Neighborhood Threat

On the way to work this morning, we conceded to each other the sad likeliness that the 50% off sale at Harricco Pharmacy was a precursor to the place going out of business. Jokingly, we suggested to each other that a Duane Reade would surely move in - based on my theory that the only people who will be able to afford Manhattan Ave. will be the chains.

Tonight, getting off the G train, we ran into a local couple who were complaining about the same thing we were, and overheard them say, "And Duane Reade, here we come." They confirmed that it was going to be a Duane Reade, taking over the candy store on the very corner, the upstairs and the downstairs of the building, and that the buildings between it and the corner of Milton (except for the bank-now-medical-clinic) were going to be torn down and a highrise was going in.

This explains the businesses moving around, and the continual empty storefronts - who wants to move in if you're going to have to close up shop soon?

Confirmations and/or denials appreciated.

Posted by clr at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember George's?

Now, instead, we have this. Isn't it an improvement?

They took all the personality out of that old wonderful storefront, stuck a plate glass window on the front, and here we go, the mall-i-zation of Manhattan Avenue continues. The commercial real estate prices are keeping storefronts empty, and I fear that the costs will keep everyone away except chains. That will turn Manhattan Ave. into a bland boring corridor. I know I say we don't need another 99 cent store, but at least they have some quirkiness and personality and genuinely serve the community.

Posted by clr at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Cheeseburger Deluxe, that stalwart lifesaver at the God Bless Deli Grocery, has gone up in price - from $2.99 to $3.25.

It's been at least four years since the last price raise. I can deal.

Posted by clr at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The space housing the former XTRA on Manhattan (nearwill be split into two, and will house:

1) A hardware store (useful!)
2) A Washington Mutual.

The best graffiti I ever saw in Greenpoint was on the temporary siding around what is now the Bank of America:

WE NEED A MOVIE THEATER, NOT ANOTHER BANK

With the addition of Commerce Bank (going in down on North 5th and Bedford this summer), we've got a full house here. It's not that I mind another bank - it's just that it's clear from the FOR RENT signs up and down Manhattan Ave. that rents are going up and the only people who can afford them are large national concerns, which will turn the neighborhood into just another faceless strip mall.

On the other hand, I discovered yesterday that a Korean BBQ joint had opened up in the second half of the Socrates diner, down on Manhattan near Nassau. Maybe it's just a phase we have to go through.

Posted by clr at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Walking down Manhattan from the G Friday night, we notice lights in the former L and A Restaurant space. Now, someone in that space applied for a restaurant beer/wine license under the name Zaika of India, so we were eager to see the progress on the space.

It's not a restaurant.

It's another bodega.

The stretch of Manhattan between Milton and Greenpoint has, by my count, at least four bodegas already. I know it might SEEM like we need another one - and this one is huge - but not only am I angry as a resident that we're getting something we don't need, but as a businessperson, I question the business plan that made the owners seem like this was going to be a profitable enterprise?

Posted by clr at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Earlier this winter I joked to a friend that I was going to do a review of the 99 cent stores in Greenpoint. But then one closed, and then another closed, and I was STILL going to do it. But, time, and energy and all that. And I have been focused on finishing my second novel (hence the dearth of posts here.)

But tonight on the bus, I noticed that XTRA on Manhattan has big GOING OUT OF BUSINESS signs in the window and I got pissed. XTRA was a cut above the usual 99 cent crap on Manhattan Ave. The people who worked there didn't treat everyone like a potential shoplifter, and you could find nicer things than the other stores had.

That's a HUGE space. I guarantee that whatever goes in there will be 1) two stores, because it's too big for one undertaking and 2) some kind of crappy-ass chain that we don't need.

At least it can't be another bank, because they're already all here (Commerce is opening on Bedford this summer). I hope.

Posted by clr at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1) INDIAN FOOD COMES BACK TO GREENPOINT: From the CB1 agenda for next week, we see that a Zaika of India Inc. is applying for a restaurant beer/wine license. I could be dead wrong but it would seem that L and A Italian is being succeeded by an Indian restaurant. I will be VERY happy if this is true (although still sad to have lost L and A).

2) 155 Calyer: The former home of the hapless William Taft Vegetarian Diner is now some type of design studio. Which is a fine use of the space, but gosh we (selfishly) wish it was new commerce.

Posted by clr at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was skimming the CB1 mailing list about tonight's hearing, and as usual, paying close attention to the liquor license applicants. One entry caught my eye:

Sakura 6 - 837 Manhattan Avenue

837 Manhattan Ave. is on the corner of Noble, where the hardware store used to be. There's still a FOR RENT sign on it, but there is also a handwritten sign (magic marker on bright green posterboard) advertising the coming of Sakura Japanese restaurant, that has a branch in Ridgewood.

:::and there was much rejoicing:::

Now, when I think "Ridgewood" I think that wonderful, cheap, clean yet impossible to get to neighborhood in Queens, just over the border from Bushwick, but in this case, I think it might be Ridgewood, NJ, which is apparently home to a very well regarded Japanese restaurant called Sakura.

In either event:
1) NOT another Thai restaurant!
2) NOT another bank!
3) NOT another check cashing place!
4) NOT another dollar store!

Now, if the Ramen shop would only open up, I'd be in heaven.

Posted by clr at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On a weekday B61 ride up Manhattan Avenue, around 3:30pm, it seems that only ONE side of Socrates is for rent. The other side appears to be alive and kicking. Why it was not alive and kicking on a Saturday afternoon (when the photographs were taken) might be WHY that side is up for rent, but at least part of Manhattan Ave. has been saved from the Blimpies and Soup Men of the world.

At least for now.

Tomorrow, a report on a tree massacre and missing lightpost.

Posted by clr at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another Greenpoint establishment goes out of business. Socrates, despite its close proximity to the Nassau G stop and the busy intersection, somehow couldn't keep up with the times. Of course, we don't know what the rent was, and if it was raised, and if the building changed hands, or anything else; no one nearby seemed to know what had happened and why they were suddenly gone.

This end of Manhattan Ave. is one of Greenpoint's crossroads (Manhattan and Greenpoint Ave. being the other), not coincidentally because there's a subway stop there. But it also gets all the foot traffic of people coming up Bedford Ave. from the L stop, and three buses stop there as well. It's a great location for the right kind of business, one that can benefit the neighborhood because of its location and benefit the business because of its location. That assumes, of course, that the rent is not Bedford Ave.-unreasonable already on Manhattan Ave.

Posted by clr at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I apologize for the dearth of entries. Last week I was on vacation, and this past week I have been under the weather. I am hoping that this two-week absence from paying attention to the neighborhood accounts for me completely not noticing that George's Variety Store, a neighborhood institution, is gone.
No "going out of business" signs, no "EVERYTHING 50% OFF" (the usual warning). Just - gone.

I went out this afternoon, camera in hand, to take a few shots to accompany some pieces I'd wanted to write, and discovered, to my shock and horror, that George's old-fashioned storefront windows were completely empty, the shutters half-drawn. As the sign advertised, George's "Has Everything!" and the shopfront windows were always a barometer of the seasons and the changing times: in the winter, woolen hats and space heaters. In the summer, plastic sandals and beach toys. And last year, during the baseball playoffs, a Mets hat and a t-shirt were hurriedly stuck into the front-most corner of the window nearest the front door.

Even as it stood empty now, the signs on the front door still told stories. As I poked under the shutters to try to get a photo, an elderly woman stopped and questioned me: "What's going on?"
"I don't know, just that the store's gone and it's too bad, and I wanted to get a picture."
Another grey-haired resident strolled up as we began to chat, and I just stood there and listened to the two of them.

Apparently "he got a price he couldn't refuse," is the neighborhood scuttlebutt. That this was once one building, but now it's two, and the half that George's sits in (a liquor store is on the ground floor of the other half) has been sold. The women said they rightly didn't know what they'd do now that the store was gone: "Where will I get my clothesline?" And lamented some other closings that they just assumed I'd know by name: "Ed down the street, Sam--" she gestured down Manhattan Ave.

I need to come back in the morning when the cars are not streaking up and down Manhattan Ave., threatening to clip me in the rear as I stand in the middle of the road, trying to get a great shot of a great old sign : "Since 1938! Has everything! Greenpoint's favorite!" It would be nice to think that this establishment will be replaced by something that will truly serve the community, but if I'd have to guess:
1) 99 cent store
2) Mobile phone store
3) It will sit empty for the better part of a year (because the price that couldn't be refused will require a rent that nothing worthwhile can afford) and then we'll get a nondescript miserable chain-based something that will not last 12 months before going out of business, leaving behind another empty shopfront, this time with no character whatsoever.

Posted by clr at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm adding this here as a public service, because people Google for it all the time. It shows up in backpacker guides as reliable budget lodging, and it shouldn't (I'm not sure it ever should have).

IF YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE GREENPOINT HOTEL, YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY THERE. It is not safe, and I don't say that about much of NYC. Go to the Greenpoint YMCA instead. They have a hostel. I've had friends stay there dozens of times. It's perfectly fine, and the price is unbeatable.

I have this photo because I used to work in real estate and one of our landlords (who owns many loft buildings all over Brooklyn) also owns this hotel, and their office was in the hotel. So I had to go there to pick up leases and keys and drop off checks. Never ever took clients there (which they could never understand). I'd have them meet me at the Ash Box instead.

Posted by clr at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This post on Brownstoner today got me thinking about one of my pet peeves, Manhattan Avenue. Manhattan Ave. is a constant stream of traffic violations. People double-park with impunity. People park in bus stops. People do a three-point turn in the middle of the street to turn themselves around - in the middle of rush hour.

Commercial vehicles flaunt the rules just as much. I realize trucks need to park to unload but parking in the bus stop so the bus has to stop in the middle of the street is dangerous for passengers and blocks traffic in the other direction. As I commented on Brownstoner, our favorite offender is the armored car that picks up from the Dime Savings Bank at the corner of Manhattan and Calyer in the morning. It drives south down Manhattan Ave., and just before the bank, swerves into the northbound lane and parks (illegally) at the curb in the bus stop. This isn't a one-time occurrence, either.

If every meter maid in Greenpoint went up to Manhattan Ave. and ticketed the cars, vans, and trucks that parked illegally, double parked, parked in bus stops - all of which create actual, real traffic problems during rush hour - they'd have a bonanza. They'd also increase the quality of life in the neighborhood, which ticketing the poor guy who overslept and didn't get to move his car in time doesn't do.

Posted by clr at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This storefront on Manhattan Ave., between Norman and Meserole, was empty for a very long time. It had one of those great recessed entrances, maximizing the window space, as each side was a box and you walked in between them. It was the classic window-shopping setup.

There are still stores like this on Manhattan Ave. Part of me is amazed, that with the wealth of stores across the river, people in the neighborhood still happily shop here. It's not that they're carrying special lines of clothes imported from Poland (that I could understand - we have at least half a dozen shops carrying Polish health and beauty products), or even small local designers. It's just clothes, sneakers, jackets, jeans, that you could probably get anywhere. Not discount, not unique. Just clothes.

Unfortunately, this location was abandoned since before I moved to Greenpoint. I became interested in this space when , back when I was still in real estate, a commercial client was looking for space for an insurance brokerage. When I looked the address up on Property Shark, I saw that the landlord had applied for a permit to convert to office space. And when I called to inquire, they told me they already had a tenant.

I walked by there the other day - when I took this photo - and the construction is finally done and the carpet is in and the desks are set up, and it could very well end up an insurance brokerage. Someone I know suggested a travel agency, but although they are still popular in Greenpoint, even in these days of do-it-yourself-online, I doubt one would take on this much square footage.

I will have a cow if it's another goddamn bank -- unless it's Commerce (to be a complete hypocrite). Why there is no Commerce Bank closer than Ridgewood is beyond me.

Posted by clr at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)