Downtown Brooklyn’s Shake Shake inarguably changed the face & fortunes of the once-sagging Fulton Mall, convincing many Heights residents to cross Court Street for the first time in years (decades?). Since its December 2011 opening, the burger joint has led to a renaissance, bringing the likes of Starbucks, Brooklyn Industries, H&M, Century 21, Gap, Seattle’s Best, TJ Maxx, Raymour & Flannigan… and on and on…

Union Square Hospitality Group has confirmed a second Shake Shack in Brooklyn this fall at 170 Flatbush Avenue, across from the 18,200-seat Barclays Center, which BHB first tipped in September.

Grub Street reports that the chain is expanding this year in London and Istanbul, and may be coming to the Upper West Side, in addition to Manhattan locations in Madison Square Park and Midtown.

In a press release, Shack Shack acclaims its “modern day roadside” burger stand known for all-natural burgers, flat-top dogs, frozen custard, beer, wine and more.” CEO Randy Garutti says, “Our second Brooklyn location will be directly across from the Barclays Center and plant us firmly within walking distance of several neighborhoods from Park Slope to Fort Greene. New York City is our hometown, and the Shack will be the place where New Yorkers can come together to celebrate the best of Brooklyn’s thriving culture, sports and entertainment.” (Photo: Brownstoner)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/55254

Response to Knicklyn on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and tumblr had been enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that Sorisi recently started selling a line of Knicklyn gear, an endeavor that is about to come to a screeching halt.

From Sorisi today:

“Knicklyn has been pressured by a popular sports league to temporarily restrict the online sale of all “Knicklyn” goods and apparel or face substantial legal action.  Despite meeting with and receiving clearance from several trademark lawyers prior to the launch of the site, this large sports association still feels the “Knicklyn” logo infringes upon their trademarks and intellectual properties.  We have attempted to reach an amicable agreement with said sports league but were left with only two options; either pay millions of dollars in licensing fees, or shut down all together.”

Reached by phone on Sunday, Sorisi sounded discouraged but undaunted.

“This isn’t a big deal,” he said. “It’s not going to slow me down.”

While unsurprised by the NBA’s action, he didn’t think it would come quite this quickly, and he pointed out that the objection is not with Knicklyn itself, but with the decision to sell goods that could represent copyright infringement.

He toyed with some design changes to his merchandise, but decided ultimately to suspend sales as he contemplates his next moves.

“This is only a temporary setback,”  he said.

And given the response to his announcement about ceasing sales, which Sorisi characterized as “great” and “positive,” along with an article in the NY Post about this recent development, he might be right when he says, “This isn’t a bad bump. It’s a good bump.”

Read Sorisi’s full letter here, and let us know what you think. Corporate behemoth strangling creative expression and fandom? Or legitimate copyright infringement?

Originally posted on January 27, updated January 28 with additional information.

Eric Sunderman writes in the Village Voice:

Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins now isn’t like seeing the Smashing Pumpkins in 1990. Or 1995. Or 1998. Or pretty much any other time in their 20-plus year history. Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins now is a bit like randomly running into that first love of yours from high school, but now that first love from high school has put on a little bit of weight, talks about “big” concepts like “love” and “hate” and “other bullshit” that just all sound pretentious, and still, despite being the one who broke up with you, unashamedly references the past and how good things were back then. And when you’re with this person from high school, you immediately remember: “Oh yeah. This is why we broke up. This person is a terrible.” But at the same time, you can’t prevent those old familiar feelings from coming to the surface. You get a taste of what things used to be like. You feel that subtle chemistry again. You remember the first time you kissed. You remember the first time you held hands. You remember the first time you locked eyes. Or in the case of seeing Billy Corgan walk on stage, you remember the first time you heard “Tonight, Tonight.”

Smashing Pumpkins at Barclays Center

Party like it’s 1999.

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Tue, Dec 11 2012 08:10:35

Rolling Stones at Barclays Center

We know it’s only Rock n Roll and it’s expensive.

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sat, Dec 08 2012 18:36:23

New York Magazine writes:

Now that the clip has taken off, “my friends have all gotten in touch with me, and I have a zillion requests to be Facebook friends with people,” said Grossman. Her jealous 12-year-old granddaughter said, “I wish I could hang out with Jay-Z, too.” And yes, she’d definitely be willing to collaborate with Jay, suggesting that maybe her work with chain-link fences would match his aesthetic. “I don’t think I’m capable of altering what I do to tailor to him, but I think there might be some intersection,” she said.

Tanzina Vega writes in the NYT’s Media Decoder:

When I got into the office in the morning, I watched the clip that was embedded in a Gawker post with the headline, “Jay-Z Rides the Subway, Adorably Explains Who He Is to an Adorable Old Lady”

My immediate reaction? That’s no “adorable old lady,” that’s my dear friend Ellen Grossman. In an instant she had gone from being a largely anonymous New York artist, to Ellen Grossman, the Amiable New Yorker Who Asked Jay-Z if He Was Famous as He Was on the Way to Performing at the Barclays Center.

Tablet Magazine writes:

“Jay-Z sat down next to me and I did not recognize him, but everyone was taking his picture. But I thought, because I didn’t recognize him, that it still could have been a flash mob. I know people do fake celebrity stuff. So I said what was on the video ‘Are you famous?’ and he said ‘Yes’ and I believed him. I asked what his name was and he said ‘Jay’ and I didn’t catch that it was Jay-Z and after we were talking for a while I thought ‘He’s pretty famous,’ I noticed his security people and we were in a little bubble because they were around us and then I asked ‘What’s your name again?’ and he said ‘Jay-Z.’ We had a really great conversation, it felt really genuine.”

One fan wrote, “patti smith just likened the barclays center to a cockroach… while playing barclays center.”

(photo via @MarkFischel)

Patti Smith at Barclay’s Center

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Mon, Dec 03 2012 18:34:03

A Who fanatic through high school, college, and early adulthood, I’d seen them once before, in 1989, when we were both a lot younger, they in their 40’s, I in my 20’s, when it was easier to pretend that they were a band in their prime.

So it was with some trepidation that I headed to the Barclays Center last Thursday night, and with satisfaction that I left it.

First impressions of the venue are that it’s gone overboard in an attempt for sleek, Brooklyn coolness. Its darkness—both in décor and in lighting—feels more foreboding than urban hip, and at least for this particular event, which did not pack the house, the arena itself felt like a vacuous barn.

The men on the stage were undeniably old, and someone tweeted to me during the show, “Enjoy the Two!”, referring to the absent Keith Moon, who died in 1978, and John Entwistle, who died in 2002.

But instead of avoiding the passing of their youth and bandmates, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend invoked them, the screens behind the stage regularly displaying images of the very young Who, in their 30’s when Quadrophenia, the centerpiece of the show, was released in 1973.

At several points, the musicians on the screen replaced those on the stage, bass player Pino Palladino stepping aside during one number so that Entwistle’s performance, projected on the screen, is the one that the audience heard; Keith Moon reprised his role as the Bell Boy in the song of the same name and treated those in attendance to an extended drum solo, while current drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) looked on.

Quadrophenia is the story of a British mod in the 1960’s, and the band played it, uninterrupted, start to finish; while the quality and complexity of the music stand up nearly 40 years later, a sense of anachronism couldn’t help but pervade the performances of two men in their late 60s singing about youthful disaffection.

The largely middle-aged Barclays Center crowd received appreciatively the performance of Quadrophenia, but predictably, it was the “greatest hits” part of the show (“Who Are You?”, “Baba O’Riley,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again”) that brought it to its feet.

Known for transcendent live performances in its heyday, this version of the Who set more modest goals and achieved them, successfully linking the band’s past and present. And if the performances relied a little too heavily on the band’s former selves, the audience was happy to indulge them.

Were you there? What did you think?

Photo: Alison Wright via Twitter

The Who at Barclays Center

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Tue, Nov 20 2012 18:40:09

Their announcer of 18 years, Ian Eagle, had to wait a little longer to make his Brooklyn debut, calling his first game on Monday when the Nets lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Eagle became part of the Nets broadcast team in 1994 and joined the YES network, the Nets’ television home, 10 years ago. And though he grew up in Queens, coming to the Barclays Center is a sort of homecoming.

“My dad was from Brooklyn,” Eagle said last week, preparing to head out of town to cover the NFL.  “He went to Erasmus Hall for high school, and that was his life, growing up in Brooklyn.”

“After my father got divorced, his first wife lived in Brooklyn, and I spent weekends in Brooklyn with her for the first five years of my life. I remember going to Prospect Park, getting off at the Church Avenue station; she had an apartment on Caton Avenue, and Brooklyn made up a lot of my childhood memories. It definitely made an impression on me.”

Eagle also spent time in Mill Basin, as a teenager frequently visiting a sister who lived there. “I used to go out there about a once a month,” he said. “Growing up in Queens, the only frame of reference I had for an indoor mall was Kings Plaza.”

Eagle’s first impressions of his return to Brooklyn are equally favorable.

“I’m really impressed,” he said. “It’s very tastefully done, not over the top like a lot of the newer buildings. It feels intimate, and the lower bowl feels very close to the action. I went upstairs, too, and for a basketball game, I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house.”

Of the move across two rivers, from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Eagle said that the first task was persuading the players that it was a good idea. “The biggest challenge initially was convincing players that Brooklyn is a legitimate destination,” he said. “That happened pretty quickly.”

“There’s automatically a fan base in Brooklyn,” he went on. “Knicks’ ans aren’t going to give up their allegiance, but Brooklyn is a proud area, and a number of fans have already accepted this team.

“That’s a byproduct of the pride within the borough. There’s a different vibe with this team.”

While Eagle is enthusiastic about the move, he has no plans to move from his New Jersey home to the Brooklyn.

“I have a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old, and the timing just doesn’t work. But I’ve already done the drive a couple of times and it really hasn’t been that bad at all,” he said.

“I’m Mr. Traffic,” he continued. “I listen to all the traffic reports.”

The Nets’ next home game is Sunday at 3 pm against the Orlando Magic.

Brooklyn Nets Open Pre-Season at Barclays Center

The Tale of the Tweets

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Mon, Oct 15 2012 18:26:13

The Daily News’ Jim Farber writes, “In her very first number, Streisand fiddled liberally with the lyrics of “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” adding shout outs to Erasmus High, her old yeshiva, and salty lox.”

Check out all in action in our the Tale of the Tweets after the jump.

Streisand at Barclays Center

A little tale of the tweets for Babs’ return to Brooklyn.

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sat, Oct 13 2012 17:50:34

High-end residential brokerage Stribling & Associates is opening its first office in Brooklyn—just a few blocks from the newly opened Barclays Center. The Wall Street Journal reports that the firm is ramping up its activity in the borough with a 3,500sf office at 384 Atlantic Avenue, which will house up to 50 brokers. “Brooklyn is the hottest place to be right now,” says Elizabeth Ann Kivlan, a Stribling EVP.

Stribling has three Manhattan offices employing more than 250 agents and has been involved with such Brooklyn projects as One Hanson Place, a landmarked loft conversion at the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, and One Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn Heights, where Elizabeth Stribling, the company’s founder and president, lives in a multimillion dollar penthouse.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7867

Protesters, still clinging onto the notion that politicians tell the truth and keep their promises, gathered outside as fans filed into the show. The road to Brooklyn having it’s first major sports team in two generations was indeed a bumpy, slimy and sordid road. For a full account of how Brooklyn got this arena and what was learned about how things get done in the borough, read Atlantic Yards Report’s definitive primer.

Now here’s what the folks who were there this weekend had to say:

Tale of the Tweets: Jay-Z Opens Barclays Center

Jay-Z opens Brooklyn’s Barclay Center with a bang. Here’s the tweets to prove it including from our own @JasonShaltz:

Storified by Brooklyn Bugle · Sun, Sep 30 2012 09:57:40

Photo: The Shaltzes

Shack Shack must be cooking up a fortune at its Downtown Brooklyn Fulton Mall location, which opened in December. The New York Post reports today that the burger joint is sniffing a second neighborhood shop on Flatbush Avenue, just across from the new 18,200-seat Barclays Center.

The venue hosts its grand opening tonight with rap mogul/Nets co-owner Jay-Z beginning an eight-night concert run. Meanwhile, The Post says that the Center “is opening the floodgates to a slew of new high-end eateries, sports bars, apartment towers and retail shops.”

Among them: Trendy Delicatessen & Macbar in Manhattan is opening an offshoot eatery called Elbow Room a block away on Flatbush Avenue that also specializes in gourmet mac-and-cheese dishes. Next door, a Texas-style barbecue joint “featuring a top pitmaster from Austin” is on the way. A seafood sports lounge on Vanderbilt Street, Fish Fish, Mo Fish is in the works. And a high-end Scottish whisky bar, Duke of Montrose, is coming to Fifth Avenue and Bergen Street.

More than a dozen other new eateries are in the works within three square blocks of the arena, the Post says. TGI Friday’s, Dave & Buster’s, Starbucks and Panera Bread are also rumored to be shopping for space close to Barclays. (Photo: Heather Quinlan)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48444

In a story about art installations that will decorate Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center—including a 20×110-foot mural by Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas and a 70-foot mural from Cuban-American artist Jose Parla created at his studio two blocks from the arena—Forbes.com contributor Lynn Douglass offers a curious quote about nearby Brooklyn Heights…

She writes: “Can this local-inspired art help bridge the divide with those who spent years trying to block the sports arena from the heart of Brooklyn?

In an interesting turn, some of the same Brooklyn Heights residents who balked about traffic patterns before the Center was built are running out to buy tickets.”

Huh? Douglass offers no statistics to verify Heights’ residents alleged enthusiastic support of tix sales… Things that make you go Hmmm.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48331