Major Markets Meats is not the kind of Coney landmark that most tourists would see and Jimmy Prince is not the kind of guy that most visitors would meet unless they happened to wander into his butcher shop on Mermaid Avenue. Yet, the shop has been there since the 1930s and Jimmy has worked there since 1949 and he’s closing down tomorrow changed his mind and won’t be closing until the end of February. We’ll have a video interview with him coming up. He is sort of retiring, but he also mentioned Joe Sitt and the “changes” coming to Coney Island in saying that the “time is right” to call it quits. Major Meats happens to sit on the side of Mermaid Avenue that is the northern boundary of the big Coney rezoning plan. When redevelopment starts in earnest, his block will likely be toast. The other side of the street is not covered by the rezoning and there is a developing pattern of speculators buying up dozens of properties, probably with the hope of demolishing the homes or businesses and rebuilding under as-of-right zoning that will allow development much larger than what is currently there. There is an oral history here that the Coney Island History Project did with him. Jimmy Prince is a Brooklyn original, the kind of mom-and-pop store operator that made Brooklyn what it is. He will be sorely missed by his commmunity.

[Click to enlarge and read more easily]

The case of the controversial Toll Brothers Gowanus development, which was approved by Commmunity Board 6, has just gotten a bit curiouser. The firm had promised 130 affordable units, or about 30 percent of the housing to be built on the banks of Brooklyn’s Grand Canal. Only, CB6 discovered that the affordable housing won’t be required by deed restrictions and that it has, in effect, voted to give the Toll firm extra height and buik on its structure with no legal guarantee that any affordable housing will ever be built. Ooopsy. The board had voted conditional approvial 23-10 in favor, with five abstentions, in November. One of the conditions was 30 percent affordable housing. Another was “restrictive declaration for the subject properties clearly outline and detail the land uses and building designs.” The original November letter also outlined several concerns including this gem: “that the environmental conditions in and around the Gowanus Canal are not suitable for residential development at this time, and that there are no guarantees that such conditions ever will be suitable in the future.” This is just one of the reasons we put this project on our list of Five Rotting Corpses for 2009, projects that are likely to die for a variety of reasons. In any case, the bottom line is that CB6 is asking City Planning to place the affordable housing in the deed restrictions or the rezoning.

We have to wonder: How in the Name of God did an itty-bitty little detail like that slip through the cracks of one of the most contentious projects Gowanus has seen (so far)? Or to be crude about it, WTF? Did someone try to pull a fast one? One presumes City Planning will fix the boo boo, although we still think this is an elaborate exercise in rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

The full letter ahead for the complete masochist.

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/GL Flickr Pool]

Looks like yesterday’s high winds were strong enough to liberate some of the protective canvas or tarp under the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday.

This was distributed yesterday evening by Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights and the assault would have occured in daylight. Aaron Brashear, who sent out the email, writes: “Does anyone have an more news on this? Most disturbing since this particular area of South Brooklyn has been very safe form many years. While I would hope this terrible incident is isolated, I do want to make sure CB7 and the 72nd Pct. are on-top of this. E-mail…communityboard7@yahoo.com AFTER calling the 72nd Pct. at 718-965-6311 if you have any information.”

The song speaks for itself. As a long deceased firend of ours, who took his own life, once said of a different songwriter’s soaring song, “He saw God when he wrote this song.” Same here.

[Photo courtesy of Susan Fox]

All we could say when we saw this photo sent to us by Susan Fox, founder of Park Slope Parents, was wow. This is a rainbow that appeared yesterday morning around 7AM.

[Click on image to enlarge it]

Hey, art lovers and gallery hoppers, we got an last minute email that is of interest:

Cameo Art Gallery, a new Williamsburg performance and gallery space, will present its debut group show featuring the art of Ben Bronfman, Carrie Elston, Lukas James and Ivana Salander. The opening reception will take place tonight (February 12, 2009) from 7 to 10pm. James Tunick will play at 7:30, followed by The London Souls and Daddy Long Legs. The exhibit will be shown February 13 to March 12, 2009. In addition to these artists Cameo will host a rotating roster of musicians. Cameo is a space that explores the intersection of art, music and entertainment, by bringing together people from different genres and backgrounds…Cameo Art Gallery has assembled a roster of spunky artists and soulful music that represent the cultural moment in New York today. Cameo is attached to The Lovin’ Cup Café, a new American bar and restaurant. Cameo Art Gallery, 93 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, New York. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday 12 pm to 6 pm, or by appointment at (718) 302-1180.

Check ’em out.

Although it’s been stripped of all its good decorative elements, the buildings emptied and marked for demolition, the former Russo Realty Empire on the ass end of Smith Street still stands. We had expected it to be demolished a year ago, but like the gentleman who presided over Notary District until his death, it perseveres. Hang in there, guys, life won’t be the same without you.

We don’t know what Hop Obama tastes like, having never sampled the brewski, but we do know that it is has brought chuckles today. This morning Brownstoner reported that the Feds “recently forced the beer maker to shut down production of its popular ‘Hop Obama’ line started during campaign season. Even the Department of Homeland Security got involved, threatening to seize the brewery.” The plot recently thickened with Ben Smith reporting ont The Politico that the brewmaster’s story was, uh, not entirely true: “tale may be great marketing, the real story is, er, a bit less dramatic, Six Point spokesman Jeff Gorlechen conceded in an interview just now. In fact, the division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that regulates alcohol labeling (and is now under DHS) sent a letter to the brewery in December raising to a variety of minor labeling issues, including details of alcohol content, the question of whether one beer should be referred to as “Belgian” or “Belgian-style,” — and, in the case of Hop Obama, a rule against naming consumer products for celebrities who haven’t actually endorsed them. “It’s not like the U.S. government thought we were a threat to homeland security,” Gorlechen said. “The whole thing is being blown completely out of proportion.” Next up, we sample Hop Obama, because Mr. B, who we know to be a gentleman of good taste in brews, thinks the stuff “may be the best beer we’ve ever tasted.” All in all, a great day of viral marketing for Sixpoints and Hop Obama.

We’ve been so not on the 111 Lawrence Street story that the more we think about it, the more we want to kick ourselves. It’s a little residential deveopment fromm the Clarett Group which will be Brooklyn’s tallest building at 51 stories and have 491 residential units when all is said and done. It’s rather astounding in that Clarett is also the developer of the highrise Forte Condo in Fort Greene, which has only a handful of residents.  Brownstoner has been all over this story for a long time and has a great deal of background. In any case, we took a walk over to Lawrence St. yesterday to get a look at this puppy. It well along and glass is being applied. There’s a full slideshow above.

Looks like Love=? at 162 Fifth Avenue is going to the great shopping fest in the sky, at least if the close out sale signs in the window are any indication. Unclear if it’s poor business, increased rent or recession-related.

Why not some Brooklyn August sky to the sound of Hot Chip in the dead of winter?

Remember the old Fillmore Real Estate office at 486 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope? You know, the one between 11th and 12th Streets that closed down along with a couple of others as the real estate market started to, uh, sink. Well, the place is coming back to a life, per a tip from a very kind GL reader. We’d been by there yesterday and it was still the empty Fillmore office. Today? There’s paper covering the window and a building permit issued two days ago showing that it’s being converted to a restaurant/drinking establishment. There are no clues on the permit as to what kind of place it will be and we couldn’t find any pending liquor license application. If anyone knows, do let us know in the comments section. Oh, wait, we know…it’s going to be a bar called Apocalypse Now that play The Doors’ The End over and over and over and over.

· Cory Booker Says Getting Nets in Newark “Fixed” in His Mind [AYR]
· Apple Store Still a Possibility for Edge [Brownstoner]
· Climax of Boobification Project Involves Village Voice [New York Shitty]
· The Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Heard [Lost City]
· Uh, Something’s Missing From This Picture [BVIB]
· Thai Place Coming to Clinton Hill-Bed-Stuy Border [Clinton Hill Blog]
· Public Place Gets Affordable Housing for Birds [PMFA]
· Wallabout Getting an Asian Market [Brownstoner]

We love our Brooklyn parrots and it appears they were having a time of it at Green-Wood Cemetery a few days ago. A GL reader sent us links to a couple of vids of the Party Parrots of Green-Wood.

To see Part Two, click here.

The convoluted and huge project on Myrtle Avenue being built by supermarket king John Catsimatidis at 202 Myrtle Avenue is going up. Yesterday, we found workers laboring furiously on the building, which is the first of four buildings Catsimatidis is supposed to build in Fort Greene. Work on the other projects is not going so swiftly. The project has been done and re-done due to the financial market. On one part of the project looks like nothing has moved or changed since December. A tower is planned for one end of the property. Brownstoner has covered the trials and tribulations of this project in depth.

[Click to enlarge rendering to full size]

We’ve taken our share of shots at architect Henry Radusky and his firm, Bricolage Designs, over the years, so we were surprised yesterday to find several comments from one of the architect’s colleagues and an offer to send us a rendering of his latest building going up at 574 Fourth Avenue near the Prospect Expressway. Earlier, one of Mr. Radusky’s colleagues had written of buidings at Fourth Ave. and Carroll Street of which we have written of quite negatively:

I am sure it would be better to have the crack addicts and other previous scum hanging out in front of grafitti ridden auto repair shops that were previously located on these sites than new construction. Also everyone should realize it is not always the architects who are to blame for undesirable architecture we present clients with a set of plans and designs and everything is wonderful, but when the contractors get involved they undermine our designs by promising the owner cheaper costs and our designs get shelved. So please give the architect a break!

Then, we heard from Mr. Radusky himself about the other Fourth Avenue project. He wrote: “We will send you a rendering so you and your reader’s can comment. How’s that?” Dear readers, take Mr. Radusky up on his offer, if you please. We often talk about architects and their work, but Mr. Radusky is actually inviting comment from readers.

[Photo for GL Courtesy of Charles Andrisano]

This photo perfectly captures the emptiness of the far end of the Coney Boardwalk in front of the Child’s Building on a very cold winter day.

This is New Order performing Ceremony at the Ukranian National Home in the East Village on Nov. 19, 1981 on their first tour after Ian Curtis killed himself on May 16, 1980. It is poignant watching Bernard Sumner sing this song (you can almost see the trepidation on his face as he takes the mike) which was written by Ian and performed live by Joy Division twice, including their last live appearance ever. It indicates the brilliant direction in which Joy Division was heading when Ian died. “Oh I’ll bring them down, no mercy shown/Heaven knows it’s got to be this time/Avenues all lined with trees/Picture me and then we’ll start watching/Watching forever.” When New Order recorded the song, Bernard had to run Ian’s lyrics from very poor recordings of those perfomrances through an equalizer to try to get them all. We had tickets to this show and for some reason couldn’t make it and gave them to a friend, who ended up being cussed out by John Lydon of PIL at the bar.

[Photo courtesy of mikkime/GL Flickr Pool]

Ain’t that Brooklyn sky beautiful. We love the combination of the skyline and the color in the sky.

This comes from Ann Kansfield at the Greenpoint Reformed Church, which does superb work within the community. They will be running a “Count Your Ble$$ings” class on money basics for the next four weeks, starting tomorrow, Thursday (2/12). Here’s a bit from the email:

With the downturn in the economy affecting so many people, we thought it would be helpful to provide the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community with a four week class on Money Basics, we’re calling “Count Your Ble$$ings.” The class starts this Thursday (Feb. 12th) from 7-8:30pm, and will meet at 136 Milton St (between Manhattan and Franklin). There is no cost for the class, so that everyone will be able to participate, regardless of financial means.

Click here for a blurb about who is running the class and more.

Ok… wow. If ever there were a romantic opportunity to show your love on Valentine’s Day, this is it! Take your sweetie down into Red Hook for… Noooooo, not the amazing and romantic wonderful meal ate The Good Fork… but a meal that’s as processed as the pressed-board wood you find in one of their bookshelves… at Ikea!!! Yeah! From 5:30-8pm, grab a cafeteria tray for two and hop in line for a lil Love Salmon Wellington, Divine rice pilaf and some Sweetie-Baby carrots with Cha-Cha-chive sauce for $19.90. And, just to make your (cheap ass) date even better, Ikea’s going throw in a free bottle of non-alcoholic Magnum Sparkling Cider! But wait! You better bring a date! Because unless you’re a couple, you going to starve! Not, we’re sure they’ll feed you, but you’ll have to go for some meatballs and taters instead of the looooove dish. Oh, and apparently there’s three couple that are supposed to be on view in one of their illustrious bedroom suites, being served breakfast in bed by poor Ikea employees. But that’s in the morning and you’ll have to bring your own treats to throw at them. On the other hand, as a media stunt, this is genius.
—Vaduzuvunt

[Renderings courtesy of Curbed and Racked]

This, friends, is the first look at the humongous Red Hook Mall planned by developer Joe Sitt on the site of the former Revere Sugar Dome. This blockbuster comes courtesy of our compadres at Curbed and at Racked, which have full photogalleries of the plans. The details are that it would be 376,000 square feet, the biggest retail development in the city in two decades. It would include, as previously reported a huge BJ’s (about 118,000 square feet). The old brick building in the back would be preserved, presumably in the form of some sort of food court. This, of course, would require city approval and given the nasty relationship between Mr. Sitt and the city in Coney Island…well, one can draw one’s own conclusions. If Mr. Sitt doesn’t make nice in Coney this has an ice cube’s chance in hell. And even if Mr. Sitt does make nice it may still have issues given the revolution it will cause in Red Hook.

The Parks Department and Rogers Marvel Architects presented an update on McCarren Pool to Community Board 1 last night. We have the renderings that were shown and also a report from Mikki Halpin of PoolAid of her impressions of the meeting. This is an excerpt of the email she sent out:

At the CB1 meeting last night, the architects, along with Julius Spiegel (Brooklyn Parks Commissioner) came to give a presentation on the pool. All of the fundng ($50 mill) is still in place, and they said it will be open in two years. It still looks the same as it did in the renderings from last year, basically–with the peninsula reaching into the pool and the water in a squared horse shoe shape. It will hold about 2500 people. The main buildings will hold a gym and a rec center/community center. They will build cabanas off the main buildings onto the pool deck to use as changing rooms. These are essentially concrete awnings that make an enclosure with benches and lockers and stuff inside. They looked kind of cool and modern to me.

Since the building is landmarked, not much is being changed, which is good. A lot of the work they have to do is rebuilding–replacing almost all of the exterior brick and resurfacing the entire pool and deck. They are using the old baskets from way back in the day as an architectural accent on the ceilings on some of the rooms, which is nice. Because they are redoing the exterior brick, it is now possible that they will be able to add a comfort station–parkspeak for restroom–on the end near the playground (I think) that would be available to all park users. That is only if the whole thing stays in scope and there are no cost overruns. They are making it all extensible–there are spaces for a future elevator and staircase up to the roof for a rooftop cafe if that comes into play with an outside vendor…The diving pool can’t be done at this time so they are going to fill it in with dirt, then put sand on top of the dirt and make it into a volleyball court. This doesn’t prevent it from becoming a diving pool at a later date, though. They are putting the pipes in for this. The peninsula is usable for a wintertime ice rink, which would be done with an outside vendor like Bryant Park.

More renderings and words ahead.