Just got this note from the editor at NYC Metro Parents about their Brooklyn and Manhattan Holiday Guide:

We have all sorts of great holiday content that your readers will want to know about: there’s holiday events in brooklyn & manhattan, tree cutting, special teas and hot chocolates, top 10 toys, holiday shows and MORE.

I got this email from a woman in search of a restaurant she used to frequent on Kings Highway:

I used to live on Kings Highway in Brooklyn and ate
all the time at Minerva Restaurant which used to be at
1907 Kings Highway.

In Googling for answers, I found your blog and thought
you might be able to help me.

I’m trying to get the name of the owner of Minerva’s.
I recall that his first name was Nick but that’s all I
can remember. He used to put his full name on his
menus but I can’t find the one I used to have.

He was a super nice guy and now that I’m in Brooklyn
again, in a different neighborhood, I thought I’d try
to look him up to at least say hello and to find out
if he has another establishment.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated and I thank you
for your time.

If you see a Snowflake in the window of a Park Slope shop that means that store is participating in the Snowflake Celebration on DECEMBER 13th. Shops will be open until 10 p.m. and it should be quite the festive Park Slope event.

A fun night and a perfect way to shop. Refreshments. Wine. Music courtesy of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

A great way to support local businesses and get your Christmas shopping done.

Here’s an update from the Buy in Brooklyn Team! Snowflake day is really shaping up with music from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, bars and restaurants signing and and special discounts in the shops. There’s information here for merchants and customers:

We
already have almost 100 merchants signed up, with more emailing in
confirmation by the hour.  Businesses are agreeing to stay open until 10pm on Thursday, December 13th
and many are offering discounts, promotions or in-store refreshments.
People are really getting into the spirit — the Brooklyn Conservatory
of Music is doing 2 hours of concerts in front of their building, two
groups of carolers are signed up to wander the avenues, and we’ve even
tracked down some snow machines!!!

Many restaurants and bars have tapped into the shop local feeling and
signed on to do specials or complementary cocktails or desserts if
clients show a receipt from another local merchant!! That’s the community spirit we are looking for!!

If you have not signed up already, please contact Rebeccah at buyinbrooklyn@gmail.com. Let us know that you’re in, and what you’re planning.
There is no deadline to be included. No final list. But it helps us get a tally of this ever-evolving and snowballing event.

If
you’ve already jumped on board, great!  Keep encouraging your fellow
merchants and neighbors to join in.  Consider organizing an activity on
your block.  Be creative and have fun!

Next Step — Reaching Out to Our Customers!

Starting tomorrow, the following promotional materials are available:
–a 11×17 color poster for your window 

–a couple of decorative snowflakes to display in a door or windowhalf-page fliers to give to your customers, plus a template so you can
make more copies when you need them (a pdf version of this is attached
to this email, if you want to print them out yourselves, or include the
image in emails)

By Sunday noon, packets will be available for pick up at: The Community Bookstore, Lion in the Sun, Rootstock and Quade.

This
whole campaign is a growing and organic effort. So if you would like to
serve as a distribution point for your neighboring businesses,
please
let us know.  This would be a
great help to everyone. In particular, we need two businesses to volunteer to be pick up sites on Fifth Avenue!!! 

Advertising:

The
Park Slope Chamber of Commerce is taking out 2 general ads in local papers,
contacting the press and local calendar listings, and reaching out to
local organizations to promote the event.  You can help!  Promote your own discounts.  Pass
out fliers to your customers. Send out emails (include the flier
pdf!) to your client lists or your own contacts to promote the
event! Write the blogs. This is
your chance to help–as individual and collective businesses–
make this shop local / shop late night a success.

Simone Dinnerstein, who’s CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was named in Friday’s New York Times one of the top classical CD’s of 2007, is now available at the following Park Slope locations:

ZuZu’s Petals  374 5th Avenue

Music Matters   413 7th Avenue (between 13 and 14 Street)

Barnes and Noble   267 7th Avenue

Here’s the poster for this December 13th event sponsored by BUY IN BROOKLYN, the Buy Local initiative of the Park Slope Civic Council.

More than 100 local stores will be open until 10 p.m. with special discounts, promotions, activities and sometimes booze and refreshments. A full list will  be forthcoming.

SNOWFLAKES ARE BLOSSOMING (to mix metaphors)!

It’s on Gowanus Lounge today, who saw it on Clinton Hill Blog: A CHB reader asked: “Do you hear a noise like a fog horn or a ship’s horn on occasion? Is this noise from the Navy Yard, or from cruise ships coming and going from Red Hook, or from ordinary East River ship traffic?

My daughter asked the same thing last night. Here’s a transcript of that conversation to the best of my memory. We were walking down Third Street with friends.

“Is there some water nearby?” my daughter asked.

“No, the newstand is closed,” I said thinking she wanted some drinking water.

“No, I mean lots of water,” she said.

“Yeah, there’s a lake in the park and a big river not too far,” I said.

“Big enough for there to be big boats that make loud sounds?”

“Yeah,” I said.

Luckily my friend Ed was standing nearby. He grew up in Boerum Hil.

“It’s from the Gowanus. The boats on the Gowanus. When I was growing up I used to hear the boats on the Gowanus.”

Suddenly I got this very romantic picture of a boy growing up on Dean Street (back when Dean Street was Dean Street) listening to the far off boats on the Gowanus.

“Well, I’ve been hearing this low sounds at night. These horns or something. They sound like this…” she said making a low fog horn like sound.

On the Park Slope Parents list-serve,  people have been asking where to find Santa Claus. Turns out he will be making an appearance on Saturday December 1 at the  Lefferts Historic House near the Prospect Park Zoo and the Merry Go Round. 

Get the jump on Santa Claus when the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum celebrates St. Nicholas Day, the traditional Dutch holiday. The jolly man himself will arrive on horseback, and for more rustic charm, visitors can take a candlelight holiday tour to see how Brooklyn celebrated before electricity.
Noon-4 pm at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum (5816 Clarendon Rd. at 58th Street in Ditmas Park). $3. For information, call (718) 629-5400

Lefferts Historic House is located at the Children’s Corner,
      inside the Park’s Willink Entrance, at the intersection of Flatbush and
      Ocean Avenues and Empire Boulevard. Lefferts is also on the Blue
      Trail.

There’s a new sign at Old First from the Park Slope Coalition for the Homeless. It’s about calling 311 when you need to get help for a homeless person. The sign is obviously an outgrowth of the meeting of the Department of Homeless Services and the newly established Park Slope Homeless Coalition, which is made up of representatives from the community, Beth Elohim and Old First Church that was held more than a week ago at Beth Elohim. Here’s some background on why the sign is there from Andy Bachman’s blog:

And finally, we learned that the fastest way to immediate help is by dialing 311.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well last night, while walking home, I encountered what one would call a chronically homeless man. He was in his 30s; seemed mentally disturbed; and was silent, sitting atop a park bench near my apartment. I approached him and said hello. He looked back and said nothing.

So I walked some distance and called 311. It was 11 pm. The phone picked up and I got a very friendly city employee. She immediately connected me to DHS. I stayed on the phone for five minutes, giving a profile of the man along with my name and number. And within the hour, a team was dispatched. I was told I’d get a call today to follow up and let me know how it went.

I was impressed enough by the response. If I get the call today, I’ll be blown away.

To know, at this level, that human dignity is at the core of this city agency’s mission and that it squares with the mission of the synagogue and the church is a good sign–a siman tov–for the ecumenical and human ability to solve problems, increase ethics, and, for those so-inclined, do God’s work in the world.

As the meeting ended, I thought and said aloud, “We should overturn Term Limits in the city. Why not let the city elect the Mayor for as many terms as it takes to build this kind of culture of problem solving.”

Brooklyn Based tipped us off about The Brooklyn Sampler, a beautiful package of items made or designed here in Brooklyn, by artists, designers and crafters who hail from Bed-Stuy, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Ditmas Park, East New York, Fort Greene, Greenpoint, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Sunset Park, Williamsburg, and Windsor Terrace, and whose work is available at fabulous boutiques like Spring in Dumbo, Rare Device in Park Slope, the Brooklyn Indie Market, or online at that one-stop-shop for handmade goods, Etsy.

This box is so Brooklyn, it’s even wrapped in Brooklyn maps and lined with The Brooklyn Paper (there’s also a map of the future Brooklyn Greenway and a Zagat’s guide to BK restos inside).

Here’s the other kicker: It’s $20 (plus shipping), an incredible value for one-of-a-kind work made by your gifted neighbors, curated by Brooklyn Based, and sold by The Sampler, a San Francisco company whose founder Marie Kare came up with this brilliant idea of mailing boxes filled with the wares of indie businesses to spread the word about their work. This month they began a series of Samplers called City Samplers, packed with goods native to one place. It launched with their hometown, and Brooklyn Based happened to call at the right moment and propose a box filled with goodies made by Brooklynites.

Brooklyn Based is a tri-weekly email that will tell you about what’s going on in Brooklyn. Sort of a Daily Candy for Brooklyn I think. Founder/Editor Nicole Davis is also the arts editor of three community papers in Manhattan, and writes for a number of publications. She moved to Brooklyn in 1997, and lives in Clinton Hill with her husband. Turns out that the Brooklyn Sampler is a collaboration between Brooklyn Based and The Sampler, a company in San Francisco. Davis wrote me in an email: “I called them and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if I put together a sampler of just Brooklyn goods and they said, “How did you know we had just begun doing City Samplers (which focus on one place)?”

So it was serendipity. They agreed to let me curate it, and I rounded everyone up and got the stuff to them, and am trying to promote it as best I can. The Sampler folks do a lot of promoting, too and decoupage the boxes, so they should look great,

Davis describes Brooklyn Based, as a much more in-depth version of Manhattan Users Guide for Brooklyn– a lifestyle newsletter (art, events, food, etc) with a little focus on shopping. Here’s the blurb from the Brooklyn Based website.

Like all good things, we come in threes — three emails a week that will help you get the most out of the County of Kings.

We won’t cram your inbox with a laundry list of things to do, or convince you to buy things you don’t need, or tell you the same exact thing you already learned from your favorite blog, mag or paper. (And we certainly won’t spam you.)

Think of us as an essential supplement to the best food, art, services, shops and people the borough has to offer: Brooklyn distilled.

Sound good? Then sign up for Brooklyn Based, delivered Tuesday through Thursday.

Brooklyn author Michael Thomas’ book Man Gone Down was selected as one of the ten best books of 2007 by the New York Times Book Review. Thomas’ book is about a young black father of three in a biracial marriage on the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday looking for a job and a way to support the upscale lifestyle of his family. He finds himself broke, estranged from his family, and living in the Brooklyn bedroom of a friend’s six-year-old son.

Thomas is also one of the 2007 Park Slope 100 (which will be released on December 6th). Here’s my blurb:

Michael Thomas because your book Man Gone Done is written in a masterful first-person voice that is intense, poetic, angry, vulnerable, real, and full of thoughtful rage about race and class, marriage and love in New York City.

I am still working on it but there still a lot on there. Have a look:

WELCOME TO OTBKB’S 2007 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE. Created by Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, a Park Slope blog, the guide is a great tip sheet for gifts on Park Slope’s Seventh and Fifth Avenues.

OTBKB stops in at just about every store on those Avenues and selects at least one UNIQUE and fabulous gift. Sometimes I find more. Much more. For location and more information about the store click on the store name and you will be transported to the shop’s website (if they have one). Any questions, comments, or additions, email louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com. During the holiday season, it is a pleasure to shop locally and support local artisans and entrepreneurs.

Check back often, I will be updating throughout the gift buying season.

I love the people over at Slope Sports and am always happy to know what they’re doing.

We run every Saturday morning at 8:00am – rain, snow or shine – all year round. Meet at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of the Park. We meet up & determine distances and routes there. All distances & paces welcome. It’s free and fun and a great way to meet people!

Yesterday I was just rushing, rushing, rushing. And then I was out of the office all day and I couldn’t correct the links. Sorry. I reprinted the Holiday Cards post with Alex’s correct email. And for the Turkey Trot times go here.

Sorry I got Alex’s email wrong yesterday. Here it is correctly. arichman33(at)gmail.(dot)com.

I got this email from Alex Richman, a photographer and blogger, who lives in Windsor  Terrace. LOOK AT HIS CARDS!  I think they are great.

Email Alex if you are interested in buying his cards: arichman33(at)gmail.(dot)com. His blog is called Sidewalk Photography.

Alex writes: I don’t have
a store in Brooklyn but do live in Windsor Terrace and am selling Holiday cards that I create. 

They are hand-crafted personal New York City
scenic holiday cards. These original photographs are hand-mounted onto
premium felt finish card stock and come with a matching envelope.  I
was wondering if you would be interested in posting this on your gift
guide.  I’ve attached the
photos that are mounted. I am selling them 8
for $20 or $2.50 a piece.

With holiday baking season in full swing, I thought
"Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn" readers might be
interested in a recipe swap run by WNYC, New York
public radio.

"The Leonard Lopate Show" is asking visitors to share
their favorite holiday cookie recipe, along with the
reason why the recipe is special:

<http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2007/12/11/segments/89398>

Special guest Ruth Reichl, Gourmet magazine editor in
chief, will pick her favorites and talk about them
on-air.

The deadline to post a recipe is Thursday, Dec. 6, at
noon.

Thanks for your consideration. If you have any
questions, please let me know.

Best regards,
  Chrys Wu
  Editorial Curator
  for WNYC.org
  <http://www(dot)wnyc(dot)org>

Here’s something new from our pal Pete of Full Permission Living.

There’s
a nice piece on the benfits of napping and giving oneself as a parent
time for rest and recovery from the tasks of the daily job on Heather
Cabot’s website: http://www.thewellmom.com.

I have incorporated napping into my daily routine since the late 1980’s
– 20 to 40 minutes usually does it – and I have found that it can be a
great help in re-energizing the body and clearing the mind, important
to me, not only as a parent, but in my work as a therapist and writer.
Solving an intractable mental problem, like writer’s block, for
example, can frequently give way if you "sleep on it." Another good
alternative to refresh the body and mind is a walk – preferably in
nature (Prospect Park
is still pristine enough and quite suitable). Getting out of the house
and moving one’s body is also a great reliever of stress, anxiety and
depression in the short run. So, folks, have your R & R every day,
along with your apple, and keep the doldrums away.

Peter Loffredo (http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/)

Erin McHugh presents her new series The Portable Queer, 4×6 hardcovers at paperback prices. Titles include:

–Homo History: A Compilation of Events That Shook and Shaped the Gay World;

–A Gay in the Life: A Compilation of Saints and Sinners in Gay History and

–Out of the Mouth of Queers: A Compilation of Bon Mots, Words of Wisdom and Sassy Sayings. 

Park Slope Barnes & Noble  FREE!  267 7th Ave at 6th St, 832.9066

During the holiday season, Ethan Schlesser produces an event at Old First called the JINGLE BELL JAMBOREE.

Schlesser started the event in 2001, as a way to bring some community healing and togetherness after 9/11.  The event was so uplifting and successful that he’s repeated it each holiday season. Every year, he  brings chorus groups, dancers, community performances, and always a big fun sing-a-long as the grand finale. 

The Jingle Bell Jamboree is a non-denomination family event!  This year we will have MS 51 Show Choir, Brooklyn Tech HS Chamber chorus, Dancewave, Spoke the Hub Dance, the Old First Family String Band – and the Brooklyn Community Chorus. 

The event is on Sunday, Dec. 16th at 5pm at Old First.

Join OTBKB’s friend, Jezra Kaye, for a party and reading to celebrate her new book Kicking:
Love Poems. 

40 years in the making, these poems chronicle one woman’s grapple with the ever-changing face of love–from 1960s
communes to 1980s corporations to the wilds of contemporary, middle-aged marriage.

I hope you can be there!

Community
Bookstore

143 Seventh
Avenue

Park Slope,
Brooklyn

(between Garfield and 1st
St.)

Thursday, December
6th

8:00-9:30PM

The Prospect Park Track Club has posted the times of those who ran in Thursday’s Turkey Trot on their website.

Anyone know where these recent transplants from Manhattan can get a leather jacket repaired?

I just wanted to say that i absolutely love your blog!  my boyfriend
and i recently moved to Park Slope from Manhattan and are instant
converts.  We use your blog as a reference guide.  I had a question perhaps
you may have the answer to.  Im looking to repair a leather jacket with a
small tear in it.  Any idea of neighborhood places which may helpful?

Thank you for your help and keep on doing what you do.

The Gay Ministry at St. Augustine’s Church is organizing a World AIDS Day Memorial and the Ribbon Project. A row of ribbons bearing the names of people who have died of died AIDS will
be installed around the iron fence of St. Augustine Church early this
week and will serve as a dramatic reminder that we all
need to keep fighting this world-wide epidemic.

The group asks that people send in names as soon as possible. Here’s a note I received this morning from one of the organizers. For information or to send names email: mmsomerville(at)mindspring(dot)com.

As some of you may know,  I’m
working with the Gay Ministry at St. Augustine Church in Brooklyn.
We’re planning a World AIDS Day Memorial Service there on Dec. 1, 2007,
World AIDS Day. 

The service will be an all faiths service during which names of people who
have died of AIDS will be read aloud.

There’s a brief, exciting program; The New York City Ambassador Chorus, which
is, as I understand it, a ‘chamber’ offshoot of the famous NY Gay Men’s
Chorus will perform and AIDS Education Expert Christobal Jacques will talk.

If you can, please attend the service. Even if you can’t make the service —
and if the gesture feels right to you — please take part in the Ribbon Project.
A row of red ribbons bearingthe names of people who have died of AIDS which will
be installed around the iron fence of St. Augustine Church early this
week will serve as a reverent, dramatyic and vibrant reminder that we all
need to keep fighting this world-wide epidemic.

If you want to remember a loved one by name, just send me the name. If you
have dates of birth or death or both, please send those too. If you want to use
only first names or informal / nick-names, that’s fine too.

The prayer service will not be Catholic service.  It will,
however, take place inside a church.

The deadline for sending names is let‘s say — about November
30^th — Soon! All it takes is a moment. The more names we have, the
more powerful the installation will be!

Please pass this on to anyone who might wish to have the information.

Read Rabbi Andy Bachman’s blog about the  meeting last week to talk about a neighborhood response to the homeless men of Old First and the homeless in Park Slope in general.

Rev Dan Meeter and I hosted a meeting with participation from the Deputy Commissioners of the New York City Department of Homeless Services
(George Nashak), the Assistant Commissioner of DHS (Jody Rudin), a
member of CBE, two members of Old First, and a representative from the
Park Slope Civic Council.

We began with a teaching from the
morning blessings in our Siddur–”Praised be the Eternal God who clothes
the naked; who lifts up the fallen; who frees the captive.” In our
daily prayers, we fortify ourselves with the knowledge that caring for
those who can’t fully care for themselves is our sacred responsibility.

And
then the Deputy Commissioner spoke. He told us that under Mayor
Bloomberg, the DHS has the perspective that if there’s a problem with
homeless people, it’s their fault–they’re not getting the information
to those who need it. And he proceeded to educate us so thoroughly and
with such inspiration that within 90 minutes we had coalesced around a
strategy for responding to the problem and challenge of the chronic
homeless who sleep and relieve themselves on the steps of Old First.

We agreed on 4 basic principles.

1.  Acknowledge with dignity those who are homeless.  Look at them.  Greet them.
2.  Work for their dignity and safety.
3.  Connect them to the variety of homeless services in the city.
4.  Support the provision of services to these people…

READ THE REST ON ANDY’S BLOG.

Photo blogger and OTBKB fave Lara Wechsler will be exhibiting her GORGEOUS color and black and white Coney Island photos at 440 Gallery, that gallery on Sixth Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets beginning November 29th. There’s an opening on that day from 6-9 p.m.

CONEY ISLAND: THE LOST HORIZON
Color street photography by Lara Wechsler

Nov. 29, 2007 – Jan. 6, 2008

Present day scenes from Brooklyn’s fading fantasy
emporium.

Opening Reception:  Thursday, Nov. 29th, 2007. 6-9 p.m.

440 Gallery is located at: 440 6th ave, between 9th
and 10th street in Brooklyn, NY 11215

Gallery Hours:  Thurs – Fri 4pm – 7pm and sat – sun
12pm – 6pm or call for private viewing.

I was there. I was running and I’ve got the aches and pains to prove it.

But no pictures, no nothing. Unfortunately, the Park Slope Track Club ran out of black backpacks, medals and water. They were expecting about 1,000 registrations but registration was bigger than they expected. I’m sure the great weather encouraged people to register the morning of.

I do know there were photos at the finish line. I assume they’ll be posting them (and times) on the Prospect Park Track Club’s site. But when? Anyone know?

The adrenaline was flowing at Thursday morning’s Turkey Trot, when more than a thousand people gathered at the Oriental Pavillion ready to run: fancy sneaks, iPods, stop watches, water…

A gun shot and then they were off. A thick throng of runners ran through the middle of the park by the side of the Lake and then around the loop. Five miles in all.

What a race. What a GLORIOUS day. It was an exhilarating run for all. And now let the feast begin.

The Park Slope Track Club’s most challenging event of the year, runs through the park loops
   on Thanksgiving Day, Nov.22nd at 9 a.m.
   Click here for race details and registration confirmation.

• A Prospect Park  tradition for eons
• The major source of PPTC funds to subsidize member activities throughout the year
• Over 1,000 runners
• Massive volunteer mobilization
• A bonding club experience
• Chip timing
• Benefit to Bishop Ford H.S. track teams
• A definitive statement as to the caliber of our team resources

News from Anne at Sustainable Flatbush:

WHAT: Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting
WHEN: Monday December 3rd at 7pm (please note this meeting will NOT
be on the 10th as previously discussed)
WHERE: Chez Levy, 462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)
WHY: we will be meeting once a month, on the first Monday of the
month, until further notice,
IDEA: to brainstorm and plan upcoming projects, including our
participation in FDC’s Newkirk Plaza Holiday event and a Post-Holiday Electronics Recycling Collection.

WHAT: Newkirk Plaza Holiday Event (sponsored by Flatbush Development
Corporation), a multi-kulti winter celebration! Sustainable Flatbush will host a recycling table with info on how to recycle ANYthing the holidays may bring you
WHEN: Saturday December 8th from 1pm until 5pm
WHERE: Newkirk Plaza (Newkirk Avenue between Marlborough and East
16th Street)

The Flatbush Development Corp is asking for donations of holiday wrapping paper and ornaments for this event, a good way to “recycle” any extras you have around! Bring yours to the FDC office at 1616 Newkirk Avenue (between E16th and E17th Streets) or to Almac Hardware in Newkirk Plaza.

WHAT: Imagine Flatbush 2030 Stakeholders Meetings
WHEN: December 12th (this will be the second of four meetings, one
per month)
WHERE: at Brooklyn College (exact location TBA)
WHY: I attended the first meeting last night and it was VERY exciting. This is a great opportunity to participatein planning for the future of our neighborhood, preserving its strengths and addressing its challenges. Like they say, be the change you want to see!”