980s; needlepoint pillows; Baccarat glass; as well as books, prints, photographs, manuscripts, jewelry and furniture.

The collection of Baccarat glass comprises gifts given to Capote by Katherine Graham, William and Babe Paley, Winston and C.Z. Guest, Halston, Roddy McDowell, Cecil Beaton, Carol and Walter Matthau, Tallulah Bankhead and others — in thanks for the Black and White Ball (which celebrates its 40th anniversary on November 28th).

Intimate personal items are the most fascinating: the photograph of his mother that was always at his bedside, a hand-tinted photograph of Truman as a young boy; the candid never-before-seen snapshots; the last known photograph taken the day before his passing – all touching reminders of Truman.

The books in Capote’s personal library cover a wide variety of genres and reveal a great deal about the author’s fascinations: biographies of politicians and aristocrats; true crime stories; Hollywood history; British and American literature; and memoirs. Most revealing are the intimate letters, notes, postcards and photographs sent to close friend Joanne Carson, who shared an extremely close and affectionate relationship with Capote during the last years of his life.

A catalog of the auction is available from Bonhams. The full exhibition may be seen at their Manhattan gallery (map) on November 4.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

ODB Helps Brigate Bocce Keep Perfect Record

1015score.JPG

Brigate Bocce fielded it's strongest effort yet but still fell short against Old Dirty Barristers (7-3, 7-3) in Week 3 of bocce competition at Floyd NY.  The team's winless streak remained intact.

Coming out strong against ODB was BHB's saucy food critic Mrs. Fink, who scored the majority of the team's points. 

"Good morning heartache," team capo Homer Fink said after the match. Fink then burst out into Italian, yelping an old proverb. "È migliore essere un mouse nella bocca del gatto che un uomo in mani dell'avvocato!"

Next week Homer Fink's Brigate Bocce face Do These Droids Speak Bocce. Fink tells us, "Let's hope these are the droids we're looking for." 

Read full story · Comments { 0 }