Bichon Bob, the Rescued 80s Yuppie Puppy

bobthebichon.jpgThis week’s ProHo* Cutie(TM) comes courtesy of Jose, who writes: “This is Bob the bichon, the pooch Jessie and I got at the Brooklyn shelter last November. The little guy only stands 10.5″ at the whithers, and thinks he owns the streets of Prospect Heights. Ah, the Napoleonic Complexes of tiny dogs!”

From the Dog Breed Information Center:
“Used as watchdogs and to perform tricks, this breed is competitive and obedient. Like a lot of smaller breeds, the Bichon may be difficult to housebreak. The Bichon Frise was one of the “Yuppie Puppies” very popular in the 1980’s. As a result many were carelessly over-bred and some Bichon lines can be snippy. When seeking a Bichon be sure to find a reputable breeder to get the best personality traits this breed has to offer.”

Jose responds: “So true; so true — except for the housebreaking part. Bob came to us housebroken. The little booger can hold it for 24 hours when necessary.”

ALERT! The cutie reserves are dangerously low. Please to be sending a picture of your cutie (human or animal) here: [email protected]

*ProHo: A funny parody of SoHo that we use, in jest, to joke non-seriously about how ridiculous it would be if somebody actually referred to Prospect Heights as ProHo. Get it?

No Street Cleaning THURSDAY

the-ascension-of-christ-1958.jpgAlternate side parking regulations are suspended on Thursday, May 5 for holiday observance (“Solemnity of Ascension,” which sounds like it must be a Catholic holiday). All other regulations, including parking meters, remain in effect.

Click here for the full-year calendar.

UPDATE: Heather found out (see Comments) that Solemnity of Ascension is a feast recalling the completion of Christ’s mission on earth: “I had no idea this is worthy of suspension of alternate side parking regulations. Maybe it should be called the “Solemnity of Suspension.”

Image: Salvador Dali, The Ascension of Christ (1958) [Salvador Dali Gallery]

Three Dozen Vintage Corvettes Gather Dust in Newswalk Garage

Maybe one of our Newswalk resident readers can arrange a guided tour for us?

cars050502_400.jpgJOSH DEAN writes in New York Magazine: “There are 36 vintage Corvettes in the garage below the former Daily News printing plant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. They’re dusty, and secure behind a chain-link fence, as if being held as evidence: one Corvette for each year they were made, starting with a pearl-white ’53 convertible and ending with a red 1989 model. Some of their windows are open. Some have flat tires. A lone white ’61 rests outside the fence. On its back end, someone has scrawled NO ONE LOVES THESE VETTES! in the grime.”

(Photo Credit: David Allee)

Thanks to Captain Marvelous for the tip!

LINK: It’s Peter Max’s Car, Man: How one artist’s big PR dream left 36 Corvettes in the dust in a Brooklyn basement [New York Magazine]

Fairy-Tale Spoof at Impact Theatre on "Quiet Avenue" in Prospect Heights

BATES for News 114-pollyprincess_pennilessfrycook.JPGCHRISTOPHER PACETTA writes in the Daily News:

“The Impact Theatre is tucked between a Chinese restaurant and a corner store on a quiet avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Once you’ve squeezed through the ‘foyer,’ you find yourself in a tiny room filled with tattered blue seats and a creaky stage. For the next few weeks, this charmingly shabby space will serve as the kingdom of ‘Polly Princess and the Penniless Fry Cook,’ a fresh take on fairy-tale royalty as portrayed in children’s theater.”


PHOTO: BATES for News

Somebody Actually Updated the Wiki

Today’s big surprise is that the Prospect Heights Guide has been updated, not a spambot (as usual) but by an actual human being. Thanks to whoever added new listings to this website about Prospect Heights, Brooklyn that everybody (including you) can edit. You can start a new page simply by creating a new link.

New entries:

New Prospect Cafe | 393 Flatbush Ave. at St. Johns Pl. 718-638-2148.

In the neighborhood for nearly 20 years, this is one of the best and least pretentious spots to eat in Brownstone Brooklyn. It’s my home away from home.

Le Gamin | 556 Vanderbilt Ave. at Dean St. 718-789-5171.

Comments… Delightful, “frenchy” atmosphere. Eurostyle sandwiches and salads. Careful service and a lovely, spacious garden for a quiet lunch when the weather moderates. Reasonable prices. Has sibs in Soho, Boston, and perhaps elsewhere.

LINK: Prospect Heights Guide

Cops Outnumber Bikers 3-to-1 at Critical Mass Ride

bikeblog.jpg(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…

TONIGHT: Post Punk Bake Sale at Freddy's

ppk crew.jpgISA 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]

Revised Ratner Plan: Revealed

D&J.jpegDope 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.”

Read more…

Acquaintance Flaunts Cheese Knowledge at Local Dinner Party

humboldt frog.jpgReported 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.”