After opening in Cobble Hill at 266 Court Street near Butler just last year, burger chain Five Guys has closed its doors, according to Brownstoner. The joint has nearby locations in Brooklyn Heights on Montague Street and in Downtown Brooklyn at the end of Fulton Mall at the Flatbush Extension. Pretty curious… This place has been expanding like mad and most locations seem to pack ‘em in.
Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7764
Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop is opening its first Brooklyn location and tenth New York locale at 345 Adams, next to Panera Bread, along the corridor’s new “Restaurant Row.” A sign in the window promises, “A warm new neighbor, coming soonish,” Brownstoner reports. The eatery, which serves breakfast, sandwiches, soups and baked goods, will occupy 2,500sf. Word is that Chipotle is also coming to Downtown Brooklyn, at the corner of Willoughby and Jay.
Crain’s New York Business reported in December that two other restaurants will be joining the Adams Street collective this fall: Sugar and Plumm, a combination restaurant, ice cream parlor & chocolate retailer; and American BBQ and Beer Co., both developed by Sugar and Plumm Co., from Mark Advent, creator of Las Vegas’ New York, New York hotel and casino.
All are located around the corner from Fulton Mall, adjoining the burgeoning Willoughby Street Pedestrian Plaza. The building at 345 Adams is almost fully leased now, with only 1,000sf of retail still remaining available, according to the New York Observer.
Also new in the building is the 15,000sf Bright Horizons, a childcare facility.
(Photos: Potbelly: Brownstoner; 345 Adams Street: New York Observer)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46115
From Best Car Service to Best Handyman (which youse weren’t particularly willing to give up) to something a little more tasty…
What’s your bid for the Best Pizza in Brooklyn Heights? Digging the brand new Dellarocco’s of Brooklyn? Convinced that nothing beats Fascati Pizzeria? Wie-Pie on Remsen more to your tastes? Or do you swear by the culinary cardboard that is Jeno’s from the nabe Key Food? Taking all bids for the Best Pizza Pie in the Heights, BHB compatriots!
Please feel free to contribute ideas for future goods & services in this post.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45424
From The Heidelberger Papers America blog:
“One of the few well preserved of classic New York City transit minutiae. Taken at the Montague Street entrance of the Court Street subway station.”
(Photo: Matt Heidelberger)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46060
Via Craigslist: “Mysterious Keys found in Brooklyn Heights (Clark Street Station). I found keys on the platform of the Clark St Station on the Uptown 2/3 side. If these are yours, describe them.” The reply link is here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46057
In a rare defeat for NYC Mayor Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled Friday that the popular initiative to allow 18,000 livery cabs to take street hails from Manhattan to the outer boroughs and the upper reaches of the city is a no go. No doubt, this should have residents of Brooklyn Heights seeing red, since it can be next to impossible to 
convince yellow taxis to cross the Brooklyn Bridge late at night.
The decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is also sour news for the city, which would lose $1 billion in revenue from 2,000 new medallion sales. NYC’s corporation counsel Michael Cardozo said he will immediately appeal the decision, according to The Wall Street Journal, saying city officials are “confident the appellate court will uphold” the law.
Taxi & Limousine Commissioner and Brooklyn Heights resident David Yassky also vowed to fight: “The court’s decision is a great loss to millions of New Yorkers outside of Manhattan, as well as for professional livery drivers whose ability to feed their families by providing a popular service their communities want and deserve is in jeopardy.”
The New York Daily News explains that earlier this summer, Engoron blocked the Bloomberg administration from selling the yellow medallions and taking applications for livery hail licenses after lobbyists for the yellow cab industry came up with the argument that the plan was illegal.
The judge determined that yellow cabbies would “suffer irreparable harm” if the plan were put into effect. Michael Woloz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, told WJS, “Thousands of individual owner-drivers and hundreds of small-business owners in both the taxi and livery industries are breathing a sigh of relief.”
Mind you, this is the same industry that just celebrated a whopping 17% fare hike. After Labor Day, the starting rate will remain $2.50, but the meter will climb 50 cents instead of 40 with every click, after one-fifth of a mile or 60 seconds. The flat rate from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport will climb by $7, to $52, and the surcharge from the city to Newark will escalate from $15 to $17.50.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46017
Earlier this week, New York City’s anticipated Bike Share Program—including locations in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Downtown Brooklyn—already faced delays that threatened to push the highly touted initiative to summer’s end. But now it’s official: The wheels of progress have been locked until at least March 2013.
Mayor Bloomberg announced Friday that Bike Share will not begin rollout until Spring, again blaming it on a computer glitch. With typical high-tone snark, he said on his radio show, “The software doesn’t work. Duh. You’re not going to put it out until it does work.” The program was originally to launch in July.
According to The New York Times, the city released a timeline that will begin in March with 7,000 bikes at 420 stations, before eventually expanding to 10,000 bikes and 600 stations.
“New York City demands a world-class bike-share system, and we need to ensure that Citi Bike launches as flawlessly as New Yorkers expect on Day 1,” said transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Bloomie added, “The people that are putting up the money understand. They’re probably not any happier about it than the people who want to rent the bikes or you and me or everybody else. But that’s the real world.”
Read the full New York Times story here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46013
The Brooklyn Heights Public Library at 280 Cadman Plaza West & Tillary Street was full of book-smart promise when it opened May 31, 1962, offering modern technology and a streamlined system for checking out 
and returning books. The series of pics (below), taken in February 1966, in fact, reveal a clever conveyor belt that sent books from the main-level chute to the lower floor, where they were processed to return to the shelves. Pretty neato.
In all, the Brooklyn Public Library system is the fifth-largest in the nation, with 58 branches located within a half mile of every Brooklyn resident. It’s a safe bet that some 45 years ago, not only did the air conditioning work at the Heights branch, but there probably weren’t too many stabbings at the library, either. Curiously, the lobby area has changed little since 1966. (Photos: Museum of the City of New York)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45817
Street signs in Brooklyn Heights will soon be following the letter of the law. The Federal Highway Administration has mandated that your tax dollars be spent on replacing 250,000 capital-letter street signs in New York City with mixed-case—specifically utilizing a condensed version of the Clearview typeface (licensed as ClearviewHwy).
So far, about 11,000 street name signs have been replaced around NYC’s five boroughs to meet national standards in typography and surface reflectivity, according to The New York Times—including some along Brooklyn Heights’ Montague Street. Brown historical signs will maintain their color.
Clearview was created in the 1990s by designers Donald Meeker and James Montalbano, working with the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. “With its crisp, clean design, Clearview represents exactly what its name suggests,” says city transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “Whether through signs, markings or sidewalks, we’re bringing clarity and simplicity to street design.”
Developer Montalbano recalls about two years ago crossing the East River from Brooklyn—where he lives—coming off the Brooklyn Bridge and seeing a sign for “Chinatown” with an arrow in Clearview. About a month ago, he also noticed Clearview signs on Montague Street in the Heights. “It’s very exciting,” he told NY Times. “We’ve been working on this project for a very long time.”
A number of the new signs replace those scheduled for routine maintenance, as well as when streets are under repair or reconstruction. “But sometimes, the new signs appear to have replaced perfectly serviceable older signs with all-uppercase lettering,” the Times notes, which has meant of tirade of criticism directed toward the Highway Administration, an agency of the federal Department of Transportation. As a result, DOT has since eased or eliminated some 46 deadlines and/or mandates for dutiful compliance.
(Graphic/New York Times)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45877
This sketch of the “Birthplace of Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’” depicts the corner of Cranberry & Fulton streets (which is now along Cadman Plaza West heading to Old Fulton Street) dated September 11, 1949. It is signed by Josephine Barry.
Legend has it that the red brick print shop in Brooklyn Heights where Walt Whitman set the type for the first edition of “Leaves” in 1855—torn down years ago to build the Whitman Close co-ops at 75 Henry Street—was salvaged, with bricks embedded in the ground around a planter near the A train stop on Cadman Plaza West.
(Sketch: Museum of the City of New York/Planter: McBrooklyn)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45675