St. Ann’s School’s annual Puppet Parade will take place this coming Tuesday, April 30, starting at 1:00 PM. The Parade goes westward along Montague Street to the Promenade, turns northward along the Promenade, then returns to the school via Pierrepont Street. Photos from the 2013 Puppet Parade are here.

Photo: Chuck Taylor for BHB.

BHB pal/NY Post scribe Kate Briquelet takes Chuck Taylor’s BHB post about the hot dog vendor who dared to set up shop on Montague Terrace to a wider audience today in the tabloid’s online and print editions. (Editor’s note: The Brooklyn Eagle reports that the vendor – or any vendors – are not permitted by law in that vicinity, making his ouster less a function of calls to 311 and blog comments and more of NYC laws.  A city document cited by the paper clearly states that vendors are not permitted anywhere on Montague Street between Court and the Promenade.)

Montague Street Hot Dog Dude relishes his ephemeral moments in Brooklyn Heights. (Photo: Chuck Taylor)

NY Post: Every hot dog has its day — except in Brooklyn Heights.

Snooty weenie meanies scared off a new hot dog vendor after he’d done only a few hours of business, slamming his street meat as “disgusting food.”
The brave cart-pusher parked on Montague Street near the promenade at 10:30 a.m. last Saturday. By that afternoon, so many locals had called the cops that an officer gave him a ticket and shooed him away.
“He was a nice young man trying to make a living, but in this neighborhood everything is a protest,” said a longtime resident who watched the scene unfold from Montague Terrace.

“He said something like, ‘Well, this is life.’ He packed up his belongings and left.”
He hasn’t been back — but days later, anonymous neighborhood residents were still spewing their venom against him on the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

The piece goes on to quote many of the 60 comments made on the story here  focusing on those who went hog wild on the intrepid (or clueless?) vendor.  As of press time, no comments have been made on the Post’s story.

However what we’re really concerned about is – ahem – BHB’s close-up:

Chuck Taylor, a blog correspondent who welcomed the vendor in a controversial online post, couldn’t believe the piping hot reaction.
After all, the Heights hasn’t seen a street vendor at the end of Montague Street for years.

“People need to step back and realize nobody owns a New York City neighborhood,” said Taylor, a 12-year resident of the Heights. “It is to be shared by all who call it home and all who visit.”

“If something so minuscule as a hot dog vendor raises the ire of the neighborhood, that’s what I’d call snobbery.”

Mohamed Hmidat, who owns the permit for the cart, but doesn’t sell franks himself, said his employee will steer clear of the neighborhood.

“If they don’t want him there, they don’t want him there,” Hmidat said. “He’ll just find a new spot.”

The wildly, wonderfully entertaining episode of HGTV’s “Dear Genevieve,” in which the decorator delivers a fabu bedroom redo for Brooklyn Heights’ residents Chuck & Ayhan will encore Thursday, December 28 at 3:30 p.m. on Channel 64/764.

Yes, it happens to be the apartment of your BHB reporter CT, so perhaps I am invested in deeming it a worthy watch… The show was filmed in January 2011, and I am still amazed at what the crew accomplished over the course of five days. Yes, I was thrilled with the results and yup, Genevieve was as charming offscreen as she appears on the show. She scripts nothing: all off the cuff.

I still walk around the neighborhood and am occasionally recognized from the episode: My favorite moment was when a woman was talking with a friend, stopped and beckoned, “Hey… great bedroom!”

Hope you can tune in. And PS, they did make the bedroom look worse than it was pre-reno. Shhh!

Baby Fink and I were there earlier today, stocked up on our favorite Ella’s Kitchen baby food (hey, great for grownups too if the Endtimes come) and bought two loaves of bread. We may have also tried to dissuade folks from buying candles in lieu flashlights as a backup for blackout. You know, so first responders aren’t rushing to a fire some Glade candle caused. Just sayin’. And Chuck, sorry about the bread…

Smoking Nun: I stopped in figuring I’d make a big pot of chili to enjoy for the next couple days, easy enough to reheat on the gas stove in case there’s no power.

As I walked the aisles, there was not a single loaf of bread nor a carton of eggs to be found. No ground beef (so I bought turkey; healthier anyway). Every single checkout line was open—a first at the Key—while there was a staffer directing folks through the express line, which must have been 25 deep, as if I was shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Good lord, almighty, last winter a blizzard passed through New York, dumping a foot of snow along with 40 mph winds. Public transportation wasn’t fazed, life continued to move forward and New Yorkers acted like… New Yorkers, without so much as a blink.

BHB pal/Brooklyn Heights resident/#1 Celine Dion Fan/author Chuck Taylor notfies us that the episode of HGTV’s Dear Genevieve shot in his Montague Street apartment will air tomorrow (3/5) at 8pm.

HGTV: Brooklyn denizens, Chuck and Ihan, are passionate about renovating their Queen Anne condo. But their tiny and irregular shaped master bedroom has these two savvy renovators stumped! The tiny room is irregularly shaped, has a bed that is oversized, and reflects none of the charm of the era of the house. Designer Genevieve Gorder tackles the space with design solutions combining old world style with modern functionality, and creates a stylish and relaxing urban retreat.

The Smoking Nun: You’d think that was the holy grail, but in New York, coop living requires Board approval, which was as tenacious a task as chewing off one’s toenails with two teeth in the back of your head, so there was a long road toward making this a reality. Given the number of queries and concerns, you’d think we were proposing rebuilding the Brooklyn Bridge.

But at last, in December, we got a thumbs up from the Board… only to find out that it had taken us so long to gain approval that our makeover had been pushed back from January to late February. Sigh… But then, a week ago, a call: The show had a cancellation —and an opening for the week of Jan. 10-14. Our response: Yes, please!

Funny, we walked past Dimples recently and pondered how the heck they were still in business.  Then this dispatch came in from nabe blogger/Homer’s pal/ Celine Dion fan Chuck Taylor:

Dimples Kid Spa at 91 montague street closed its doors last week — just as the space next door which used to be the UPS store is preparing to open as the sales office for Love Lane Mews.

Looks like Love Lane Mews is ready for you to plunk down some cash and move in:

Chuck Taylor photo

Photo: Chuck Taylor/SmokingNun

Homer’s pal/Brooklyn Heights resident/ Celine Dion expert / journalist/ biographer/ census worker Chuck “the Smoking Nun” Taylor takes a walk down Fulton Street and contemplates.  He also Photoshops a few pictures (above) to look like Superfly-era snapshots:

Smoking Nun: Its gentrification is an ongoing work in progress, but for now it is still inundated with electronics vendors, 99-cent stores, wig & weave stores, bargain emporiums and pawn shops. It is truly a snapshot of what Manhattan resembled in the 1970s—which I look back upon with fondness. The opportunity to surround myself with a strip of retail that has not be overrun by chain stores and Mayor Bloomberg’s clean sweep of the middle class is a daily fascination. I simply cannot pass by without camera in hand.

This just in from BHB pal Chuck Taylor (Brooklyn Heights’ resident Celine Dion expert… watch him this week on the Biography Channel talking about Shaun Cassidy….):

Took this pic today at the bossert… within the past couple days, they’ve installed hideous industrial tape across the entrance step… because some idiot must have tripped and now they’re afraid of a lawsuit… so now this beautiful historic destination looks like home depot… or worse, the scene of a gruesome crime…

Smoking Nun: Ayhan and I celebrated my birthday a day late, since he was working all weekend while I was in the Hamptons. Had a grand dinner at Italian restaurant Armando’s just two blocks from home on Montague Street. The joint was originally founded in 1936, shuttered in 2008, and following the hasty retreat of pitiful replacement sammich chain Spicy Pickle, Armando’s modernized its space and reopened Monday, Sept. 28, with a glorious, upscale menu and a bar that is open until midnight—something sorely lacking in this ultra-conservative nabe of Brooklyn Heights. Truly felt like being somewhere brand new in a locale only steps from home. Grade-A experience.

BHB pal/Brooklyn Heights resident Chuck Taylor is going to be on the Biography Channel discussing a great icon of history — Vanilla Ice:

Chuck Taylor Blog: In February, I blah blah blahed about Vanilla Ice for A&E’s “Biography.” It’s confirmed that I’m appearing as a media talking head in the episode, which is at last airing on the Biography Channel Thursday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m., with an encore four hours later, Friday, Aug. 28 at 1 a.m. Hope you can tune in, cool cats.

Chuck Taylor Blog photo

Chuck Taylor Blog: Celine DIon and I am thrilled that E! has finally produced a “True Hollywood Story” on my main muse, and I was fortunate to be included once again. I received a DVD copy of the upcoming episode, scheduled to debut Friday, Dec. 5 at 9 p.m., with an encore Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 a.m. Boy, it’s nice to have several bits of commentary, but it was an unfortunate time for me to be captured on tape. I am about to burst out of my own face, egads. Here’s a fun game: Every time, Chuck is shown, drink as many shots as I have chins.