The Unemployment Cafe reported the soft opening of Urban Vintage last week the name of the long-intriguing storefront on Grand at Clifton - while we were on vacation. Check the post and some photos here. Can't wait to stop by!
Did you survive the snow?
Alternate side parking is suspended today- yay!
Our trust reporter Van and his family were stricken with a stomach flu this weekend. He'll be recuperating this week and will be back with us on CHB next week. Feel better, Van!
Jelani Bandele, a four-decade resident of Clinton Hill, is readying to publish her second edition of Plenty, a guide featuring listings of brick & mortar and home-based businesses, houses of worship, community organizations, restaurants, bars, web sites, Wi-Fi locations, elected officials, history, ongoing events and more in the neighborhood. To be green, the guide will be printed on-demand. The first guide was printed in 2003. It just predates my time in the neighborhood, so I'm eager to see what the new guide will look like.
I spoke with Jelani about her timing, and how businesses that have opened since 2003 can be included:
Why did you decide to publish the second edition in 2010? I was prompted to get to work on an update when the neighborhoods began to experience a large influx of people from other boroughs and overseas, a large number of ethnic restaurants, cafes and other businesses, began opening en masse; and residential development seemed endless. So much has changed, including some of our elected officials, that the first edition is almost obsolete.
Will businesses that have opened since 2003 need to ask you to be included? We've done our homework, so new businesses don't have to ask to be included. However, to be sure, we have opened the door so that businesses opened since July 2003 and those that are still under the radar, with plans to open by the end of May 2010, may contact us via email (plentyug@aol.com) to see if we have them listed and to provide us with specific information. Details on getting listed in Plenty may be found at our blog and in the Notes section on our Facebook page.
The cover of Plenty 2010 will be revealed in late December or early January.
Thanks, Jelani, and we look forward to seeing the new guide! Check out the guide's blogspot site, Facebook page and Twitter account.
CHB will be off on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday (even though Lesterhead has to work tomorrow- wtf?). Enjoy!
So I know I am behind on most everything, after the wedding, honeymoon, jetlag and starting a new job. So here's some stuff that's been going on in the 'hood:
The Urban Oyster tour company recently reached out to me to tell me they give tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard for the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. Many tour attendees have either been people who have parents or grandparents who worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard or people who live in neighborhoods close to the Yard. Sunday, November 22nd will be the last Brooklyn Navy Yard bus tour this year. Tours will resume in the spring.
Might be a fun way to get an inside glimpse!
Society for Clinton Hill General Meeting November 19, 2009, 7 – 9 pm St. Angela Hall, St. Joseph’s College, 267 Waverly Ave., (DeKalb/Willoughby)
AGENDA 7:00 Refreshments featuring a local restaurant Halloween recap in pictures. WOW! Clinton Hill is Halloween !
7:30 Welcome and announcements, Dave Haberer, President
7:40 New Business Introductions: *Fresh Fanatic, a new natural and organic market at 88 Washington Ave. *Stem, a new flower and gift shop on So. Oxford St., near Fulton
7:50 Meet Your Neighbors: Food, wonderful food, just in time...
Michael Allen, from the bakery on Fulton with the same name, will demonstrate how to make those wonderful chocolate covered strawberries and will take questions.
Anna Kovel, from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, will offer another cooking demonstration and will also take questions.
Suzanne DeBrango, board member and excellent cook, will give us an update on the newly forming Food Co-op.
8:30 Update on Atlantic Yards, Candace Carpontor, esq. Review of what is happening with the lawsuits.
8:50 OPEN MIC Sign up at the door to make your 1 minute announcement.
Making natural wreaths: visit Brent Porter’s table before and after the meeting to get pointers on how to make beautiful wreaths from neighborhood plant offerings. The birds like them too.
Remember: -Come and pick up your free “No Flyer” cards. -Update your membership or give us corrections to your information. -No meeting in December. Next meeting: Thursday, January 21, 2010. -Landmark books for sale at meeting. $15 each, cash.
Local boutique Thistle and Clover is holding a holiday season trunk show, and one of the featured designers (Lauren Wimmer) is a Fort Green resident! See below for details.
TAILORED EVENT NIGHT: LAUREN WIMMER & MARAIS USA TRUNKSHOW
Thistle & Clover cordially invites you to the first Tailored Event Night of the holiday season, taking place on Wednesday, November 18th from 5-8PM.
The event will feature a curated selection of pieces by two of Thistle & Clover’s boldest accessories designers. Discerning Brooklyn and Manhattanites alike can stock up on Lauren Wimmer statement necklaces, as well as a covetable array of Marais USA party shoes just in time for the festive months ahead! All rsvps should include party goers shoe sizes!
Meet the women behind the collections, take advantage of a 20% discount extended to all Lauren Wimmer jewelry, and enjoy complimentary sweets and bubbly. An added treat: Fort Greene flower shop Stem will give away special seasonal bouquets as parting gifts to the night’s revelers!
MARAIS USA www.maraisusa.com Marais USA has made a splash on the fashion scene since their inception. Haley Boyd and Catherine Chen, two former Parsons students, started Marais USA in order to fill a void in the market for simple, classic shoes retailing for under $100. The result is a collection of “functional, utilitarian, classic shapes that can pretty much be worn with anything from pants, to skirts, to dresses, to shorts with tights.” Recent press includes accolades from Daily Candy, Nylon Magazine, Lucky Magazine, New York Magazine and Refinery29.
LAUREN WIMMER www.laurenwimmer.com Lauren Wimmer graduated from Wellesley College with a joint major in sculpture and art history. Wimmer’s now 5-year-old collection is comprised of vibrantly colored ribbon-wrapped pieces paired with tactile geometric stone beads. Her current season draws its inspiration from the dilapidated garden spaces at Satis House illustrated in Dickens’ Great Expectations.
STEM Stem owners Rado Bomba and Delgis Canahuate purvey pretty floral arrangements and fresh herbs from their storefront on South Oxford St- just blocks away from Thistle & Clover! Since opening this past June, Delgis & Rado’s quirky decor has garnered attention for being nearly as enchanting as their flowers: tree branch hooks adorn their store and flowers are tended to in a vintage 1930s sink. Their customer database is kept via antique typewriter. 112 S. Oxford St, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718 722 4767.
THISTLE & CLOVER www.thistleclover.com Thistle & Clover opened March 2008 in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. Co-founders Rand Niederhoffer and Camilla Gale conceived of Thistle & Clover as a home away from home. Stacks of beautifully wrought bangles and rings sit amidst vintage books and hand pressed note cards. The clothing is carefully hand picked from an exciting group of young, up-and-coming designers that fit into Thistle & Clover’s unique and accessible aesthetic.
Wallet-friendly blog Brokelyn, focusing on ways to enjoy our borough without breaking the bank, recently went on a hunt to find the most honest and reasonable bicycle tuneup. I'm proud to report that he found his best, and friendliest, deals in Fort Greene (Bicycle Station and Bespoke). Well-done, local businesses!
Check out the story here.
Just a reminder that CHB will be non-responsive through October 19. I have drafted up posts to publish every day, but will not be responsive to emails and comments. See you again just in time for Halloween!
This afternoon, my computer started displaying a flashing folder with a question mark. That's all it will do. I have an appt with Apple on Sunday, so bear with me until I'm up and running again. Also, Lesterhead will be honeymooning from 10/8-19. I will schedule a bunch of posts to publish while I am away, but if you have something you want covered or answered, send it before then.
Thanks, readers, for all of your messages of congratulations! Just thought you might want to see Mr. and Mrs. Lesterhead as the features Vows couple in the Times. Click here to check it out! Flowers and cake were both amazing, and the fam loved Il Porto. More photos to come.
Another recommendation outside the 'hood: the Nu Hotel on Smith and Atlantic. Most of our guests stayed there, the staff was amazing and the hotel is fun and unique.
Bear with me while I get back into the swing of things.
Lesterhead's getting hitched on Saturday, so we're taking a few days off. (Van will be here Friday for his latest with Tillie.)
For those of you who have emailed me info and announcements, I scheduled most of these last few weeks' posts in advance and have not had time to update much new stuff.
We'll be back on Monday, Sept. 28. (Honeymooning in October!)
(Move About Myrtle skating rink, taken by Kizzy)
So. Did you go to Michael Jackson's birthday party on Saturday? (I got caught up running wedding errands, and was still a bit put out about the location change. The rain didn't help my motivation.) If you went, tell us how it was.
Welcome to the new and improved Clinton Hill Blog! We've implemented a new design and added some new features for your browsing enjoyment:
1. Forums - this is the place to sell stuff, discuss your own content, etc. The forums WILL be monitored, and if they are being abused will be removed. Please be respectful (and please keep sending your tips to us and not just posting them in the forum!).
2. Recently in Clinton Hill - this section collects the titles of the most recent five posts, and includes the number of comments on each. It will allow users a one-glance overview of the latest posts.
3. Restaurant Spotlight - this will change regularly to feature a post about a local business (not necessarily a restaurant, but it is for now).
4. Word on the Hill - we'll pick the most interesting comments to feature here regularly
5. Stay in Touch - shows you all the ways to keep in touch with CHB
6. CHB Store - we've set up a CafePress store for all of your CHB merch needs. (NOTE: I just ordered some products a few days ago to make sure the logo printing is OK - waiting for order to arrive!)
7. Friday Photo - will appear in the posts, but will also remain up in a separate column for the week
You will notice that the photo headers change upon refresh! Each photo was submitted by a CHB reader. The full photos and photographers will be featured in a future post (and are also listed on the "About" page).
Unfortunately, the blogroll listings did not transfer over perfectly and many ended up in the wrong category. I'll have it fixed shortly.
A GIANT thanks to ThinkSo Creative, headed by Fort Greene resident Elizabeth Amorose. She and her team designed our awesome new logo and site. Another GIANT thanks to Joey Cruz, my web programmer and designer for many years.
Hello, fair readers! We've been using this blog template for a few years now, and have been working on a redesign for the last several months. The plan is to flip the switch overnight. Bear with us if there are any problems. See you on the other side!
xoxo,
CHB
Follow us here: http://twitter.com/clintonhillblog
CHB is on vaca today. Go get a hot dog and enjoy the holiday wknd. Here's hoping we'll be able to see some fireworks from our rooftops, now that cheap-ass Macy's is only setting theirs off on the Hudson.
Clinton Hill Blog published from 2006 - 2010. Please enjoy these archives - a love letter to the neighborhood.
