CH History at Clinton Hill Art Gallery

Yesterday, Clinton Hill Art Gallery sponsored a talk with Margaret and Joan Vincent, two sisters who have spent their entire lives living in Clinton Hill. I found out about it only minutes before it started -- the Brooklyn Paper sent me over to take some photos -- so I was able to run over and sit in for part of the talk. (They'll have a full article about the event in the next issue.)The sisters, who have lived in the nabe since the 1930s, talked about all the fun they had here as children. They frequented a movie theater on Myrtle Ave, which once stood near Connecticut Muffin, and ice skated in Fort Greene Park, on a rink that stood where the tennis courts are now. In the 1940s, they lamented the loss of the mansions and yards razed to build what would become the Clinton Hill Co-ops between Myrtle and Willoughby, as they used to sled and play there.

And guess what Clinton Hill had a lot of back then? Bakeries. Go figure.

Clinton Hill Art Gallery does a series of August parlor chats every year, and it looks like the Vincent Sisters may have been the last one. The gallery's owner, L.B. Brown, has been a true pioneer, opening an art and framing shop on Myrtle in 1991, and the gallery in 2004.

Clinton Hill Art Gallery 154A Vanderbilt (at Myrtle)