DailyHeights

Announcing: First-Ever DAILY HEIGHTS Real-Life Happy Hour/Raffle

Posted on April 13, 2005 by dailyheights

Dear ProHo People, ProHo Babies, Friends of ProHo (FoP) and Members of the Brooklyn Blogerati,

We have been thinking long and hard about some very deep issues. The DAILY HEIGHTS community is so diverse–what is it that unites us? A shared sense of citizenship? A desire for change for the greater good? Or a special fondness for knocking off early and grabbing a pint at the corner pub?

Let’s go with #3:

DAILY HEIGHTS HAPPY HOUR/RAFFLE
Thursday, April 28; 6:00 PM til ?; at SODA BAR; 629 Vanderbilt Ave.; 718-230-8393;
Drink specials: $3 pints til 8 pm, more?

DRINK BEER – WIN PRIZES! Thanks to staceyjoy for her generous donation of this HAND-EMBROIDERED “ProHo Ho” T-shirt (pictured), which we will raffle off, along with a men’s version (maybe “ProHo Pimp”? Is that too obvious?).

We’re seeking a third raffle item, so if you or your business has something to donate, let us know. All proceeds from the raffle go toward planning more DH events, of course.

This sounds great, but I have a baby, and… Great! So do we! SODA is a baby-friendly (or at least baby-tolerant) establishment. Bring ’em by. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 other younguns who will be there to play with–and exchange germs with–your kid.

“Excuse me, are you Jewish?” (No, and I’m in the middle of a 7-minute mile, do you mind?) The happy hour will be certified Passover-friendly (i.e. potato Vodka, maybe macaroons?) thanks to DAILY HEIGHTS regular QUIG, one of only two Brooklyn members of the Loyal League of Yiddish Sons of Erin. Guess who the other one is (hint: he’s a thumbs-up kind of a guy).

New Topic to Inspire Chair-Throwing

Posted on April 13, 2005 by dailyheights

8 Comments

We’ve been through When Good Shayas Go Bad. We did Fresh Vegetable Food Fight. There has been some minor hating on the hairless cat, and it’s still unclear whether nail salons constitute economic development. Today on Jerry: “Where does Prospect Heights end and Crown Heights begin?”

TOPIC: just wondering where ph ends and ch begins [Daily Heights Forums]

What a Joy to Pose (and Eat) with Marty

Posted on April 13, 2005 by dailyheights

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The stoic pride of Mr. Mohammed and Chef Bashar is eclipsed by Borough President Marty Markowitz’s “thumbs up” enthusiasm in this detail from a fawning advertorial (click for larger image) posted in the window of Joy Indian Restaurant on Flatbush Avenue.

This week, the Joy/Marty connection continues as part of Dine in Brooklyn, now through Apr. 20, during which participating Brooklyn restaurants will offer special 1- or 2-person meals for $19.55 (“In the spirit of the World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers”).

You can see Marty’s website for the full list of participating restaurants (along with subway directions). Here’s the PH contingent:

Aliseo (Dinner); 665 Vanderbilt Ave. 718-783-3400
Gen (Lunch/Dinner) 659 Washington Ave. 718-398-3550
Hibiscus Café (Lunch) (2 for $19.55) 564 Vanderbilt Ave. 718-638-6850
Joy Indian Restaurant (Lunch/Dinner)(2 for $19.55) 301 Flatbush Ave. 718-230-1165
JRG Restaurant Bar & Fashion Café (Dinner) 177 Flatbush Ave. 718-399-7079
Kombit Restaurant (Dinner) 279 Flatbush Ave. 718-399-2000
Tavern on Dean (Dinner) 755 Dean St. 718-638-3326

My URBANFOTO Technique is Unstoppable

Posted on April 13, 2005 by dailyheights

4 Comments

I can’t keep up with this guy. His photo technique is unstoppable. And, he will sell you some space. Hook you up, you know?

How real does it get? “let me know what the space you seek should be- I will be real.”

Ask URBANFOTO about the special dailyheights.com discount.*

*Ha, ha. Sorry, there is no discount on real estate. This is New York.

Best Band Name, Ever

Posted on April 12, 2005 by dailyheights

7 Comments

The Americans UK. The music is not bad either–old school, loud, fast, wall-of-guitar a-blazin’. In short, would you kids please turn that racket down? Here’s CoolerThanYou.mp3.

Cari (Dogs Steal Yarn) says: “They support knitters … shouldn’t knitters support them?”

The Americans UK are playing PIANOS This SATURDAY, 4/16/05, at 8 PM, $6 cover.

Hands On New York Day in Prospect Park

Posted on April 12, 2005 by Heather McCabe

5 Comments

Hands On New York Day (formerly N.Y. Cares Spring Clean-Up) is this Saturday, April 16. Basically it’s a day for New Yorkers to celebrate spring in the city while beautifying over fifty parks in the process. Prospect Heights locals can partake in nearby clean-up action at Prospect Park, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: “Meet at the north end of the Long Meadow. Enter the Park at Grand Army Plaza.” One way to look at it: a way to contribute to the community by helping revitalize our shared outdoor spaces. Another way to look at it: a chance to indulge your obsessive-compulsive disorder by correcting flaw after flaw after flaw in our urban environment. Aren’t you just dying to pick up that crumpled potato chip bag lying in the grass, and that dried-up condom stuck to the path? A fun opportunity to right some of the world’s wrongs…. [Photo: J. Chesbrough; prospect park with the bike gang: April 18, 2004.]

Wild in the Streets: TWO Shootings on Washington Saturday Night

Posted on April 12, 2005 by dailyheights

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According to DH reader “hi”, one shooting took place on the corner of St. Johns Pl. and Washington Avenue (PICTURED). The other one took place at Po’K Knockers, a club on Atlantic Ave. near Washington–a neighborhood that the New York Post describes as Prospect Heights, but the New York Times describes as Clinton Hill (speculate on that one for a while). Looks like sje‘s predicted powderkeg summer is getting off to an early start. Details of both shootings in this message board thread.

Union Temple Condo Update: Shifting Story? Stories? (Ha, Ha. Get it?)

Posted on April 12, 2005 by dailyheights

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[UPDATED]
Will the Union Temple Condo be 16-18 stories? 30 stories? 15? Both Curbed and Brownstoner picked up on Quig’s coffee-spitting moment yesterday when a New York Times reporter blithely alluded to a (ho, hum) 30-story condo to be developed on the Union Temple’s parking lot on Grand Army Plaza. Reliable sources had led us to believe that the project was going to be only 16-18 stories.

Is it possible the NYT simply got it wrong? If so, it will be another great excuse to haughtily smirk and wryly refer to that paper, with a nudge-and-a-wink, as “The Gray Lady”–which, if you’re an editorialist at a competing paper, is shorthand for “I’m intensely jealous that THEY get all the readers and that they rejected all my freelance queries.”

Now, our favorite ProHo reporter DEBORAH KOLBEN–who is always right there on the stories we care about (and who has never publicly referred to the Times in a pejorative, ageist manner), has done her own piece on the Temple Tower, which pegs its height at a more reasonable 15 stories.

Catering to the Rich: Did we call it? We called it. Developers originally and laughably sold this condo project to us as “not luxury.” However, Deb’s conversation yesterday with a “boasting” spokesperson for Richard Meier revealed that “It will be the most luxurious building in Brooklyn.” Local agents speculate a 2-bedroom unit will go for about $1 million.

So what’s the real story? 15 stories? 30? The real story is that a developer has been planning for years to put a very large, very exclusive condo in your neighborhood, and you probably didn’t find out about it until very recently.

[UPDATE TO UPDATE] Thank you, dear guest: “The NYTimes has confirmed that (the condo) is NOT in fact 30 stories. They were working from old info and will run a correction shortly. The building will be 150 feet tall, and roughly 16-18 stories.”

iPod Mugging: Friday, Underhill and Prospect, in Broad Daylight

Posted on April 12, 2005 by dailyheights

18 Comments

Lizzie on Underhill writes: “Just wanted to alert everyone to a mugging that took place last Friday afternoon, around 3:45pm, on Underhill Ave. and Prospect Pl. My neighbor was the victim, and he wrote a rather humorous account of the situation below. Tell everyone to watch those little iPods!”

THE STORY: “It was a bright and sunny Friday afternoon at about 3:45 in the P.M. Walking up Underhill Avenue from the Clinton Washington stop on the C train (I usually take the more reliable and trustier B train but it was out of commission as a result of a fire), I was enjoying a particularly heady live version of Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead (a 1978 recording, very nice) when I noticed a group of about 7 or 8 young men hanging out outside their building (this was right between Prospect and Park on Underhill). As a teacher, large groups of 15 year old kids usually do not faze me in the least, so I continued walking, optimistic and confident.”

“As soon as a I got close to them, several of them got behind me (I saw one walking behind me with a large metal pole, which I assume he was planning on using to hit me on the head should the mugging not go according to plan) and one got in front of me and pushed me. He put his hand under his shirt and told me he wanted my iPod. Having heard of hustles much like this from my students, and having been in much stickier situations as a high schooler growing up in the third world myself, I assumed he did not have a weapon so I told him “I don’t think so” and pushed past him. He got back in front of me, pushed me, and pulled out a box cutter which he pressed against my stomach.”

“He then repeated his demand for my iPod, I considered my options, and then decided it was not worth getting sliced up for. I called him an asshole, and handed it over. As I walked away, I heard them laugh and then run down the block. On my way back to my apartment, I stopped by the deli and picked up a nice 40 ounce bottle of Bud Light (on account of me being on a diet), thankful they took neither my wallet or my watch. I called some friends, had a few beers, and mourned the loss of my sweet little silver mini iPod.”

"Shameful" Eastern Parkway Median: Will it Ever Get Fixed?

Posted on April 12, 2005 by dailyheights

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eastern parkway median.jpg This is just one obstacle on that treacherous stretch of pavement bisecting Eastern Parkway near the Brooklyn Museum. A few weeks ago, Robert Witherwax wrote: “Those of us who traverse this god-forsaken path every day, on foot, by wheel, or with paws, know that it is in DESPERATE need of repair between Washington and Plaza … the intersection at Washington is DANGEROUS, and that the median is a shameful welcome mat to put out for the millions of guests coming to our neighborhood, and our cultural institutions.”

Now Robert reports that representatives of the Eastern Parkway Cultural Row Neighborhood Association just met with the Brooklyn Delegation of the City Council to seek funding for the renovation of the Median between Washington Avenue and Plaza Street East: “We emphasized the need for a safe, accessable, and passable median; for improvements to the traffic flow at Washington and Eastern Parkway; for better access to the subway entrance; and for a space that acts as both a welcome mat for those visiting the institutions of the neighborhood, and a front stoop for the residents of the neighborhood.”

Now we wait on the Council – we will forward news of our budget allocation (if any!) as soon as we hear it … Thanks to everyone who came out … Here’s fingers crossed for Fiscal Year 2006!

To stay updated on the project, e-mail [email protected].