“In October 1902, the owners of this grand new structure in recently developed Crown Heights took out several ads in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, informing the public that ‘the word ‘hotel’ has a new meaning.’ The copy seems very sincere. ‘Perhaps you have not associated the two ideas of ‘hotel’ and ‘home.’ In the St. Marks, the two are synonymous.’ What replaced the hotel isn’t quite as nice.–Ephemeral New York

Another children’s shop has been born on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, filling in one another one of the gaps on what we had called the Block of Death because of all of the empty storefronts over the winter. Carmen’s Exclusives for Children has been open for a bit, but we swung by in order to capture an image of that new Seventh Avenue retail goodness.

By most accounts (and photos), the first Summer Space event on Montague Street was thinly attended. It did happen over the July 4 weekend on a fairly unpleasant day, which probably accounts for some of the small crowd. The sponsors are trying to spin the event–which we actually think is a great idea–as a success. Here’s a bit from the press release:

Hundreds of pedestrians, bicyclists, families, shoppers, and patrons of local restaurants turned out to enjoy Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights on July 6 during the first Sunday of Summer Space. Summer Space, which is an initiative of the Montague Street BID, will continue between 10 am and 5 pm every Sunday in July. On these Sundays, Montague Street between Clinton Street and Montague Terrace will be closed to automobiles but open for recreation and leisurely strolls.

“I thought we had a terrific turn-out, more than we expected on a grey holiday weekend,” said Chelsea Mauldin, executive director of the Montague Street BID. “Our goal is to create an appealing pedestrian piazza that encourages Sunday shoppers to visit our street.”…One mom whose daughter played soccer in the middle of Montague Street on Sunday raved about Summer Space on the Brooklyn Heights Parents blog. She wrote, “What a great experience! Lots of families, dogs, neighbors, kids on bikes, etc. There was even a cotton candy guy like at baseball games. Hopefully, more people will take advantage of it in the coming weeks so that it will be brought back each summer.”

There will be a Williamsburg Walks event on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg on July 19th, July 26th, August 2nd and August 9th. Hopefully more people will take advantage of the car-free streets in both Brooklyn Heights and in Williamsburg.

Yesterday it was raccoons. Today, we have roosters, courtesy of a post on Brooklynian:

So, this morning at 7:30 I’m walking towards the subway at 4th and 25th. At 24th and 5th there’s a gas station. I just walk onto the gas stations parking lot when ” cock a doodle doo!” is screeched RIGHT BEHIND ME! Of course I jump in the air. I turn around and…, there’s a big rooster standing there. Other people were walking by like nothing happened. Another day in Brooklyn.

Indeed.

The movie series in Brooklyn Bridge Park is starting on Thrusday. The schedule is above and here’s a bit from an email we got about it:

This coming Thursday, July 10th at 6 PM, brooklynradio.net will be at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, providing music for Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy’s Movies With A View series. For the next seven weeks following, starting at the same time–weather permitting–they will provide opening soundtrack music. At sundown, a short film by upcoming New York City directors will be shown, followed by the feature presentation. For the first date in the series, go back to the 1950s with the Stephen King coming-of-age tale Stand By Me. On the decks, DJ Soulstatic provides summer soaked pop from the era and film. The series is being presented by the Sci Fi Channel and sponsored by The Onion and on the web by Brownstoner.com. Transportation Alternatives will provide free bike valet parking.

More cool outdoor summer fun.

This is an image from the NY Times Metro Section from July 9, 1998. It’s posted on the Fading Ad Blog, which is one of our favorites. Period. We got an email from Kevin Walsh of Forgotten NY, who produces another one of our very favorite websites, which said: “I read this and said, I’m gonna do this, too. Frank is the trailblazer. No Frank Jump, no Forgotten NY. The other 2 main inspirations were Jeff Saltzman’s Streetlite Nuts and Steve Anderson’s NYC Roads. This is acknowledged in the ForgottenForeword. All three were on ForgottenTour 1, 6/1/99.”

Eight groups have submitted bids for Starrett City, all of them significantly lower than the ill-fated $1.3B bid made last year for the affordable complex that was resoundingly rejected last year. “The winner, in all likelihood, will be a nonprofit housing company, rather than the kind of private equity firms and large developers that have purchased block after block of apartment buildings for rapidly rising prices over the last seven years.”–NYT

The tear down on Driggs Avenue between N. 10 & N. 11 Streets to make way for Phase II of the former Roebling Oil Building, which is a Karl Fischer building called Warehouse 11, continues. The name of the new project on the sign is Driggs Place, but it’s an extension of its neighbor. The new building will be 70 feet tall and have 54 units. It will be interesting to see if oil will be found when excavation starts or if this part of the property is clear. Regardless, we enjoy the juxtaposition of the image of rubble and the Church of the Transfiguration in the background.

There’s some great unofficial news from Coney Island passed on by Kinetic Carnival: Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink, which had a debut in the spring, will be open on weekends through the rest of the Coney Island season at the historic Childs Building. Kinetic Carnival reports that it will open on July 19 and be open through mid-October on weekend. Official word is said to be forthcoming. If we can be allowed a moment to editorialize: Congratulations to Diana Carlin and thanks to Taconic Investment for allowing life to come back to the Childs Building. We hope the Dreamland Roller Rink is a huge hit for the summer.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Relatives of Woman That Died at Hospital Deserve “Just Payment” [NYDN]
· Appeal Filed in Atlantic Yards Environmental Review Case [AYR]
· Grandma Defends 5-Year-Old Firestarter [NYDN]
· Is Staten Island’s St. George the Next Williamsburg? [Gothamist]
· Landmark Bank on Montague Sold for $9.7M [Brownstoner]
· Paparazzi Ready for Ugly Betty [Dumbo NYC]
· Bay Ridge High School’s Occupation of Park to End? [Bay Ridge Blog]
· So, Erie Basin Park is Pretty Cool [Lost City]
· Bed-Stuy Block Party 2008 [Bed-Stuy Blog]

[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle/Mirabelle Studios]

Here’s a striking and altered image of the Gowanus Canal between Hamilton Avenue and Ninth Street. It’s an interesting take on a very active industrial part of the Canal.

Consider this earthmoving tractor thing in Prospect Park the antidote to “site-specific art installations” as it really is nothing more than a rotting piece of equipment. But what if it was art? “The artist would have to produce a statement saying things like: ‘Earth/Mover IV continues my exploration of ‘found’ machines and manmade structures in decay, juxtaposed with the rebirth and growth of organisms in hostile environments. The series challenges the viewer to encounter the vigor and resilience of natural elements and to perceive the brutality and, ultimately, the fragility of instruments of mass ecological destruction.'”–A Year in the Park

[Photo courtesy of Listen Missy/GL Photo Pool]

This image comes from Third Street and Third Avenue in Gowanus and was contributed to our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool by Listen Missy! If you’re not a pool member and contributor, do consider joining. We’d love to see your pics.

“I live in Carroll Gardens and my landlord advised about 2 weeks ago that a Raccoon was spotted on our fire escape and to watch our windows. Well last weekend it paid me a visit and broke though the screen and entered my apartment going after my birdcage and frightening one of my birds to death. I managed to scare it off momentarily, it jumped back out of the hole it made in my screen. Once I closed the window it came right back and looked in again (similar to the picture in the article in the NY Times ) , and have had to keep my window locked ever since. The ASPCA wont do anything unless the animal is there at the moment you call so it looks like we will all have to just get used to them like we do with squirrels and pigeons.”–Brooklinks: Tuesday Rough Day Edition

[Photo courtesy of weenieart/GL Flickr Pool]

This contribution to our GL Photo Pool comes from weenieart and captures some sidewalk sale action on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. The obligatory strollers are included in the sale, of course.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, another hot, muggy day is brewing. Today’s forecast calls for it to be “partly sunny, very warm and humid; a couple of afternoon showers and a heavy thunderstorm.” The high will be 88 and it will feel like 97. Tonight will be “mostly cloudy with a couple of showers and a heavy thunderstorm.” The low will be 70–Accuweather

There are many facets to this work by Obey that is on S. 1 Street in Williamsburg between Kent and Wythe Avenues. It’s attached to the Streb Dance Company’s building, which is surrounded by the ongoing construction of the 80 Metropolitan project. What’s of interest in this case and renders it more than average street art is the fact that one of the buildings demolished to make way for Phase II of 80 Metropolitan used to be involved with the storage of pesticides, per city records, and that a building across the street on Kent Avenue (a yellow building that anyone that knows this part of Kent Avenue recognizes) is a paint factory whose toxic issues are also noted on many public records. In that sense, the placement of this Obey is certainly interesting, though it could randomly be wheat pasted up almost anywhere in industrial Williamsburg and end up as an unintentional comment on the surroundings.

Here’s a street couch we found waiting for pick up in Carroll Gardens the other day. Nice specimen.

Actually, it’s the storefront where stained glass was uncovered recently that will become a liquor store. It’s been converted for shooting for the film I Hate Valentine’s Day, which has been shooting locally in recent weeks, mainly in Windsor Terrace. The blog Shooting in Brooklyn, which covers film shoots, has some great pics of the action yesterday including a bunch of shots of actor John Corbett.

Go canoeing on Coney Island Creek, which has both natural life and the fascinating remains of sunken ships. It takes place on Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13 at Noon. To register call (718) 421-2021 after 9:00 a.m. on July 7.–Kinetic Carnival

There is a report posted on the Prospect Heights Forum at Brooklynian of a missing parrot:

I am looking for my Parrot. He flew out of my apartment building on St. Marks Ave.. between Classon and Franklin on the 4th of July. We miss him very much and hope that he is ok. If anyone has found him please contact me.

A subsequent post indicates that a bird sort of matching the description has been seen in Prospect Park on the other side of the meadow from the Picnic House. If the colors are accurate, he should stand out.

The long-running mystery at Verandah Place in Cobble Hill was solved recently when an eatery called Ted and Honey finally opened. Our faithful Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill correspondent pass by and reports: “Combo gourmet deli and salad case and light fare and brunch menu. Packed this weekend.”

One of our favorite Brooklyn blogs, Bed-Stuy Banana, is still posting in July, though on a reduced vacation schedule. Today’s post returns to a favorite themes–the memorial murals in Brooklyn remembering people that have died. As always, they range from simple to involved. Check them out.–Bed-Stuy Banana

We wouldn’t normally post a pic of a car that’s for sale, but this is no ordinary car. This is a ’58 Chevy that anyone who knows the area between about N. 9 and N. 12 Streets and Bedford and Wythe Avenues in Williamsburg has noticed at some point. Now, it’s up for sale for $5,000.

The details on this cream puff, ahead.

Here’s a fun vid posted to the YouTube in the last couple of days called “We Go to Coney Island.” We were pointed to it by Kinetic Carnival.