The total end appears to be coming to the old Beard Street. Detour and “street closed” signs have gone up on Beard Street and some major road work is about to take place on a stretch fronting the location of the huge Ikea store and parking lot (part of which is the historic former Graving Dock that was filled in over the objection of preservationists and a lawsuit) that is under construction. We assume that the cobblestones are being ripped out and that Beard Street will be repaved to provide a car-friendly surface for Ikea. (If anyone can tell us that they’re being preserved, we’d sure love to know.) We have a hard time imagining Beard Street without those cobblestones. Then again, we have a hard time with Beard Street without the Todd Shipyard buildings and the Revere Dome. Here at GL, we’re sentimental fools, even though we understand that not everyone–including workers who toiled in these places and, especially in the case of the sugar plant, we injured, killed or otherwise abused–are not sad to see them gone.
2 responses so far ↓
1 who walk in brooklyn // Jul 2, 2007 at 10:09 am
you forgot Lillie’s, & short-lived as it was, those few years were the end of the era. considering the likelihood most Ikea customers driving there will have SUVs, station wagons, minivans or other ‘cargo friendly’ vehicles, there’s no reason (except $$$ Ikea & DOT will claim not to have) ** NOT ** to preserve the paving stones.
Red Hook: just like Elizabeth, except closer & more expensive!
Red Hook: the new Hempstead of South Brooklyn!
Red Hook: Paramus, we hardly knew ye!
GL: you weren’t here for Gridlock Sam’s testimony were you? File under fiction.
wwib
p/s: bring back the dead bodies in the trunks of cars at the NYPD impound (now Fairway parking) lot, all is forgiven.
2 Lisanne McT // Jul 2, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Yeah, it’s real sad that sweethearts like Lilly are gone.
how long will Sonny’s hold out? hopefully 4eva.