I’ve been observing the transformation of what was Good Footing on the corner of Union Street and Seventh Avenue into what is obviously a small new bank/ATM station.

I wonder what bank it will be. Commerce. Washington Mutual?

It was interesting to see the metal insides of the ATM machines going in. The windows are obviously very thick. The tell-tale clue that it’s an ATM bank: the cutouts in the walls just above waist level.

Other news: What was the Korean market on the north corner of Garfield is going to be a real estate office, I forget which one.  ANOTHER REAL ESTATE OFFICE.

There was a story in the Daily News by Jergo Armstrong about my friend Wendy (pictured below) who opened a Bed and Breakfast (without breakfast so it’s a B without B) a few months ago.

She remodeled the garden apartment in her brownstone and now rents it out with three day minimum stay.  Formerly a set designer, Wendy has an incredible eye for interior design and the garden "hotel" she created is gorgeous, airy, and filled with beautiful things. Just the kind of place you want to stay in when you’re visiting beautiful Brooklyn. She’s had guests from all over the world. And the word is getting out about her spacious and comfortable alternative to a hotel in Park Slope.     
       
      

Wendy Ponte hugs daughter Adelaide Ponte Upton, 10, in the basement room she rents to tourists.

Tourists visiting New York are leaving behind Manhattan’s bustling hotels for the charm of Brooklyn’s brownstones.

Homeowners from Park Slope to Bay Ridge are renting their apartments to
visitors on a short-term basis, taking advantage of a growing number of
tourists lured to Brooklyn by its slower pace and cheaper lodging.

"A lot of people vacationing to New York are beginning to realize that
Brooklyn is a viable, cheaper alternative to Manhattan … and it’s a
growing market for people like me," said Wendy Ponte, a freelance
writer who rents a one-bedroom apartment out of her Park Slope
brownstone.

"People more are wanting to stay in Brooklyn rather than the city. A
lot of them have kids and would rather stay in an apartment setting
within a community than in Manhattan."

Ponte, who started renting out her apartment last February, lists her
apartments on Web sites like Craigslist and Cyberrentals.com – and the
response has been overwhelming.

Others report similar results. "Every week I’m booked. I’ve been booked
up 100% since I started this two years ago," said Margo Lewis, 41, an
event producer who rents out a Fort Greene apartment.

"I’ve had people come from Australia, Germany, England, Japan and other
parts of the United States, just wanting to stay in Brooklyn. They view
Brooklyn as a way of life, an icon of the United States."

Both Lewis and Ponte use the rentals as secondary income – and have benefited handsomely.

"I can earn up to $3,500 a month based on my weekly rental," said
Lewis, who has a three-night minimum stay of $250; $850 for a week, and
a maximum of $2,500 for a month.

Jason Nagy, the director of marketing for FindRentals.com, said the
industry for vacation alternatives to hotels is getting bigger and
bigger. "This is definitely a growing trend because people want better
deals than hotels"

BREAKING NEWS FROM Hepcat on location in Prospect Park.

THERE WAS A BIG SURPRISE AT TONIGHT’S CELEBRATE BROOKLYN CONCERT AND HIS NAME IS PRINCE (the artist formerly and currently known as Prince).

MACEO PARKER, considered one of the architects of funk music, played gritty saxophone (he’s played with James Brown,
Parliament-Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, and Prince) and rocked out with his band. The crowd loved it.

Now, according to Hepcat, they are shouting for an ENCORE (I can even hear it over the phone). OMIGOD: IT’S PRINCE. IN BROOKLYN. I can barely hear Hepcat on the phone. He’s very excited. What a great night at Celebrate Brooklyn…sorry I missed it.

More: "He was wearing a white zoot suit kind of thing," says Hepcat. He doesn’t know what song he was singing but it was great. Hepcat didn’t have his camera but took some shots with his cell phone. We don’t know how to download those.

Back story: Hepcat was at the Park Slope Food Coop earlier in the evening and over the PA system someone said: "I have it from a reliable source that Prince is playing at Prospect Park!" Wide spread murmuring. He told me when he got home. Then he went to the park. You know the rest.

Check out Dumb Editor’s story in the Brooklyn Papers. This news stopped me short. And it’s big news for those of us who detest Chuck E. Cheese.

Chuck E. Cheese has a cute mouse for a mascot — and lots of dirty mice in the kitchen.

The fast-food restaurant and arcade, housed on the third-floor of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Terminal Mall, was shut down last week by the city’s Department of Health after inspectors found — oh, the irony — mouse droppings throughout the kitchen.

Make that a lot of mouse droppings.

“Approximately 30 mice droppings on paper goods storage shelf near kitchen entrance,” read the June 8 inspection report, a copy of which was obtained by The Brooklyn Papers.

“Approximately 10-20 mice droppings on shelf floor of rear exit. Evidence of mice or live mouse present in facility’s food and non-food areas … Approximately 60-70 mouse droppings on floor in electrical closet in kitchen.”

READ MORE AT BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM

Kudos to Jack Walsh, the Producer and Director of Celebrate Brooklyn and the man responsible for last night’s Prince appearance at the opening event of the Celebrate Brooklyn concert series. 

Prince only appeared for seven minutes singing the closing track ("Get on the Boat") on his new CD. “To have somebody like Prince show up
just makes it all the more special for everyone involved," Walsh told the New York Times.

“I sent an email to
a friend in the concert business,” he said, “and it got forwarded to
the right person. It was on a whim, but the response was immediate.
Somehow it just worked out.”

From the New York Times:

The song’s James Brown groove suited the occasion, and gave Mr.
Parker the chance to recreate his horn arrangement from the album.
Prince sang some upbeat lyrics extolling racial harmony, and took a
fleeting solo on guitar. Then he struck a dramatic pose, tossed his
guitar pick and a white towel into the audience, and strutted off.

The Times article said that Prince’s appearance was a surprise to Maceo Parker, the show’s headliner.  But it seems that someone at the Park Slope Food Coop knew about it before everyone else. Hepcat reports that someone announced over the Park Slope PA system at around 8 p.m. Thursday night: "I have it from a reliable source that Prince is performing at Celebrate Brooklyn tonight."

Adam Dougherty shows off tree house for rent.

From the Daily News:

People are going out on a limb for housing in Brooklyn.

Williamsburg sculptor Adam Dougherty put his South Fifth St. backyard
tree house up for rent as a gag – but learned that in Brooklyn’s
sky-high real estate market, it was no joke.

Since last Saturday, the Craigslist.com posting
has drawn more than 30 prospective buyers, renters and vacationers –
even though Dougherty never had any intention of branching out into
property transactions.

"I thought people would immediately take this as a joke, that it would
get flagged," said Dougherty, 29. "But the sincerity of some of these
people!"

"I can’t blame ’em," he added. "I mean, $150 for a place to stay in New York? That sounds like a dream."

It was no dream to Gabriel, a "young artist currently sleeping in my van."

"I’d be up for a summer of sleeping outdoors," he e-mailed Dougherty.

Then there was Ryan, who figured out there probably wasn’t any running
water in the tree house and typed this question: "If I need to, can I
shower at your house?"

Although the ad said only "$150 – Tree House," most who responded
assumed the dollar figure was either for a weekend stay or the actual
sale price, Dougherty said.

The year-old pinewood triangular house hovers 23 feet over Brooklyn, and fits up to 17 people at once, he said.

The 12-by-12-by-10-foot shelter is empty, except for a light hooked up
to a 23-foot extension cord that runs down to his apartment.

Tree houses are "sort of nostalgic," said Dougherty, who occasionally
takes his girlfriend up for a rendezvous. "They’re to escape your
parents, or for your friends to talk about dirty things. This is my way
to escape and sort of return to my childhood."

Aptsandlofts.com President David Maundrell said Williamsburg real
estate continues to go through the roof – so cheaper alternatives
aren’t such a bad idea.

"It’s summer so you don’t need to be inside. There’s no utilities to
worry about, and since its high up it’s like a penthouse," Maundrell
said. "That’s not bad at all."

LITTLE FUGITIVE, a film directed by Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin in 1953 about a boy who runs away to Coney Island opens Brooklyn Film Works: Movies Al Fresco in J.J. Byrne Park.  June 27 at 8:30 p.m.  Lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics encouraged.

Curated by Louise Crawford. Concession by Stone Park Cafe. This series is brought to you by the generous in-kind and financial support of Scharf Weissberg,  Showman Fabricators, Rosebrand, and Methodist Hospital.

"Between neorealism and the nouvelle vague stand Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, whose independent feature Little Fugitive (1953) has been credited — by Francois Truffaut,
who ought to know — with providing both spiritual imprimatur and
nuts-and-bolts strategies for the French New Wave. Engel and Orkin were
both still photographers, with Engel particularly distinguished as a
colleague of Paul Strand and a pioneer photojournalist with magazines
like PM, Fortune, Collier’s. Orkin also had ties to Hollywood and cinema in general — she had worked for MGM,
her mother was a silent star, and she had edited some experimental
shorts, an experience that would be crucial in the pair’s future
collaborations. Engel and Orkin provided a production template for
future independent filmmakers by doing double and triple duty on their
films. For their first feature, Engel, Orkin, and Ray Ashley are
credited with direction, Engel and Ashley with production, Ashley with
screenplay, Orkin and Lester Troob with editing, and Engel with
photography."

The owner of Prints Charming wants everybody to know that she is
closing up shop on July 31st. She is still accepting new business and
is selling out all of her merchandise. Please pick up any items you
may have left with her.

Prints Charming
150 Sterling Place
between Flatbush + 7th Ave.

Most days 12-7
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday
Sundays 11-5

Brooklyn Film Works: Movies Al Fresco in JJ Byrne Park presents
Coney Island
Directed by Ric Burns
JULY 7 at 8:30 p.m.

An ‘Electric Eden’ — ‘fabulous beyond conceiving’ — ‘ineffably beautiful’ — ‘Sodom by the Sea.’ To the millions who poured into the mesmerizing seaside amusement empire as the twentieth century dawned, Coney Island was all this and more. The birthplace of the hot dog and the roller coaster – an the most dazzling laboratory of mass culture the world has ever seen – Coney Island and its three extraordinary amusement parks, Steeplechase, Luna Park and Dreamland, delighted visitors with the largest herd of show elephants in the world, a spectacular trip to the moon, an infant incubator, and Lilliputina, a miniature town inhabited by 300 midgets. This elegant and absorbing documentary film chronicles the greatest amusement empire the world has ever seen from its emergence in the mid-1800’s through its demise after World War II.

Released 1991; 68 min
(Produced by Steeplechase Films; presented by American Experience)

Brooklyn Film Works: Movies Al Fresco in JJ Byrne Park
Curated by Louise Crawford
Concession by Stone Park Cafe
This series is made possible thanks to the generous support of Scharff Weissberg, Showman Fabricators, and Methodist Hospital

Here’s this week’s column from the Brooklyn Papers. Check out the big Smartmom (It’s red, white, and blue) on the top, right-hand side of OTBKB. That’ll get you to an archive of my column at the Brooklyn Papers.

Smartmom bought her first pair of Jimmy Choo’s on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. She doesn’t know what got into her. She doesn’t even remember exactly how it happened. It’s all sort of a blur.

She found the teal patent-leather sandals, reduced from $600 to $150, in a fancy mall near the Radisson Hotel where she and her extended family were staying for her rich cousin’s eldest daughter’s wedding.

Alone and dangerous, she was in a strange mood when she tried on those three-inch stiletto heels. She felt like Cinderella after her fairy godmother turned her rags into something a bit more suitable for a ball.

Smartmom knew those Jimmy Choo’s would look great with the black dress she bought. They might even make the outfit. And she knew that she would fit right in with that wealthy Baltimore crowd accustomed to spending $600 on sandals.

What was Smartmom doing? She had packed a brand new pair of budget gold dress shoes from Aerosoles on Seventh Avenue. And she’d already spent a month’s earnings for gas, food, lodging, the gift, tux rentals and new dresses for this wedding. But before she could stop herself, her MasterCard was on the counter and her Jimmy Choo’s were being bagged.

Blame it on Baltimore, where Smartmom was exposed to a level of opulence and wealth completely out of proportion to the way she and her family live in their apartment on Third Street.

In one of the homes they visited, there was a closet the size of Smartmom’s living room, dining room and kitchen combined. Hepcat said it was the first closet he’d ever been in with an island. That house made Jennifer Connolly’s limestone mansion on Prospect Park West look like a tool shed.

Back in her hotel room, Smartmom slipped on her Jimmy Choo’s and kvelled over the sexy way they made her feet look. But she also found herself feeling anxious, even skittish, about what she’d just done.

What would she tell Hepcat when he saw how much she had spent on those shoes? After all, they were just getting back on their feet after three years of self-employment (or was it unemployment?).

And who was she kidding? Owning a pair of Jimmy Choo’s wouldn’t make Smartmom a part of this upscale crowd any more than a Brooklyn Industries hoodie would make these Baltimoreans fit into Park Slope. They’d look pretty out of place loading organic lacinato kale at the Food Coop.

At the garden wedding the next day, a string quartet played The Pachelbel Canon, as the bridesmaids walked, with difficulty in the grass, in gold stilettos.

With endless champagne and delicious sushi and caviar, the reception was decidedly “Sex & the City,” with twentysomethings, in gorgeous dresses and, you guessed it, Jimmy Choo’s. (Youth ain’t wasted on these pretty young things.)

It was a breathtaking affair. The voluptuous white rose arrangements at every table cost more than what Smartmom spent on her high-heel sandals.

Despite the cash register sound in her ears most of the day, Smartmom felt that joy she always feels at weddings as she watched the radiant bride, in her Vera Wang strapless gown, dancing like Isadora Duncan and felt an openhearted wish for the couple’s happiness.

She knew that no amount of money could protect them from the sometimes rocky first years of marriage. While an abundant checking account might limit those late-night money worries, it wouldn’t make the marriage any more loving or stable.

Five of the 10 people seated at Smartmom’s table were divorced. Some had remarried, some had not. When the conversation turned to divorce statistics, Smartmom’s aunt said smiling, “They shouldn’t let divorced people into weddings.”

Smartmom wore her Jimmy Choo’s all night. She didn’t even take them off when she danced an ecstatic hora and helped to lift the bride, a lawyer, and the groom, a young doctor, up in chairs. She even wore them when the lead singer, a Tina Turner sound-alike, invited all the women onto the stage to dance to “Proud Mary.”

At 11 pm, Teen Spirit, looking mighty dapper in his Men’s Warehouse special, started canvassing for a return to the hotel. “It was fun if you like 1980s funk music,” he said dismissively. The Oh So Feisty One, who danced the night away, was exhausted. And Hepcat, who spent most of the evening photographing the festivities, was also ready to vamoose.

In the room, Smartmom finally took off those sandals and noticed some grass, mud and a tiny nick on the stiletto heel. Somehow that seemed appropriate. Jimmy Choo’s are not an amulet against the reality that life dishes out, even if they do offer a momentary respite from it all. She washed the dirt off the expensive patent-leather and put them back in the box.

Sleepily, Smartmom surveyed their hotel room: Teen Spirit’s tux was in a heap on the carpet; OSFO was already asleep in her pretty pink dress; and Hepcat, after tee many martoonis, was a little loopier than usual.

But Smartmom realized she had everything she wanted. And it doesn’t come in teal patent leather.