Bklink: Kif is Good

Kif, a Middle Eastern restaurant, recently opened in the space that was occupied by Liquor at 219 DeKalb Avenue. "Finally! After so much positive reader feedback, I was able to hit up Kif on Friday evening. I know many people loved Liquors, but to be honest, I was never really that into their food or service. Though it will always have a place in my heart, as it’s the very first place I ate at in the neighborhood several years ago. I’m glad to report that Kif seems to be offering tastier food and friendlier service!"--Clinton Hill Blog

New Bus Shelters Doing About as Well as Expected

Many of the city's new bus shelters, part of the street furniture franchise that has also brought new newsstands and a few bike shelters and pay toilets to the city, are doing better than one might have expected. They don't seem to have been victimized by as much widespread vandalism as one might expect to find on sleek, new glass structures. On the other hand, some have not been holding up so well. Some, for instance, have been totally trashed. This one on Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene is in the mild to medium range.

One Hanson Place Retail Space Rendering

Here's one vision of what the retail space inside the landmark One Hanson Place, aka Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, might look like after it's leased out. Racked had the rendering yesterday amidst reports that the asking price for the 30,000 square foot space is $3 million a year. Border's was mentioned early on as a tenant, but that deal didn't come to fruition. So, the hunt is one for something else, with a "specialty store," catering operation, restaurant or retailer like Apple all mentioned.

Brookspring: Fort Greenery

Vanderbilt Avenue, Fort Greene

Brooklyn Flea Rocks for a Second Weekend

Brooklyn Flea, the big Fort Greene Sunday production from our friends at Brownstoner, had a great second weekend despite weather that was, once again, somewhat less than ideal. When we stopped in around 4PM there were still people flowing into the Bishop Loughlin HS schoolyard, although clearly crowds had thinned somewhat from peak times. We found a wonderful assortment of vendors offering both new handcrafted items and older "flea market-type" goods. In other words: a little something to keep everyone shopping for everything from handmade jewelry and art to vintage clothing and retro furniture happy. The Flea got a big boost this weekend with major coverage from the New York Times. We were struck by the large number of people that it is drawing to its corner of Fort Greene and by its size and variety. We don't think we're taking a big risk by predicting that it will be a big feature of Brooklyn Sunday life through the Spring, Summer and Fall. Totally cool.

Bklink: Fort Greene Dog Fight

"Looks like the neighborhood dog population is increasing - so much so that the dogs are turning on each other during off-leash hours. One resident reports that her dog was left with serious wounds after a pit bull attack this morning. The President of the park’s pets society sent an email to members saying that this kind of attack is on the increase on account of overcrowding."--General Greene

GL Photo Du Jour: Sabrett's Secret

[Photo Courtesy of GL Correspondent Anna Lewis]

We call this photo, from Atlantic Avenue outside the Atlantic Terminal Mall, Sabrett's Secret, although we suppose it could also be Victoria's Sabrett. It comes to us via our valued correspondent, Anna Lewis.

Bklink: Selling Toren

Toren, the big condo rising on Flatbush Avenue, may have one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns for a Brooklyn property ever. A lot of Brooklyn residents have lent their to the effort and they're showing up everywhere.--Curbed

Bklink: No Oro Condo Hotel

The second Oro tower isn't going to include a condo-hotel and about 100,000 square feet will be trimmed from the size of the building. The original plan was for a 38-story, 344,992-square-foot tower with a hotel. Hilton was said to have been interested in Brooklyn's first condo-hotel.--Brownstoner

Rising Food Prices Hitting Brooklynites

With the prices of many food staples climbing, many Brooklyites are finding the increased cost of living is causing serious problems. Today's Daily News looks at the impact on some low-income residents:

Retired Fort Greene home attendant Orelia Myers' diet has taken a big hit as food prices have soared across the country - pasta has replaced meat on her dinner table. And Leslie Elikwu, already reeling from personal problems that make it difficult to care for her four children, sometimes takes them to soup kitchens.

For poor Brooklyn families, staples like meat, bread, eggs and milk are fast becoming luxuries. "I like porkchops, love porkchops, but they're so high, so high, so high. I'm not buying them like I used to," lamented Myers, 67, who lives in the Farragut Houses.

"I'm buying more potatoes and pasta," she said. "They're cheaper."...

The problem is serious for people on limited or fixed incomes. Some estimate the cost of groceries have gone up almost 50 percent. A gallon of milk now costs about $4 - 33 cents more than it did just last month. The average price for a dozen eggs has increased by as much as 25 percent.

The Debut of Brookyn Flea

[Photo courtesy of seventyoneplace/flickr]

Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea debuted yesterday in Fort Greene on a less than ideal day. Turnout in the chilly weather was quite good and a GL Correspondent visited and sent back a number of photos, some of which are below. In the meantime, there are more than 100 photos of opening day posted on flickr already.






Related Posts:
Dogs in Bags [General Greene]
Holy Flea! [Clinton Hill Blog]
Brooklyn Flea Starts Today [Clinton Hill]

Reminder: Brooklyn Flea Debuts on Sunday

One of the most exciting Brooklyn events this weekend is the debut of Brooklyn Flea from our friends at Brownstoner. It's a rain or shine event on Sundays from 10AM-5PM and there will be more than 200 vendors, some of them on a rotating basis. We're talking new designs from local artists as well as vintage stuff in what will be one of the biggest such undertakings in the entire city. It takes place at Bishop Loughlin HS in Fort Greene, which is on Lafayette Avenue at Vanderbilt. (Some tips on getting there given the subway mess this weekend on their blog.) Brownstoner founder Jonathan Butler explains the entire undertaking in a Q&A over at Gothamist. We wish Brooklyn Flea great success and longevity. Happy shopping!

Atlantic Terminal Target "Nightmare"

We're seriously behind the curve on this, but our friends at Racked posted an item earlier this week detailing an awful story of a woman who says she was falsely arrested for shoplifting at the Target at the Atlantic Terminal Mall. Racked writes that she was "hauled handcuffed out of the store, thrown in the back of a police car and taken to a jail in Bed-Stuy, where she spent ten hours in a jail cell and was charged with Petty Larceny, a crime that could land her in the clink. Deciding to fight back, she's hired an attorney and is blogging about her plight." Her crime? Talking on a cell phone and straying over a "Point of Sale" line in the store. A bit of her story, as recounted by Racked:

Nicola is shopping at Tar-gét, Brooklyn, using a reusable canvas Wholefoods bag. The items in the bag include a Jovovich-Hawk dress, a book by Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, and a twin sized inflatable mattress. She steps into the Customer Service area to check her messages, still in the store, by the trolleys and the 1 hour photo, never leaving the shop floor...Suddenly she feels a hand on her shoulder. "Come with me now" the average sized, red shirted man rushes her to a room forcefully, and Nicola protests "I have to listen to my messages" followed by "I'm not finished shopping - what is this about?". It transpired that she unknowingly crossed the "Point of Sale" and rather than look her in the eye or listen to what she has to say, they say they are going to press charges.

She has started a blog, but it seems to be devoted to raising some money to pay for a lawyer. Be careful where you shop and what you do while you're there.

Bklink: Arabic School Gets Home

"Despite concern from some parents, Brooklyn's controversial Arabic-themed school will move into a Fort Greene elementary school next year, officials said. Public School 287 parents were told at a meeting yesterday that the Khalil Gibran International Academy will move into the school building next year after growing too large for its current Boerum Hill location. Some parents are concerned about older students from Khalil Gibran going to school alongside their elementary school kids. PS287 currently houses the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice, a high school that is moving into an old courthouse next year."--NYDN

Brooklyn Flea is Big & Cool & It's Coming

We're slightly behind the curve about Brooklyn Flea this week, but given all the press big and cool new flea market coming to Fort Greene from our friends at Brownstoner has gotten the last few days, (New York Magazine hit it on Monday; the Daily News wrote it up at length yesterday.) one would have to be out of touch to not already know about it. It opens on April 6. We thought Brooklyn Flea was going to be cool, but it's going to be even bigger and better than we figured, with so many vendors interested in participating, that there will be rotation from week to week (which will also give people a reason to keep returning). There's going to be excellent food, concert to kick it off and more. It will be every Sunday from 10AM-5PM at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School on Clermont Avenue. The market will cover the 40,000-square-foot schoolyard. It's not going out on a limb to predict that Brooklyn Flea is going to be a huge success.

Bklink: Fort Greene Joe Guide

Check out one of the coolest neighborhood features we've seen in a long time for coffee drinkers: a guide to prices at Fort Greene cafes. "In what we hope will become a semi-regular feature here, we present our first Fort Greene Guide, a view of the cafes in the hood and their prices. We focused on the three items we figure most people are likely to get: a small coffee, a medium cappuccino or a baked good of some kind...When possible, though, we asked about that cafe staple, the muffin. Our results are below, but we’ve also made a handy Google Map if you’d prefer the geographic view." How cool is that?--General Greene

"The Ugliest Building in Brooklyn"?

Photographer Nate Kensinger, whose work we love and whose forays into places that are hard to access have brought us great visual joy, sent us some photos of a condo in Fort Greene called the Verdi on Adelphi. It has been featured many times by our friends at Brownstoner, who have not minced words about its aesthetics. Phrases like "a mix of generic-looking brick and an over-the-top swaths of blue mosaic tile" and "an over-the-top eyesore" have been used. Mr. Kensinger wondered if it's "the ugliest building in Brooklyn" in sending us photos. The "Ugliest in Brooklyn" competition is beyond our scope here and would have dozens of nasty contestants, so we'll just share a bit of his love for the Verdi:

This is the Verdi on Adelphi St, near the Navy Yard... they have been working on it for a while... but you really have to get up close to see how horrendous the tiles on this thing are! Its would be like living inside of a disco ball, or a fragmented oil slick. Its being touted as "a modern compliment to the rich history and lush streetscapes of fort greene." Haha. How does a mirrored tile jukebox complement a classic brownstone?

Mr. Kensinger also checked out the website of the architect Gene Kaufman, whose latest work will include a hotel and two residential buildings on N. 12 Street in Williamsburg, and writes:

He is working on some truly awful buildings, and has great descriptions of the neighborhoods he is trying so hard to gentrify. He calls Bushwick a "recently troubled neighborhood" and is helping a client in "re-homesteading a deteriorated area" on 11th and A in the East Village. He is also building on "a derelict contaminated site in the hip Williamsburg neighborhood" and is doing all sorts of waterfront glass boxes...

The tiles kind of remind of us the Gowanus Canal near the Union Street Bridge where oil bubbles to the surface and puts a nice sheen on the water.

Bklink: Cops Vs. Museum?

"A cop-bashing art exhibit at a taxpayer-funded museum in Brooklyn portrays the city's Finest as trigger-happy racists who have put bull's-eyes on the backs of black New Yorkers. Police abuse victims, including African immigrant Amadou Diallo, are depicted as shooting targets in the 'The Blue Wall of Violence' exhibit at The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts."--NYDN

Bklink: Masonic Temple Rocks Out

The newest venue for music in Brooklyn is...the Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. "This 99-year-old hall, a place known for secret society meetings and wedding receptions for Masons and friends of Masons only, is Brooklyn’s new alt music venue, and we have Brice Rosenbloom, of boomBOOMpresents, to thank. The Fort Greene music promoter, who’s booked shows at venues like Mo Pitkins, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Knitting Factory and the new Drom, approached the temple’s staff about hosting concerts there last year, and so far they’ve been game."--Brooklyn Based

Say What--I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

We don't know how long this sign in Fort Greene that was felled by street work has been sitting there, but we suspect it has been down for a very long time, we also believe that an ongoing project at Rockwell Place near BAM rendered it irrelevant. It makes for a lovely photo, though.