Diana Kane, the stylish, somewhat pricey, but lovely lingerie and accessories shop on Fifth Avenue, is opening a Seventh Avenue store. It is going into the old Kiwi location on Seventh Avenue between Berkeley and Union. So I was wrong, I thought Peek-a-Book Kids was going in there. Nope, they’re going into the space occupied by Mi Casa, the fabric store on the corner of Berkeley.

Kiwi, a clothing star owned by local designers, which also sells other designers, too, has moved into a large shop on Seventh Avenue between President and Carroll.

Diana Kane is IN, Mi  Casa is OUT. And Peek-a-Boo Kids, the Slope’s best kid’s shoestore, is moving down the block. Lots of movement on Seventh Avenue.

The New York Times’ had a piece yesterday about a possible rehabilitation of one of the great Brooklyn movie palaces, The Loew’s Kings. All I can think of is Richard Grayson’s marvelous story about the movie theaters in Brooklyn in his collection "And to Think He Kissed Him on Lorimar Street."

THE KINGS

The Kings was the grandest theater in Brooklyn: a French Renaissance palace whose lobby featured ornate chandeliers, bronze statues, and walnut paneling. Baroque murals with sinister satyr figures danced on the ceiling, and an ornamental peacock reigned above the stage. It was one of five “Wonder Theaters” that the Loews chain opened outside Manhattan in 1929.

In junior high, Eugene and I and the guys we hung out with would freeze our asses off waiting in long lines on Saturday mornings for the first showings of Goldfinger and A Hard Day’s Night.

In the early 1970s, as the neighborhood changed, white moviegoers abandoned the Kings and the other theaters on Flatbush Avenue for the newer twin theaters in shopping centers like Georgetowne and Kings Plaza. But Randi and I used to go here a lot, to avoid the Friday and Saturday night crowds at the suburban-like movie houses.

The last film we saw here was The Tamarind Seed, with Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif. We were practically the only white people in an audience of about a hundred, dwarfed in a theater meant to seat 3,500 people.

A documentary about the Kings appeared on PBS in the late 1980s and there always seems to be talk about reviving it now that the neighborhood has boomed again, saved by middle-class West Indians and Haitians. A deal for the Kings to reopen as part of the Magic Johnson chain fell through in the late 1990s because the theater is just too expensive to renovate.

The hulk of The Kings remains: shuttered except for occasional tours by select architecture and design students. Some of them have spotted pigeons flying over the dusty, cobwebbed maroon seats in that blasted ruin, a Sistine Chapel for connoisseurs of decay. — Richard Grayson

THIS FROM THURSDAY’S NEW YORK TIMES:

Everything looked good for the palatial Loew’s Kings Theater in
Flatbush, Brooklyn, for all of about six weeks, the period between its
opening on Sept. 7, 1929, and the stock market crash known as Black
Thursday. The ensuing Great Depression would quickly render it a palace
of misplaced optimism.

The vaudeville acts, which had
performed twice a day, dropped as if through a trap door in the stage
inside of a year. Silent films were fading away, too, and the
Robert-Morton Theater Pipe Organ, or “Wonder Organ,” was soon reduced
to playing during the sing-along “Follow-the-Bouncing-Ball” songs
between films.

Still, the gargantuan movie house with more than
3,600 seats, one of only five “Wonder Theaters” in the region, remained
in the business of showing films for almost 50 years, closing its doors
to everyone but thieves, vandals and vagrants in the late 1970s.

There
is no curtain to raise today, just another rattling metal gate on
Flatbush Avenue, beneath a stripped facade and facing a row of discount
clothing stores and crowded buses where trolleys used to pass.

The
city took ownership of the Loew’s Kings in 1979, and after false starts
since then, a new push is under way to return it to something like its
old self. There have been two tours of the theater for potential
developers in the last month, providing a rare glimpse at a little bit
left of what the theater used to be.

So I finally got over to Fourth Street yesterday to check out the Soprano situation. The show was shooting all day in Inaka Sushi on Seventh Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets. The actors and crew may have been in the sushi place, but all the equipment trucks, actor’s trailers, and Teamsters were lining Seventh Avenue; what a scene.

At approximately 8 p.m., a small group of local fans gathered in the Street at 4th and Seventh Avenue and waited for the wrap. A crew member came out of the sushi place saying "Cut" and it was determined that the shoot was over.

Fairly soon after, a very friendly Tony Soprano came out on the Avenue and graciously posed for pictures and signed autographs. The guys from the barber shop on Seventh Avenue near 4th Street brought a carousel horse out onto the street and asked Tony to pose in front of it. "Hey Tony, pose in front of the horse," one of the guys said. "I’m posing next to a horse’s ass?" he said.

Tony, who is much taller than I expected, was in a good mood and seemed happy to pose for cell phone cameras. A festive atmosphere prevailed in the minutes after the wrap.  I had somewhere to be so I grabbed a few cell phone shots and was on my way.

Last year we stayed in New York for Christmas for a change. And this year we’re doing that again. Here’s what I wrote last year. It still feels new and exciting to be here at Christmas.

We’ve decided to stay in Brooklyn for the holidays. Well, it was my
idea. I told Hepcat I needed  to be here instead of on the farm, the
walnut farm, in Northern California.

It took days to get up the nerve. I knew Hepcat wouldn’t take it
well. He looks forward to our visits to the family farm he grew up on. Our twice-yearly trips make him feel grounded; they connect him to his
past. They’re also a much-needed chance to spend time with his mother,
his siblings, their children, and other members of his family.

For as long as we’ve been together, we’ve spent the holidays out
there. That’s a lot of years and a lot of Chirstmases with my husband’s
family. I don’t even know what the holidays are like in New York with
my family anymore.

I must say, Christmas in California is pretty special: a real
goyisha treat for a Jewish girl from the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
There’s a tall Christmas tree festooned with family heirloom ornaments.
The house, fragrant with mulled cider and eucaplytus branches, is
decorated with colorful Mexican folkart Mexican nativity creches. There
are hot cinnamon buns on Christmas morning.

Best of all, my kids get to spend days on the farm with their
cousins in a
kind of free-form indoor/outdoor existence that’s so unlike life in
Park Slope. Climbing a fig tree, taking walks in a walnut orchard,
lighting sparklers in the backyard, it’s all part of the Christmas they
know.

So I finally blurted it out one night before dinner in the kitchen.  "I don’t think I can go to California this Christmas."

There was a stunned silence.

I offered up my reasons like non-sequiters: My work. Teen Spirit’s New
year’s Eve gig at the Liberty Heights Tap Room. Our new niece, Ducky.

Hepcat  immediately looked disappointed but he seemed to understand.
"Well, I guess that means I’ll be going to California with Teen Spirit and OSFO,"  he said.

Teen Spirit, who was standing by the sink, cleared his throat, "Um, Dad, if
you don’t mind I think I want to stay in New York with mom," To which Hepcat replied,

"Well, I guess it’ll just be me and OSFO."

"I’M NOT GOING WITHOUT MOM," she shouted from the dining room where she was working on her homework.

"Well, I guess I’m going alone," Husband said sadly. "I’m sorry, Dad," Teen Spirit aid, giving his dad a big hug.

By morning Hepcat had decided that he was going to spend Christmas in Brooklyn with us.

"I don’t want to go without my family."

So it was decided that we will spend the holidays in Brooklyn.
Together.  We’ll have to figure out what to do here: reinvent our
holiday ritual as we rediscover New York at Christmastime.

Ice skating in Prospect Park, Christmas decorations in Dyker
Heights, fireworks on New Years Eve at Grand Army Plaza, after the show
at the Liberty Heights Tap Room…

It just might be fun to do something a little different.

–written in 2005

HOT NEWS FLASH, 6 p.m., Tuesday: Rosemary writes—30 Rock is shooting today at the Grand Prospect Hall between 5th and 6th aves.  I saw Alec Baldwin in a tux at 8 a.m.

NEWS FLASH, 11:25 a.m., Tuesday: The Sopranos are filming in Inaka Sushi, according to Hepcat who just walked by. And he says 30 Rock won’t be on PPW until Thursday.

Old Story:

A neighbor told me last night that The Sopranos are shooting on Fourth Street today. He saw a sign. I already knew but I acted surprised. It’s boring always being the one who knows what’s going on.

When Hepcat came home he said that 30 Rock, the new comedy show with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin about a Saturday Night Live type of show, is shooting on Prospect Park West today  on THURSDAY. He said he saw signs. That was news to me. I was surprised and I didn’t know.

Funny coincidence. 30 Rock vs. The Sopranos. Shooting on the same day in the Slope.

I learned this from this week’s Green News of the Week on Seeing Green. Speaking of LEDs…

Green Eyes Glowing Softly in the Night. Look around your
house at night and what do you see? Many, many  LEDs glowing balefully
at you, each of them indicating a small but growing use of energy

Shut Windows to save power, urges industry:
Computer energy bills could be slashed by up to 40 per cent if Windows
had its power management settings turned on by default, according to a
leading environmentalist.

"PCs
consume 96% of their power in on-idle mode," said Catriona McAlister,
senior consultant for AEA Energy & Environment, speaking at an
Intel discussion on energy efficient computing. "You could save 40% of
annual energy consumption just by turning on power management on PCs
and monitors."

Quite the hoopla inside Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza. Klieg lights, a marching band, Chirstmas choirs, and a duo of Brooklyn Philarmonic trumpeters playing a festive fanfare.

What for?

It was a a big celebration for the lighting of the lights. Paid for by
Mort Zuckerman of the New York Daily News, there are light installations at all the entrances to Prospect Park.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg
introduced a host of city officials, commissioners. Notable in his absence was Marty Markowitz.

The Mayor led a countdown and then Abigail, the daughter of Mort Zukerman, got to turn on the lights with him. Maybe they wouldn’t let Marty do it and he didn’t want to come.

Maybe there was too much political star power. Maybe he has issues with Mort Zuckerman? Whatever. The lights are lovely. There’s a Christmas tree made of lights underneath the Grand Army arch. The lights change color and it’s very pretty. There are other lights decorating the top of the arch. Brooklyn Record had this to say about the lights:

"These aren’t just normal Christmas lights either, but fancy LED ones
that change color and do other cool things, designed by renowned
lighting designer Jim Conti (who actually teaches Lighting at
Parson’s). The project is sponsored by New York’s favorite paper
(maybe), The Daily News, and also includes free trolley
service on weekends around the park to see all the lights. They’ll be
up till January 7th, so if you aren’t festive yet, you’ve got time
(though, seriously, what’s your problem?)"

It’ll look great when that big Lubavitch menorah shows up for Hanukah. Lots of lights for everybody.

What fun to be in the Park in the evening. Bloomberg thanked God for the moon and Zuckerman and others for the lighting.  A lovely ceremony and I’m sorry I didn’t know about it to blog about it so more people woulda known about it.

photo by www.flickr.com/photos/suzun

This from New York 1:

Beginning today, New York Water Taxi is expanding its service to
include more of Brooklyn, adding service to and from the Fulton Ferry
Landing in DUMBO.

A special fare is also in place for rides between the new stop and Pier 11 near Wall Street.

Riders will pay just two dollars each way until March 31st. For
this week only, the Water Taxi is offering two free one-way tickets to
a stop anywhere along the East River.

For more information, visit www.nywatertaxi.com.

Turns out F.A.O. Schwarz (1836-1911), the toy store founder, is from Brooklyn. Maybe that’s why the company that bears his names wants to open a store in Park Slope. Or maybe it’s all the kid$, kid$, kid$.  The New York Times ran this in the City Section on Sunday.

People in the neighborhood
have been buzzing about F. A. O. Schwarz since its chief executive, Ed
Schmults, was quoted this month in Crain’s New York Business about the
company’s expansion plans in the city. According to Mr. Schmults, F. A.
O. Schwarz is considering opening two smaller stores in New York, and
the publication named Park Slope, along with Union Square, as a
possible location.

Mr. Schmults declined to answer questions
about the matter last week, but according to a statement issued by the
store’s public relations office, the company hopes to open one of the
new stores next summer and the other in 2008.

In Park Slope,
where strollers rule the sidewalks, and nannies and young mothers rule
the coffee shops, some parents greeted the idea coldly.

“I’ve
never been an F. A. O. Schwarz fan, so I would say, ‘Don’t bother
coming here,’ ” said Lauren Gropp Lowry, mother of Lila, 11 months, as
she sipped coffee outside the Connecticut Muffin on Seventh Avenue at
First Street.

Ms. Gropp Lowry, who grew up in the neighborhood
and recently moved back from Manhattan, said that in her opinion, Park
Slope was all about smaller stores and personal service. “It’s not a
Park Slope place,” she said of F. A. O. Schwarz, before dashing off to
a mother-and-daughter music class. “The fact that we have a Barnes
& Noble now is a big deal.”

F. A. O. Schwarz, which once
operated 14 stores nationwide, now has just two locations, in New York
and Las Vegas, after a bout with bankruptcy that temporarily closed the
flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan. Mr.
Schmults, who took over as chief executive last year, told Crain’s that
he hoped to streamline the business, making it less a toy-themed
amusement shop and more a profitable enterprise.

At Lolli, a
children’s clothing store in Park Slope on Seventh Avenue, a co-owner,
Meghan Andrade, predicted that an F. A. O. Schwarz store would cut into
her business. “I feel like sometimes when I hear things like that, that
Park Slope is going to lose the charm that it currently has,” she said.
“There’s a loyalty amongst our customer base, so we would maintain some
of that, but people will always explore their options.”

Local Park Slope artisan, Susan Steinbrock, creates beautiful scarves and bedding. Her trademark silk hand painted scarves have been featured at the East Village Eileen Fisher for years.

Her debut collection of bedding was featured in Cottage Living Magazine. Go to her website for more information.

She will be selling her wares at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Amsterdam Avenue and 111th Street. Dec. 1-3.

In Park Slope on December 9: She will be at the PS 321 Holiday Craft Sale. Seventh Avenue and 1st Street. 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

An email from a friend and neighbor on Fourth Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

In case you missed the tangy fluorescent lime green posters, the Sopranos will be shooting on our street up the block on Tuesday afternoon…easy fodder for the "not on my block", anti film squads, but fun for the actor spotters among us…

My cousin, who runs the Petra Foundation, which honors unsung
individuals making distinctive contributions to the rights, autonomy
and dignity of others, read this W.S. Merwin poem at Thanksgiving.  I liked it a lot.

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you

we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings

we are running out of the glass rooms

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky

and say thank you

we are standing by the water looking out

in different directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging

after funerals we are saying thank you

after the news of the dead

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

in a culture up to its chin in shame

living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you

in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators

remembering wars and the police at the back door

and the beatings on the stairs we are saying thank you

in the banks that use us we are saying thank you

with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable

unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us

our lost feelings we are saying thank you

with the forests falling faster than the minutes

of our lives we are saying thank you

with the words going out like cells of a brain

with the cities growing over us like earth

we are saying thank you faster and faster

with nobody listening we are saying thank you

we are saying thank you and waving

dark though it is.

W.S. Merwin

I was in a waiting area today when a woman, about to go outside, asked if it was raining. As she put on her coat, her scarf, and her leather gloves to leave the building, this is what she had to say.  I put it into poetic form.

Today it was such
a dreary day
cold, wet
no sun
not even a sparkle

Heavy rain on Thanksgiving
Those balloons
will go flying about
unmoored

Bumping into things

Torrential rains, winds
that’s what they’re saying

But there’s something to be said for
a cold, dark Thanksgiving
like an old friend
Hello, there you are

The Thanksgiving Parade ain’t what it used to be. But then, what is? We’re not going. Again. I think we’ll go skating instead.  Here’s a post from last year about Thanksgivings past.

This year they’re adding Dora the
Explorere and Scooby Doo. Artist Tom Otterness has created a
33-foot-tall Humpty Dumpty, frowning mid-"great fall."  As usual,  the
parade route begins at 77th Street and Central Park West, proceeds to
Columbus Circle, and turns onto Broadway. It turns west on 34th Street
(just past Macy’s Herald Square) and finishes at Seventh Avenue.

Back when we aspired be the ultimate New York parents, the parade
was a must-do activity. When my son was 3, we all bundled up and stood
under a Broadway marquis on a freezing cold day. Friends brought a
thermos of hot chocolate and it felt like the most essential New York
childhood experience of all.

For a few years, my cousin rented a hotel room on the 5th floor of
the Central Park’s Mayflower Hotel, which provided a perfect, indoor
spot for viewing the balloons. To watch the parade from indoors is one
of the great luxuries of New York City life. A real perk. One windy
year, we watched a ballon deflate before our eyes after it rammed into
a lamp post.

When Diaper Diva lived across the street from the Museum of Natural
History, she invited Teen Spirit and OSFO, who was only 2 at the time, to
sleep over so they could watch the blowing up of the balloons the night
before the parade, one of those great New York traditions. So great,
that it’s almost as popular as the parade itself and unbearably
crowded.

My childhood memories of the parade are vivid. When I was a kid, I
remember being bundled in a snowsuit on freezing cold Thanksgiving
mornings and standing out on Central Park West too short to see the
parade.

In fourth grade, a classmate invited a group of girls over to her
77th Street duplex for a sleepover. Her parents took us out in the
middle of the night to watch the balloons – Underdog and Mickey Mouse
being blown up on 77th Street. This was before it was a popular
activity. back then, it was strictly for residents of 77th Street and
81st Street. How special we felt walking outside in our nightgowns and
overcoats beneath a crystal clear night sky.

The next morning we were out early watching the parade in full
swing. The foot of one of the balloons nearly touched my friend’s
little brother’s head as he sat on his father’s shoulders.

I asked my sister if she has plans to take her 15 month old daughter
into Manhattan for her first parade. "Not this year," she said. They’ll
probably take her next year when Ducky is two. She can sit on her
daddy’s shoulders and watch the enormous balloons up above.

It’s a New York tradition she won’t want to miss.

–Posted in 2005

Mrs. Kravitz IS NOT doing Thanksgiving this year. She’s been crazy busy with her new job, the kids, and everything else. Over the summer she donated a kidney. No kidding. To Mr. K. So she really needs a break. I think she should spend the day sketching, which is what she truly loves to do. For the feast, they should go to a  restaurant. Any suggestions? "We’ll have dessert at home," she said. Last year she had 14 people over and she wore a green wool hat while she was cooking. Find out why.

Thanksgiving eve on Third Street. I visited with Mrs. Kravitz on the first floor who is having 14 people over for the feast.

I watched her whip up a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, and cranberry
sauce. while we drank wine and covered a free-associative spectrum of
topics.

OSFO and Mrs. Kravitz’s two kids swirled around noisily.

Mrs. Kravitz was wearing a woolen cap because she lives in fear that someone will find a hair in her cooking.

She’s serious.

She told me that, as the day progressed, her
husband kept calling with word of more  guests. What started as a small
family Thanksgiving had evolved into crowd scene. Too many for her
table. Worried that her 13-pound Food Coop turkey might not be enough.
she had to add pork loin, ribs, and turkey wings to the menu.

Earlier, she phoned one of the guests, a good friend, and took her
up on her offer to bring gnocchi and polenta with sage and butter
sauce. "We need more food," she told her.

I think she’ll have enough food.

Sitting and chatting in her apartment she seemed anything but
worried about Thursday’s feast. The meal was coming together slowly
dish by dish.

The wine was helping.

She asked if she can borrow chairs. "Of course," I said. We’re
having Thanksgiving in a West Village restarant with 21 family members
on my mother’s side.

We won’t need the chairs.

Atlantic Monthly is running a list of the 100 most influential Americans. Scanning it quickly, I was PISSED OFF to see only 10 women mentioned.

But the list did get me to thinking about the influential people in our midst. What defines an influential person?

So I’ve decided to create a year end list of the PARK SLOPE 100.

THE PARK SLOPE 100 will be a list of 100 interesting, creative, and dynamic people who are leaders in arts, politics, the environment, healing arts, medicine, education, commerce and other fields in the Greater Park Slope community.

WHO DO YOU THINK are the most influential people in the Greater Park Slope area? I have some  ideas but I want a fairly broad spectrum of people in a wide range of fields. They don’t have to live in Greater Park Slope, but they need to have an impact here.

PLEASE SEND NAMES (and short bios) to  louise_crawford@yahoo.com. This list will be published on OTBKB in December.

Here’s what New York Magazine on-line had to say about OTBKB’s List: The Atlantic listed the 100 most influential Americans, and not one of them represented the Greater Park Slope Community. Outrageous. [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]

Brooklyn Record pointed me toward today’s piece in the New York Times about the Brooklyn Free School, located in two floors of a Free Methodist
church at 120 16th Street. We know a bunch of kids there who seem to be thriving.

"At this school, students don’t get grades, don’t have
homework, don’t take tests, and don’t even have to go to class — unless
they want to… On any given day, a student might be playing chess,
reading a book, practicing yoga or helping mummify a chicken."

Students Rule at This New York School [NY Times]
Brooklyn Free School [Homepage]

This is a great opportunity for parents who want to teach their
children about service to the community. A wonderful family activity:

HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITIES: God’s Love We Deliver needs people to deliver meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas morning. We need people with automobiles to deliver these meals in all five boroughs of Manhattan and Hudson County New Jersey. We also have a small number of meals that need to be delivered on foot (in Manhattan only).

If your interested in helping for the holidays call: 212-294-8169 and leave a message. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

God’s Love We Deliver is a New York City-based, not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization and the metropolitan area’s leading provider of life-sustaining nutritional support services for people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.

A lot of people in and around Park Slope volunteer, give money, or clothing to CHIPs on Fourth Avenue. While they may or may not need help on Thanksgiving or Christmas, they need volunteers all year round for their soup kitchen, the Frances; Residence for Homeless Mothers and their Children. Volunteers perform the various tasks needed to keep the soup kitchen and residence running smoothly: cooking, cleaning, pickups, painting, laundry, fundraisiing and supervising the residence 24 hours a day. For more information go to: chipsonline.ort 

Founded in 1972, CHIPS (a nonprofit charitable organization) has been dedicated to helping the poor, the needy, and the homeless as well as those in emergency situations. Also known as Park Slope Christian Help, CHIPS serves more than 70,000 meals annually and gives temporary shelter to more than 2,000 people each year. Located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, CHIPS is eternally grateful to the many individuals, churches, businesses, merchants, foundations and organizations, both local and nationwide who have helped make CHIPS what it is today.

A post-reunion dinner party with high school friends last night turned out to be quite the fun gathering. Spouses were invited and the conversation moved easily beyond the "What ever happened to…?" level to the more nclusive "So what do you do?"

I’ve never run anything about John Musto, the highly esteemed classical composer, born and bred in Brooklyn. He’s the husband of my  high school best friend. So here goes. His album, which garnered terrific reviews, is available on Amazon (see below).

His grandly jazzy Passacaglia for large orchestra (2003) sounds like Bach rediscovered by Krazy Kat. His Five Piano Rags (1995) cast the smoky nonchalance of Scott Joplin in a Rachmaninoff glow. His opera Volpone, which had an acclaimed premiere at the Wolf Trap Festival last March, employs everything from Broadway to bel canto in a ferociously clever musical adaptation of Ben Jonson’s play. Like Bernstein, Mr. Musto is not afraid to entertain."        — Charles Michener, The New York Observer

"Musto spins flaxen pop into golden art, with an intuitive sense of how to make each instrument fill the others’ gaps. The energetic coda at the end of the first movement prompted a burst of audience applause."
— Ken Smith, New York Newsday

"Mr. Musto’s pianism was exquisite and exploratory.”
— Paul Griffiths, The New York Times

"If there is a finer composer of song with piano alive and working in the world today, I would very much like to know his or her name." — Graham Johnson
Koch International Classics

   Order from Amazon

Premiere Recordings
        Clarinet Sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet
              Piano Trio for piano, violin and cello
              Divertimento for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
      

Music From Copland House
            Derek Bermel, clarinet
            Michael Boriskin, piano
            Paul Lustig Dunkel, flute
            Nicholas Kitchen, violin
            Wilhelmina Smith, cello
            Leslie Tomkins, viola
          Jim Baker, percussion

So Teen Spirit found out from a friend last night that he and his fellow band members are pictured in the Style section.

Silly me. I read the piece on-line and saw a pix of Care Bears on Fire and Tiny Masters of Today. A couple of kids I know were in the background. But no Teen Spirit.

Well, it was a picture taken outside of Liberty Heights Tap Room. It’s a little hard to tell that it’s Teen Spirit and his two good buddies.

TS sent me out last night late to pick up the Sunday Times. Got it at the Apple Market on Garfield. We’re talking 11:30 p.m.

I was surprised we didn’t hear from everyone we know. Hey, your kid is in the New York Times.

But I guess people didn’t look that closely at the pix.

Oh well. Big excitement. Big fun. Get out the scrap book.

Continue reading TEEN SPIRIT IN THE TIMES →

I got this comment today from OTBKB reader, Fonda Sera, owner of Zuzu’s Petals about the Seventh Avenue snowflakes and the need to  regenerate the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce.

The Seventh Avenue snowflakes are lit for the holiday season
and maybe for the last time. With Soundtrack and thom spennotta out (his store moved off the Avenue), the last survivor of the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce is gone.

Unless
a new group of merchants gather the spirit and energy to advocate for Seventh Avenue, next holiday season the street will be dark.

the Chamber was also responsible for the Community Council funding double
trash pick ups six  days a week along the Avenue. who will make sure that
doesn’t disappear?

It breaks my heart to see how spiraling commercial rent has changed  the face and altered the spirit of seventh avenue.

The last time this happened Marty Markowitz called a meeting of
merchants to try and generate new interest in the chamber. It worked.

I think it’s time someone gave Marty a call.

Fonda

So Smartmom and Hepcat with OSFO stopped into that tiny new cafe on Seventh Avenue – the space where Uncle Lou’s ices used to be. We ordered a couple of lattes and asked the Barista who owned the place.

"The owner’s right there," he said. And it was the woman who owns the French bakery on Ninth Street, Delices de Paris. That’s a wonderful place — they do everything with great care over there — French pastries, coffee, pies, cakes.

"You made it to Seventh Avenue," Smartmom said. The owner started laughing. "Yes we finally made it to Seventh Avenue even though the place is very, very small." she said.

A very spirited woman she. Smartmom has had many conversations with her over the years. She is spunky, hard working and funny.

She cannot get over the location. Early in the morning the place is already hopping. "No sign, no advertising, the place was crowded from the beginning." she said. Being right there by the F Train should be a real boon. She’s got location alright. In spades.

We knew we were in for excellent latte. Hepcat got a coconut macaroon ($1.00) and Smartmom got a delicious french macaroon (72 cents).

We wished them well and enjoyed our lattes and cookies as we walked down Seventh Avenue.

Life with a photographer isn’t always easy. Take walking down the street for instance. Last night Smartmom and Hepcat were walking down 14th Street after seeing "The Departed" at the Pavillion. They were having a great conversation about all the incredible performances in that amazing film when HC stopped dead in his tracks. "Stop walking," he said. "I’m taking a picture." He pointed off in the distance. Smartmom wasn’t exactly sure what he was seeing. The night sky looked gorgeous, there was the blur of traffic lights, restaurant neon.

Then Smartmom moved slightly. "Just as I get the picture set up you ruin it," he said. Smartmom didn’t no what she did wrong.  "But you’re not taking a picture of me are you?"

He wasn’t. He mumbled something and she got annoyed and walked oh so dramatically out of the picture area all the way around the corner thinking to herself: See,  I can’t ruin your picture now…

They walked down Seventh Avenue on separate sides of the block. "Why are you walking over there?" Hepcat called across the street. "So I won’t RUIN your picture," Smartmom said spitefully

Hepcat crossed over. "Hey, you want to see tomorrow’s No Words_Daily Pix. And there in his "viewfinder" was the most gorgeous night shot of 14th Street.

Okay, so Hepcat knows a great picture when he sees it. But that doesn’t mean the world has to stop just because Hepcat is taking a shot.

Or does it?

Smartmom has been doing battle with a lingering summer fly in her office. It must be the unseasonably warm, freaky, weather.

This annoying fly entered her office through an open window the other day. Now it won’t leave. It’s a fast little bugger flying around the room. It stays out of Smartmom’s way for a while. But then it swoops down to get in Smartmom’s face.

That’s when Smartmom flies into action. She tries to swat the thing with her hand. She tries to catch it with her Starbuck’s coffee cup. She chases after it on her rolling office chair.

She really needs a fly swatter.

Damn. It’s war between Smartmom and that fly. By the end of Friday Smartmom had really had it with that fly.

Shoo. Shoo. Fly away, fly. You’re getting on Smartmom’s nerves.

OSFO went to two Build-a-Bear parties this week. TWO.

Strange coincidence. Two of her friends have birthdays close together and they both wanted BAB parties.

OSFO was thrilled. Utterly. So were all the girls. The only one who didn’t look super excited was the mom charged with bringing six nine-year-olds to BAB on the subway.

But everything worked out. The girls picked out their bears and ate dinner at the Eat with your Bear Hands Cafe. Apparently, OSFO got her BAB monkey stuffed with 21 hearts. She named him Cubby and dressed and dressed him in red plaid pajama outfit with black socks.

The girls looked tired and excited when they got back from Wednesday’s party.

On Friday after school, it was time for BAB party number 2. OSFO still didn’t know what kind of BAB she wants. A giraffe. Another monkey. A white fluffy bear. A dog. How about a …

For those who don’t know: BAB is on Fifth Avenue on 46th Street. An attraction for kids, teens, and tourists, you pick out the shell of the stuffed animal you want and watch it get filled with  stuffing, a heart, even a voice. You even type out a birth certificate for the little BAB.

Smartmom loves to see OSFO happy and excited. So if this makes her happy and excited — Smartmom is happy, too.

So Kiwi finally moved into their new store where Soundtrack used to be (Seventh Avenue between Carroll and President). I overheard the owner of Soundtrack leaving a message for someone yesterday. He said, "I just walked by the new shop. It’s looks beautiful. Much nicer than my place ever looked…"

Yes, Kiwi looks lovely. Yellow paint, Kiwi green trim — a little good taste goes a long way. But a CD shop is supposed to have a different vibe.

A sign went up on the window at Peek-a-Boo Kids (Seventh between Berkeley and Union) that suggests (to me anyway) that they’re moving down the street into the old Kiwi location.  It said, "Moving soon to a space on this block." I put one and one together and got — the Kiwi space.

Fifth Avenue News: a reader wrote back that the storefront of Fifth across from MS 51 has dancing hot dogs painted on the wall inside, which suggests that a Hot Dog place is going in. Gourmet hot dogs no doubt.

The questions still remains: Is Soundtrack re-opening on Fifth Avenue or not?

That’s the news from Seventh and Fifth Avenue…

For an area that is seriously lacking in parking spaces, the fact that the long-awaited Gowanus/Greater Park Slope (ha ha)  WHOLE FOODS will include a three-story, 430-car parking garage in
addition to surface parking is probably the biggest news of all.

They could probably make more money turning the lot into a parking condo. Or maybe not. That many parking spaces. Whoa.

We won’t need a car — unless we’re doing a big shop — cause we can walk there from the apartment on Third Street.

Well, if you missed it it’s your loss. Despite the pouring rain, a good-sized crowd gathered for a great reading last night at Brooklyn Reading Works.

Darcey Steinke read a piece from an upcoming memoir from Bloomsbury Press about stuttering. Funny. Sad. Smart. Great writing and reading.

Ilene Starger read beautiful poems of love, loss, loneliness, death and the reach for meaning in life.  Heart strong, languagey, dryly funny and sad.

Elissa Schappell read a fast-paced story called The Joy of Cooking—so engaging with a great great voice that was funny, sad, real and wrenching all at once. Can’t wait to see it in print (New Yorker Magazine, hello?).

Reason to come to BRW: a chance to be the first to hear great writers read unpublished works and work-in-progress.  It’s a fun, warm, comfortable, attentive, and un-stuffy environment for the appreciation of good writing.

Please come next time: December 14. The poets and publisher  of 32 Poems Magazine.

I will be wearing my green rain boots today because WNYC’s Soterios Johnson keeps saying that it’s gonna be a warm, wet day. Wearing the boots means acceptance and readiness of the weather conditions. There may be rain this evening but that, hopefully, won’t keep people away from Brooklyn Reading Works. Will it?

Come anyway. It is a cozy place to be in the rain.  The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. 8 p.m.

Photo by Bannini on Flickr