Are we in Kansas?

It feels like a tornado is about to send our little home into Oz!! My landlord suffered leaks and now some pretty strong winds are pounding against our windows. Ahh the pitfalls of living near the ocean I suppose.

Grinch mood

Hard to get into the spirit of things when there are finals to worry about... This has nothing to do with Gravesend but I felt like sharing.

Holiday Spirit in Gravesend

Dubious Herstory

Apparently the house that stands on 27 Gravesend Neck Road opposite Gravesend Cemetery is Lady Deborah Moody's. I find it hard to believe that the house could survive hundreds of years when the neighborhood has changed so much and the house itself has passed through so many hands. I found this New York Times article from 2003 reporting on the current owners trying to give the home historical landmark status. I tried finding something more current but I guess the petition never made it.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E0DD113CF931A35750C0A9659C8B63

Slow news month

Every time I log on to this site I keep seeing the same bit of news about that love triangle gone awry. Isn't there anything else that has been happening in Gravesend?

Cinema history in Gravesend

I was curious to know what studios were in the area after I read the New York Times story (see previous post) and I found an article on Vitagraph Studio which existed more than a hundred years ago. It was acquired by Warner Brothers in the 1920s and today is the Shulamite School for Girls. Across the street on 1268 East 14th Street is JC Studios, built by Warner in the 1920s as well. Today As the World Turns is filmed there. Technically the area is not Gravesend, I thinks its Midwood but its pretty interesting. For cool photos and a more in deph look check the site out.

http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0506/features_article01.htm

"If you're thinking of living in Gravesend"

This is the title of an August 16, 1986 feature in the New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEFD61039F933A2575BC0A960948260

Some interesting facts listed:

- School children corresponded with children from Gravesend, England and they even exchanged basketball teams.

- Bill Cosby filmed a television show on East 1268 East 14th Street.

- One family homes sold for $200,000!

Interesting to get a glimpse of the old neighborhood.

Sahara Restaurant

I came across this review in New York Magazine of this Turkish Restaurant in the hood. http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/sahara/. I can't wait to visit or order takeout from them. By now you probably figured out I am not a cook, which is why I thought living in Manhattan was perfect but Gravesend is turning out to be full of surprises.

For nerdy amateur historians

Like me, a perfect gift could be the Gravesend Brooklyn: Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay by Eric Ieardi. This would of course be part of a large collection of gifts not the sole gift for this Holiday season.

Ch-ch-changes

Everywhere I look I see condominiums rising which is all fine and good for Manhattan but here they are a sore sight. They look like giant bullies squeezed in next to one family homes.

Useless trivia

According to the New York Times City Room section the cheapest price for a quart of milk (only 99 cents) can be found in Gravesend. Must be the influence of all of those 99 cents stores.

Snowy day in Gravesend

Wow it actually snowed on the first day of December.

Christmas decorations for under a buck

I love the 99 cents stores that seems to be on every corner of Avenue U. They are the best places to get a bunch of Christmas decorations without breaking the bank and you don't feel too bad if one or two breaks by accident. I do wonder how all of these stores can co-exist practically right next to one another.

Sleepless in Manhattan

During the Thanksgiving weekend I decided to spend a night at my parents apartment in midtown Manhattan. My takeout Italian dinner cost me nearly $40, which came as a shock after getting used to paying only half for food in Gravesend. Why was I eating takeout? My family doesn’t cook, not even for Thanksgiving. But the worst thing was the noise! It was kind of difficult to fall asleep when I could hear every single conversation going on in the street, even though I was on the third floor! Since my parents live near a lot of bars the flow of people did not really stop until dawn. Next time I leave a bar I will be more considerate of the neighbors. Then every person that walked up the stairs seemed to shake the very foundation of the 100 plus year old brownstone. I haven't lived in Gravesend for a long time but it sure didn't a long time for me to get accustomed to a much simpler and quieter kind of lifestyle.

How come nobody thought of this before?

I was happy to read today that Brooklyn now has The Small Building Part which will handle landlord/tenant disputes in two or three family houses living in the neighborhoods of Gravesend, East Flatbush, Sheepshead Bay, Flatlands and Canarsie. Those of us who live in buildings with less than four housing units are not protected by rent stabilization regulations and are often faced with numerour problems that come from living in the same building as the landlord. Its good to know that now there is a place where things can be settled without the need for lawyers.
Check out the story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=16811

Coney Island Woes

This weather reminds me of summer which reminded me of Coney Island. Lo and behold an article today from the The Brooklyn Paper about the opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's plans for the now defunct amusement park. Now I don't know much about his plans so I can't say anything positive or negative. It does look like Coney Island will be shut down for years to come until somebody figures out what to do. NYC summers just won't be the same without Coney Island.

Gravesend Jockey Club

Check out this New York Times pdf article from 1887 and 1899 about the Gravesend racetracks.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9406E6DB1730E633A25755C2A9639C94669FD7CF
and
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05EFDF1530E132A25750C1A96F9C94689ED7CF

More pictures of Gravesend

But I didn't take them. Since I am not around much during the day and it would be creepy to take photographs at night here is a link to someone else's pictures of avenue U.
http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/brooklyn/gravesend/avenueu/index.htm

Of condos and houses

Yesterday I attended an open house at a new condominium just for fun. It is located on West 9th St. between Avenue U and V. This two bedroom (really a one bedroom since the second bedroom looked more like a small office) second story apartment came with every imaginable amenity including central heating and grantite countertops. It wasn't very big but it was pretty nice and better yet, the maintenance fee was a low $175. How much for the apartment? A little over $400,000. The real estate agent also represented a house a block away which was selling for over $520,000 but it needs some repairs. It is so strange to me to have a house and a condo have only $100,000 difference in between. All units except for two in this building are already sold.

The telephone was not invented in Gravesend

That happened in Staten Island. This memorial located on 12th Street and Avenue U in Meucci Triangle commemorates the orginal inventor of the telephone Antonio Meucci.