Author Archives: dailyheights

Where is Crow Hill?

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bridgeandtunnelclub.com-40blacklady.jpgSusan says: “Crow Hill is really Crown Heights, but I’ve come to love the name and I probably sound a little pretentious calling it that. 🙂 Crow Hill was its pre-prohibition name. My book (The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn) tells me that when it was Dutch farmland, it was believed to have been called Crow Hill after its tallest hill, whose trees were always filled with crows.”

“The book also says that the name could have come from the mid-1800’s when there were African and African American settlements there, and the whites called them ‘crows’. A third story has it that the ‘crows’ were inmates in the Kings County Penitentiary that was there from 1846 to 1907.”

From the WPA Guide to New York City(1939) WPA Guide to New York City: “Crown Heights, for the most part a lower middle-class residential area, lies on both sides of the ridge of Eastern Parkway. The section was known as Crow Hill until 1916, when Crown Street was cut through.”

PHOTO: The Black Lady Theatre / Black Star Recording Studio, Nostrand Ave., Crown Heights [Bridge and Tunnel Club]

LINK: PH Trivia Because I Am Bored [Daily Heights Forums]

Categories: Books, History

Area Jobs Leave Area Residents with No Time to Update Area Website

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cubicle-tn.jpgDH is in JEOPARDY! And we do not need money, especially after an unthinkably generous donation that will keep us in the black for months, from an anonymous patron we will refer to as Near Underhill Bill: “I just think you guys do a great job… I enjoy the site, and thought I’d do my small part to help. The site really kind of epitomizes to me how good the internet can be.”

In fact, DAILY HEIGHTS has reached a critical inflection point (what is this? Get Lucas to translate). Real-life responsibilities have become so great that the ridiculously tiny core group of Daily Heights regulars have little time for anything else other than childrearing, recreating cookbooks that the hard drive ate, copyediting every Conde Nast magazine in existence, and planning for the toughest Rock, Paper, Scissors competition that this borough has ever seen, THIS THURSDAY at Freddy’s.

What we need now is more of what you see below, in the post from EmilyM, who reports on the latest knife sharpener on the block: News and minutiae, reported by you… impossibly local, potentially absurdly banal, yet with an impact that could ripple entire blocks beyond what we consider Prospect Heights. Are you up to the challenge?

And, are you are “leet” enough to handle HTML? If so, DH will set you up with your very own Guest Author account. Otherwise, you can do it the usual way: just keep posting in the message boards, or e-mail your stuff to [email protected] (the penguin post is coming, we promise)!

IMAGE SOURCE: Systems Furniture Contract Enhanced to Address Broader Range of Agency Needs (West
Virginia Department of Administration, Purchasing Division)

Categories: dailyheights

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (RPS): Vanderbilt Ave. REPRESENT!

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karate-kid.jpgBREAKING! Until just moments ago, it was unclear whether Atlantic Yards Smackdown, TO BE HELD THIS COMING THURSDAY, May 26 at Freddy’s, would see any professional representation from Prospect Heights’ own Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) Triangle. This “Fertile Crescent,” bounded by Vanderbilt, Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, is where some of Brooklyn’s scrappiest RPS toughs have honed their skills in informal pick-up games, illuminated only by the warm orange-white Creamsicle glow of the streetcorner Rock-N-Stop.

Now, cast all speculation aside, and please welcome our first entrant from the RPS Triangle:

PLAYER NAME: CHRIS GILMORE (a.k.a. “Slice”)

REPRESENTING: Vanderbilt Ave.

EDUCATION:
RPS Dojo of West Tokyo (B.S.)
Masters in Scissorology, Wes Chapman’s School for the Carpally Gifted (West Pico Campus)

Team: Independent, despite aggressive recruitment by multiple Class B/C RPS teams

SIGNATURE THROW/GAMBIT: “Triple EEK” method, learned in the wilds of Prospect Park

BOAST: “It is my destiny to win the tournament and make my mark on the world! Stand aside!!”

STRATEGY TIP: If you expect SLICE to lead with Scissors, you have a lot to learn about RPS Strategy. In the first few rounds, try Paper-based strategies, including Scissor Sandwich (paper, scissors, paper) or Brooklyn-style Reverse Denouement (paper, scissors, rock). When you confront Gilmore in the Championship Rounds, the only question is: do you have the guts to stick with Toolbox (scissors, scissors, scissors)?

GET GUARANTEED SIGN-UP in ATLANTIC YARDS SMACKDOWN!

Categories: Uncategorized

Car Wash AND Solar-Powered Dinner? Sign Me Up!

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Just next door in Fort Greene. This is a strong contender for Saturday night. Who’s in?

HABANA OUTPOST: BROOKLYN
NYC’S FIRST AND ONLY SOLAR-POWERED RESTAURANT

“Starting May 21, 2005 and running all summer long … Habana Outpost: Brooklyn – a dining and cultural experience that brings (Manhattan restaurant) Café Habana to the county of Kings.”

“Featuring an adjoining outdoor market and garden patio, live DJs and cultural performances, children’s activities, movie screenings, a car wash, and much more … Habana Outpost also has the distinction of being New York City’s first restaurant run on solar power…”

Habana Outpost: Brooklyn | 755-757 Fulton St. (corner of S. Portland)

Saturday, May 21: Inaugural event sponsored by Frank 151 Magazine and featuring DJ Mark Ronson

Sunday, May 22: DJs Knox Robinson of The Fader Magazine and G Brown; broadcast by SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s hip-hop channel; outdoor screening of the film, The Warriors

Categories: Food and Drink (incl. Restaurants)

JoshB's Article on the New York Puppet Library, in TIME OUT, Now

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DH regular JoshB writes: “Not to toot my own horn, but I have an article in this week’s Time Out about the puppet library. Go … service journalism!”

You can try looking at the Time Out website, but they have an annoying habit of not posting articles online.

LINKS:
PUPPET LIBRARY Coming Back to Grand Army Plaza
HOME HEATING OIL Puts Prospect Heights on Map

Categories: Grand Army Plaza

Knick-Knacks AND Tchotchkes, in One Massive Stoop Sale, TOMORROW

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Multi-Block Stoop Sale (Saturday, May 21st from 9am to 3pm)
Sterling Place (between Vanderbilt & Underhill and Butler Place)

—————————————————-
Furniture/Clothing/Jewelry/
Household Miscellaneous/Lps/
Appliances/Kitchen Goods/plants/
Knick-Knacks/Tchotchkes

Add your stoop sale in the Comments or send a notice to [email protected].

Categories: Stoop Sale

Generational Clash (and Pixies, and Queen) in the Slope

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otbkb cool and unusual.JPGLouise Crawford writes on OtBKB about her son’s band: “They’ve been practicing for months but he’d made it clear that he’d tell us when he was ready for us to come to a rehearsal … Cool and Unusual Punishment is the name … they rehearse every Friday night in the drummer’s apartment. The drummer’s parents are extremely good natured about the noise. They actually keep the drum set in the living room.”

“The people in their apartment building are good natured too. Apparently last week they called while the group was rehearsing a song called ‘Where is My Mind?’ by the Pixies. the drummer’s mother came into the living room holding the telephone: ‘The woman downstairs would like to speak with you,’ she said ominously. The kids got nervous, of course, sure that she was calling to complain about the noise. But it turned out that she loves the song … and just wanted the band to play it again.”

“It would be virtually impossible for the band to rehearse in our building what with Mr. Persnickity downstairs … “

Link: Cool and Unusual [Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]

Categories: Music

ANNOUNCING: Pre-SMACKDOWN RPS Clinic/Strategy Session!

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Get your Rock, Paper, Scissors chops up to speed! There will be a RPS PRACTICE CLINIC at SODA, tomorrow night (Thursday) at 6:30 pm. See the announcement here.

SMACKDOWN takes place as scheduled, at Freddy’s, next Thursday, May 26th. Check-in starts at 8, and the first Round of 32 gets underway at 8:30!

Also: There will be an announcement on ATLANTIC YARDS SMACKDOWN in the New Yorker. There was an brief telephone interview in which a member of the NYRPS was asked to comment on state of the game. There was also a follow-up call in which facts were checked.

Pre-register now, before the word gets out! Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the words “SIGN ME UP!” in the subject line.

Categories: dailyheights

PUPPET LIBRARY Coming Back to Grand Army Plaza

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arch-puppet library.jpgPICTURED: The home of the New York Puppet Library in Brooklyn. What would puppets read (WWPR)? You can find out. This just in from the The Puppeteers’ Cooperative:

“The Rights of Spring in Brooklyn, NY will happen, starting with a volunteer parade, 1PM Saturday May 14th and Sunday May 15th … Saturday starting at the Arch (Grand Army Plaza), and Sunday starting at the Meadowport Arch, just inside the park at the Grand Army Plaza. Come parade and be in the show – you can watch it too, if you wish. This weekend will also be the kickoff of the New York Puppet Library lending season. Then we will attempt to have a show in, at, or near the Arch every Saturday at 1PM, and have the library open 1-4 PM.”

Categories: Arts/Theater/Dance, Grand Army Plaza