Homer Fink – Brooklyn Bugle

Open Thread Wednesday, October 24, 2012

October 24, 2012

Mum’s the word! Or maybe not. It is, after all, Open Thread Wednesday for October 24, 2012… which also happens to be the same day in 1861 that the first Transcontinental Telegraph line was completed across the U.S., spelling the end of the Pony Express. And look at us now… using the Internets to blog with the ease of a hunt & peck and a couple clicks. So what’s on your mind today? Do tell… and comment away. (Photo: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49699

From the Web

Clark Street Pet Shop Begs the Question: How Much Are Those Humping Dogs in the Window?

October 24, 2012

On their afternoon jaunt through Brooklyn Heights today, Baby Fink noticed an interesting window display at the ClarkPet.com store and asked Mrs. Fink, “Mommy, doggie, what doin’?” The only way post modern parents like us can even attempt to explain such a menagerie is with the late 90s classic by the Bloodhound Gang, “The Bad Touch”. For those of you who were well into your “hey you kids get off my lawn” years by then suffice to say that A) They did, in fact, get off on your lawn and B) do the phrase “you and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals why don’t we do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel” ring a bell?

Larger photo and the full BHG video after the jump.

Folks, do you really think this is NOT a posed display? For Mrs. Fink’s part: A Gold Star Day for the most likely bored teenager who pulled this off.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49685

From the Web

Billionaire Trumps Joshua Rechnitz’s $40 Million BBP Donation: $100M For Central Park

October 23, 2012

Philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz’s $40 million donation for the design & construction of a 115,000-square-foot year-round, multi-use recreation facility near Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 has been trumped. In April, when the Manhattan-based Founder & Chairman of the non-profit New York City Fieldhouse announced the gift, it was deemed the largest donation ever for a New York City public park.

Now, make that the second largest. The New York Times reports that Tuesday, hedge fund billionaire John A. Paulson and his Paulson Family Foundation have donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy, more than doubling Rechnitz’s consistently controversial Fieldhouse gift.

Paulson, a lifelong New Yorker, said that as an infant he was pushed around in a baby carriage in Central Park and that he remembers going to Bethesda Fountain as a teenager and seeing it covered in graffiti, with no water flowing. The park’s current endowment stands at $144 million. Half of Mr. Paulson’s gift will go to the endowment, while the other half will be used for capital improvements.

“Walking through the park in different seasons, it kept coming back that in my mind Central Park is the most deserving of all of New York’s cultural institutions,” he said at a news conference. “And I wanted the amount to make a difference. The park is very large, and its endowment is relatively small.”

Perhaps 50 years from now, a prominent Brooklynite will recall being strolled around Brooklyn Bridge Park as an infant and pony up $100M for its upkeep. Imagine how magnificent it will be by then. (Photo: Claude Scales)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49669

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Pervasive ‘Delivery Man’ Film Shoot Hijacks The Heights

October 23, 2012

Consider this the week that the “Delivery Man” took over Brooklyn Heights. Locating a street where the feature film shoot from 533 Kids Productions isn’t shooting in the neighborhood is easier than naming all those where it is. Tuesday’s scheduled filming near and along the Promenade was postponed until Wednesday because of cloudy weather—meaning that vehicles forced to move Monday on Montague Terrace, Pierrepont Place, Pierrepont Street and Remsen must repeat their desertion act Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, vehicles were banned Tuesday along parts of Orange, Cranberry, Clark and Henry streets, as filming ensued (with an abundance of kids present) early afternoon along Orange Street. “Delivery Man,” due in 2013 and starring Vince Vaughn, Ben Bailey, Cobie Smulders, Britt Robertson and Chris Pratt, centers on a man whose life is turned upside down when he learns he’s fathered 533 children as a sperm donor. When a bunch of the kids want to meet their dad, he must decide whether to reveal his identity.

See vehicle restrictions for Tuesday at 10 p.m. below the jump, along with more pics from Tuesday’s shoot. For questions or concerns, call 533′s Location Department at 646-513-2360. (Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Cars must be moved tonight by 10 p.m. on both sides of Clark Street between Cadman Plaza West and Henry, Pierrepont Street between Monroe Place and Clinton, Clinton between Pierrepont and Remsen, Montague Street between Cadman Plaza West and Clinton, and the west side of Cadman Plaza West between Pineapple and Clark.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49637

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Landmark Preservation

WSJ: The Long & Storied History Of Gage & Tollner At 374 Fulton Street

October 23, 2012

The storied locale that housed Gage & Tollner restaurant from 1892 through the beginning of the millennium is both an endearing and bittersweet tale of Downtown Brooklyn’s history. New York City landmarked the eatery’s exterior in 1974 and a year later, its interior. It was the first landmarked dining room and the city’s third interior landmark of any kind. The first two were the New York Public Library and Grant’s Tomb.

In a lengthy piece in the Wall Street Journal, writer Barry Newman discusses the 120-year-old heritage of 374 Fulton Street, from the seafood restaurant owner’s purchase of the building in 1919 to its eventual demise. WSJ offers: In 1976, Fulton Street became a pedestrian mall, with no automobile traffic. The streets were scary, and the old crowd began eating elsewhere.” In 1985 then-owner Ed Dewey decided to sell the famous destination. In 1995, it filed for bankruptcy, before closing around 2004.

Since, it has held T.G.I. Friday’s, which lasted until 2007. Arby’s came next, in January 2010. It endured for just eight months. And in the summer of 2011, a discount costume jewelry store opened in the spot. WJS says, “The Landmarks commission says the landlord asked for a permit to make alterations after they were made. It denied the application for lack of detail and, this month, issued a violation. The commission, still lacking a satisfactory response, has issued another violation that can lead to a fine of $5,000 a day.”

Meanwhile, many of the original lighting fixtures from Gage & Tollner were stolen. Some mirrors and arches are said to survive behind bright pink panels. And what of the famous eatery that is no longer? Its last owners, Peter Aschkenasy and Joe Chirico still own the name. The latter says he’d like to reopen the restaurant “in a place where you can get to the front door.” And its Landmarked decor? In New York, he says, a crew can “replicate that in no time.” (Photo: Chuck Taylor/July 2010)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49602

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Events, Music

Moonalice, Fronted by Tech Investment Guru Roger McNamee, Showcase Their Awesome Stanley Mouse Original Gig Posters Sunday (10/28) at Brooklyn Bowl

October 22, 2012

The musicians and artists of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury scene of the late 1960s were made iconic thanks to the music of bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. Arguably, the Dead themselves were made immortal by the concert posters created for them by Stanley Mouse. Continue Reading…

From the Web

Real Estate

Boerum Hill Townhouse Sells In One Day

October 22, 2012

A classic Boerum Hill townhouse at 179 Bergen Street was on the market for only one day before entering contract, after being listed by Corcoran on September 8 for $2,950,000. By October 5, Brownstoner reports it was in the midst of changing hands after a September 9 sale. It last sold in 2009 for $2,150,000.

The listing describes it as a “lovely two family townhouse. Owner’s upper triplex and garden level floor-through. Restored details throughout include original molding and plaster medallions, pocket doors and wood burning fireplaces with marble mantles. Located on a quaint, tree-lined street. The configuration makes for an easy conversion to a one family home. The building has mechanical and structural upgrades from top to bottom.” (Photo: Corcoran)

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7962

From the Web

Landmark Preservation, Real Estate

Renewed Hope For 364 Henry Street?

October 22, 2012

John Quadrozzi, owner of the long-decaying Cobble Hill townhouse at 364 Henry Street & Congress Street, has scheduled a meeting with the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a major building upgrade. According to public records cited by Brownstoner, he’s been promising to repair the structure since 2010.

Proposed changes on the LPC agenda for both 364 Henry and 129 Congress Street—the adjoining building around the corner—call to alter the facades, construct new rooftop and rear yard additions, install a stoop, bay windows, light fixtures, roof deck, a metal fence, alter window openings on the stable and modify and add curb cuts.

The LPC filed a lawsuit for failure to maintain the historic structures two years ago. On the DOB end, the buildings have a long history of stop work orders, most recently this past July. (Photo: Brownstoner)

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7954

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Is Filming In Brooklyn Heights ‘Out Of Control’?

October 22, 2012

Ask the Mayor’s Office about the inundation of shoots for movies, TV shows and commercials and you’ll get this response: “The industry provides high-quality jobs in an era when low-paying service jobs have become the norm.” According to the Boston Consulting Group, NYC’s film sector is the strongest in history, generating $7.1 billion in 2011, while employing 130,000.

But some residents of brownstone Brooklyn have a different take, saying that they’re paying the price for the boom. According to a story in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with “the streets of historic Brooklyn Heights clogged with film trucks on a regular basis, local businesses and residents are fuming.”

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, says she’s losing count of the multitude of shoots in the neighborhood. For one, filming of flick “Delivery Man” is taking place at Plymouth Church, the Promenade, Brooklyn Historical Society, Henry Street, Montague Terrace, Remsen Street and Pierrepont: “How many blocks? No answer. I think it’s excessive. More consideration needs to be given to little neighborhoods like this one. Last week, ‘Law and Order’ and a Lottery commercial were shooting at the same time. The Lottery trucks blocked Montague from Court to Henry street. That really did affect merchants.”

Andrea Demetropoulos, who owns Rocco and Jezebel pet shop at 89 Pineapple Walk, has launched a cease-fire petition, and tells the Eagle, “Filming is out of control. Three customers and the UPS guy this morning told me they couldn’t park anywhere. They’re killing the people who live here. This entire neighborhood is only 5 by 13 blocks. There needs to be a moratorium.”

The Brooklyn Eagle counts more than a dozen major films and TV shows being shot locally over the last two weeks: “Delivery Man,” “Smash,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” “Noah,” “Golden Boy,” “Zero Hour,” “Orange,” “666 Park Avenue,” “Carrie Diaries,” “Person of Interest,” “How to Be a Man,” “Infamous” and “Made in Jersey”—along with a number of commercials, like the New York Lottery spot being filmed on Montague Street. Much more in the Eagle piece here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49580

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Is Filming In Brooklyn Heights ‘ Out Of Control’?

October 22, 2012

Ask Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting about the inundation of shoots for movies, TV shows and commercials and you’ll get this response: “The industry provides high-quality jobs in an era when low-paying service jobs have become the norm.” The Boston Consulting Group, meanwhile, released a study in May reporting that NYC’s film sector is the strongest in history, generating $7.1 billion in 2011, while employing 130,000.

Andrea Demetropoulos, who owns Rocco and Jezebel pet shop at 89 Pineapple Walk, has launched a cease-fire petition, and tells the Eagle, “Filming is out of control. Please tell people to call the Mayor’s Office and tell them, ‘If you knew how difficult it is to do our job with all this filming.’ Three customers and the UPS guy this morning told me they couldn’t park anywhere. They’re killing the people who live here. It does interfere with local businesses and residents.”

She adds that some production companies are blocking off parking spaces they don’t even use during shoots: “They’re all over the place… Columbia Heights, Clark Street, Hicks, Henry, and they take over the streets a day or two prior to shooting. This entire neighborhood is only 5 by 13 blocks. There needs to be a moratorium.”

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, notes that she’s beginning to lose count of the multitude of shoots around the neighborhood, saying that filming for “Delivery Man” is taking place at Plymouth Church, on the Promenade, at the Historical Society, at Heights Kids and on Henry Street: “How many blocks? No answer. I think it’s excessive. More consideration needs to be given to little neighborhoods like this one. Multiple shots at one time is unfair. Last week ‘Law and Order’ and a Lottery commercial were shooting at the same time. The Lottery trucks blocked Montague from Court to Henry street. That really did affect merchants.”

The Brooklyn Eagle counts more than a dozen major films and TV shows being shot in the area over the last two weeks: “Delivery Man,” “Smash,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” “Noah,” “Golden Boy,” “Zero Hour,” “Orange,” “666 Park Avenue,” “Carrie Diaries,” “Person of Interest,” “How to Be a Man,” “Infamous” and “Made in Jersey”—along with a number of commercials, like the New York Lottery spot being filmed on Montague Street. Much more in the Eagle piece here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49580