The Downtown Brooklyn Thread

So many lols in that letter:

What IS causing strife in this situation is that over the last ten years, Park Slope has become a family-oriented and family-centric community. This can be annoying at times - believe me, as someone who has chosen not to have children, I'm more than aware of the self-entitled attitude that often pervades parts of our community.

You don't say

In addition, conveniently(!), we also happen to be in the middle of an unprecedented drought of live music. Seventh Ave has ZERO venues for live music by indie artists, and is absolutely ripe for the right type of establishment to come along and breathe life into the live music scene. The business owner who is able to do THAT will reap financial rewards far beyond what they could hope to earn by selling Henessey/etc to basketball fans after a Nets game.

why would anyone of any race go to a club in park slope?

all right im calling it now--this shit is fake, there is no jen mcmillen

― max, Wednesday, March 2, 2011 3:16 PM Bookmark

Jen McMillen is real Max. She lives in Park Slope, and in the West Village. In Dupont Circle, and in Nob Hill. She's concerned that a new Mosque is going to bring in too much auto traffic; she opposes the coming of a 99-cent store because of their lack of green products; she plasters your house with fliers that say "RAT INFESTATION!" in big block letters, only because she wants us to work together as a neighborhood to fight this problem. Jen McMillen lives in all of our neighborhoods, and she is fighting for all of us.

otm universal jen mcmillen

It's not "racist" to equate hip-hop with an elevated crime rate vis a vi other types of musical genres - It's just a statistical fact that crime is more likely to occur among urban audiences than among audiences of other demographics. R&B and rap happen to be my two favorite types of music, but no one (especially my African American friends and colleagues) would seriously deny that hip-hop's violent history tragically precedes it.
It's not "racist" to equate hip-hop with an elevated crime rate vis a vi other types of musical genres - It's just a statistical fact that crime is more likely to occur among urban audiences than among audiences of other demographics. R&B and rap happen to be my two favorite types of music, but no one (especially my African American friends and colleagues) would seriously deny that hip-hop's violent history tragically precedes it.
It's not "racist" to equate hip-hop with an elevated crime rate vis a vi other types of musical genres - It's just a statistical fact that crime is more likely to occur among urban audiences than among audiences of other demographics. R&B and rap happen to be my two favorite types of music, but no one (especially my African American friends and colleagues) would seriously deny that hip-hop's violent history tragically precedes it.
It's not "racist" to equate hip-hop with an elevated crime rate vis a vi other types of musical genres - It's just a statistical fact that crime is more likely to occur among urban audiences than among audiences of other demographics. R&B and rap happen to be my two favorite types of music, but no one (especially my African American friends and colleagues) would seriously deny that hip-hop's violent history tragically precedes it.

jesus christ that article is noxious

is that where "royal video" used to be?? if so i can finally move back to the neighborhood - i had a like outstanding $28 overdue fee there (possibly for porn).

RIP The Terrace dominican restaurant that used to be around the corner too, they had some great mofongo. i bet they would have cleaned UP. also rip "jackcelina" bodega (though itmay still be there for all i know) with its seemingly crack-addled staff and total lack of cigarettes

i'm not sure why this is all in the "downtown brooklyn" thread though

Is Atlantic Terminal/Atlantic Yards not considered Downtown Brooklyn anymore?

I mean I get that she's a Park Sloper, but I think the fact that this is a Flatbush Ave bar looking to poach Brooklyn Ballerz fans makes it a Downtown issue.

she plasters your house with fliers that say "RAT INFESTATION!" in big block letters, only because she wants us to work together as a neighborhood to fight this problem.

Incidentally, someone really did this to my building -- someone who does not live in my building. Twice.

i always thought of downtown as being like.... hoyt and schermerhorn. or the courthouse.

it's true though that flatbush plays by its own rules

That part of town feels connected to me though -- I kind of think of the whole area between Court St./Cadman Plaza/BQE/Flatbush (and a little on the other side of flatbush)/Atlantic and extending a little to the area around Atlantic Yards as being very downtown-like compared to the surrounding neighborhoods, so I think of it all as Downtown whether it is or not.

This thread also seems to encompass adjoining neighborhoods anyway -- Carroll Gardens, Ft. Greene, etc.

well theres like downtown downtown brooklyn and greater downtown brooklyn which m/l includes brownstone brooklyn - people call them both downtown brooklyn

I think the area I described makes sense as Downtown given the coming of the arena/the general resurgence of a sense of Brooklyn as a city and not just an outer boro.

I think it is important and fun to argue about neighborhood boundaries, but whether or not it's downtown brooklyn this is the de facto 'general brooklyn thread', isn't it?

I guess so. I still think of it as the "Not Williamsburg/Greenpoint, Not South-South Brooklyn" general brooklyn thread, although those come in anyway.

if anyone post abt williamsburg in here i will shun them

yeah this is the "not williamsburg" thread, i agree with tracer that i think of "downtown brooklyn" as the area around borough hall,

is that where "royal video" used to be??

yeah but they just moved up the street so your fee may still be on the books - beware

the terrible coming-soon sign for Prime 6 makes it look like a real estate office, I didn't know until just now that it's going to be a bar

it's not a bar it's another Yo MTV Raps "bling-bling" vip club.

it won't last, none of those places do

(xpost)

http://ny.eater.com/uploads/2011_02_prime6.bmp

probably last about as long as that joint that is now Dao Palate. the Well Lounge or something? closed in under a year.

rip shouldve featured indie music

Her thing about "indie music of ALL races" kind of reminds me of that line in Blues Brothers: "What kind of music do you usually have here?" "Oh we got both kinds -- country AND western."

yeah i really didn't understand that part of the rant - isn't one southpaw enough?

no you also need a barbes

there is no Park Slope thread bcuz none of us can afford to live there (anymore)

When the weather warms up in a little bit it might just be time to reconvene The Ale & Quail Club, pile into Mr. Atoz's Bookmobile and head on over to Sh4rlene's for the pub quiz.

The Sharlene's movie round is now done on crap like John Hughes's.

C'wealth is doing one now, but my team won the Presidents Day debut in a landslide and I don't know if we have any open slots.

Would Quiz! Actually that's super convenient to the Q train at 7th Ave which suits me perfectly.

Well if there are no open spots maybe we can field another team

Tried Strong Place on Court St. tonight. Food was really, really good and they have an excellent beer list. The menu is sort of a mish-mosh of all the going trends -- classic american, local market fresh, gastropub style, etc., but the food was just very well done. We had an excellent salad of radish, cucumber, jerusalem artichoke, hazelnut, cabbage and some other stuff, and then I had a short rib burger with maytag blue and the lady had diver scallops. The chef likes strong, striking flavors, which I like too. I also drank an Allagash Black and a Lagunitas Brown Shuggah. And we had some lentils, which were the most delicious lentils I've ever had.

I'm thinking Brooklyn Navy Yard area should be the next neighborhood to take off. Or has that already happened?

distance from the subway is prob holding it back - there are a few things over there tho

damn this thread is long.

doing a big walking/busing tour of brooklyn tomorrow. any suggestions aside from the obvious?

wellll... you could walk from greenpt ave g train to metropolitain/lorimer g train and see all of greenpt/williamsburg, catch g to clinton washington and walk down dekalb ave to brooklyn heights... that's a LOT of walking on that second leg tho...

This probably is obvious, but I would definitely recommend walking the brooklyn bridge, and from there either walk around brooklyn heights and walk the promenade or walk to the new brooklyn bridge park and DUMBO, or preferably both. They're in opposite directions of course, but maybe you could, e.g. come off the bridge onto washington st. (which is where the stairs lead you), walk down into dumbo, walk around dumbo, then head over to old fulton st. (where the ferry landing, grimaldis, the river cafe, the ice cream place are), then head into the park, then up to the promenade (this is mildly tricky -- if you stay on the path from the park you'll be UNDER the promenade -- you need to go over one block and walk up Columbia), and then when you get to the end at remsen st, just zigzag around the brooklyn heights side streets for some incredible old new york homes, some with plaques (I think there's one on Montague for where Auden lived). The Brooklyn Historic Society is on Clinton St. but I've never been -- I imagine they must have some kind of brochures or something about the neighborhood and other neighborhoods.

You may already be doing DUMBO because it seems to be a big tour bus hub.

From Brooklyn Heights if you really want you could hit up a middle eastern place on Atlantic (Damascus Bakery for takeout spinach pies and pastries, or maybe Waterfalls for a meal), or you could take Court St. into Carroll Gardens for what old Italian stuff is left or Smith for the hipper nu-Carroll Gardens stuff (boutiques and market table restaurants and such). I'd consider all that more optional than the first part though.

BTW I realized today that the beginning of the old Sierra Gold Rush animated adventure game is in Brooklyn Heights, and that there's even an approximation of the promenade. Haven't checked to see if the layout matches up.

damascus for the junk food. it's awesome (everything is labeled as "delicious")

i think clinton hill is a sort of underrated area for walking around.

yeah, clinton hill is a great walk if you like old houses. tons of different styles, everything is beautiful, barely anything new.

this house is so rad

http://grab.by/9tBa

carroll gardens -> the gowanus culver viaduct area -> prospect park is probably my favorite brooklyn walk

but I really like viaducts

who doesn't

why a duck?

not taking an official bus tour, just expect to take some city buses to get around, in addition to walking.