Again, another one I'm totally late to. So late it's not worth saying it's a new place. But I recently stopped in and took some photos of the tiny but gorgeous flower shop with a small but beautiful selection of blooms.
Stem 112 South Oxford
There's been a lot of internet chatter both here and on the Local about how the neighborhood now has "too many pet stores." I don't disagree necessarily, but I don't want to wish failure on the new guy just because I'd rather see something else in the space. Plus, as someone who often buys heavy pet care items (cat litter), and has both a cat and a dog, I'm all for competition if it means the prices, stock and service gets better. Not to mention an option close-by. So which store is the best overall? I decided to stop at every local pet store (and a few grocery stores) to compare prices on some of the items I buy most to see which shop was Top Dog.
Here's what I was looking for:
Associated (Waverly Ave) Wellness (small) 15.59 Wellness (medium) N/A Feline Pine 4.19 Wee Wee Pads N/A
Nycpet.com (Myrtle Ave) Wellness (small) 12.99 Wellness (medium) 20.99 Feline Pine 8.99 Wee Wee Pads 25.99 (Bonus: friendly in-store cat)
Who's Your Doggy (Willoughby and Adelphi) Wellness (small) N/A Wellness (medium) 17.99 Feline Pine 8.99 Wee Wee Pads 24.99 (Bonus: SUPER friendly in-store cat)
ABC Pet Supply (DeKalb Ave) Wellness (small) 11.99 Wellness (medium) 15.99 Feline Pine 7.99 Wee Wee Pads 19.99
Kiki's (DeKalb Ave) Wellness (small) 13.99 Wellness (medium) 16.99 Feline Pine 6.99 Wee Wee Pads 32.99 (Bonus: buy 10 bags of food, get the 11th free)
Elly's Market (DeKalb Ave) Wellness (small) 16.99 Wellness (large) 18.99 Feline Pine 4.99 Wee Wee Pads N/A
Interesting. ABC did the best overall, offering the lowest price on 3 of the 4 items I was looking for. The rest of the stores offered range of pricing. The price variation was small enough that I'd probably pick the closest store to me for most of this (aside from the Wee Wee Pads, which I would NOT buy at Kiki's, and the Feline Pine, which I WILL go out of my way to buy at a grocery store and not a pet store).
If you do your own price comparison based on your regular buys, let us know what turns up.
On Saturday, I happened past the mysterious new store on DeKalb, once home to Urban Spring and Picnic, two failed eateries. I had heard rumors that it was a shoe store, but that clearly wasn't the case once inside. The store, called Feliz Brooklyn, celebrated its opening that day and offers a small selection of shoes for kids and adults, jewelry, aprons, Tocca candles and lotion, greeting cards, home decor, antiques and more. Owner Lilly Genevieve said that the store will carry some items year-round, while other items will be sole seasonally (sandals, umbrellas, etc). Her husband, from Argentina, built all of the display shelving.
The store was bustling with people, and most passers-by stopped in to take a peak. Maybe people were curious as to what was next for the space. Or maybe retail, and not food, is the right fit for this particular storefront.
Feliz Brooklyn 185 DeKalb Ave felizbrooklyn.blogspot.com
Another find by Mr. L, who saw this ad for The Gentrification of Brooklyn on Fulton.
The show will be at MoCADA (80 Hanson Pl) through May 15. Looks intriguing.
Last year, yogi Lindsay Sage offered free yoga in FG Park. I went a few times and it was amazing - there is nothing like spiritual exercise outside. Thankfully, she's back starting tomorrow. See you there!
Hari Om Brooklyn Yogis!
Yoga in Fort Greene Park is eager to start its second season! I hope you are as excited as I am to soak up the warmth of an outdoor practice.
Begins this Tuesday -- May 4 (until mid-July) Weather permitting 7-8PM Fort Greene Park -- near the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Bring mat (or use the grass) There is no charge but this year I will be accepting donations
Please feel free to pass this along to your friends that live or work in Brooklyn. Also -- FYI -- I teach Yoga in Riverside Park (my other home -- at 115th Street) on Wednesday evenings (6-7) and 6:15PM every other Sunday at my studio (http://www.iyiny.org/, though that's indoors and not nearly as fun).
Looking forward to seeing you!
xLindsay
I was unable to check out the house tour yesterday. Disappointing, since I've never done the Fort Greene tour. I did jet through the neighborhood though and saw lots of LONG lines waiting to get into houses. Guessing the amazing weather brought extra people out. Did you go? What were the highlights? What did you think?
Last week, I made most amazing discovery ever: A LOCAL (NON GROCERY) SHOP THAT IS OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK FROM 10AM-10PM. I have been in to Greenlight Bookstore before, but I never realized just how accommodating they were. In addition to offering a great selection (best sellers and NYC-centric books) and a beautiful space, they also host regular readings and author events. And are actually open after work. Wayyy after work.
I try to patronize as many local businesses as I can, and I know as a small business owner it's difficult to keep early and late hours every day. But it is frustrating to come home and need something, try to pick it up from a local shop and then realize they've all closed at 6 or 7pm. Greenlight makes it easy for me to keep it local.
To show my appreciation, I will be spending my 3/50 local spending money this month at Greenlight, buying at least one book a week at 9:45 pm (because I can!). First up, City Kid by Nelson George.
The fun hat store on DeKalb closed recently, and a pet store will open in its place. The merchandise has been loaded in over the last week. No idea yet what it will be like, but this past weekend I could see a whole selection of cat trees / scratching posts in the window.
Will this be an outpost of the ABC Pet Supply on PPW in Windsor Terrace? (I've never been there - just did a quick Google search).
Negative points for the unimaginative name; positive points for the hearty supply of scratching posts. What do you think?
(Aside - I remember when there was at most one pet store nearby. I think perhaps we're reaching our saturation point of pet services.)
(Carlton Ave)
I recently received this menu under the door:
Normally I wouldn't pay much attention, but the name of this place is truly awesome. A Google map search says this place is located near the park. I know there's a pizza place there, but I had no idea it had such a kick-ass name! Have they recently changed their name, or has it always been Luv-n-Oven? I'm sure I'll get a few comments of the "What, are you some newcomer that you don't know about this place?" variety, but I've been spending the last six years ordering from the equally-awesomely-named Not Ray's on Fulton. NR's does NOT offer Buffalo wings, while LnO does. Maybe I'll give them a try? (And speaking of that, I have on my to-do list a review of all of the Bflo wings in the nabe.)
So, what's up with Luv-n-Oven? How are the pies?
April 2010 EventsTillie’s of Brooklyn 248 DeKalb Avenue Brooklyn NY 11205 718 783-6140 www.tilliesofbrooklyn.com
Special Silent Auction to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti Presented by Pratt Institute's Community Engagement Board One evening only: Monday, April 19th 6 – 8 p.m. All artwork is done by Pratt Institute faculty, alumni and students. Bidding will start at 6:00pm and will end at 8:00pm. Whoever bids the most by 8:00 p.m. will take their work of original art work home. Money raised will go towards relief efforts in Haiti through Unicef.
Cloud Paintings Lucy Sikes April 20 – May 22, 2010 Lucy Durand Sikes is known to many as “The Brownstone Artist” because of her many portraits of homes and landmark buildings in the neighborhood. Less known are her paintings of landscapes and clouds. She came to Brooklyn to study graphic art and illustration at Pratt Institute in the 1950s, when whole blocks of houses were abandoned and being torn down in the name of urban renewal. With her late husband, Bill Sikes, she became dedicated to brownstone preservation. Together they helped found the Brownstone Revival Committee, which started the Back to the City movement and worked with the Pratt Area Community Council, and later the Clinton Hill Society, to preserve the houses of the neighborhood. Though she created scores of brownstone portraits, Lucy Sikes never abandoned her love of landscape painting.
Her work has been featured in one-woman shows in the Kaymar Gallery, Valsamis Gallery, Atlantic Gallery, Grand Army Plaza Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, the Long Island University Gallery and the Town Hall Gallery in Johnsonburg, NY, as well as group shows in the Brooklyn Museum, the Broome Street Gallery, Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and the Lever House Gallery. Over the years she participated in and helped organize many Clinton Hill Artists’ shows. She is a member of South of the Navy Yard Artists. Her art has appeared in Friends Journal, the New York Times, and The Phoenix newspaper. Artists’ Statement: “I am a realist and I suppose my art could be described as impressionist. I paint out in the fields and woods. Sitting on the ground with my paints spread out around me, I let myself become a conduit for the beauty in front of me. But I am always conscious of the underlying structure, which is defined by light: the mass of the hills and the volume of the trees. Clouds, although ephemeral, have every bit as much substance as the mountains and valleys. The movement of water is especially fascinating to me. Cumulus clouds as they move majestically across the sky are the subjects of my art. I feel their beginnings in moisture rising from earth, invisible until they reach a sharp line high above the ground -- a change from warm to cold air. Suddenly I see them billowing up. Ephemeral though they are, nonetheless they possess a beautiful structure in their brief solidity. The heart of my imagery is in western New York, with its long hills and valleys. I relish the colors of alternating woodlots and fields, and the subtle colors in the clouds. I return to the same farms and wooded waterfalls year after year. Always the same, yet always different, these images form a spiral as I grow in my understanding of their color.” Reception: Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 7-9 p.m.
(Lafayette Ave near Washington)
Recently received this April promotion for $10 classes at Lucky Lotus Yoga on DeKalb. I've actually caught a few classes here recently and liked it a lot. And check out a post on Lucky Lotus from the Local here. (No, I have not done "death yoga." Not my bag. But the non-death yoga classes have all been enjoyable!) WHAT: $10 Yoga Classes at Lucky Lotus Yoga
FOUR WAYS to GET LUCKY – The Lucky Lotus 4 Leaf Clover: · Every Day one $10 Class is Offered on the Schedule · APRIL: Stop in to LuluLemon Brooklyn and pick up a $10 Lucky Lotus Card for ANY Class · APRIL: Bring in your April receipt from LuluLemon to Lucky Lotus and attend ANY class for $10 · APRIL: Attend a FREE CLASSES at LuluLemon Brooklyn, taught by a Lucky Lotus teacher, and you next class with that teacher is $10.
WHEN: The Month of APRIL
WHERE: Lucky Lotus Yoga in Ft. Greene 203 Dekalb Avenue (btwn Carlton & Adelphi) Brooklyn, NY 11205
Subway: C to Lafayette Avenue G to Clinton/Washington N/R, B, Q to Dekalb Avenue
A reader snapped this shot of a beautiful old tree on the Washington Park side of Fort Greene Park that was damaged by the recent rain storm. No word yet if it will have to come down. I know a tree is a plant and not a person, but it makes me sad to see that a living thing that's been in the park for so many years, and so many generations of neighborhood residents, might be removed.
(Greene Ave)
This weekend: bring your dog to off leash, help clean up, and earn treats! This info just in from Fort Greene PUPS:
Every spring in Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene PUPS hosts our annual poop pick-up. We call it a treasure hunt, since it is sometimes difficult to find the offending substance. We realize that runs contrary to what some park users think, but all you have to do is look in one of the trash cans at Fort Greene Park to see that the majority of dog owners do indeed pick up after their dogs. Unfortunately, there are some renegades who are either unobservant or uncaring, so PUPS works to promote responsibility among local dog owners. And since us dog folks use the park 365 days a year, we are usually the ones who end up stepping in dog doo if it gets left behind. Not to mention the hardworking park staff, who get the unenviable task of cleaning up the mess when it's not picked up by dog owners.
In the war against poo, PUPS knows that a once yearly clean-up is a drop in the bucket. We do our best, but as you can imagine, this "event" is a hard sell. To promote this unglamorous affair in the past, we've had a "Grand Poo-Bah" poop weighmaster come in and weigh the amounts picked up, with the winner walking away with a prize.
This year PUPS is trying something new for our annual spring cleaning. We're giving away plastic Easter eggs stuffed with a free poop bag, dog ScooterSnack, and chocolate egg. We'll be in the park during morning off-leash hours this Saturday and Sunday distributing the eggs. If you have a dog, and you use the park, consider it your doo-ty to clean up any leftovers from winter.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton Street (@ the corner of South Portland)
Join Young Friends of PACC for the Working in the Shadows Book Reading!
What is it like doing the back-breaking work of low-wage immigrants? To find out, Gabriel Thompson spent the year working alongside Latino immigrants, who initially thought he was either crazy or an undercover immigration agent. He stooped over lettuce fields in Arizona and worked the graveyard shift at a chicken slaughterhouse in rural Alabama. He dodged taxis as a bicycle delivery “boy” for an upscale Manhattan restaurant and was fired from a flower shop in Chelsea. Combining personal narrative with investigative reporting, Working in the Shadows shines a bright light on the underside of the American economy, exposing harsh working conditions, union busting, and lax government enforcement—while telling the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.
Not so long before he went undercover as part of the low-wage immigrant workforce, Brooklyn-based author Gabriel Thompson was the director of community organizing at PACC. The Young Friends of PACC are thrilled to host this book reading at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene.
Arrive early, light refreshments and wine will be served.
Young Friends of PACC is dedicated to engaging community members in their 20s and 30s in activities supporting affordable housing, tenant rights, community and economic development in Central Brooklyn.
For more info on this event, please call 718-522-2613 x 14.
I've heard varying opinions on the Dine in Brooklyn promotion, mainly that the portions are small and you don't get to try the best stuff from the regular menu. Whether you're a fan or not, it's a good reminder of what's available right down the street. (Or hey, be adventurous and try a different neighborhood!) Here are the participating restaurants in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene (I have bolded my personal favs):
B = breakfast
L = lunch
D = dinner
CLINTON HILL*
Amina Italian Bistro BD Italian 458 Myrtle Avenue 718-422-1122 www.animabistro.com
Autour du Monde D French 860 Fulton Street 718-398-3500 www.restaurantautourdumonde.com
Five Spot Soul Food Restaurant D Soulfood 459 Myrtle Avenue 718-852-0202 www.fivespotsoulfood.com
Il Porto Ristorante & Brick Oven Pizza D Italian 37 Washington Avenue 718-624-0954 www.ilportobrooklyn.com
Kush Café D French/Pan-African 17 Putnam Avenue 718-230-3471 www.kushcafe.com
FORT GREENE Aqualis Grill D Mediterranean 773 Fulton Street 718-797-3494 www.anellabrooklyn.com
Caffe e Vino BLD Italian 112 Dekalb Avenue 718-855-6222 www.caffeevino.com 718-384-6777
Chez Lola D French 387 Myrtle Avenue 718-858-1484 www.bistrolola.com American
Chez Oskar D French 211 DeKalb Avenue 718-852-6250 www.chezoskar.com
Dajeh Restaurant LD Caribbean 919 Fulton Street 718-857-1616 www.dajeh.com
Graziella’s Italian Restaurant LD Italian 232 Vanderbilt Avenue 718-789-5663 www.graziellasmenu.com
iCi D French/American 246 Dekalb Avenue 718-789-2778 www.icirestaurant.com
Luz Restaurant BLD Latin American 177 Vanderbilt Avenue 718-246-4000 www.luzrestaurant.com
Madiba Restaurant BLD South African 195 Dekalb Avenue 718-855-9190 www.madibarestaurant.com
Mullanes Bar & Grill BLD Irish/American 71 Lafayette Avenue 718-797-7606 www.mullanesbrooklyn.com
Olea Restaurant D Mediterranean 171 Lafayette Avenue 718-643-7003 www.oleabrooklyn.com
Scopello Ristorante Bar BD Italian 63 Lafayette Avenue 718-852-1100 www.scopello.net
Thomas Beisl D Austrian/Viennese 25 Lafayette Avenue 718-222-5800
*As always, disappointed that Locanda Vini e Olii is not participating (again)
(25-cent parking, off of Fulton Street)
Links to other news stories in the neighborhood:
Clinton Hill Blog published from 2006 - 2010. Please enjoy these archives - a love letter to the neighborhood.
