Lost City

NEW LOST CITY WALKING TOURS ANNOUNCED: COBBLE HILL AND CARROLL GARDENS PROPER

2009-11-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Dec. 13, at 11 AM, I'll be conducting my first ever walking tour of Cobble Hill. The tour will roughly cover the area from Hicks Street to the west to Smith Street at the east point, and Altantic Avenue to the north to Degraw to the south. Again, I will not be relating the history you find in books (well, maybe a little), but leaning toward hidden history, forgotten incidents, eccentric facts, as well as focusing on elements of the living past as much as possible.

On Sunday, Dec. 20, at 11 AM, meanwhile, I'll be doing a tour of Carroll Gardens proper. By "proper," I mean all the stuff east of the BQE (and not covered in the upcoming Carroll Gardens West/BQE/Columbia Heights Waterfront District tours), west of Hoyt, south of Degraw and north of Hamilton.

Both tours will last roughly 90 minutes to 2 hours. (The area to be covered is larger this time.) The cost will be $20. Your humble servant will be the host.

For the Cobble Hill tour, the meeting place will by the southwest corner of Atlantic and Court, in front of the Trader Joe's. (The best way to get there, if you don't live in the area, is to take the F train to the Bergen Street stop. Walk west one block to Court and north a few blocks to Atlantic.)

For the Carroll Gardens proper tour, the meeting place will be the war memorial in the middle of Carroll Park. (The best way to get there, if you don't live in the area, is to take the F train to the Carroll Street stop. Stay to the back of the train. It will let you out right at the corner of Carroll Park.)

I'm going to try to keep it small (about 15 people), so, if you're interested, please make a reservation by contacting me at lostcitybrooks@gmail.com. (Or click the "Contact Me" link to the right.)

FYI, there is still room for a few more on the Nov. 29, Thanksgiving weekend walking tour of Carroll Gardens West/Columbia Heights Waterfront District. Please let me know if you'd like to join us.

Lost City Asks "Who Goes to Fortune House?"

2009-11-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Dining at Fortune House in Brooklyn Heights, for my latest Eater "Who Goes There?" column, reminded me of the long gone Jade Mountain in the East Village. How I miss that place.

Who Goes There? Fortune House

Chinese restaurants that hold their ground while garnering little notice outside the immediate area are hardly unusual. You'll find plenty in Chinatown, and every neighborhood has its stubbornly tenacious take-out joint. What makes Fortune House a noteworthy case is, while is does a steady take-away business, it also fills a great many of its tables every night. Plus, for 26 years it has held on to a prime piece of Henry Street real estate in Brooklyn Heights that assumedly should have been converted into a Duane Reade or Starbucks long ago. What can it be about the pink tablecloths, green walls and Cantonese-American-style duck-sauce-to-pineapple-and-fortune-cookie cooking that keeps them coming back?

Well, maybe it's the $4.25 tiki drinks! Fortune House serves Mai Tais, Zombies and Navy Grogs. These aren't retro Polynesian cocktails. Fortune House knows not irony. They're the genuine, time-warp items, the drinks your Mom and Dad used to throw back, complete with tiny umbrella and little plastic sword skewering a cherry and orange slice. "The cocktails are great," encouraged a regular. "And they're so cheap!" I didn't need much pushing. Worrying about being passed some rotgut, I watched the "bartender" (really, a young Asian women of about 17) make my Mai Tai. I saw five ingredients go in, two of which were rum, one recognizable as Myers. I started to feel pretty good about my drink. The girl then mixed the concoction with a shake that wouldn't wake a baby. The result wasn't good, and it wasn't bad. It was $4.25. And totally worth it.

The ever-whirling help must have read some of the reviews on the Internet that characterize the service at Fortune House as "indifferent." Though distracted by sheer business, the waitresses rarely left a table unattended and even occasionally smiled. Overseeing all was a fierce female manager in glasses and black pant suit. She was always dropping off some dish or picking up a check, cleaning, clearing, inquiring and sometimes chatting with the more regular of the regulars.

Though all the patrons seem to be from the extreme immediate area, there are two customer worlds at Fortune House. The old people tend to take a table. Elderly couples who linger over a glass of red wine at the end of their meal like they're at Le Bernardin. Mothers being taken out to dinner by their middle-aged sons and daughters. Old friends hashing over their ailments. Solitary, white-haired gentlemen who nurse multiple Martinis. Meanwhile, the young worker bees—running-panted, ear-budded, iPhoned—come in for take-out, waiting for their order on the long cushioned bench by the cloudy fish tank. An exception to this rule was a single hipster couple—thin, bearded, confidently cool guy, and his less certain girlfriend, in black bangs, babydoll dress and many bracelets—who dined in. They alone weren't having dinner in a Chinese restaurant. They were "having dinner in a Chinese restaurant."

But everyone—old sitters and young takers—seemed weirdly serene. That is perhaps the main attraction of a place like Fortune House, aside from the very cheap prices. It's comforting, never unsettling. The menu-decor-fish tank today will be the menu-decor-fish tank of tomorrow. Imagining the weary, perhaps mildly depressed, 20-something New Yorkers taking their hot cartons home to eat while watching their favorite program on a cold, November night, I felt comforted for them.

Or maybe that was the Zombie.
— Brooks of Sheffield

Merry Expensive Christmas

2009-11-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

The annual Christmas Bazaar at Manhattan Swedish Seamans Church, on 48th Street near Fifth, will take place today, tomorrow and Sunday. If you need Swedish licorice, St. Lucia dolls, straw reindeers, brightly colored wooden candle holders or tickets to the Dec. 13 St. Lucia service and concert, here's the place to go.

I paid a quick visit this afternoon. I used to attend this event every year when I worked in the area. It was an enjoyably ethnic holiday tradition (most people there speak Swedish) that reminded my of my Midwestern upbringing. I particularly liked the homemade Swedish meatball lunches you could buy in the basement. You just don't expect to find church basement buffets in midtown Manhattan. It was so surreally homey.

I was a bit disappointed this year, however, because the prices have skyrocketed. Candy was $3. Candles were $5. Pastries were $8. In the basement, a meatball plate I remember buying for $8 or so a few years back was a whopping $20! For a few meatballs, a lump of mashed potatoes and a dinky piece of salmon. It must have something to do with the exchange rate, since most of the craft products on sale are brought in from Sweden. But you certainly don't need to go overseas to get the ingredients for Swedish meatballs. And if the salmon is so expensive, don't include it.

I left not having bought anything, which made me sad. I would have liked to have supported the church, but I could have bought a better lunch for less money at Aquavit.

I Ask You?

2009-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

Do you want your plumber to be called Vigilante?

Heilbut and Kleefeld!

2009-11-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

It is accomplished, Ladies and Gentleman.

On Thursday afternoon, there was a lunchtime summit at Brooks 1890 Restaurant to determine if the research efforts of Lost City reader Ian Schoenherr had indeed uncovered the true origins of the old building the eatery has long called home. In attendance were myself, Schoenherr, and artist Sharon Florin, a local artist who has painted the restaurant building, as well as many other Long Island City landmarks.

Much had been pretty solidly confirmed by articles Ian had dug up in the archives of the New York Times, the Brooklyn Eagle, and other newspapers. The address used to function as Long Island City's City Hall in the late 19th century (when it was not yet part of New York), where the local wily officials, like slippery James Gleason, conducted city business. In 1910, it was purchased by Mssrs. Martin Heilbut and Herman Kleefeld, real estate men. During the next decade, it was referred to by several names, including Kleefeld Hall, Kleefeld's saloon, Kleefeld's Hotel and just plain Hielbut and Kleefeld, until the 1920s, when it began to be referred to as the Court Square Restaurant.

The main order of business of the visit was to eyeball more closely the stained-glass canopy above the bar. In the past I had thought the initials etched into the canopy to be "K" and "N." Ian posited that the "N" might be an "H," as in Hielbut. And so we looked.

And we have daylight! Clearly, I need to improve my prescription, because that seeming "N" is indeed an "H." Heilbut and Kleefeld, you are remembered, as I imagine you wanted to be when you commissioned that fine piece of glasswork. Or should I say Kleefeld and Heilbut? The "K" is over the "H," and most news reports mentioned Kleefeld more than Heilbut. I think he was probably the less silent of the two partners.

We were particularly fortunate to have Sharon along, because she is friends with the longtime owner Bill "Brooks" Gounaris. Thus, we were able to share this information, most of which was new to him, certainly the identities of "K" and H." The bartender, too, was eager to learn, no doubt happy that now, when patrons ask about the stained glass, he has an answer to give them. (Gounaris, by the way, is not the original Brooks; he bought the restaurant after Mr. Brooks died, by his own hand, in the 1970s.)

Gounaris, seeing our interest, was good enough to share an old photograph of the area with us (above). He said it dated before 1902. The Brooks building is to the right. The Court House is not the one that sits there today, but the first one, which burned down. Quite a wide open landscape, wasn't it?

He also showed us some ticket stubs from events that took place in the building in 1916. From these we can deduce: the building was sometimes called Court Square Hall; the music was Prof. Parker was very popular in the teens; ladies didn't have to pay as much as men to get into things back then.

Gounaris also shared with me the fact that it is part of his deal with his landlord, the local Bricklayers Union, that the bar area, stained glass and all, never be altered or changed. Good men, those layers of brick!

We ate not in the bar room, but in the larger hall. This gave me the opportunity to admire some of the details in the room, such as the chandeliers and the beautiful, yellow-hued tin ceiling.

The events of the past week have been enormously satisfying. I love getting to the bottom of mysteries and making people aware of the history they have in their hands. The next logical step, it seems to me, is to get a building that is of such obvious importance to Long Island City's history officially landmarked.

Below, by the way, is Sharon's painting of the restaurant.

Downtown Brooklyn Christmas Crazy!

2009-11-19T16:19:00.001-08:00

Recently, I reported that Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens were well ahead of schedule in hanging up their Christmas lights. But they're pikers next to Downtown Brooklyn. Downtown's gone Christmas crazy! Not only do they have their lights up already, but there are tons of them. Each block of Court Street from Atlantic Avenue to Borough Hall has three strings of lights! That tawdry strip is going to be ABLAZE come Nov. 27!

Queen Mary/Dead End

2009-11-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

The Queen Mary 2 moving out to sea Tuesday night, as viewed from the end of Sullivan Street, Red Hook. Party music drifted clearly through the air from the deck to the streets.

More Not-Good News About H&H Bagels

2009-11-18T18:23:00.001-08:00

Oy. H&H Bagels gives me tsuris.

Last year, the famous Upper West Side bakery was seized by the tax man and the place closed down for a few days. But, now, there's real trouble.

Helmer Toro, the owner of H & H Bagels, has been indicted on tax fraud charges, announced Robert M. Morgenthau, the outgoing Manhattan district attorney. Can it be that bad? It can. He failed to pay almost $370,000 in payroll withholdings to state and federal tax authorities, and shortchanged the authorities on paying unemployment insurance tax. Dude's facing 15 years in prison and $1 million in penalties. According to City Room:

Prosecutors say that Mr. Toro set up a new shell company every year for six consecutive years, closing down the company from the previous year, in order to maintain a low unemployment insurance tax rate. The longer a company has been around and the more employees it has let go, the higher the company’s unemployment insurance rate will be, according to M. Patricia Smith, commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor.

This makes me furious. I know I should give Toro the benefit of the doubt, but it's not my experience that old man Morgenthau acts before getting all his ducks in a row. What right has this greedhead putz to play fast and loose with a landmark business and city treasure so wrapped on with the soul of the Upper West Side? That it should possibly be sacrificed for one man's avarice and underhandedness is contemptible. H&H is undoubtably a cash cow. And he had to cheat the government and his ex-employees to get just that much richer? Employers who try to get around paying unemployment insurance are, in my opinion, the lowest of the low, gutter-crawling scum.

Let's hope that H&H can somehow survive. What matters to Toro I care not at all.

Spring Street, Canyon of Lost Signs

2009-11-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

My Lord, there is a heavy concentration of faded signs on the block of Spring Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick. Here's a view, looking east, in which you can see two of them at once, a huge vertical advertisement for what looks to be Garvin Machine Co., and a bigger, but much younger sign for Baldwin Belting, a Goodyear carrier. The latter sign dates from the 1940s.

Looking west from mid-block, meanwhile, you are entreated to patronize Thurston and Braidich. It doesn't say, but they were gum importers. That's right. Gum importers. The sign dates from 1902, according to Frank Jump.

Because It's Only Right

2009-11-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

I have looked and looked, and for some reason, it seems I have never posted a photo of the old Cup and Saucer diner, on Canal street, on Lost City. That's just not as it should be. So here one is.

The Roots of the Red Rose

2009-11-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, I made the old Carroll Gardens red sauce joint The Red Rose the subject of on my my "Who Goes There?" columns on Eater. While dining there, I learned of the 26-year-old restaurant's long roots in the neighborhood.

Turns outs, the Romano family, who own it, began their career in food services not on Smith Street but on Cheever Place, the one-block strip a few blocks further west. Father Tony ran a deli-pizzeria there. It serviced the nearby Sacred Hearts school (now a condo), feeding the Roman Catholic kids slices and meatball heros during lunch. When the school decided to serve meals in-house, the pizzeria declined and closed.

Tony's son described where the pizzeria used to be and what it looked like. I took that information and doped out that this storefront must be the place. 62 Cheever Place. It's a dwelling now and looks pretty spic and span.

Interesting Doors

2009-11-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a few post on tall doors lately. Who knows the hell why. I just like them.

But it's made me look at more doors more closely. And I spotted this pair on Degraw near Henry in Carroll Gardens. Most tall doors in the neighborhood have, as their top window, two simple quarter oval shapes, which together form a half oval. But this has—what would you call that shape? Bookends? Inverted comma? it's handsome, anyway, and unusual.

A Good Sign: Planter's Peanuts

2009-11-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

This amazing-looking painted wall ad, seen from the Seneca Avenue subway platform in Ridgewood, is, in fact, a fake. So Forgotten NY tells us. It was painted in 1985 when they were filming the movie of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs."

Well, so it may be. But, you know, I don't care. It's a marvelous fake. I love the details, particular the stuff up top advertising the services of A. Lux Fine Cutlery.

Saw filing. Grinding. Repairing of all kinds cutlery. Typewriters New Reconditioned Sales Rentals Repairs.

Here's a close-up of Mister Peanut's shining mug. Was there ever a more jaunty corporate mascot?

Much of the ad is now covered up with graffiti, which is what I think makes the ad seem more authentic.

Here's how it looks from the street.

Armando Tailor of Carroll Gardens Is No More

2009-11-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

Carroll Gardens had lost one of its links to the past.

Armando Tailor and Dry Cleaner, a fixture on Smith Street near President, has closed. The neighboring shoe repair shop told me the old Italian tailor who ran it has retired. The man, silver-haired and with glasses and very little English, was an old-school craftsman. He could do all the things that nobody bothers with anymore: fix buttonholes, replace zippers, etc. I've had most of my suits tailored and cuffed there over the years. He knew his work and did it expertly, and, consequently, charged a little more. But he was honest. Last year, when I took a worn, but beloved old winter coat in to get a new lining, he looked it over with a skeptical eye, then asked me, "Do you really like this coat?" He was telling me it wasn't worth what it would cost me to get a new lining. I did it anyway. I'm glad I did. It's the last piece of work he did for me.

I don't know much else about the man, except that he closed up every August to go visit Italy, and that he brother made homemade wine. Jesus, don't even know his last name, or when the business started. There is nothing good about this exit, but the renovation of the space, and the removal of the Armando sign allows you to see how little the architecture of the storefront has changed over the last century.

Replacing the tailor is....uh, I can hardly say it. A tanning salon.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

2009-11-17T05:17:00.000-08:00

I am ashamed. For years, I've told myself: "One day, I'm going to get to the bottom of the mystery of 1890 Brooks Restaurant in Long Island City, and uncover its shrouded history." But sloth and inertia took over, and now intrepid reader Ian Schoenherr is having all the "Eureka!"s.

In late October, a reader wrote is to inform me that the Brooks used to be called the Court Square Restaurant for many years. I did some research and found this to be true. With that, the avalanche began. Earlier this month, Schoenherr wrote in with the vital revelations that the building that houses Brooks used to be Long Island City's old City Hall in the late 19th century, and that, in 1910, two men named Martin Heilbut and Herman Kleefeld of Long Island City secured a lease of the old building, "at the corner of Jackson Avenue and Anable Street (demapped, now part of Court Square), adjoining Court House Square." According to old articles, the address (which, annoyingly, was listed under different numbers over the years) was variously referred to as Kleefeld's Hall, and Kleefeld's Saloon.

Great stuff! Still, there were holes in the mystery yet. Most significantly: who belonged to the letters "K" and "N" found in the stained-glass canopy behind the old bar inside? "K" could be Kleefeld. But the "N"?

Did Schoenherr give up? Perish the thought. He dug further:

I found a good, long article on the building when it was sold to Heilbut and Kleefeld and quote a large portion of it below. And while I've seen several mentions of it from the 1910s as "Kleefeld's Hotel" I also found some references to "Heilbut & Kleefeld":

[Regarding the ball of the Owl Bowling Club, of Winfield, held at Court Square Hall, Long Island City] "...About 1 o'clock fifty couples sat down to a course dinner prepared by Heilbut & Kleefeld, the well-known Long Island City caterers...." (The Newtown Register, February 24, 1914)

"...The Long Island City Business Men's Association will be held at Heilbut & Kleefeld's, corner of Jackson avenue and Court Square, Long Island City..." (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 11, 1915)

"Heilbut & Kleefeld" also show up as certificate holders in the Annual Report of the State Commissioner of Excise of the State of New York (1912 and 1914).

Then Schoenherr makes a seemingly obvious suggestion, but one that had never occurred to thick ol' me:

All of which makes me wonder - I haven't seen the stained glass with the initials "N" and "K" at Brooks', but is it possible that the "N" is actually an "H"?

Egad! Holmes, you're a genius!

I plan to have lunch at Brooks this very week and take a good long long (and a picture) at those stained-glass letters.

In the meantime, enjoy this article Ian found:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 24, 1910 (page 12)

GLEASON DAYS RECALLED BY LONG ISLAND CITY DEAL

...There is no building in Long Island City, not even the Court House, which has had so eventful a history as the old City Hall, which now passes into new hands. In the latter part of the 80s it was occupied by Alexander Moran, as a hotel. He was prominent in Long Island City politics, and served as a city clerk. The police court and the Common Council rooms were in the building with the hotel. Sessions of the courts and the Council meetings were held there until an act was passed prohibiting police courts from being held in the same building with hotels. Then Moran moved out.

After his removal all the boards of Long Island City and the mayor's office were moved into the building. The ground floor was taken by the city treasurer.

Among the police justices who sat in this building were Stephen J. Kavanaugh, Daniel Noble and Lucius N. Manley.

It was in this building that Patrick Jerome Gleason held the dual position of mayor and alderman, and defied any one to prevent him. Here, also, he barricaded himself after the election of Mayor Sanford, and held the fort for twenty-one days until he was thrown out by members of the police force. It was also from a window in this building that Gleason, after his election in 1896, made a speech that caused him to be sued for libel by former Police Captain Woods, in which the captain was successful, and he got a judgment which Gleason refused to pay, and upon which Woods succeeded in having a body execution issued against Gleason that confined him for a year to the jail limits of Queens County.

At many of the meetings of the old Common Council and the Board of Education there were such lively discussions that fights occurred, in several of which prominent citizens received serious physical injuries.

That Gleason. He was a pip.

Shakespeare's Sister Becoming Nectar? And Other Neighborhood News

2009-11-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare's Sister, the gift shop that sat on Court Street for nearly 15 years before closing in summer 2008, has been sitting empty for more than a year. But lately the storefront has been enveloped in plywood, a sure sign of progress. Now, the word on the street is that the people behind Nectar, the juice-ice cream-sandwich-whatsit place a little further north up Court, will be taking over the space. Our information is that is will be an oyster/beer bar/gastropub. The Nectar people also run Boca Lupa on Henry Street. Yet another mini Brooklyn food mogul!

Meanwhile, the former Bonafide Deli on the southwest corner of Henry and Baltic Streets in Cobble Hill, has been shuttered for much longer, with no sign of life for years. It seemed a waste. Such a prime location, right across the street from P.S. 29, where countless kids and parents pass every day, should have some purpose. Lately, the door has been open and the place has been gutted. Now, word comes that a sandwich joint will open there. Fine. But if I were a businessman, I'd open a candy shop/ice cream parlor. The kids wouldn't know what hit them.

Finally, on the northwest corner of Hicks and Degraw, right by the BQE, the words "Brooklyn Farms" have appeared above the door and inside there're bags of fertilizer and grow lights. Looks like an extension of those quixotic fellows who grow vegetables on the rooftops of Brooklyn.

Rudy's Pastry Shop

2009-11-16T02:33:00.000-08:00

Rudy's Pastry Shop, in Ridgewood, Queens, at 905 Seneca Avenue, looks new on the outside—at some point the owner modernized the facade—but the word "kondetorei" on the awning should tip you off that something special is inside.

Konditorei is the German word for a confectionery shop. And that's what you'll find inside. A nearly 80-year-old one, harking back to Ridgewood's German past. The interior is much more in keeping with the place's old world character. Lots of wood paneling. And a big "R" inlaid in the floor, from lord knows how many years ago. The shops wares are delectable. Buttery cookies, mini apple turnovers, Linzer torte and strudel. Friendly service, too. There's a single table if you care to eat your purchase there.

One question: If you possess a history and a storefront as rich as Rudy's, why cover the name on your door's threshold with a nasty old piece of carpet? You're Rudy's! Let the world know you're Rudy's.

Four Seats, No Waiting

2009-11-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

Jim's Shoe Repair, 59th Street.

The Only Good Thing

2009-11-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

The only good thing about the extended closing of the main Smith Street exit of the Carroll Street F train stop—due to the incredibly selfish enterprise of developer Billy Stein known as 360 Carroll—is that it's opened to regular use the southeastern exit/entrance to that station. And with that passage open, it's possible to see the old, tile sign pointed the direction to Second Street.

Dec. 6 LOST CITY WALKING TOUR HAS FILLED UP; THANKSGIVING WEEKEND TOUR A POSSIBILITY

2009-11-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

The second-ever Lost City Walking Tour—scheduled for Dec. 6 and announced last Thursday—filled up more quickly than the Nov. 22 tour.

I hadn't scheduled a tour for Sunday, Nov. 29, because it's Thanksgiving weekend. I figured no one would be around. But, I'm around, and a few people had indicated that would be open to such a tour. If enough people write me showing interest in that date, I'd be willing to schedule a tour. Let me know by contacting me at the link on the right hand column.

The tour will be identical, a 90 minute walk covering those areas of Carroll Gardens/Red Hook/Columbia Heights Waterfront District on either side of the BQE, from roughly Hamilton to the south to Degraw at the north end.

Again, the meeting place will by the southwest corner of Henry and Sackett Streets, in front of Naidre's cafe. (The best way to get there, if you don't live in the area, is to take the F train to the Carroll Street stop. Walk north on Smith to Sackett, turn left, and walk three blocks to Henry.) And the cost is $20.

If you're interested, please make a reservation by contacting me at lostcitybrooks@gmail.com. (Or click the "Contact Me" link to the right.)

Bryant Park, The Whore of New York Parks

2009-11-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

Just an idle question: Exactly how many days out of the year is Bryant Park actually a park?

Everytime I walk by this onetime midtown oasis, it's cluttered with some kind of commercial, recreational or promotional shit. If it's not set up for summer films then it's consumed by a Jazz Festival, or it's taken over for Fashion Week (which, to my mind, seems to come around every couple months). Now it's completely carpeted with the booths of a Holiday Fair, as well as the annual skating rink.

Some people like these things, I know. But, excuse my simplicity—I think a park is most beautiful when it is just a park. I remember when the renovated Bryant Park was unveiled. It was wonderful. And for the first couple years you could go there most any day, grab a green chair or a patch of grass and sit and enjoy the spaciousness and the view, knowing you had escaped from the City, while still being within the City, for a few minutes. The trees, the fountain, the paths, the statuary—they were all sublimely executed.

Now the Parks Department will take money from any Tom, Dick and Harry, giving them license to crap whatever event or display they wish on the greenery. The Holiday Shops are there from Nov. 6 to Jan. 3. The pond is there until Jan. 24. That's three months shot. Looks like Jan. 25 is the next day Bryant Park will be there for the use of The People. Mark it down on your calendars, folks! A rarity!

Two Dumpling Houses

2009-11-13T05:08:00.000-08:00

It had apparently been a while since I'd been to the Dumpling House on Eldridge, my favorite place in Chinatown for a cheap snack (an order of delicious dumplings is $1, everything else is under $5). I remembered a hole in the wall with unremarkable signage, and the nondescript name of Dumpling House, something you'd pass by if you didn't know better. Now it's twice as big, considerably more polished, with lots of seating and a huge yellow sign—biggest on the block—that says Vanessa's Dumplings. (Vanessa is the owner)

The renovation apparently happened earlier this year, and Vanessa now has a place on 14th Street. According to a sign in the window, she's now a "celebrity chef." (I don't watch the Food Network, so I wouldn't know.) Inside, there's a row of tables and chairs along the left hand wall. The ceilings are high and the space is airy. The appliances shine.

I guess I should be happy for Vanessa, but I can't help but feel that my special little hidden Dumpling House has been homogenized, sanitized and Yuppified. There were hipsters and UPS workers all around. I miss the cramped quarters, the two or three measly stools, the rude but quick help. It could be a Chipotle, the way it looks now. The help's not nearly as rude, but it is much slower. I had to wait five minutes. I know, that's not much. But I used to wait, like, 15 seconds!

And that name. Dumpling House, to me, says "Chinatown." Vanessa's Dumplings says SoHo.

As for the dumplings, they're still good. But the expansion has apparently cost them, because prices have gone up. In the past $1 bought you five piping hot pork-chive dumplings. Now it buys you four.

By contrast, let's consider Prosperity Dumplings. Since first discovering Dumpling House years ago, I have stumbled upon other Chinatown dumpling joints. Prosperity is also on Eldridge, just three blocks south. Dismayed with the new Dumpling House, I walked to Prosperity.

Now, this is what I'm looking for. It's reminds me of the old Vanessa's. Small quarters, a counter, a plain menu, lots of fast Chinese talk, unsmiling service, just business. And FIVE dumplings for $1!! Still!! And, dare I say it, the dumpling were hotter, fresher, better than Vanessa's. Yes, I do dare say it. They were. Plus I waited 15 seconds to get them.

Cleverness, GOP Style

2009-11-13T04:38:00.000-08:00

But, sir, it's actually the current health care set-up that leaves me "without Hope and just Change" in my pocket.

In a window in Carroll "Vote for Joe Nardiello" Gardens.

The things to know about Republicans is they love stupid wordplay. I know this having grown up with two GOP parents. They'll latch on to some simplistic catch phrase in which the meaning of some word is slightly twisted for effect and think it's the funniest, cleverest thing ever. You can take for granted that the guy who wrote that sign thinks its a work of linguistic genius, a bit of sparkling wit that will flatten any opposing arguments, while providing entertainment at the same time. Making fun of the concepts of Hope and Change—just hilarious, isn't it? It's about time that burst the bubble on those tired old ideas!

And, hey, what's with the "O" in Obama being a big eye. Is Obama Big Brother or something, watching all of us?

SECOND LOST CITY WALKING TOUR SCHEDULED FOR DEC. 6

2009-11-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that the first ever Lost City Walking Tour—scheduled for Nov. 22 and announced last Friday—filled up quickly. So, rather than take on more people and make the gathering less intimate, or, alternatively, turn people away, I've decided to schedule a second walking tour, for Sunday, Dec. 6, at 11 AM. The tour will be identical, a 90 minute walk covering those areas of Carroll Gardens/Red Hook/Columbia Heights Waterfront District on either side of the BQE, from roughly Hamilton to the south to Degraw at the north end.

Again, the meeting place will by the southwest corner of Henry and Sackett Streets, in front of Naidre's cafe. (The best way to get there, if you don't live in the area, is to take the F train to the Carroll Street stop. Walk north on Smith to Sackett, turn left, and walk three blocks to Henry.) And the cost is $20.

I'm going to keep it small again (about 15-20 people), so, if you're interested, please make a reservation by contacting me at lostcitybrooks@gmail.com. (Or click the "Contact Me" link to the right.) I've already taken a few reservations. Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: This tour has filled. But don't worry. I'll be scheduling more in the future. Also, I didn't schedule a tour for Sunday, Nov. 29, because it's Thanksgiving weekend. I figured no one would be around. But, I'm around, and, if enough people write me showing interest in that date, I'd be willing to schedule a tour. Let me know.

Subway Chess

2009-11-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

The ground-level shopping arcade inside the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights is odd enough. That L-shape corridor of small, sad shops, inside what used to be the grand Hotel St. George, just seems from another era. But adding an extra layer of weirdness to it all is the singular Chess Classic Cafe. This is just a little, hole-in-the-wall deli. Nothing special about it. Except it's got that grandiose name. And you can play chess there. There are a couple small table and chair set-ups outside the cafe, which are routinely filled with men bent over their chess games. Anyone can play there. And it doesn't look like you have to buy a lot to do so.