Seems we had a little problem with not one, not two, but THREE parties showing up at Soda Bar and being too mortified to introduce themselves. I didn’t realize we were such an intimidating crowd. Take a look at these photos (thanks, Heather) and maybe next time someone will look familiar.
Flickr Set: Daily Heights Real-Life Happy Hour [Flickr.com]
(PICTURED: Brooklyn Critical Mass April 05, taken by Green Biker [Bike Blog])
MATT RANSFORD reports on Stay Free Daily: “This Month in New York City Critical Mass (Friday, April 29) … This time, I could tell people were uneasy. Things started early, close to 6:30. Someone involved in the NYC bike scene who’d been arrested spoke; he said some 50-odd people this year alone have been hauled in during critical mass.”
“They wrapped up around 7 … At this point, I’d guess there were at least 50 cops in the immediate vicinity … I saw a few different groups congregating on the outskirts.”
“…it was a very small crowd. Maybe 50-75 bikers, which is literally nothing in comparison to the rides of last summer, which were easily in the high hundreds, if not thousands … We were riding to avoid the cops, who were on us after a matter of maybe a dozen blocks. There’s something not a bit creepy about looking back over your shoulder to see 20 visor-shielded police on mopeds right on your tail.”
“We took a circuitous route through the West Village … and made our way back up Hudson, only to have them come shooting out in a kind of Smokey and the Bear roadblock … I made it all the way up 8th Ave into the high teens before I backed off when I saw the vans and cruisers swarming in. I personally saw 4 people arrested and their bikes thrown in the trunks of cars.”
“…I lost track of where the ride had gone when it left Broadway. I assumed it was going east and I only had to follow the police helicopter to figure that out. … they had a helicopter following us the entire time, circling Union Square well before any rides started.”
“More people were arrested; I don’t know how many. A rumor went around that one of them was a writer for the Times. He had some credentials around his neck … I would guess, at ten to 9 o’clock, on the corner of A and 6th, there had to have been 100 cops, if not 150. All for the sake of — at that point — maybe 40 riders.”
“… Everybody dispersed. I went and drank some beer. It was sad … and mind-blowingly frustrating. It’s a time when you could literally be arrested just for riding your bike on the street.”
Read more…
ISA writes: “I hope to see some of you there … try to get there early to secure your cupcake because it’s going to be pizacked! And make sure to introduce yourself, I’ll be the person covered in chocolate icing and cake batter.”
Also, check out this profile of Post Punk Kitchen from Metro: ‘Basically, I was sitting around talking to myself,’ says (Isa) Moskowitz. ‘I was a Food Network junkie and I kept telling Terry we were going to start a cooking show.’ Moskowitz started by putting up a Web site for the ‘Post Punk Kitchen.’ The site became a Yahoo Web pick of the week. ‘Then BUST magazine called me up and said they wanted to interview me on my cooking show,” says Moskowitz, “So I had to do a show.’”
“The formula … In each episode, Moskowitz and Romero whip up a delicious vegan meal in Moskowitz’s kitchen and a band plays with their food in her living room.”
DETAILS:
Bake Sale at Freddy’s Tonight [Isa in the DAILY HEIGHTS Forums]
Dope on the Slope reports: “I was invited to an exclusive unveiling of the latest scale model of the development sponsored by Hubris Labs, a top notch design firm that has been engaged to adjust the (Atlantic Yards) project concept to address many of the concerns that have been raised by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.
This new plan was the result of a community based charette that included a diverse group of FCR employees that plan to visit the area at least once after the arena is completed. To reflect the group’s commitment to preserving the essence of the borough, the plan was dubbed the “Brooklyn Will Always Have A Heart, A Home, And Hoops Aplenty” or BWAHAHAHAHA plan.”
Reported on Chekhov’s Mistress:
“Heather Ramsdell, a copywriter who lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, argued with an acquaintance at a dinner party recently when he cold-shouldered the goat cheese chevrot and questioned her taste when she said she didn’t like Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese from Cypress Grove in California. “He needed to enforce his tiny little cheese wisdom on us all,” she said.”
What you missed last night at the DAILY HEIGHTS Real-Life Happy Hour:
This is Douglas. This photo shows that Douglas is not good with the money. According to a Chinese woman I used to work with, people who have spaces between their fingers are not good with the money. What does this have to do with the happy hour? Not much, but I had to post it, because it’s the only photo I took last night.
What else did you miss last night? … In a stroke of coincidence, One of the Joses and one of the Joshes, taking a smoke break in front of Soda Bar, got panhandled by the bulgy-eyes guy who is out of insulin and has an orange prescription medicine bottle and needs to get to Staten Island yada yada yada. Jose gave him 30 cents.
Tamara the Friendly Bartender totally confirmed the existence of the mail-stealing Prospect Heights Identity Thief (see the DAILY HEIGHTS message boards for all the sordid detail).
11238 Showed up to collect her $25 bounty for allegedly catching the alleged Prospect Heights Gaffler in the middle of an alleged con job. She brought the actual phone she used to capture the actual phonecam picture. She elected to take her $25 payout in raffle tickets. Sucka!! … No, actually the gambit paid off, because she and Mr. 11238 walked away with a Round of Drinks for 3 at Brooklyn Comedy Company at Ripple Bar. Congrats!
I asked 11238 to do an informal head count. In all, we had about 40-50 people in our little corner, or probably about 10% of the site’s regular visitors. Not bad! And great big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the raffle: The event grossed Two Hundred and Twenty-Four Dollars, or about enough to buy one-third of a square foot in a Newswalk condo! (All that money is going to support another special event in May. More details later.)
Speaking of raffle prizes: LauraB, you won the embroidered “ProHo Ho” T-Shirt from RedLipstick Boutique! Get in touch with DH to claim it. Quig picked up the companion piece: a “ProHo” Male Edition duck-hunter camouflage T-Shirt with a “ProHo” logo (death-metal motif) embroidered above the breast pocket area.
What else? So much more.
Josh Reynolds totally blew off the happy hour, but despite that, managed to win the Grand Prize: Dinner for 4 at the Islands on Washington Ave. I really could have used Josh’s emcee skills. After all this buildup to the Grand Prize Giveaway, about three people clapped, very slowly, as if to break the uncomfortable silence. I think it helps to have the actual winner in the room.
Alina and Dave walked away with the $25 Soda Bar gift certificate. In a happy coincidence, piscatarian vegetarian Chris Hrones (Rones?) (friend of Carnivore) won the DVD of Post Punk Kitchen, the vegan cooking show produced right here in the PH. “Emo” Emily won the giant Spanish chocolate bar from Delicacies, and last but not least, Captain Marvelous, you no-show, you won the Soda Bar T-Shirt! Stop by and pick it up.
What else? I found out that nearly everyone living in Prospect Heights is somehow involved in publishing, design, entertainment, communications or immigration law.
I can’t think of anything else right now. Help me out in the comments below.
UPDATE: Who won the Elamenotees? Sorry. Forgot to mention that ISA, in absentia, won an Elamenotees T-Shirt. The other shirt was won by none other than the administrator of this website. (FIXED! FIXED!)
I have no idea what this means. Taken on Dean St. somewhere near Flatbush Ave., on a building that will probably be torn down when they build the stadium.
LISA L. COLANGELO writes in the DAILY NEWS: “A rooster with no sense of time or decorum has finally been caught in Brooklyn - giving the good people of Dean St. some much-needed peace and quiet. Animal Care and Control officers nabbed the noisy bird yesterday after a breathless chase over fences and through narrow backyards.”
“Thank goodness, now we can sleep,” said Charles Houston, who has been plagued by the rooster’s serenade in the wee hours for months. “Take him far, far away so he can’t walk back.”
LINK: Cock-a-doodle-dandy officers nab B’klyn rooster [Daily News]
Thanks for the tip: Heather
I’m not sure where this is going yet. But it’s going:
Check out the avalanche of swag you can bid on right now or tonight (Thurs., Apr. 28) at the DAILY HEIGHTS happy hour, 6 pm ’til whenever, at Soda Bar (629 Vanderbilt Ave.; 718-230-8393). If I had to guess, I would say that the drawing will take place around 8:15 PM. ish.
MANY THANKS to all the generous supporters! This is a huge validation of the many, many hours we (the collective we) have frittered away on DAILY HEIGHTS when we could have been doing something more productive. To show your gratitude, from here on out you should never buy anything, ever, unless it comes from one of the incredibly intelligent and attractive businesses below!
Can I bid now? You heard right! You can either e-mail an “IOU” to raffle@dailyheights.com, or better yet, click here:
THE LIST
Via Susan: “On Saturday morning, there was nothing much on TV except for Ghost
Sam: I know the man who killed me … His name is Willie Lopez and I know where he lives … Write it down.
O.M.: I ain’t no damn secretary.
Sam: Just do it! God!
O.M.: He’s so testy. What is it you want me to write?
Sam: 303 Prospect Place Apartment 4D.
O.M.: 303 Prospect Place?
Sam: Yeah.
0.M.: It’s my neighborhood.
Sam: Molly, he’s got my wallet, he’s got my key and he was in here … Molly, you got to go to the police. It was a set up. I was murdered.
LINKS:
Willie Lopez lives here [9flights.com]
GHOOOOOST!!!!!!!! [CLT: Speech]
Rumor has it that Foxy Brown was once a cashier at the Met Foods on Vanderbilt Avenue. CAPTAIN MARVELOUS investigates:
“Abdul of the Met says Foxy Brown used to bag there … the current cashiers proceeded to go absolutely nuts. They said she still comes in, but didn’t know she worked there.”
LINK:
PH Trivia Because I am Bored [Isa in the DAILY HEIGHTS Forums]
SCAN: Roxcafe.org
What took you so long? Take a seat next to the TrackBack spammers.
What do we do now - block IP addresses? Upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type (3.16), which includes the a new version of the ‘nofollow’ plugin?
The guy who wrote this letter is comedian and Prospect Heights resident Jon Friedman. You can win a T-shirt from this guy if you go to the DAILY HEIGHTS happy hour at SODA this Thursday starting at 6.
Dear Comedy Club,
I’d like to perform my act this Friday night at your club. It is hilarious. I do a fantastic impersonation of Greg Tatum. He was in my third grade class and he used to walk with a hitch limp and slobber. The crowd loves it. I rump around the stage a bit saying “Tatum if you got ‘em!” I do lots of jokes too. My favorite one is about a seal that tries to deposit money in the bank but can’t because “No pinnepeds!” The main part of my act is basically me enraging everyone. When I am introduced I come out like a pissed off hillbilly looking for my trunk of junk. Of course my trunk is already on the stage but I pretend to not be able to find it. “Did any body see my trunk of junk?” That’s what I say scratching my head for a while. People usually yell out things like “It’s right behind you.” “What are you doing?” and “Boo.” I really like the interaction I get from my audience because without interaction what do I have? Then after I locate the trunk with a gallant “Well, here it is! Shiver me tacklebox! I found it!” I open it up and take out my giant sledgehammer and a watermelon. I got this idea from this bald weird big fan pants guy who jumps on large furniture and crashes fruit. Read more…
This may be the funniest fake letter ever. If you think this is not the funniest thing you have ever read, I challenge you to post something better in the Comments. Go.
Prospect Heights to Newark: I paid the driver from International Car Service on Washington Avenue $61 ($45 plus tolls both way and tip) to go from front door to terminal. The car picked me up at 5 am and there was virtually no traffic, so the trip took maybe 35 minutes. (So that’s like, $2 per minute).
On the way back I took the advice of Candicissima (ideas! She’s all about ideas, that gal) and took a $6.50 train ride to NJ-Penn Station, where I got a $3 PATH ticket ($1.50 if you have exact change) to the World Trade Center station, pictured (what are all those funky giant nuts-n-bolts sticking out of the wall at a 45-degree angle, not pictured?). Then I walked underground to the Park Place 2-3 stop, and took that to Grand Army Plaza ($2), where I walked home 4 blocks in drizzle with no umbrella. Total cost: $11.50. Total time: 90 minutes, or an ABSOLUTE BARGAIN at 12.7 cents per minute.
Bonus Anecdote:The important young turk behind me, yelling into his Blackberry, just shouted his webmail URL, username and password, repeatedly, for the benefit of the entire shuttle plane.
He was asking an officemate (”Andrew”) to “clean out” his Blackberry e-mail account because “people keep sending me monster attachments.” The username was his first and last name (spelled out three times, in case you missed it). His password: “password. PASSWORD. P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D. … Well, that’s what I use, dude.”
Then he hung up, dialed another number and cell-yelled the same URL, username and password information in someone’s voicemail. Apparently when you are that important, it takes two people to “clean out” your e-mail account.
Not satisfied that two people could accomplish such a task, he then dialed a THIRD co-worker to announce that his e-mail was being “cleaned out,” and “could you shoot me a test e-mail” to make sure it worked.
In the Brooklyn Rail this month, NORMAN KELLEY interviews David Dyson, a veteran social justice activist and pastor of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene. Kelley is the author of The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics.
Kelley: …some of the alliances that you and the church have with ACORN and Reverend [Herbert] Daughtry, who have signed onto this project, are now threatened, which is distressing. Would you say that Ratner is playing the race card?
Dyson: Yes, and it’s very depressing. This project has actually split lifelong partners in the progressive movement. We feel that Reverend Daughtry and ACORN have been brought in by Ratner not as advocates for the community but as private business partners in the deal. We’re trying to prevent the misuse of eminent domain, trying to increase the number of affordable housing units, trying to decrease the number of high-rise luxury office buildings. Those are the kinds of issues that a community group should have, but the Reverend Daughtry—who’s also an old friend—and our friends at ACORN are trying to cut a personal deal so that they can be brokers over whatever little piece or crumb of this pie falls from Ratner’s table. Ratner has been to Brooklyn what Karl Rove was to Ohio and Florida—brilliantly able to play on people’s worst instincts in order to get what he wants in a way that he wants it.”
Thanks to No Land Grab for the find. [PHOTO: Brian Molyneaux.]
Amy G. writes on the Self Indulgence Blah-g: “Well, if you’re looking for a PH real estate deal, this may be it. Hard to tell where on Sterling this is, though. I’ll be at the open house! See you there.”
Corcoran.com: “Bright spacious three bedroom on great prime Prospect Heights block. Pre-war detail, hardwood floors, washer/dryer, elevator building. Near public transportation, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Museum. No underlying mortgage! First scheduled showing will be Sunday, May 1,2005.”
“Another subversive love poem was sparked by Mr. Mehigan’s observation of an umbrella salesman outside a Q train station in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.”
Excerpt:
“Steadfastly, though the rush-hour crowd star thinning,
he stares into this morning so like evening
because he seeks the one he knows will come
one always just about to turn the corner,
blushing, and misty-faced, and misty-haired
skirting the storefronts, beautifully bereft,
who has left home this morning unprepared.” (Full Poem…)
“Until he gave up alcohol in 1999, Mr. Mehigan spent much of his time in what he called a “fog of drinking,” sometimes waking up with blisters on his chest after falling drunkenly asleep at night while smoking. It was the drinking that helped get him fired from the press.”
“‘I was already wasted and had gotten in a fight with a friend about Walt Whitman,’ he said, recalling the night in question. ‘Then I went upstairs and immediately got in a fight with my girlfriend.’ After taking the subway to Chelsea and consuming a 40-ounce bottle of Budweiser and several Bud tall boys, Mr. Mehigan let himself into the empty offices of the publisher at 3:30 a.m. and passed out at his desk while hunting for nocturnal entertainment on the Internet.”
Links:
The Poetry of Joshua Meshigan [New York Times]
Finding the Verse in Adversity [New York Times via Ohio University Press]
“Legal Eagles. Fly or Die!”
Taken on Washington Ave. near Lincoln, next to the liquor store. I can barely make out the e-mail–I think it’s ElsieLawMusic@hotmail.com? I sent out a request for a review copy last week but got no reply.
Photo shoot on in front of Caree Cleaners, corner Vanderbilt and Park Place, Sunday, April 24, 2005
photo credit: queen_of_pies
Show ProHo your PhoTo!
send it to: whatsnew@dailyheights.com
Behold the Power of the Interweb! It all started innocently enough, with Susan asking in the Daily Heights Forums whether anyone had been accosted by The Panhandler with the Mother who has Wrecked her Car. It didn’t take long to determine that this guy, who we’ll call the ProHo Gaffler for short, has probably defrauded hundreds of people in Prospect Heights, and as Set Speed reported, also in Fort Greene. Somebody else said they thought they saw him at Blue Ribbon eating oysters and drinking a martini with a girl. So we offered a $25 bounty for an actual photo of this guy, thinking this was a total longshot and, heh heh, we would never have to pay out.
Well… now we have this report from HJC (a.k.a. “11238″), who claims she just saw the Prospect Heights Con Man: “I was getting my car at the garage on Underhill between Prospect and St. Marks, where he came up to the passenger window and started the whole story. He asked me if I knew where to find a tow truck, because his mother had a stroke. He then went on saying that he works at NBC and that he can get me tickets to a concert. He asked for $15.00. Meanwhile, he is going on and on and on, and all I am thinking is, how the HELL am I going to get his picture? So finally I just asked what time it was, and looked at my phone and snapped.”
Heaven forbid that DAILY HEIGHTS act as judge, jury and executioner on matters as serious as “who’s scamming who” in Prospect Heights… but now we have Susan in the comments below making a positive ID: “That’s the guy!” she says. The rules of the contest were as follows: To claim the reward, the photo must be independently confirmed as “that guy” (as in, “Hey! It’s that guy! The guy who said he could get me Letterman tickets!”)
So congratulations, 11238, you win! We are preparing a special OVERSIZED CHECK (just like you see on all those Jerry Lewis telethons) to present to you next Thursday at the Daily Heights Real-Life Happy Hour.
“I cannot believe I saw him today. I am PSYCHED!” 11238 said in the aftermath. “The best was that I wanted to bust the guy after I took the picture, but I was so happy I got it, I just said ‘NO!’ and drove away.”
Links:
Con Man Says Supersize Me [set speed]
The Panhandler with the Mother who has wrecked her car [Susan in the Daily Heights Forum]
Reward for Photographic Evidence of the Panhandler [Daily Heights]
An Englishman in New York - a freelancer who spends an inordinate amount of time window-gazing on deadline - captured candid shots of that knife-sharpening guy in his van as he cruised the Streets of ProHo on a recent April afternoon. While Mr. Del Re wouldn’t sit for an interview, the New York Times had already profiled the guy, way back in 1997–in a time when there was no American Idol, low-carb pasta, nor JFK shuttle. A time so remote that not one episode of Sex and the City had ever been broadcast (and NONE were available on DVD). A time when … anyway, Mr. Del Re was born in Mola, Italy and is about 49 years old: He work as a commodities trader until the 1987 Wall Street crash, when his firm went bust.
Link: Cutting Edge [An Englishman in New York]
I thought for sure this scary guy with wide eyes was about to pull a gun on me. He came up with the “excuse me sir can I ask a question” thing and then stuck his hand in his pocket. He said something like “I’m on my way to 5th Ave.” and I took a step back and pointed “it’s over that way” and he said “yeah yeah I know,” something about going to Long Island, and something about his medication, at which point he pulled an orange prescription bottle out of his pocket, and at that point I lost track of the narrative, because I was thinking “OMG, that’s the guy that panhandled Isa today, I have to get a picture” and I fished around in my pocket for my Treo, going “uh huh, uh huh” to stall him, then I said “sorry I can’t help you” and he said “you ain’t got any change?” and started walking away as I managed to squeeze off this picture (click to enlarge).
Link: This Crazy Guy I Just Gave a Dollar To [Isa in DAILY HEIGHTS forums]
(That’s Park Place between Underhill and Washington Avenues.) This is the annual Block Party and Plant Sale of the Park Place/Underhill Ave. Block Association. From what I understand, it starts around noon.
What to expect: Free games, pony rides, live jazz and other performances (”A stage will be set up and your neighbors will be showing off their talents!”); plant sale, tag sale, book sale, bake sale
What you can do: Volunteer to cover shifts at the various stands; sign up to “sing a song, recite a poem, do a dance or tell a joke” on stage; or donate used household items, books, and baked goods. Also, “the Block Association requests donations of $15-$25 from neighbors who have private stoop sales the day of the party.”
The NEXT MEETING of the PP/UA Block Association is next Wednesday, Apr. 20, 8 pm, at 155 Underhill Ave. On the agenda: block party final planning; Brooklyn Planning Department meeting regarding Atlantic Railyards.
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