Hepcat and I were saddened to learn that the owner of Seventh Avenue Books in Park Slope is selling the business. We went in and talked to Tom Simon about his very personal reasons for doing so. He plans to run a small reviewer copy book business from his home.

Afterwards, Hepcat and I had some fun thinking about buying the shop. We decided that we’d have a nice section for collectable photography books, and maybe even a photo exhibition space. We’d enlist my mother, who used to run the bookstore at the International Center of Photograpy. She could manage the shop, as she knows all the ins and outs of selling books. For inventory, we could begin with my father’s enormous collection of used books…

The shop is, according to Tom, PRICED TO SELL. I don’t know any more of the details but if you’re interested email Tom: seventhavenuebooks@aol.com

well…

after a very pleasant six years, i have decided, due to family and other issues important to me, to move on, and wish to sell this store, which makes a rather nice profit.

should you or others care to acquire it for a very reasonable price, please let me know.

however…

if i am not able to find a buyer, i plan to close down shop sometime mid to late summer.

yours truly,

thomas george simon, prop.

One of the things that breaks Tom Simon’s heart about the book business, and it’s endemic to most retail businesses, is shoplifting. For fun, Tom, who is the owner of Seventh Avenue books in Park Slope, decided to write A GUIDE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO STEAL OUR BOOKS. It’s funny, it’s sad. But most of all, it’s exasperating.

A guide for those of you
who steal our books…

1a) You don’t so much take our books as you rob
us of our peace of mind. Think about how unfair
it is to take something so valuable from us, day
in, day out.

1b) You know you’re dishonest, and yeah, a thief,
so should you ever while among family or friends
find fault with Bush or Cheney or some other
scoundrel, the cosmos will likely quietly snicker
at your obliviousness.

2) If you have to take something, try to make it an
older, less expensive book. Our markdown area
is a good place to start. If you don’t know where
that, is just ask.

4a) If you take something really neat, try to leave a
note behind so we’ll know it’s gone and won’t
waste time if someone asks us for it.

4b) Take the Michener rather than the Proust. Not
that there’s anything wrong with Michener….

5) While taking books, please try not to enjoy the
music we play, or the cartoons. That would be
gluttony.

6) Recent studies at both Stanford and Yale have
confirmed that shoplifting leads to premature
incontinence, often as early as the mid-thirties,
and Depends are too bulky to conceal in a canvas
bag or under your shirt.

7) Best wishes to you and yours; reciprocation
gratefully accepted.

St. Francis Xavier’s Action Youth Center a non-sectarian community based program in Park Slope, Brooklyn dedicated to supporting the positive growth and development of children and youth seeks a Program Director to manage the effective delivery of programs. Responsible for daily operations, fiscal oversight, fundraising and staff supervision the ideal candidate will have a deep commitment to and interest in supporting children, youth and their families. Candidates should have a Bachelors Degree and preferably a Masters Degree in some form of Human Services or a related field. Experience developing and implementing programs in a youth serving organization desired. Full time position/ part-time will be considered for the right candidate. Please send your resume/cover letter to SFXYP Search, Community Resource Exchange, 42 Broadway, NY, NY 10004. Fax: 212-616-4994. E-mail: sfxypsearch@crenyc.org.

Just got this in the old in-box.

Washington, DC—U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11) has signed on to the House Resolution 333, calling for impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President for high crimes and misdemeanors. The resolution sets forth the articles of impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney that if passed, will begin the process for impeachment.
“This Administration has continued to erode the trust of the American people and enough is simply enough,” stated Rep. Clarke.
H.Res. 333 was introduced to the House of Representatives by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio on April 24, 2007, and asserts that the vice president manipulated intelligence to make the case for going to war with Iraq, falsified a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda, and has threatened aggression against Iran.
“When the American people voted on November 7th, they asked for a change in direction by electing the Democratic party in the House and Senate. I have heard the loud cries of my constituents, and they want accountability. My support of HRes 333 reflects the voices of the residents of central Brooklyn.”

Ben Greenman, a writer and editor at The New Yorker, sent me this nice note today. He’s reading at Community Bookstore tomorrow and he wants to get the word out to readers of OTBKB. In other words: come see him read at 7 pm.

And here’s the clincher: he’s giving away FREE BALLOONS. That’s right, you’d heard me. FREE BALLOONS.

“I’m a local author and a regular reader of your blog. I have a reading tomorrow night at Community
Bookstore. Should be funny, or sad, depending on what I read. It would be great if you could list it, but even if you can’t, you should come. Bring people. I’ll keep the actual reading part short.”

Here’s a blurb about the book:

From the author of Superbad and Superworse, a new collection of stories about giving, wanting, and the wonders of love.

A Circle Is a Balloon and Compass Both is a collection of stories about love, the most elusive and problematic of all phenomena. With a mix of traditional, literary prose and bold — some might even say irresponsible — experimentation, Ben Greenman explores the ins and outs of modern romance. Expect tears, nudity, and recrimination.

Both familiar in their humanness and wholly original, these imaginative stories take us all over the map in time, place, and circumstance. From the halfhearted summer affair between a part-time bartender and a married doctor in a Miami hotel to the cryptic pseudo-erotic love letters to a friend who is “more than a friend,” we experience the love of pop songs, the love of cohabitation in Chicago, and love that is so transporting it takes us to the moon—literally.

Here’s a blurb about the author:

Ben Greenman is an editor at The New Yorker. His short fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Zoetrope: All Story, McSweeney’s, Opium Magazine, the Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.”

THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AT BARNES & NOBLE

Come hear PS 321’s kids read their own poetry or a favorite poem by a favorite poet. Buy books and support PS 321.

From 5:30 – 6:30 P.M, the first ever P.S. 321 Open Mike Night at Barnes and Noble (downstairs by the cookbooks).

There will be a real M.C., chairs for an audience, and a MICROPHONE. There will be summer reading book lists available. Bring a voucher for 10% off your purchases Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 8, 9, 10). Vouchers will be handed out at Brooklyn Night tonight and they are available in the Parent Center. Sign up to read at the open mike hour in the Parent Center, or just show up! A percentage of net sales for these three days will be donated to the P.S. 321 P.T.A.

Someone over at Starbucks must have located the radio station or found the CD. Because at 8 p.m. they were playing Paul.

I’m not sure what time they started. The store was required to play Paul’s new album, Memory Almost Full, all day. But in the morning, they weren’t doing it.

In other Paul news, the New Yorker has a profile of Paul.

Owners of the Cocoa Bar are trying their sucessful dessert/cafe formula—chocolate, chocolate, andm ore chocolate—on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

They’ve opened their second store on Clinton Street. Anyone been there?

Club Loco, Old First Church’s monthly music night will continue next year. And that’s good news for Park Slope.

The whole thing has been great experience for the kids who volunteered and/or attended events. The organizers (a committed group of teenagers and adults) met for a meeting the other night to strategize how to get the word out for next year and how to make the shows even better.

In a phrase: OPEN MIC.

Next year’s music shows will be preceded by an open mic for all kinds of acts — poets, jugglers, singer/songwriters, dancers, actors. There will be a sign up and a 10 minute time limit. The rest is up to the talented kids…

There’s also going to be a Club Loco benefit in September. Look for a Club Loco table at Seventh Heaven on July 17th for information about events and getting involved.

Also at Seventh Heaven: Club Loco will present bands who’ve performed at CL, including Cool and Unusual, Banzai, Play, and Tola. It’s all in front of Old First. On the 17th. All day. So stop by.

Barbara Ensor, director of the The Little School of Moving Pictures, is offering August workshops for kids: CLAY ANIMATION CLASSES FOR AGES 6 – 16.

Historically, there’s not much for kids to do in August in Park Slope. Barbara Ensor is here to remedy that situation in her wonderfully animated, wildly creative and utterly inspiring way!!

It’s a win win for you kids who get to make MOVIES at the Old Stone House. Find out more: littleschoolofmovingpictures.com

The Brooklyn Eagle reports:

As one potential residential development site in Park Slope changes
hands, another goes on the market. This one, a 5,464-square-foot vacant
lot at 225 Fourth Ave., between Union and President streets, has an
asking price of $7.6 million, according to Ken Freeman of Massey Knakal
Realty Services of Brooklyn, who is representing the seller.

“The owner has decided he doesn’t want to build on the lot himself,
which is why he is selling it,” said Freeman, who added that there are
tentative plans drawn up for the seller for a 12-story building
designed by Joseph P. Trivisonno, a Staten Island architect.

Seeing Green walked the walk at the Atlantic Yards Footprint and came back with this report.

Much as I have seen the footprint, checked out out the written word and examined the photographs of this much-discussed project, there’s nothing like walking the walk to bring home the reality of this monster development and its attendant inequities. A picture may be worth a thousand words; this walk was worth at least several dozen pictures.

I think if only more people were to familiarize themselves with some on-ground knowledge, there surely would be more opposition to this project.

Read more at Seeing Green

Ten million gallons of toxic gunk is trapped in the Brooklyn aquifer says reporter, Daphine Eviatar, in this week’s New York Magazine.

On a foggy October day in 2002, Basil Seggos first saw the sheen on the surface of the water. He and his colleagues had launched an old wooden-hulled oyster boat from the Dyckman marina in Inwood, and headed south, down the Harlem and East rivers. They were on a mission to document fishing and crabbing spots on the riverfront so that local anglers could be warned not to eat their catch.

When Seggos’s boat reached the mouth of Newtown Creek, the finger of water that separates Brooklyn from Queens, they decided to sail into the creek to check out its unnatural landscape—miles of waste-processing plants, gasoline-storage facilities, and abandoned refineries. The boat passed floating auto parts, crumbling bulkheads, and rusting pipes spewing filthy-looking water. Then, about a mile in, Seggos saw it: oil coating the surface of the water from shore to shore and extending upstream for another half-mile or so. “It was everywhere, all over the shoreline.” Officially, Seggos was running an outreach program for Riverkeeper, RFK Jr.’s environmental organization, and the organization’s protocol in situations like these is to stop and call the state Department of Environmental Conservation hotline. The call is supposed to provoke an immediate reaction, but no one showed up. The next day, Seggos called again. “We’d never even heard of a spill there before,” says Seggos. “But they told me they already had an open case on it and they were handling it.”

What Seggos discovered—or rediscovered—wasn’t an oil spill, exactly. Rather, it was a mix of gasoline, solvents, and associated poisons bubbling up from the very ground: a thin dribble that betrays the presence of a supertanker’s worth of the stuff submerged in the age-old geology of Greenpoint. It’s actually more than a century’s worth of spills, leaks, and waste dumped by oil companies that has pooled into a vast underground lake, more than 55 acres wide and up to 25 feet thick. First discovered by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1978, the Greenpoint spill has been estimated at anywhere between 17 million and 30 million gallons—three times more oil than the Exxon Valdez spill. That makes it the largest known oil spill in American history

.

Read more at New York Magazine

If you’re into Paul, you may want to stop into the Seventh Avenue Starbucks. But if you’re not a fan: AVOID STARBUCKS AT ALL COSTS.
They’ll be playing his new CD, Memory Almost Full, out on Starbuck’s Hear Music label, all DAY long.

UPDATE: As of 10 am this morning, the crew at Starbucks was unable to find the song on their corporate radio station. A barista there said they tried and tried. They were also supposed to get a CD of one song they were supposed to play over and over. Maybe this guy was misinformed because that sounds like such a lousy idea. The same song, all day? He said they couldn’t find that either.

Lord have mercy.

I’ll stop in there around 4 pm to see what’s playing.

An OTBKB reader wrote to be about the Brooklyn Food Group, a roving supper club that launched earlier this year. Their next event is June 9th and there are still a couple of seats left. Here’s here note:

I’ve been an OTBKB reader since I moved to the borough just over a year ago — I especially liked reading about your experiences in the last week with the Extremely Cute Kitty. In fact, my boyfriend and I were inspired to get our own cat from the Animal Rescue Network!  (Maybe it’s the same one?)
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about the Brooklyn Food Group, a roving supper club that launched earlier this year (I’m in charge of logistics). Our next big event is coming up this weekend (June 9) and we still have a couple of seats left, which can be reserved by visiting our website, brooklynfoodgroup.blogspot.com. We are a down-to-earth crew serving delicious food (ingredients purchased as much as possible at local greenmarkets) and we work hard to ensure our events are a blast for all who come to them.
This next event is going to be in Cobble Hill and costs $40.  I thought your readers might be interested as I think OTBKB and the BFG appeal to the same kind of people: unpretentious folks who love to enjoy fine things, and to enjoy them with their neighbors. We’re also looking for people who’d be willing to host BFG events in the future, but right now we’re mostly looking forward to Saturday night and hope a few more interesting people who like good food will choose to join us. 

The New York Times’ reports that New York Senator and Park Slope resident, Charles Schumer, wants to create national energy-saving standards and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

“Senator Charles E. Schumer said yesterday that he was introducing a measure that would require cities and states to increase energy efficiency in new buildings by 30 percent in the next five years and by 50 percent before 2022. Under the measure, to be introduced next week as an amendment to the Senate energy bill, cities and states would face penalties unless they adopted a standard nationwide code or their own codes requiring energy-efficient systems and designs. Cities that met the standards would be exempt from the penalties even if their states failed to do so, Mr. Schumer said. The amendment, he said, is meant to bring the country in line with the standards in California and New York City, which recently overhauled its building code to require so-called green-building practices.”

You won’t want to miss the following events in June: For more info: Louise_crawford@yahoo.com

June 11: 10th Anniversary Reading of 808 Union Writing Group, which may be the longest running writer’s group in Park Slope with Marian Fontana, Louise Crawford, Wendy Ponte, Rosemary Moore, Mary Crowley, Barbara Ensor and Kevin McPartland at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

June 16: Southside Stories by Louis Rosen performed by Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen. Also, songs on Nikki Giovanni poems at The Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

June 21: Brooklyn Reading Works presents: Writers Who Write While Sleeping. Poets Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham do this and much more. You won’t want to miss this show, which will be anything but sleepy. the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

June 23: Stoopendous, a Celebration of the Summer Solstice on the streets and sidewalks of Park Slope. For information and how to do it: stoopendous.org.

June 24: First Brooklyn Blogade Roadshow at Vox Pop in Ditmas Park. http://flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/2007/05/event-june-24-brooklyn-blogade-roadshow.html

My friend, Karen Zukowski, sent me this missive about a not-to-be-missed benefit for DDDB.  Fun Fact: her book, Creating the Artful Home: The Aesthetic Movement, is the party favor. Unfortunately it’s at the same time as the First Blogade Roadshow at Vox Pop. Hmmmm.

Don’t miss Develop Don’t Destroy
Brooklyn’s benefit on June 24.   It is being held on June 24, 3-6 pm at
the home of Clem Labine, a famous Brooklyn brownstoner.  This benefit
is being called the "It’s not a Done Deal" benefit, because the legal
case DDB to making against Forest City Ratner Companies may prove that
the Atlantic Yards megaproject is NOT a done deal.   The afternoon’s
events including hanging out in Clem’s house and garden, meeting
preservation pioneers like Everett Ortner and current preservationists
hard at work with DDDB, and meeting Karen Zukowski, who wrote Creating the Artful Home: The Aesthetic Movement,
which describes Victorian houses.  (The book is a party favor).
Tickets are $60 ($75 at the door). Because it’s a private home, space
is limited and pre-registration is strongly advised.  To attend, call
718-636-819.   

They said rain or shine. And it rained and shined for the 3rd Annual Tour de Brooklyn. Hundreds of friends and neighbors rode the 18 mile tour through Brooklyn’s southern neighborhoods along the waterfront like Sunset, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst and loops towards the heart of Brooklyn, Kensington and Prospect Park South to end at the Carousel.

The riders, a mix of adults and kids, rode at a leisurely pace, escorted by the police and safety marshals. Streetsfilms has the video:

If you would like to check it out…

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/tour-de-brooklyn-2007/

Get your tix for a great show at The Old Stone House.

Last year it was songs based on Maya Angelou. This year, Louis and Capathia will perform Rosen’s song cycle about growing up on the South Side of Chicago during the 1970’s when the neighborhood was experiencing upheaval. This piece deals with love, family, religion and race. And it is AWESOME (I’ve heard it twice at Joe’s Pub and I own the album). Here’s a note from Louis about the show.

DEAR BROOKLYN FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:

I wanted to let you know that my splendid collaborator, Capathia Jenkins (a 2007 Drama Desk Award nominee), and I are scheduled to perform our second benefit concert on behalf of The Old Stone House on Saturday night, June 16th. The proceeds will go to supporting The Old Stone House’s rapidly growing arts programming, including this summer’s Piper Theatre at OSH’s production of Macbeth, Brooklyn Film Works and the excellent Brooklyn Reading Works.

The performance will mark the Brooklyn concert premiere of the songs from our recently released and highly acclaimed debut recording, South Side Stories, songs of youth, coming of age and experience, inspired by the Chicago neighborhood where I grew up. We’ll also be offering a “sneak preview” of a excerpts from my newest work for Capathia, Giovanni Songs, on words by the renowned poet Nikki Giovanni. Capathia and I will be joined by two splendid musicians, the pianist Kimberly Grigsby, and Dave Phillips on acoustic and electric bass.

The evening is being billed as a “Champagne Cabaret,” which means champagne and dessert will be served at 8 pm, and the concert will begin at 8:30. Last year’s benefit sold out—the room only holds 90 people—so we hope that you make the scene.

The Old Stone House is at J. J. Byrne Park at 3rd Street and 5th Avenue.
Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door.
Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nycharities.org, or you can RSVP by calling 718 768 3915.

1010 Wins reports that Tropical Rainstorm Barry is moving up the East Coast Monday morning and delivering a ton of rain to the New York City region. Watch for flooded roadways

The Second Street Cafe, a popular restaurant in Park Slope, has a brand new look. After ten years, they closed for a month and really went to town. And everything inside, including the layout, the kitchen, the floor, the furniture, the bar is NEW!!

The result: a decidedly more upscale look. And it looks roomier. More elegant and quite lovely.

The menu is the same but the entrance is now on Second Street, not Seventh Avenue (yes, the Second Street Cafe…).

A huge, beautiful vase of flowers caught my eye.

I haven’t eaten there yet but plan to soon. Mazel Tov to the owners. One of them told me he’s just thrilled.
“Everything is brand new,” he said. He also said that everything is in but the art work.

That reminds me:

OSFO and I were wondering what they did with all the paper tablecloth art? Are they going to incorporate it in some way into the new place — maybe framed versions of some of them? Or were they destroyed. I can’t imagine how they would have saved the ceiling art.

Did they?

The newish Diana Kane shop on Seventh Avenue is a beautiful variation on her Fifth Avenue store. But with a big difference: instead of lingerie there’s clothing and lots of it. And the selection is beautiful. Lovely fabrics, prints, styles. I’d call it delicate, Boho and feminine. And she’s got sizes — Small, medium, and large.

Enuf of those hipster stores that only have tiny sizes.

Dianna Kane also has her original jewelry, great bags, towels, clogs, candles, and her signature lingerie (of course).

Location: Seventh Avenue on the corner of Berkeley Place in Park Place. The space that used to house Kiwi.

There were fireworks over the backyards behind Third Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. Nothing fancy. They must have been shot off of someone’s roof. It sounded like gunshots initially. All of us quieted down in the living room and then OSFO screamed out from the back bedroom: Come back. Fireworks. There are fireworks back here.

Did you see them?

Posted in Brooklyn |   

Smartmom is a Lifetime member or something, which means she once met her goal weight. It was like 8 years ago  but she slowly put it back on. So she’s in the program again — going to meetings at the Montauk Club.

Ah, the Montauk Club. Who knew the meeting was in the pretty ballroom upstairs. Probably the best Weight Watchers location. Anywhere!

Smartmom used to go the American Legion on 9th Street, where the leader was hysterically funny. Worth the meeting just to hear her. But the room left a bit to be desired.

Melainie, the leader at The Montauk Club, lost 60 pounds and seems very inspiring and supportive. And the program is a little different from 8 years ago. For one thing, you can count your food points on-line. And it’s even more health-oriented than ever.

Smartmom is so psyched.

In the Smartmom Book of Records, that accounting of everything she’s done wrong and right in her life as a parent, Memorial Day weekend 2007 will be hereby remembered as a breakthrough.

She said “no” to Teen Spirit.

Yeah, yeah. she says “no” to Teen Spirit many times a day — No, you can’t skip school today. No, you can’t go to the Knitting Factory tonight because you have Earth Science homework. No, you can’t play your guitar at 2 am — but there are times when Smartmom has trouble saying it. And that’s not good for Teen Spirit or Smartmom.

Smartmom fondly remembered the time that TS fell in love with a white rabbit at a pet shop when they were going only to look — to look, I tell you! — at guinea pigs.
Naomi Village: In the heart of the Poconos

Teen Spirit got this soulful and sensitive look in his eyes. And that rabbit looked so cute. So next thing she knew, Smartmom was popping out the credit card and nervously paying for the dwarf rabbit that TS had already named Opal.

Smartmom is well aware that the ability to say “no” is a major tenet of good parenting. She knows that it is key to the sanity of the child — and the parent.

It’s not like she wants to spoil her children or anything. It’s just that, well, Teen Spirit is so darn cute when he gets that hang-dog look on his face.

She spent close to $100 once they were done selecting a cage, rabbit bedding, food, toys and vitamins.

But there was no going back. Almost immediately, everyone fell in love with Opal. When she died a year ago, the family felt like it had lost a beloved member.

The one-year “anniversary” didn’t pass unnoticed.

“Mom, come meet me in front of John Jay. There’s an adorable kitten I want,” he told her by phone last Saturday while Smartmom was napping.

As if under a spell, she floated out of the apartment to meet Teen Spirit to talk him out of the kitty. Smartmom lambasted herself all the way up Third Street. She knew she should have just said “no” and hung up the phone. She swore to herself that she would not succumb to the site of Teen Spirit with the kitty.

The Oh So Feisty One, a confirmed dog lover, came along for support.

Under the scaffolding at John Jay High School, Teen Spirit was staring lovingly into the eyes of the 5-week-old kitten. The woman from the Brooklyn Animal Foster Network  handed Smartmom a contract.

“Mom, do you need a pen?” Teen Spirit asked helpfully.

Before she could say, “This is terrible idea,” OSFO wanted the kitten, too — and Smartmom was signing on the dotted line.

Teen Spirit walked home with the kitty attached to his shirt. Smartmom went to Met Food. She found cat food in an area of the store she’d never noticed before.

That’s because Smartmom doesn’t know from pets. Growing up, she wasn’t allowed to have a pet larger than a turtle. Oh, how she longed for a big, hairy sheep dog or even a tiny shih tzu like neighbors had upstairs.

Back home, Teen Spirit and OSFO were taking turns cuddling the kitten, while they tried to come up with a suitable name.

“I’ve always liked the name ‘Supermercado,’ which means ‘supermarket’ in Spanish,” Teen Spirit told Smartmom.

OSFO was thinking more along the lines of Lula or Lulee.

Smartmom had to admit that the kitty really was quite fetching with her fluffy black fur and white paws that make her look like she’s wearing socks.

Parenting is sometimes an attempt to correct the wrongs of one’s childhood. But it’s easy to go overboard.

She went into the kitchen to open a can of cat food — some kind of chicken soufflé, which smelled disgusting. Supermercado-Lulee lapped it up quickly, like she was starving or something. Maybe she was. Someone had found her, poor thing, in a pile of garbage on Fourth Avenue.

When it came time to go to a friend’s BBQ, Teen Spirit decided to stay behind with Supemercado-Lulee. Good, Smartmom thought, he’s showing some responsibility.

A boy needs to bond with his kitten. And Supermercado-Lulee clearly needs a tremendous amount of TLC.

During dinner on a friend’s deck, Hepcat got a call from Teen Spirit asking to go out to see a movie with friends.

Grrr, Smartmom thought, that’s so irresponsible.

“I’m leaving food and water in the box. I think she’s going to sleep,” he told Hepcat.

Smartmom and Hepcat were miffed. Teen Spirit’s bonding with Supermercado-Lulee had lasted until the first social phone call. Then he was off. Was he really mature enough to care for a kitty?

When they got home, Supermercado-Lulee was in her box crying. She’d tipped over her water bowl, and her food (mackerel and something gross) was all over the bottom of the box.

OSFO found a large plastic box and covered the bottom with soft towels, and Supermercado-Lulee finally looked cozy.

Later, Teen Spirit called to say that he was sleeping over at a friend’s house. That irked OSFO.

“He gets a kitten and the first night he doesn’t even want to stay home with her.” OSFO screamed. “I think we should get rid of her.”

OSFO could see the writing on the wall. “I’m going to be the one to take care of her and I really want a dog,” she cried.

Smartmom was furious. Who raised that kid? Who taught him right from wrong? She knew she had only herself to blame. Smartmom slept fitfully that night. She kept waking up to check on the kitten and worry that they’d made a big mistake.

The next morning, she woke up early and called Teen Spirit. He sounded groggy.

“I’ve decided to take the kitty back,” she said.

“You can’t,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I love the kitten,” he said.

“But you’re not here,” she said, telling him to come home for a family meeting. There would be a vote, and the family would decide what to do.

When Teen Spirit came home, the family sat around the dining room table and discussed Supermeracado-Lulee in a very democratic way. They even voted. It was 3–1: get rid of the kitty.

“Remember ‘Twelve Angry Men?’” Hepcat said. “We can’t decide until everyone agrees.”

Finally, Teen Spirit came around. Disgruntled. Sad. It seemed that he understood that he wasn’t ready to take on a kitty.

With relief and a feeling of victory, Smartmom and the family returned the kitten to the people from Brooklyn Animal Foster Network who were again sitting underneath the scaffolding at John Jay. Within an hour, someone else adopted Supermercado-Lulee.

And Smartmom was proud. She’d said “no” to Teen Spirit. What a victory. Even with those adorable, “I love this kitty” eyes, she’d turned him down.

It was a small step for Smartmom. And one giant leap for Teen Spirit.

Now that’s one for the record books.

Did you? Gowanus Lounge has the pix.

And you missed it. There were delicious food contributions from local eateries and Old Stone House served dinner and wine to a crowd of locals, who were happy to contribute $40 a head to support great free summer programming there.

But as Kim Maier, director of the Old Stone House, always says: free programming isn’t free to produce. It costs a lot of money to do what she’s doing and she deserves the support of the community for making the Old Stone House and JJ Byrne Park into a vital cultural and historical center.

Especially the Summer Arts Festival in JJ Byrne Park. What a win win for the whole community. Think of it: Shakespeare, Music, Great movie, Something to do on hot summer nights!!! What a contribution.

The funds raised last night raised will go to FREE, high quality Shakespeare performace, fabulous screwball comedies, and blues in the JJ BYrne Park this July. OSH Director, Kim Maier, has a great summer line-up.

July 10
Brooklyn Film Works Presents: Screwball Brooklyn!
The Lady Eve
directed by Preston Sturges, starring Barbara Stanwyck
Introduced by film critic Ty Burr, author of The Best Old Movies for Families
8:30 pm. Free.
July 11
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 12
Summer Concerts in JJ Byrne Park!
Nation Beat
6 pm. Free.
July 13
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 14
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 15
Puppetry Arts Theatre
In a Roundabout Way
A New Musical
4 pm. Free.
July 17
Brooklyn Film Works Presents: Screwball Brooklyn!
I’m No Angel
directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Mae West
8:30 pm. Free.
July 18
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 19
Summer Concerts in JJ Byrne Park!
Life in a Blender
6 pm. Free.
July 20
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 21
Piper Theatre at OSH
Macbeth
8 pm. Free.
July 22
Puppetry Arts Theatre
In a Roundabout Way
A New Musical
4 pm. Free.
July 24
Brooklyn Film Works Presents Screwball Brooklyn!
What’s Up Doc?
directed by Peter Bogdonavich, starring Barbra Streisand
8:30 pm. Free.
July 25
Piper Theatre Students at OSH
Twelfth Night: 6:00 pm
Hamlet: 7:30 pm
Free.
July 26
Summer Concerts in JJ Byrne Park!
The Mercantillers
6 pm. Free.
July 27
Piper Theatre Students at OSH
Romeo & Juliet: 6:00 pm
Macbeth: 7:30 pm
Free.
July 28
Piper Theatre Students at OSH
Shakespeare Extravaganza!
Twelfth Night: 2:00 pm
Romeo & Juliet: 4:00 pm
Macbeth: 6:00 pm
Hamlet: 8:00 pm
Free.
July 31
Brooklyn Film Works Presents Screwball Brooklyn!
Duck Soup
directed by Leo McCarey, starring The Marx Brothers
8:30 pm. Free.
August 18
Battle Week!
The Revolutionary Era Lives On at OSH
Noon. Free.

GOOD NEWS: If you didn’t make it to last night’s benefit you can still support the Old Stone House AND enjoy the great music of Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen on JULY 16th at 8 p.m. The Old Stone House is at J. J. Byrne Park at 3rd Street and 5th Avenue. Champagne bash, great concert, fun.

Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door.
Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nycharities.org, or you can RSVP by calling 718 768 3915.

Gowanus Lounge reports that the ride itself is for sale. If you don’t believe me go here. No price is mentioned. It’s the best ride in Coney. I wrote this last month after we rode it. Picture by NW_DP was taken on the ride. What a view!

On this warm, bright, and beautiful Sunday, Smartmom, Hepcat, OSFO,
Divorce Diva and her daughter decided to visit Coney Island in the
park’s final season before a major redevelopment plan destroys much of
what’s there now.

Thor Equities plans a $2 billion amusement with retail and
residential developments planned along the Boardwalk. From the sounds
of it, they’re thinkin’ Las Vegas at the edge of New York City, with
loads of new rides, a family hotel, indoor water park, retail, condos
and timeshares.

Oy Vey.

While the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute Jump will survive the
transformation, the Astro Tower, the best ride at Coney will be torn
down, 

Say it isn’t so. The Astro Tower  is located in Astroland along with
other more mundane rides like bumper cars, swirling teacups and a water
coaster, that OSFO enjoyed immensely.

But Smartmom, OSFO and Divorce Diva were entranced by the Astro
Tower, a chance to rise high above the park hundreds of feet in the air
and enjoy a 360 view of the amusments, the surrounding neighborhood,
Keyspan Park, and the ocean as the tower swirled slowly.

Needless to say, No Words_Daily Pix snapped lots of shots.

The ride of the twirling view was created for the 1963 World’s Fair
and was moved to Coney Island after fair just like the Parachute Jump
was created for the  1939 World’s Fair and moved to Coney in 1941. 

This is the stuff of history. At the 1963 World’s Fair the Astro
Tower had an upper level and Hepcat was sorry to see that it’s not open
anymore. In fact, it’s been painted over.

He did ride on the upper level in 1963 when he came east from
California to visit the World’s Fair. It was his first trip to New York
City — a cross country drive he’d never forget. The trip would leave
an indelible mark on Hepcat and inspire him to go Eastward young man
when it was time to go to college.

After college, New York City beckoned and as they say, the rest is history.

Before it’s gone, take a ride on the Astro Tower. It would be fun to
have a party up there riding up and down over and over — drinking
cocktails, enjoying the view, basking in the glory  that is the Coney
Island of not much more.