Hello, old fans. There have been several problems with the old design of this site, and as a way to simplify (as well as a way for me to practice my very basic CSS skills), I've given CHB a facelift. I still have some work to do, like attributing old posts to the correct author, as well as restoring old embedded photos.
Yes, I am still homesick. But I love that whenever I'm back in the neighborhood I still run into someone I know.
Hope to see you around the Hill sometime soon.
xo
It's been nearly two years since we left Clinton Hill. While it's important to me to keep the site up as an archive for the neighborhood, the site keeps being bombarded by spam comments which is apparently related to the site's occasional crashing. Occasionally, I do still receive a comment on an old post that is valid and related, but it's just not worth it to deal with the spam/virus situation. So for now, all posts older than two weeks - which is all of them but this one - will be closed for comments.
Hope everyone is well.
xo- lesterhead
Lesterhead here. I just now got around to updating our "About" page, to explain that daily posting ended in July 2010. It's been almost a year since I left the neighborhood. The homesickness was honestly heartbreaking for a long time, but I've slowly acclimated to a new setting. (In case you were wondering, we moved to Stuyvesant Heights.)
I was visiting friends back at the CH Co-Op this afternoon and realized how much has changed - new businesses on Myrtle (a Polish food restaurant!), organic produce at the Associated on Waverly, etc. But also, how much has stayed the same - the glorious magnolias!
Would love to hear from residents and old friends - what's new in the nabe? What's changed in the last year? What blogs are you reading these days?
xo- LH
I consider this date, July 19, to be the official anniversary of Clinton Hill Blog. Four years ago today, I started this site thinking I'd do a few posts and then run out of things to write about. What I didn't know was that I was about to embark on an extraordinary journey that would teach me more than I ever thought I'd know about Clinton Hill, would introduce me to countless new friends and neighbors, many wonderful local business owners, and a fascinating community of bloggers throughout New York City. One of my favorite early memories of writing this site was my first post about the Adelphi Station post office (apologies that the photos no longer work- lost in translation over platform changes and such). The response was an indicator that I wasn't alone in my observations and that there was a real need for a local blog - a place for people to talk about the things they loved and the things they wanted to improve, a curiosity about local history and businesses both old and new, and a desire to connect to their community in a variety of ways.
Other favorite CHB memories include the tour of Kelso brewery, our tour of the set of Hammered, Tillie's Community Mural "You Are Here," our 2008 Buying Local Gift Guide for the holidays, CHB Interviews (the first was Kath Hansen, PUPS founder!), and this haunted house.
In the years since starting the site, I've taken on more challenging professional jobs that require much more of my time and energy, I've gotten married and earned a graduate degree. Over the last year especially, it's been much more challenging to get a post up almost every single weekday, but I've been driven by my love for the neighborhood and the support of readers. Keeping CHB up has been even more difficult this last month, as Mr. Lesterhead and I have just moved to a bigger place, outside of Clinton Hill.
I feel strongly that local blogs be written by people living in the communities they write about. Given our recent move and CHB's fourth anniversary, today feels like a natural stopping point for the site, at least in its current incarnation.
Maintaining this site hasn't always been easy. Over the years the blogosphere has become more cut-throat and less of a collective support system, and occasionally a free-for-all for anonymous nasties (which has made it difficult some days to remember why I stated the site in the first place). My goal for the site has always been sharing local stories and focusing on residents and businesses who have made a positive contribution to the neighborhood, and I think I've been mostly successful in maintaining that vision. Despite many assuming that my vision has been journalistic, I've always thought of myself more as a non-fiction writer.
I find it hard to imagine that I would never post here again, so this is not necessarily goodbye forever or completely. I don't think I'd be able to stay away completely if I tried! However, today will mark an end to regular daily posting.
For all of my loyal readers over the last four years, thank you so much for your support, tips and comments.
During the summer of 2006, if you didn't spend your Sunday afternoons at the Rope and you lived around here and were of legal drinking age, then I have three words for you: Shame on you.
Not only was the gas grill out back being loaded down to the fullest with burgers, dogs, veggies and the like, but Matt Preis, aka "Max Power" was inside mixing up some of the best Bloody Marys around.
Now personally, I don't drink Bloody Marys, but if you see the same people coming in, ordering the same thing and raving about them, they must be pretty excellent, right?
Over the past couple of years, Preis has taken on other neighborhood establishments with the "Max Power Bloody Battles" and tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Moe's Bar & Lounge on Lafayette, he's holding the first "Max Power Bloody Mixer," which is open to the community.
I caught up with "Max" and here's some of the background and details:
How did the idea for the Bloody Mary Battles come about?
The idea for Max Power's Bloody Battle began when many of the bartenders on Myrtle started giving me [grief] because they kept hearing I had the best Bloody Mary in town—and they were jealous! Finally I organized a battle so we could put up or shut up. I lost by one vote but I still blame it on one person who didn't show up—he usually drinks at least five! So Maggie Brown got lucky I say.
Our neighborhood is pretty chummy, I feel. What do you think the past contests have done for community spirit?
One unforeseen byproduct of these battles is that they are bringing together a lot of people who work in the industry and the patrons who all know them from separate places. And when we get together we all have a blast, proving that no matter where you go in a Brooklyn neighborhood you're usually guaranteed a good time served up by good people. Especially in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, where I feel there is a huge camaraderie and mutual respect among restaurant/bar workers and their patrons.
What made you decide to hold an open competition this go-around?
I decided to host an open competition because I have been promising to do this since the competition began. When I started this, I didn't know I would keep doing it, but once I realized I would do a whole round in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill I always knew I would open up one Battle to residents. In the end, we are looking to find the Queen/King of Bloody Mary for each neighborhood so it's only fair to open it up to residents.
It's coinciding with Moe's ninth anniversary, right? Were they like, "Get Max Power in here to liven the festivities!"
I approached Moe's with the idea and the date I randomly proposed happened to be on their anniversary. At first we thought we couldn't do it because of the anniversary, but after a brief thought we realized that's a perfect time to bring the neighborhood together.
And Matt, I hate to bring this up, but you haven't taken home the title yet: What's up with that?
The obvious and easy answer is that people are idiots! But actually, I am also a victim of messing with my mix in the second battle—I totally screwed it up trying to make it even better. And in the third battle I maintain that my mix suffered because I'm so busy organizing these things I had to make it at the last minute! Anyway, so far I'm always number two so look out 'cause I'm coming with guns blazing from here on!
So come drink your choice of the best Bloody Marys in Fort Greene/Clinton hill and if you are a resident and have the guts, bring a big can worth of mix and see if you can make it into the next round!
"Kick, kick, kick: GOOOAAALLL!"
Hey everyone, it's Van and Tillie with a special World Cup edition of Lunchtime With Tillie. The above phrase is a quote from T and it's what she says whenever she sees any soccer on TV or is kicking a ball around the house. (She was introduced to the sport through an episode of "Dora the Explorer.") I bring up Tillie's love of soccer because it played a part in our dining experience at Dominican restaurant El Cofre, located on Myrtle Avenue.
It's funny, but after being in the neighborhood for years I had only eaten there once before and that was during the Myrtle Avenue block party last year. I always walked by the place but never thought to give it a shot, and as it is, I hadn't gone back since that day. The food was fine, but it just hadn't reached "must-have-El Cofre" status, even though a couple of people have told me the pork chops there are amazing.
Now that I've given you that boring history lesson, let's take it to the present day with our trip there. It started as any other LWT day: Tillie plays; she goes to sleep, which always seems to be later than usual on the days we're going out for lunch; I sit around starving, hoping she wakes up soon so we can go out. When my little sleeping beauty finally did wake up, I was in full get-out-the-door mode, thinking of a place to go that's accommodating proximity- and price-wise. So El Cofre it was.
We got there and only a couple of people were sitting at tables with a few people standing in line getting their orders to go. We took a seat and I asked the waitress for a high chair. It arrived and I set Tillie up in it—as best as I could because the buckle was broken. I just had to hope she wasn't in the mood to hop up and down in the chair: It's always the little things!
After looking at the menu, I decided to keep it pretty basic with the chicken, rice and black beans lunch special. For Tillie, I ordered some rice and beans.
While we were waiting for the food to arrive, Tillie's attention was focused on the TV up in the corner playing the Brazil-South Korea game. I was afraid she'd hop up in her seat, ready to get a game on, but she managed to stay put!
My food arrived pretty quickly as it was just a matter of assembling it from the hot trays at the front. I ordered it with the yellow rice, but it was brought over with white instead. By the time that was rectified, Tillie's food came over. It was red beans with yellow rice, but I had ordered black beans for her, too. There were a lot of colorful mix-ups being made, but I figured I'd let Tillie try those beans and if she didn't like them, she could have mine.
I took my first bite, and it was just what I ordered: chicken, rice and beans. I'm sorry I can't give a more apt description, but there's really nothing more to say about it. Sure, the meal was tasty, but I wouldn't be submitting it for a chicken, rice and black beans contest! Tillie only ate a few bites of her food. The beans didn't bother her, it was just a matter of not really wanting to eat at the time and probably being a little too captivated by the match. I gave her a bite of chicken, which she didn't dig—as evidenced by her passing the chewed-up morsel back to me.
I finished up my plate, and asked to get her food wrapped up to go and for the check.
Despite the experience being pretty no-frills, I think we would go there again: A $5 plate is always hard to pass up! And there was plenty of space to sit at there. Maybe we can make it back during the World Cup as Tillie seems to enjoy it when a good match is on. (Or I could just fire up the DVR and let her watch that old Dora the Explorer soccer episode we have!)
(This is our second post in our Absolut partnership, and is written by contributor BonnyPrinceBilly who covered the event.)
On Wednesday, June 9th at 517 Lafayette Avenue, a crowd of forty or so press and PR execs, Absolut reps, and several Brooklyn celebrities, including Brooklyn’s own Spike Lee, gathered to award Habitat for Humanity a check for fifty thousand dollars in front of a new Habitat for Humanity housing development located just over the Clinton Hill border. The event took place in conjunction with the launch of Absolut's new "Absolut Brooklyn" flavored vodka.
Among the notables in attendance were Melvin Dick, senior vice president of Southern Wine and Spirits of America, Harvey R. Chaplin, owner of Southern Wine and Spirits, Josh Lockwood, Executive Director of Habitat-NYC, Al Vann, councilman for district 36 which represents Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
The new Habitat development itself is not scheduled to be ready for occupants until next year. New owners in the building must earn between 50% - 80% of the city’s area median ($38,757 to $61,440 for a family of four), and must be first-time home owners. While I've heard of Habitat's famous houses before, this was the first time I saw one going up so close to home. It's inspiring to see more housing being built that will allow folks not making six figures a year the chance at that elusive NYC dream: home ownership.
Mr. Lockwood told the assembled crowd stories of Habitat-NYC’s recent successes, including the development of the site at 514 Lafayette Avenue. The current building will have four units of spacious, green-engineered, affordable housing. I asked a Habitat volunteer to describe the procedure for getting one of the units. She said you have to be under the maximum income requirement, but other than that they are first come, first served. The Habitat website states that the units will be condos and not rentals. This will be a great opportunity for first time homeowners, who will be required to work 300 hours on the building. The requirement to actually work hands-on in the building of one's own home is a great way for occupants to be directly involved in the history of their home.
Looking across the street at 505 Lafayette Avenue, where I lived for three years (with rats, roaches, and bed bugs), I could hardly believe so many important (and incredibly wealthy) people would be gathered on this stretch of sidewalk.
The best result of Wednesday’s media extravaganza is $50,000 for community building on a block that desperately needs it. Lafayette Plaza, where I lived, is a money mill for its landlords, who bought the place for a song in 2004 and did not bring it up to code before renting it at higher than market rates to the new wave of young people who are colonizing Brooklyn along the G line. My sense of disconnect from the media-event-in-a-bubble versus my lived reality of the block crystallized when, walking down the street after the event, a woman asked me what the fuss was all about. I said, “Spike Lee is down there promoting Absolute Vodka.” She said with a big smile, “Imagine that! Spike Lee on our block!”
I am pleased to announce that Clinton Hill Blog has been selected as a partner site for Absolut Vodka's launch of Absolut Brooklyn, a new apple-ginger flavor developed in partnership with Spike Lee that celebrates Brooklyn stoop life.
As part of today's big launch, I'm supposed to share my "stoop story" with readers. Problem is, I don't have a stoop! But I do have a courtyard, which is just as good in the Brooklyn sense.
When I moved to Clinton Hill, I was looking for the type of community that I always imagined existed in NYC but I hadn't yet been able to find -- a place where people said good morning to one another, and put down roots. In my last building in Hell's Kitchen, my neighbors wouldn't even make simple eye contact with me, even though I looked at them hopefully every time, hoping we'd at least be able to smile and say hello. And I certainly found that in Clinton Hill.
My building (and several others) face in toward a lovely courtyard with wooden benches and large, shady trees. The benches are, as Brooklyn relaxation spots are known to be, reflective of the buildings and the neighborhood. Every day, the old time residents set up shop to exchange neighborhood gossip. New mothers sit rocking babies in the breeze. Young people wait for their friends to meet up before heading out for some NYC adventure. Whether you're stopping to sit and chat or just passing through -- on the way to do the laundry, get your heels fixed at the place across the street, or picking up some groceries -- the courtyard is always a buzzing hive of conversation, fixed and in transit. The courtyard has contributed to my tardiness on several occasions when I've run into a neighbor that I just have to stop and catch up with, and has also been a place where I've met new people. Just off of the courtyard, my neighbors and I have cheered on marathoners every November, sipping hot chocolate and hosting brunches.
I often have parties at my place, and my non-local friends always marvel at the fact that I actually invite neighbors. If they'd spent any time in the courtyard, it would be obvious - we're all working together to cultivate our co-op equivalent of the Brooklyn Stoop. And it's a really awesome asset to be able to share with my friends and neighbors.
Full disclosure: I received a bottle of ABSOLUT BROOKLYN and a pretty cool flip camera for writing about stoop life and stoop culture in Brooklyn! Any post displaying the Absolut seal is a sponsored post.
Greetings, all! It's Van and Tillie with the latest in Lunchtime With Tillieness. This time, we've encountered a bit of a "sticky wicket" with detailing our latest midday meal, all courtesy of Manee Thai on Myrtle Avenue, more of which I'll detail later. (Don't worry, not too late: I know you have things to do besides read LWT all day!)
It all started on that recent day when it hit 90-something outside. I was tempted to just stay in, but the only thing to eat was shells and cheese, which I don't think I'd eaten since I was T's age. So off we went to get food and pick up some sunscreen for Tillie along the way with me being the multitasker and all.
We made our way down to Walgreen's and after spraying some of the sunscreen on her, we started walking back toward the house. On our journey down Myrtle, we saw a few restaurants we hadn't hit before and ended up choosing Manee Thai.
We took our seats with no worries, and I gave a quick glance at the menu. I decided to get the Thai fried rice lunch special, which came with a spring roll, choice of soup or salad (I chose the soup) and a soda. And since I've recently become a fan of the Thai curry puffs, I decided to get some of those as well for an appetizer.
The first course came out, the salad. Oh, but wait: You read it right a second ago—I ordered soup. No biggie on the mix-up, I said to the waiter; the soup came out quickly.
After tasting it, though, I kind of wished it would've stayed in the back. It was exceptionally bland with tiny pieces of what appeared to be frozen vegetables and bits of tofu floating around. I had a couple of bites and was done with it. Tillie had nothing to do with it at all.
The curry puffs arrived next. The taste was OK, but they were so doughy and dense. Tillie had a bite, then another, then another, then … you get the idea: She was killing them! You would've thought these were pastries handed down from the gods the way she was eating them. She ended up polishing them off.
So I was at two strikes so far on the food, while T was basking in the glow of finishing those Thai curry boulders. The rice and spring roll came out and I thought, you really can't get rice wrong, right? Wrong! It looked intriguing on the menu: fried rice with tomatoes, onions, peas and chicken. And that's how it was served. The problem with it was the overwhelming burnt flavor. That wasn't what I was looking for! There was no way Tillie was going to eat this.
Now I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life—giving Tillie's mom half of my sandwich one day when I was really hungry, wearing parachute pants in seventh grade when they had been out of style for a year—but I couldn't be more wrong than I was with Tillie and that rice! I know I fed her breakfast and snacks during the day, so it wasn't like she hadn't eaten anything. Maybe it was a growth spurt she was going through. Whatever the case, what she did to those curry rocks was nothing compared to how she handled that rice! I don't think I'd ever seen her eat something like that. Most of the time, she even gets bored with her meal, but she was determined to stick it out on this one. I ate the spring roll, which wasn't that good (how do you mess up a spring roll?) and Tillie finished up the main course.
So here's that "sticky wicket" I alluded to earlier: Do we go there again? I mean, the staff there was really nice and accommodating, and it was clear how Tillie felt about the food. But that meal just really didn't work for me. We might go back to see if she likes it as much the second time around. If so, she's picking up the tab!
Hey there, neighborhood of ours! Just when you were probably thinking, "Is Van ever coming back from his honeymoon?" here I am, with Tillie in tow. Excuse our absences, but in case you weren't aware or missed that honeymoon reference a sentence ago, I was off getting hitched to Tillie's mom, or as I sometimes like to refer to her now, "Mrs. Tillie's mom."
Anyway, we're back and Tillie and I are ready to do more eating. And you're about to witness something for the first time in LWT history: a return trip to a restaurant we've already visited, Italian restaurant Anima on Myrtle Avenue.
Why the return, you might ask? Well, Tillie and I have been to a LOT of the restaurants in the tri-neighborhood area, and for some of those back in the early days, her meals mainly consisted of blueberries or Cheerios. As she's grown to become quite the gourmand, I thought it would be good to revisit from time to time some of the places she didn't get to sample the goods. And if a restaurant is doing something new and different than from our original visit, all the better. Such was the case with Anima.
If it escaped you, the restaurant has installed a wood-burning oven and is now making pizza. My love for the pie and my intentions of bringing that feeling to Tillie are well documented, so I won't go into the details about how excited I was to try their take on my favorite dish. Let's just say when the dinner discussions around here come up, I had been suggesting to Tillie's mom literally every night, "Hey, let's try the pizza at Anima!" For whatever reason, it didn't work, so it was up to me and T to make it happen.
We went out there on that nasty rainy day last week and when we arrived, the place was empty, save for one couple who looked to be wrapping things up. We got all settled in the big dining area near the new oven, which Tillie pointed at and said "hot" because of the fire.
There wasn't much menu perusing to be done save for the pizza section, so my eyes went there. There were a few options that definitely looked appealing, but the Diavola, which had onions, spicy salami, olives and a spicy sauce, stood out. I debated whether to order that or not as the emphasis was on "spicy" and I did have a 19-month-old I was planning on sharing it with. To be on the safe side, I got it half plain and half with the hot stuff. I also ordered a bowl of carrot soup for Tillie to eat. (More on that later.)
The waiter brought us out some bread to snack on and I tried dipping some in olive oil for T, but she really wasn't having that. No worries, I could respect her choice. I was in a pretty happy mood—not that I would get worried about a kid not dipping their bread in the olive oil! Rather, the music coming over the speakers was, well, music to my ears! Hope this doesn't damage my street cred among the parenting set, but I'm a huge fan of music from '80s English bands, and whatever satellite station the radio was set to kept my jams coming in full force.
When we first got in the place, "Heartbreak Beat" by the Psychedelic Furs was playing, which lifted the rain clouds for me. Then the Cure, Flock of Seagulls, the Smiths—the hits just kept on coming! There was even more from the Furs with "Pretty in Pink." The melodies of the songs were inspiring Tillie to rock it out a little in her high chair, just like her old man was in his big seat!
We were having a good time, then the pizza arrived. It looked as close to perfect as a pizza could (I know, it's sad that I appreciate the aesthetics of a pizza so much)! I took a bite of my half first because I wanted to see if it would possibly be too much for my spicy-curry-eating dining companion to handle. It did have a kick to it, so I decided to avoid giving it to her. I cut her a bite of the plain half, which worked great for her as I couldn't feed it to her fast enough. I couldn't blame her because the pizza was really, really good.
I don't want to sound like I'm too carried away, but the pizza was truly excellent. The cheese, the sauce, the salami, the char of the crust: just wonderful. We were enjoying the pizza, we weren't even thinking about the soup I ordered. Actually, come to think of it, whatever did happen to that soup? It never showed!
I asked the waiter if that was coming and turned out there was a mistake. The soup of the day was actually barley, but the board with the specials listed had the wrong one on there. When the waiter came out to tell us what happened, I told him no worries, we were good with just the pie. I put the kibosh on my half and Tillie made a nice dent in hers before I finished it up for her.
Bellies full, we sat back and listened to the sweet sounds of Duran Duran and reflected upon our meal. We got the check and I thanked all the workers there for a good meal and the exceptional service they gave me and Tillie.
So, seeing as how I did go there again, I guess it's obvious that I'll be making return trips in the future. Don't worry, there won't be a Round 3 written up for Clinton Hill Blog! I would recommend anyone around should go there and definitely have the pizza. My tab was 12 bucks and we both ate off the pizza. The staff has always been so accommodating to us there as well, and if you like your music served up '80s-English-band style, I'm sure they could do that for you, too!
Hi all- Just a note that Van will be back to CHB soon! He's currently honeymooning- congrats!
Exciting news! CHB will be movin' on up to the Upper East Side. We found an awesome studio apartment for live/work, right near all the sports bars. While we will continue to report on Clinton Hill, we will also mix in observations and interviews with folks shopping in Banana Republic and enjoying skinny lattes at Starbucks. We are really excited about our new venture and we really think the juxtaposition of the two neighborhoods will add some much needed blandness to the site. See ya on the corner of 86th!
(APRIL FOOL! OBVS.)
Sticking to a simple post title going forward. Here's more news about the neighborhood:
(Yes, some of these are old, but dude! I've been holding it all in for weeks!)
According to the Myrtle Minutes blog, there are TWO new food markets opening on Myrtle:
I'm all for variety, so we'll see what these vendors can offer that the others aren't. I just hope that having so many won't dilute business across the board (don't forget Fresh Fanatic on Washington, Green Planet on Fulton, and even the two Associated markets - on Myrtle and on Waverly - which have been carrying more "fancy" goods).
Thanks for your patience, everyone. It took longer than I'd hoped, but CHB is now virus free and we're ready to move along. I've felt for the last few weeks that I've let my long-time readers down, since I have been able to post here almost every weekday for the last (almost) four years. This incident was frustrating because the site will probably never allow me to work on it as a full-time job, and as life gets more busy it is nearly impossible to address urgent blog matters as soon as they arise. Please know that I worked diligently to get back online, and that often times my personal and paying obligations must come first.
That said, as always, we welcome contributions from residents who are interested in writing and obvserving the neighborhood to help keep the site going and the topics vibrant. Interested? Email clintonhillblog-at-gmail-dot-com.
Please bear with me while I play catch up on all of my outstanding posts!
xoxo- Lesterhead
Most of you accessing the site have probably received a spyware/virus warning message from your browser. While we fix the problem, CHB will be on temporary hiatus to keep everyone's computers safe. We hope to be back with you sooner than later!
Pratt Post Office employees apparently found out this past weekend that the post office (serving 11205) will be closed for an estimated three months for construction. Allegedly, the building is sinking (!!!) and in need of repair, and will close at the end of this week. Trailers outside will assist with stamp sales and other business. It sounds like the mail will be rerouted through a few different stations during this time. Sounds like a cl*sterf*k to me.
It seemed to me like 11205 was in much better shape than Adelphi Station. There has long been a battle over which PO was worse, and I think Pratt takes the cake on this one. Good luck ever getting your packages!
Anyone heard anything else about this?
We're off today, and will be heading to the Y to see what it's like during off hours. Hopefully not everyone has the same idea!
Hamptons for Haiti is an organization hosting a series of benefit concerts to support Haitian earthquake victims. It was founded by musician and Hamptons local Dan Bailey in the hours following the tragic earthquake. His band, Living Rhythm, of which bassist Obed Jean Louis is Haitian, immediately began preparing weekly events to support the cause. One of Living Rhythm’s vocalists, “Zulu” Kheswa, was able to personally recommend the Yéle Haiti Foundation (www.yele.org), which was founded by her mentor and native Haitian, grammy-award winning artist Wyclef Jean. Hamptons for Haiti donates 100% of proceeds through Yéle, which we believe provides the most efficient and effective aid to Haiti.
For the month of January, Hamptons for Haiti is hosting three events in both NYC and the Hamptons. Dan Bailey & Living Rhythm will perform at Le Grand Dakar Restaurant on Friday, January 22.
Donations to Yéle will be collected at the door, with suggested donations ranging from $10 to $1000.
Performance by Dan Bailey & Living Rhythm: Dan Bailey (guitar, vocals) “Zulu” Kheswa (vocals) Native Haitian, Obed Jean Louis (bass, vocals) Bill Smith (keyboard, vocals) Grant Braddock (Drums)
Friday, January 22nd, 7:00 pm Dakar Restaurant Benefit Show 285 Grand Ave (between Clifton Pl & Lafayette Ave) Brooklyn, NY 11238
G train to Classon, B38 to Grand Ave
Received this in the inbox: Hi - do you know anything about the Washington Hotel (on Washington & Greene)? There seems to be some renovation going on recently. Is it a legit hotel? I heard it was a brothel not too long ago.
I've wondered about this place for years now, and CHB readers have told me it was a brothel more than once. And it does look like it is undergoing some sort of condo conversion.
Clinton Hill Blog published from 2006 - 2010. Please enjoy these archives - a love letter to the neighborhood.
