Victory Cafe Calling It Quits
A reader passed along this sad news about the Victory Cafe, a longstanding neighborhood spot on the corner of State and Hoyt. According to her, “They’re being evicted by the landlord… According to some of my neighbors, he has refused to give the Victory a lease for a long time, keeping them month by month,…
A reader passed along this sad news about the Victory Cafe, a longstanding neighborhood spot on the corner of State and Hoyt. According to her, “They’re being evicted by the landlord… According to some of my neighbors, he has refused to give the Victory a lease for a long time, keeping them month by month, and apparently he’s now kicking the café out for good.” Some nearby residents are planning on boycotting whatever moves in, and City Room just posted a lamentation for the spot. GMAP
What do you think Bob? Sound like the same guy?”
Not at all; too bad! The Nat Hendricks I knew in the ’70s and ’80s was a great guy 🙁
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Bummer. That’s a terrific little cafe. Sad to see it go. Hope it finds a great new home.
Loretta’s is gone already? That sure didn’t last long.
I was at a meeting once and Nat Hendricks was frustrated he couldn’t get some information he wanted. So I went over to him and offered to provide it. “I’m going to FOIL you,” he snarled. “Why are you going to FOIL me,” I asked; “I approached you with an offer to help.” He repeated his threat. I told him to do whatever he thinks he needs to do. I mean, I was ready to give him whatever he needed so it didn’t really matter to me how crudely he asked for it. Never heard from him again.
What do you think Bob? Sound like the same guy?
The place that closed was called LORETTA’s. It was a bit too shiny for me, but pleasant enough. Right next to the pizza place and the bistro and Stan’s place.
Not Clover, DIBS. I forget where it was, I was Christmas shopping at the time and was distracted. It’s definitely on the north side of the street, and I had gotten a cup of coffee at Nunu and was walking west when I saw it… hmm, looking at some Google Maps and streetview, I want to say it might be the place between Bedouin Tent and Bacchus? But I’m not sure. It’s about that size (~12-15 feet wide) with the counter running vertical in the middle and the coffee machine on the righthand wall.
I meant to go by and find it today, but got out of work too late. I’d really love to find out more. What does “for sale” mean for a cafe? What kind of price does a cafe command? Etc.
I have mixed feelings. It’s a shame when a business like this is forced to close, but there may be two sides. Nat Hendricks was one of the leaders of the “Brownstone Revival” in Brooklyn. He founded the old Brooklyn Brownstone Conference and was it’s president for many years. He also was a president of the Brownstone Revival Coalition and ran the annual Brownstone Fair at Brooklyn Union Gas’s former Montague Street building.
That being said, I’ve had no contact with Nat for over 20 years; maybe he’s changed–I hope not.
The art gallery that opened up about a year ago, sdrubbins? Clover Gallery I think? South side of street???
Very sad news about Victory, though it didn’t seem to be that well maintained in recent years. Now I understand why.
On that block of Hoyt Street, Hendricks has tacked up all sorts of garbage–old shoes, plastic containers full of dirt, pointless and outdated flyers. The block looks like hell.
I’m curious, does anyone think calling sanitation would help clean it up?