Homer Fink – Brooklyn Bugle

Gentrification: Clothier Brooklyn Industries Coming To Fulton Mall

July 10, 2012

Gentrification continues along the Fulton Street Mall corridor, this time with Brooklyn Industries coming to 342 Fulton Street, close to the entrance. An HSBC bank was previously on the site. Brownstoner shares that the Brooklyn-logo clothier has seven locations in the borough, including shops in DUMBO and Cobble Hill, along with a sprinkling in Manhattan. A tipster says that the store is set to open by the end of July.

Add Brooklyn Industries to the new Starbucks and Gap Factory Store along Fulton, as well as recently opened and/or coming soon Shake Shack, H&M, T.J. Maxx and Century 21.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43998

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, History, Real Estate

Heights History: A Room At The Hotel St. George, $10 A Week… In 1880

July 10, 2012

After going back in time to 1902 last month, we’ve given the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives another spin into the past. This time we transport back to July 10, 1880, 132 years ago today…

What a deal! The Hotel St. George is offering special summer rates, for $10 a week. Your offer includes a bedroom, parlor and private bath, plus the option for a four-course breakfast (40 cents), four-course lunch (35 cents) and five-course dinner (50 cents).

Perhaps you’re looking for accommodations that are a bit more permanent. Sure enough, bargains abound. How about a nicely furnished room at 98 Henry Street, with running water, heat and gas: $5-$6 a week. Only five minutes to the Brooklyn Bridge and ferries to Manhattan.

Interested in first-class accommodations for gentlemen and families “at very moderate rates”? There’s the Pierrepont House on Montague Street [which today is the Bossert Hotel at 98], with your option of American or Europeans meal plans. There’s also a large front room with running water at 73 Henry Street, at the corner of Orange Street: $10 for two. A smaller room is also available that’s suitable for two ladies (as long as they’re employed during the day).

Here’s one that’s hard to resist: Alcove, square and single rooms to let with or without board, at 62 Columbia Heights. Includes hot & cold water, ample closets and furnishings—connected to a private park with an “extensive view” of the harbor. Or perhaps you’d prefer a nicely furnished room on the second or third floor of 99 Hicks Street, perfect for a “gentleman & wife” or single gent. And at 151 Pierrepont Street, you have a choice of one or two “handsomely furnished” rooms on the second floors of a private home. Sorry, gentlemen only and no meals.

And finally, a curiosity that’s not in Brooklyn Heights, but was so packed with prejudice, we’re including it as a sign of the times in 1880. Two floors are available to families, four rooms per floor in a three-story house, for $8 a month. The address is 37 Bartlett Street [in Williamsburg]: with a provision that the space is available only to “English, Irish or French; no Dutch or Afghanistans.” Is it ironic that in 2012, that address is an empty lot?

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43939

From the Web

Racked Highlights Two Smith Street Boutiques Among ‘Essential Shopping’

July 9, 2012

Alongside the likes of such ooh-la-la NYC retailers as Ralph Lauren, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman and ABC Carpet, Racked has chosen two Cobble Hill boutiques among its July 2012 “38 Essential New York Shopping Experiences.”

The list offers a “north-to-south round-up” of destinations the shopping website declares “worth browsing,” adding, “We tried to include a range of neighborhoods, price points and merchandise, leaving out food stores and anything that’s been open less than six months.”

Epaulet at 231 Smith Street gets a Racked gold star for “staying on-trend without being too slavishly trendy.” Run by a married couple, the mostly-menswear shop “is perfect for guys who like knowing exactly how (and where) their jeans were made. There’s an Orchard Street shop too, but Smith Street is the original.”

As well, Dear Fieldbinder at 198 Smith Street is described as “a clean white box of a space stocked with hip labels like Rodebjer, Miista and Surface to Air. But don’t expect the service to be too cool for school. The staffers here are sweet and attentive and full of good styling ideas, and the denim sales can’t be beat.”

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7530

From the Web

Food

Cobble Hill’s Bien Cuit On Smith Street Garners Sweet Superlatives

July 9, 2012

With its ever-evolving selection of local eateries and novel boutiques, residents of Cobble Hill have come to know Smith Street as one of the most inviting corridors in South Brooklyn. It appears the word is out. In two separate surveys over the past week, pastry shop Bien Cuit at 120 Smith has been deemed one of New York’s best.

First, Eater offers a survey of New York’s 10 Best New Baked Treats. Bien Cuit reaps high praise for its Almond Croissants. The foodie webbie calls them “almond-y, flaky, buttery, golden-brown croissant perfection.”

Likewise, The Village Voice names Bien Cuit its No. 1 pick among the “10 Best Pastry Shops in New York,” saying: “Everything from this rustic Brooklyn bakery run by husband-and-wife duo Zachary Golper and Kate Wheatcroft is both pretty and delicious. Continue Reading…

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7522

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Food

Racked Names A Cook’s Companion Among Nine Best NYC Kitchen Suppliers

July 9, 2012

Shopping website Racked offers its take on “Nine Cooking Supply Stores for a Well-Stocked Kitchen,” and includes A Cook’s Companion at 197 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights as a pick for “shops catering to the adventurous home cook.”

The site says of the popular destination: “A foodie’s dream, this Brooklyn shop offers quality goods, often at 10% below the retail prices of its across-the-bridge counterparts. The friendly staff often provides the final push you need to give into a craving for a new Wüsthof knife or All-Clad pot. And for the home pastry-chefs, be sure to stop by the store’s baking section, because who doesn’t need a martini-glass shaped cookie.”

The other eight shops: Fish’s Eddy, Kitchen Arts & Letters, Bowery Kitchen Supply, Broadway Panhandler, Sur La Table, Korin—all in Manhattan—along with the borough’s Brooklyn Kitchen and Whisk.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43891

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, History

Ephemeral New York Deems St. George Liquor Sign ‘One Of Coolest’ Vintage

July 9, 2012

The always intriguing Ephemeral New York, which “chronicles an ever-changing city through faded and forgotten artifacts,” has deemed the neon sign outside the St. George Hotel one of “New York’s coolest vintage liquor store signs.” It joins age-old comrades in the West Village, 14th Street & Eighth Avenue and the Lower East Side.

Of course, there is no actual Hotel St. George Liquor Store today. The recently renovated Michael Towne Wine & Spirits at 73 Clark Street below the sign is anything but “shabby,” as Ephemeral describes the still-working red neon booze banner, adding, “You probably won’t find organic wines or imported microbrews in these old-school city liquor stores. Their shabby vintage signs tell us they’re traditional neighborhood shops where you can pick up decent booze at decent prices.”

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43875

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Celebrity Residents

Spike Lee Believes Cobble Hill Has Gentrified Into Brooklyn Heights

July 8, 2012

In a lengthy Q&A on New York magazine’s Vulture blog, Spike Lee talks with writer Will Leitch in detail about his roots in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill. The director was born in Atlanta, and moved to Crown Heights at an early age, followed by eight years beginning around the age of 4—from 1961 to 1969—at 186 Warren Street, between Henry and Clinton streets.

Lee’s take: Cobble Hill has gentrified to the point that it’s now… Brooklyn Heights. Read more at Cobble Hill Blog.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43864

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Celebrity Residents

Spike Lee Believes Cobble Hill Has Gentrified Into… Brooklyn Heights

July 8, 2012

Lee’s take: Cobble Hill has gentrified to the point that it’s now… Brooklyn Heights. See the full interview here, with highlights below.

Vulture: I cannot imagine what it must be like for you to walk around Cobble Hill now and see wheat-germ places and Pilates.

Lee: That does not bother me. What bothers me is that these kids do not know the street games we grew up with. Stoop ball, stickball, cocolevio, crack the top, down the sewer, Johnny on the pony, red light green light one-two-three. These are New York City street games.
We were the first black family to move into Cobble Hill. And we got called “nigger.” At that time, Cobble Hill was strong—I mean, strong—Italian-American, because of the docks. But as soon as the neighbors understood that there weren’t any other black families, it was not like a mass of black families moving in behind me, I was just like everybody else. It was a great time to grow up in Cobble Hill.

Vulture: Do you make it back at all? It’s not so Italian anymore.
I know. It is Brooklyn Heights now. But when I was growing up, the demarcation line was Atlantic Avenue. Brooklyn Heights was rich, Jewish. Atlantic Avenue was like the train tracks, and on the other side of Atlantic Avenue was Cobble Hill. It was mobbed up. When you crossed Atlantic Avenue, that was like going to another world. They say that [Brooklyn Heights private school] Saint Ann’s was formed because parents did not want us black kids in their schools in Brooklyn Heights.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7515

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

WABC-TV Visits Brooklyn Heights’ Cool Places

July 8, 2012

Channel 7 visited Brooklyn Heights Friday night to highlight the places to cool down here and around the city over the weekend including the new pool at Brooklyn Bridge Park. How’d you keep cool this weekend?

Watch the video after the jump.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43857

From the Web

Muni-Meters Come To Court Street

July 8, 2012

They’ve been methodically creeping across New York City, and last week, Muni-Meters arrived along Court Street as it moseys through Cobble Hill. According to the Cobble Hill Association, the plan has been in works for months, with advance notice from the Department of Transportation: “Commercial corridors citywide have been getting this treatment, which offers more payment options for drivers, more parking spots per block, and in some cases variable peak pricing so the cost of a space can change based on demand.”