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February 6, 2008

House of the Day: 905 Lincoln Place

Here's a new listing that probably would have been priced $100,000 or $200,000 higher a few months ago. It's a three-story, two-family limestone at 905 Lincoln Place in Crown Heights. The block is lovely and the house has amazing wood moldings and floors; no word on the bathrooms and kitchens. Anyway, there's something refreshingly solid about this one: Beautiful but not grandiose house priced at a level that a non-Wall Street family can afford. Think it'll go for the asking price?
905 Lincoln Place [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

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Comments

Nice home I think the price needs to be 100K cheaper...

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 1:38 PM

That does look like a great deal...and from corcoran?!!.......beautiful block and (from the pictures) excellent condition house......

corcoran sold worse houses for much more money just 2-3 months ago.....

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 1:42 PM

"The best" block in Crown Heights? It's definitely nice, but there are several more even nicer ones, like Dean Street between New York and Brooklyn or almost any stretch of Prospect Place between Albany and New York Ave.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 1:52 PM

Two Family? But there are Kitchens on each floor.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 1:55 PM

the neighborhood photo cant be from the same block as the advertised house. I hate deceiving agents. They look deceiving too in their little hats.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 1:57 PM

1:55, some people who wear what 1:57 so offensively refers to as deceiving-looking "little hats" keep separate kitchens.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:03 PM

Yeah, what's up with the floorplan? Looks ridiculous!

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:05 PM

Thank goodness we have some equal opportunity anti-semitism surfacing to balance out all of the anti-black bile that gets spewed in these comments, plus the frequent gay-bashing and the occasional anti-asian rants. What about the hispanics, can't they get some anonymous "loving" too?? If this was "Brownstoner, 1880s edition" I'd guess we'd have to deal with the anti-papists, too, but their days seem to be over.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:05 PM

It doesn't say anything about the situation with the tenants. Using the word "Currently" when describing the tenants does not suffice as full information. Find out if they are rent control or not. Also check the C of O. Sounds like they have a 2-family C of O and tenants making it a 3-family which screws things up. The seller would have to get it straightened out before selling.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:05 PM

Just read today that Crown Heights and Canarsie had double digit price decreases in 2007.

The rest of Brooklyn saw increases in home appreciation.

I'd be wary.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:06 PM

the comps for this neighborhood say houses of this size sold in crown heights for an average of $845K in the last year. Price seems right to me...

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:14 PM

Beautiful woodwork in that house.

That's the weirdest floorplan I've ever seen.

- the garden floor resident gets a bathroom with a bay (?) window looking over the backyard and no bedroom

- the parlor floor resident has a kitchen with no appliances and a bathroom with two sinks and a toilet but no shower or tub, plus two tiny 'bedrooms'

- the top floor resident gets four bedrooms

All that broker doublespeak about two-family house with tenants on two floors makes me wary. Some kind of communal living going on on those top two floors?

Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at February 6, 2008 2:17 PM

Crains:

"For the year, significant price rises occurred in Clinton Hill, up 8%, and Bay Ridge, 7%, neighborhoods, while Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill saw double digit price declines. The largest increases in number of sales occurred in Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens, while Canarsie and Crown Heights had the biggest declines in numbers of homes sold."

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:22 PM

Hey 2:05, I got called an idol-worshipper by a Southern Baptist once in college, and this was in 1990! So even a hundred years later we see anti-papist sentiment down South. Of course they're nuts, the evangelicals. I'm flattered if they don't like me.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:22 PM

These people are Corcoran real estate agents drawing the plans not architects.. most of the time the plans are not right.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:24 PM

All protestants are anti-papists by definition.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:34 PM

So Crain's is saying that Carroll Gardens + Boerum Hill had the most sales and the largest price declines? I doubt it.

Posted by: Boerum Hill at February 6, 2008 2:35 PM

Nice house, decent block, close to subways. I'd say this goes for 825'ish.
If the 3400 sq feet is accurate, thats about $250/sq foot, which is what other houses in Crown Heights have sold for. That was in the past, not sure how low CH will be repriced in 2008.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:37 PM

Boerum Hill prices are down? A Dean Street townhouse that just went on the market for over $3 million had 40 sign-ins at the first open house.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:39 PM

These stats don't mean a whole lot. The spectrum of houses that sell in a given year can vary a lot (in terms of quality, address, condition, etc.). Real estate numbers are actually really hard to accurately quantify. Look at Manhattan: In one year there were three sales over $50 million which totally skewed the year-end averages.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:41 PM

What ever happened with that Corco house at 1094 Park Place?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:45 PM

price is reasonable, but not great.
I agree with other posters who say lame floor plan is definitely a deal breaker. . .
with a 3-story, 2-fam, it is much better to have the top two floors to yourself and the garden rental.
otherwise you lose primo space to stairs and common areas.
i doubt if it's really 3400 square feet, but whatever

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:45 PM

This house is a GREAT deal. There are many houses in this neighborhood that have been configured with kitchens in places where they are not supposed to be. We bought a place like that and just took the kitchen out - it really wasnt a big deal at all. This house has excellent features/details and for the price really cannot be beat.

Note that I met Michael E. - one of the realtors - while looking for a house last year and he was one of the ONLY brokers I met who was absolutely straightforward and not pushy and knows the CH area well. I was intrigued by a house he showed us but we finally found another place, but Michael was a great person to deal with and very forthcoming with info, which was the opposite of my experience with most Corcoran brokers....If we hadnt already bought a place I would consider this one surely....the trick is to find out what the rental agreements are with the current tenants and talk to a RE lawyer.

Posted by: crownheights2007 at February 6, 2008 2:45 PM

If I were keeping kosher, I would at least want the two kitchens to be within steps of each other, and not on separate floors. And what's up with those bedrooms right off of the kitchen?

And, yeah, the block pictured can't include the house. Look how the rhythm of the cornice colors doesn't quite match.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:47 PM

"Boerum Hill prices are down? A Dean Street townhouse that just went on the market for over $3 million had 40 sign-ins at the first open house."

We know....you told us that yesterday. Thanks Mr. Broker.

And not a smart one at that. So Boreum Hill prices can't go down because ONE house in Boreum Hill is ON SALE (NOT SOLD!) for 3 million?

Lord.

Most of those "sign-in's" at the open house were nosy neighbors, btw.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:48 PM

"A Dean Street townhouse that just went on the market for over $3 million had 40 sign-ins at the first open house"

I was at that open house and signed in.I didn't make an offer and no one else did as far as I know so what's the point you keep trying to make since yesterday?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:51 PM

I can't imagine ANYONE making an offer on a 3 million dollar Boreum Hill house.

I like Boreum Hill, but you can get a house in prime North Park Slope for that amount or less.

With a park and without the Gowanus Houses or Wyckoff Gardens within spitting distance.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:57 PM

I was at both dean st open houses. The 3.250M one was way overpriced. The broker for the other called Monday to ask if we wanted to put in a bid because they had received one already. Looks like the idiotic corcoran pricing is helping other agents sell their listings.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 2:58 PM

I had to chuckle at the "best block" comment by the brokers, too. I agree with 1:52, and would extend great blocks to include Dean from Bedford to Kingston, and St. Mark's between Bklyn and Kingston, as well as most of Park Place.

Floor plan is strange. Maybe at the time it was originally done, one family subdivided for extended family, so certain amenities were shared? Who knows. Those floors are really gorgeous. With new electricity, etc, reconfiguring it to suit the new owner may not be that difficult. I say between 8 and 825K.

1:57, besides being an idiot, also has never seen the block. Both sides of this tree lined block are lined with these attractive limestones and brownstones. One of the houses in the CHN house tour was on this block. Lincoln Place is only one block north of Eastern Parkway, so the subway is literally around the corner, and this is one of those times where the claim that the Bklyn Museum, Botanical Gardens and the Park are only 2 subway stops away, is actually true.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 6, 2008 2:58 PM

"And, yeah, the block pictured can't include the house. Look how the rhythm of the cornice colors doesn't quite match."

Try taking as walk down that block - it's the same block! The homes in Crown Heightas have such varying architecture it is not at all unusual to have different colored cornices side-by-side. But, don't take my word for it - walk down the block.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:10 PM

I have friends who bought a very similar house, same street, but between Nostrand and New York, just about a year ago. They paid high 7's. Good Luck!

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:13 PM

Asking price should be $789....and I'll offer $725.

I'm very biased AGAINST Corcoran, when I see a listing from them I cringe.

We were looking to buy a house in Crown Heights. We went to a couple of open houses by Corcoran, didn't like the houses, but we spoke to the agents there and told them what we were looking for and how much. They said they'd get back to us.

Well, we had a couple of phone conversations and we were trying to set up a time to see a house, but then the agent never called me back. NEVER!

We eventually dropped the search for a house waiting to see what the market does. (we don't have alot of money, so we need to spend it wisely - we were hoping prices would drop a little).

I think Corcoran is not interested in a buyer unless they can plunk down over 1 million on a house (and we can't).

Our cut off is $750 - anybody know of anything.

Still dreaming of a fixer upper in a crappy neighborhood to call my home.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:15 PM

Nice house for 700K tops.

Don't pay more than that.

In 2010 that will be what this house is worth.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:16 PM

"Lincoln Place is only one block north of Eastern Parkway, so the subway is literally around the corner"

Wish is a good thing, so you can quickly get home before being robbed.

It's crown heights, people. Crime is up in that neighborhood.

That house is worth....your life???

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:21 PM

625.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:22 PM

3:15, if you want a cheaper fixer-upper, why are you wasting your time with corco?
hit the pavements, look for signs, ask neighbors if anyone wants to sell.
DON"T wait to see it on Brownstoner. when you see what you like, don't wait to ask your uncle joe and the guy from your office whether it sounds like a good deal. buy it.
i saw a place MUCH NICER than this one across the street on Lincoln Pl. listed on CL in december.
accepted offer was 7-something, within a week.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:23 PM

I have a lead on a 4 story brownstone on the 300 block of Hancock Street. Email me at Gotham_Greatest@Yahoo.com if anyone is interested.

Posted by: artHouseNyC at February 6, 2008 3:29 PM

Sorry, and the price is below $650k!

Posted by: artHouseNyC at February 6, 2008 3:30 PM

I *like* the agents' funny little hats!

But what happened to the propellers?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:44 PM

3:23 - I'm 3:15 and if you think I'm waiting to find an inexpensive home on brownstoner YOU - YOU are delusional.

Yes, 3:23 this is the only site I visit to view listings. This is where I get all my information.
I'm following the advice of 'The What'

We're not all idiots here.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:46 PM

3:21, if you had ever been there, you'd see how wrong you are, but that's not the point for you, anyway. Alarmist stupidity certainly is up, higher than any crime rate.

The Kingston stop on the 3 train at EP is hugely busy, as it is the major stop for most of the huge Lubabavitch community, as well as the many other people who live in the area. It is well lit, well patrolled by the police, and you are as safe as anywhere else. Try again.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 6, 2008 3:46 PM

"But what happened to the propellers"

Cause they're going to need them to fly back to the other side of Eastern Parkway.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:47 PM

Hate crime spike in Crown Heights?
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, January 28th 2008, 4:32 PM

Tensions are high in Crown Heights, where Jewish community leaders and local NYPD brass are clashing over charges there's been a spike in bias beatings of Jews.

"The Police Department has been characterizing racial instances in our community, downgrading them to robberies, rather than addressing the true origin of the crime," charged Jewish Leadership Council President Barry Sugar.

But Police Department sources said that a faction within the Crown Heights Jewish community seeks to oust the 71st Precinct's commanding officer, Inspector Frank Vega.

In the most recent area incident, 16-year-old Samuel Balkany was beaten by five black youths Jan. 18, police and Samuel say, as they shouted "Oh, little Jew boy, you think you own this neighborhood," and "Who are you, f---ing Jew?"

"It's hatred, it's not a personal situation," said Samuel, who is recovering from a head gash.

"It's gotten more blatant and more vicious in the past year and there hasn't been a response," the teen added.

While Samuel said the NYPD is investigating his beating as a hate crime, one Jewish man told the Daily News he was the victim of a hate-crime beating in July that was ignored by the cops.

"I was on my way home and a man approached me and he started yelling, "F---ing Jew. Dirty Jew. I'm gonna finish what Hitler started," said Moshe Kozlovsky, 20, saying he was knocked unconscious but that nothing was stolen from him.

Kozlovsky said cops lost the police report and had to let the suspect go free after arresting him. Police officials did not respond to Kozlovsky's allegations, but an NYPD spokesman said possible hate crimes were always thoroughly investigated.

"The department aggressively pursues all hate crime allegations, and those painstaking efforts have resulted in more arrests than any other jurisdiction," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. "The NYPD takes all hate crime seriously, and our record shows it."

Sugar, however, said he had made "repeated requests to take our concerns seriously and those concerns have fallen on deaf ears." He said Vega filibustered a community council meeting last month, which resulted in a walkout of more than 200 Jews after about an hour.

"It was very obvious his intent was not to allow anybody in the Jewish community to voice their frustrations," he said. "He usually only talks for about 10 minutes - not an hour."

But precinct Community Council President Carl Cohen, who was also present, said Sugar misunderstood the proceedings.

"I don't think it was deliberately done," said Cohen, who referred to himself as impartial.

"I am a black man with a Jewish name, and I am for the police, I am for the Jewish people and I am for the black people. ... I call it like a see it.

"The inspector was giving a year-end speech, which takes longer. I think that [Sugar] probably reacted a little too soon," Cohen said. "After he left, the inspector was taking questions, and he even asked if Mr. Sugar is still here."

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:48 PM

What the heck is the Lubabavitch community??

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 3:49 PM

We live on Lincoln btw. Nostrand and New York. A large majority of homes are owner occupied and most everyone takes very good care of their homes. Neighbors are always on the street and people actually say hi to strangers (how un-New York). This makes the area feel extremely safe.
We moved from a nice block in Carrol Gardens last year and minus the lack of restaurants, etc in CH, we much prefer this neighborhood and neighbors.
3:21 - you need to get out more and stop reading the crime blogs to form your opinions.

Posted by: lincolnlimestone at February 6, 2008 4:04 PM

If you are not Jewish there is nothing to worry about in crown heights...
Vary safe for gentiles......and White's are very well respected, just make sure you are not mistaken for a Jew, because you might get beaten up.....but the good news is they won't take your money....

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:06 PM

Actually Montrose and Lincolnlimestone, crime IS up in Crown Heights. Quite significantly, actually.

Saying that it's not doesn't fix the problem.

How about you both get your heads out of the sand and stop telling lies about your neighborhood.

Crown Heights is nice...no question about it, but it also has a lot of issues. And they aren't going to improve if you keep trying to do what the police do and pretend like the crimes aren't happening!

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:06 PM

That is absolute correct, if you get beaten up, you have to politely explain those thugs that you are not a Jew, and prove them you are not circumcised, upon verification they will let you go.

I know several people who go away with their life by doing this.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:17 PM

And they aren't going to improve if you keep trying to do what the police do and pretend like the crimes aren't happening!

Why would the police pretend that crimes aren't happening?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:23 PM

This Brownstoner blog has become a place where the scum of earth, antisemites, bigots and racist meet each day...
Thank you Brownstoner for making me feel at home.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:25 PM

I think the brokers should be beat up the next time they cross Eastern Parkway to show this house.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:25 PM

Where the hell are all the private jewish fake police with the flashing suburbans and vans? Where is the jewish parol?

I have seen more than once, a jewish neighborhood take law into their own hands with their fake authority and have it covered up before the cops even get their.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:26 PM

sorry, *there*

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:29 PM

"Why would the police pretend that crimes aren't happening?"

So that they "look" like they are being effective at reducing crime.

DUH.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:30 PM

I won't have to look around for material on different Nazi blogs, I get em all here....

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:31 PM

Cupcakes solve all hatred.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:34 PM

"This Brownstoner blog has become a place where the scum of earth, antisemites, bigots and racist meet each day..."

Don't forget the subway.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:39 PM

At no time did I say crime was or was not up, down, or all around. Neither did lincolnlimestone, who merely stated that they loved where they live.

I would love for someone to please tell me, once and for all, why ANY good remark about living in CH has to somehow be predicated by a dire warning about crime.

Anyone with half a brain who is interested in moving here will come with their eyes and ears open, will have done some real research, which includes more than reading a blog, they will walk around, talk to people, and see what they see. They will then make their own decisions. They don't need ridiculous calls to "stop telling lies" in order to make an informed decision.

Furthermore, stating that you like where you live, feel perfectly safe there, or saying that a block is nice, a house is beautiful, or whatever, is certainly not "telling lies". Show me the lie.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 6, 2008 4:50 PM

"Cupcakes solve all hatred."

as long as they're not cheeseburger flavored.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:56 PM

Montrose lie:

"Alarmist stupidity certainly is up, higher than any crime rate."

is that so, Montrose?

***
Lincolnlimestone lie:

"you need to get out more and stop reading the crime blogs to form your opinions."

why is that? afraid the crime blogs will tell the actual truth?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:58 PM

"why ANY good remark about living in CH has to somehow be predicated by a dire warning about crime."

Because there has never been a single post in anyway related to crown heights that didn't elicit a response from you proclaiming the wonders of the neighborhood. We've heard your opinion on it. Give it a rest.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:58 PM

2.05 you're so funny. You completely forgot the anti-white commments. Perhaps you're too clueless to notice them though, or like others, you think its ok to not practice what you preach.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 4:59 PM

"I would love for someone to please tell me, once and for all, why ANY good remark about living in CH has to somehow be predicated by a dire warning about crime."

Oh yeah...well I'D like to know why at the very mention of Park Slope, there is a plethora of nasty remarks about strollers, moms, yuppies, 7th avenue sucking ass or how much big parks suck.

Or at the mention of Carroll Gardens, there are idiotic statements about goombahs and the mob.

You acting like the poor, helpful Crown Heights resident is ridiculous when every neighborhood discussed on here gets trashed.

The problem is your blind exuberance for your neighborhood. You are even more annoying than the people who constantly tout Park Slope as the next Garden of Eden.

Which personally I think is a whole helluva lot closer to being true than Crown Heights is at this point in time.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 5:13 PM

"Alarmist stupidity certainly is up, higher than any crime rate."is that so, Montrose?

OBVIOUSLY. You prove your own point.

Last time: Crown Heights is a very large neighborhood, the size of Park Slope, Prospect Hts and PLG put together. It covers at least 3 precincts, 3 or 4 zip codes, and has a population with a mixture of black people from all over the English, French and Spanish Caribbean, black Americans, Hassidic and ultra orthodox Jews, and smaller populations of Caucasians, Asians, East Indians and Arabs. Did I forget anyone? We range in incomes from dirt poor to pretty well off, and I'm sure, some pretty rich. We got people who get along just fine, and we have people who hate each other. We have employers and employees. We have some of the most beautiful and important houses of worship in the city, and we have people who prey on their neighbors. We have great blocks of gorgeous houses and apartment buildings, and we have projects, fugly new housing, and run down blocks that you don't want to walk through. We have crime, and we have criminals. We also have block associations, block watchers and police officers and first responders who live here. We have bad people who do bad things, and we have many, many more people who just go to work each day and come home to friends and family.

We may be on the whole, poorer than many neighborhoods, but we are quintessential New York. If we are too black, too foreign, too crime ridden for your taste, then don't move here. If you can't handle the bad schools, the lack of amenities, then don't move here. If you are afraid of everything and everyone who isn't like you, then don't move here.

If I annoy you, don't let that stop you. It's a big neighborhood, you'll probably never meet me. But don't let some hater stop you if you are even remotely interested. We never said CH is perfect. What neighborhood is?

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 6, 2008 5:29 PM

"We never said CH is perfect. What neighborhood is?"

Park Slope?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 5:37 PM

What Montrose said.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 5:52 PM

I think your comments apply to Bed-Stuy as well MM.

Park Slope is so perfect it is boring.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 6:01 PM

'We may be on the whole, poorer than many neighborhoods, but we are quintessential New York'

Than the house price needs to reflect the 'poorer than many neigborhoods' neighborhood.

The price of this house is not an upgrade for someone living in the neighborhood. It's targeting those that are outpriced of many others and are tired of renting and want to own.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 6:07 PM

Maybe the prices in the wealthier neighborhoods need to be reduced, 6:07.

Then again, you could justify the silly prices of the wealthier neighborhoods, right?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 6:13 PM

6:07 here - all I'm saying is that the majority of the people who live in crown heights are priced out of buying a home in their neighborhood.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 6:28 PM

If the prices in the wealthier neighborhoods were reduced, I wouldn't be looking to buy in Crown Heights, I'd look in the wealthier neighborhoods....DUH!

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 6:31 PM

if people could afford it, practically everyone on here would want to live in park slope.

that's why everyone pretends to hate it so much with dumb reasons like strollers and milfs.

as if there are no strollers in other neighborhoods.

ever been to the upper west side??

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 7:40 PM

I can't believe I'm hearing comments like the one above about Park Slope.

We all hate Park Slope because it is filled with people like you.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 8:03 PM

Park Slope! Are you kidding me? Did you see how many muggings occur in Park Slope on that map. That is some scary shit. I'm glad I don't live in Park Slope.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 8:19 PM

849,000 can buy you a grand home in New Jersey with property, pool, tennis court,
just saying,,,,,but it would not have the social cachet of Crown Heights.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 8:37 PM

Brownstoner:

As soon as I saw the photo of the Crown Heights house on Lincoln Place house (a real charmer, by the way), I knew the fur would fly.

But today’s thread about my old neighborhood seems particularly acrimonious. In response, I’ll offer up some recollections of people who were there in the 1950’s.

I do so because unlike neighborhoods such as Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Flatbush, or – even – Brighton Beach, Crown Heights has little known social history, and what’s known (largely the riots of the 60’s and 90’s) overwhelms too many people’s perception of its quality as a place to live.

So here are some people from Crown Heights back in the day. No doubt variations on them can be found in the neighborhood now, helping make people like Montrose Morris passionate about their community, but also making the area worth a deeper look by other Brownstoners.

My Best Friend, F., who lived around the corner in a tenement on Nostrand Avenue and taught me how to hang tough, leaning against stoops, wearing jeans and T-shirts, and dragging on candy cigarettes whose soft packs we rolled into our sleeves (we were eight or nine at the time) while my little brother, in seersucker overalls and a polo shirt, did his best to imitate us, embarrassing the hell out of us.

My Erstwhile Friend L., whom my parents suggested I take sledding in Prospect Park because his parents were going through a divorce and who was so angry with the world that we got into a fist fight in a snow bank on Eastern Parkway, nearly getting ourselves killed by traffic skidding on the ice.

A., the deaf-mute girl who lived in my building and whom we kids teased relentlessly, the memory of which makes me burn with shame to this day.

The Crown Heights Moms, at home during the day because only Crown Heights Dads worked, serving milk and cookies to their kids’ after-school guests, and generally fitting three types: the “traditional” in tailored suits and pearls, the “modern” in full skirts and stiletto heels, and the “progressive” in Indian cotton dresses and dance slippers, all of them smokers and none averse to a cocktail (or two) before their husbands got home.

The Crown Heights Dads, who also generally fit three types: the “traditional” who wore jackets and ties, even on the weekends; the “modern” in multi-color cardigans and slacks that were pressed knife sharp; and the “progressive” in jeans and pullovers, the last usually artists and writers who were more often at home and engaged in the day-to-day-life of their kids (although all CH Dads shared one characteristic: they were reserved, almost aloof, around their kids’ friends, never saying more than a few words, even while driving them to Prospect Park or taking a group on the subway to the Museum of Natural History).

The W’s, among my parents most stylish friends, who lived in an elegant Art Deco apartment house and summered in the Hamptons but before they disappeared each year, piled their kids’ friends into the Suburban (those station wagons with the wood paneling on the side) for a catered picnic in the park.

A.B., a poet and friend of my parents, who lived on Brooklyn Avenue and was in the Ernest Hemingway mold of writers with a big beard and gravely voice – and a 30-foot sailboat in Sheepshead Bay where he’d set out with my dad and me into the Atlantic.

Mrs. A, my first-grade teacher at P.S. 41, whose hair was pulled back in a bun so tight it seemed to stretch her face and who had only to look at a kid to make him sit up straight.

The Twins, the twenty-something sisters who taught at my next school, P.S. 138, lived on my block, and wore tight sweaters and skirts, the day’s feminine ideal (think Monroe, not Paltrow), and whose mere appearance turned us foul-mouthed street kids into awe-struck young gents, courteous to a fault (also because we didn’t want them speaking about us at school, which was sure to get back to our parents).

Dr. G., the family’s elderly G.P. whose degrees were from the Mid West and who had that region’s congenial disposition, an “old school” doctor with a pencil-thin mustache and worn-out physician’s bag he carried on house calls (remember those?), his nurse equally old, with flaming red hair, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, and a voice that made my father call her “The Rasp.” (I’ll hand it to them: they held on to the neighborhood longer than most, moving from their elegant professional suite off St. Marks Avenue to a neighborhood storefront clinic after all their patients moved away.)

The Widow in the Mansion near Our Building, always in the window, never seen coming or going from home, although a big, black Lincoln sat at the end of her drive, watching us play in her yard, never complaining. (Once, my brother recalls, her gardener chased him and his pals with a pair of pruning shears as they scrambled over the fence.)

The Brower Park Matrons, parks department employees dressed in crisp, white uniforms, standing vigilant in front of the girls and boys rooms (especially the girls) which they kept spotless. (Do they have matrons in public playgrounds anymore?)

The Driver on the Bergen Street Bus who’d place his hand over the fare box until each passenger said “good morning” or “good afternoon,” at the time seeming very odd, but now that I look back, likely teaching his riders courtesy and respect as an African American during the rise of the civil rights movement.

The Toy Shop Owner on Nostrand Avenue, whose pink pate and fringe of white hair barely rose above the counter and who must have trusted us kids implicitly because it was impossible for him to see from his register at the back of the shop over the stacks of toys to the front.

The Ladies at Cushman’s Bakery, four or five in a row, almost identical in their hair nets, who could spin twine around boxes of chocolate cake in the bat of an eye.

The Civil Rights Picketers in front of Cushman’s Bakery, protesting the company’s whites-only hiring policies (and making my family, from then on, buy Entemanns’ deserts from Roscoe’s Supermarket on Nostrand Avenue, much to the kids’ disappointment).

The Pizzeria Owner and His Sons at their “brick-oven” shop at the corner of Nostrand and Bergen where I arrived one day desperate for a slice only to find the door locked and a sign with scrawl reading, “Closed due to death in family,” which made me think about death deeply for the very first time.

The Holocaust Victims, whom I never saw and may or may not have been alive but who were an eerie, mythical presence in our apartment, having sent the prior occupants two years’ worth of letters stamped with swastikas, hidden at the back of the uppermost shelf or our pantry, beseeching their American relatives to help them immigrate from Germany, the letters translated by my parents’ friend from Berlin and then dispatched by my mother to a “Jewish institution” for disposal because she didn’t want to upset or embarrass the people who had the apartment before we did.

R., my friend who was actually from Germany, a small, sullen kid who was the first one I knew without a father, enormously shy, afraid of ringing our bell in the lobby, instead waiting on the building’s steps to see if I’d come down, when we’d trade baseball cards and debate Mantle and Maris, my great unasked question for him and his mother: had their family escaped the Nazis, or had they been Nazis?

The Very Proper Brooklyn Ladies Who Lived Next Door, an elderly woman and her mother, who pronounced water “warter” and oil “earl” just like my grandmother, and to whom my mother would bring my brother and me to tea in their looking-glass apartment (the reverse of our own: where there should be French doors there was a wall, where there should be the dining room there was the living room – or “parler” as the ladies called it -- and where there should be the foyer’s fire place there was the kitchen door, all somewhat disorienting to a youngster), my brother and I playing with our toy cars and trucks on the floor’s oriental rugs while we listened to our friends playing in the street outside, where we’d much rather be, through the apartment’s open French windows.

The Shoe Repairman, whose shop was at the end of our block, a tiny place not much bigger than his work station, where I liked to visit for the smell of polish and the whir of machines, the repairman never saying much, but in his way, serving as the block’s major domo, watching everybody pass his plate glass window and frequently leaving his shop for a breath of fresh air, built like a fire plug, sitting on a fire plug, watching us kids play, doing what shopkeepers have done since cities first began, taking the sun and monitoring his domain.

Nostalgic on Park Avenue
(BCHM/Back to Crown Heights Movement)

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 8:48 PM

BORING

if somebody actually read the last post can you recap in four or fewer sentences?

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 8:55 PM

Oooooohhhh mmmmm THANK YOU THANK YOU NOPA for that HEARTWARMING remembrance of days past smarm smarm bringing us the history of our wonderful community smarm

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 9:34 PM

NOP = Mr. Rogers

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 9:53 PM

I loved Nostalgic on Park Avenue and Montrose Morris post. Montrose lives there!! He is the expert.

Not you nasty frat boys and little debutante girls. Go back to where you came from...because I am sure you are not real New Yorkers like Nostalgic and Montrose.

Posted by: guest at February 6, 2008 11:43 PM

anyone who lives here is a real new yorker.

if you don't think so, then YOU my dear are the one who needs to take a look in the mirror.

REAL new yorkers accept all people.

not just the old, crotchety ones.

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 12:10 AM

Nostalgic, ya gotta write a book, or a play. Really.

I'm saving these. They are a wonderful look back at a time and place so foreign, yet so familiar, and make me look at the neighborhood with new eyes.

BTW, I think the Betsy Ross is a coop, I'm still trying to find out. It's still in great shape, minus the white gloved doormen, of course.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 7, 2008 12:17 AM

MM:

Thanks. And it's reassuring to know the Betsy Ross is in great shape. My friends and I used to ride our bicycles down its service ramp to the basement and chase each other around the boiler room, servants' locker rooms, and gymnasium (yes, there was a gym!), and out to the street again. Even though there were doormen, entrances other than the lobby's were unguarded and unlocked, just proving how relaxed Brooklyn was at the time.

Somehow, I knew the building would hold on. When my parents brought me to the occasional cocktail party there ("progressive" parents did that in those days), I usually heard the adults say it was the best "house" in Brooklyn. "House" is what people in their generation called an apartment building, no matter how big the place.

I wrote a little more about Crown Heights apartments under a February 4 Brownstoner post about the condominium boom on Crown Street. There may be other buildings you recognize in that piece, too.

Looking forward to your update on the Betsy Ross.

NOP

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 1:05 AM

"can you recap in four or fewer sentences?"

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 10:14 AM

I think that Montrose Morris and Nostalgic on Park Avenue are the same person. Their inability to express a point in less than 5000 words is no coincidence. Really, I think that MM is talking to him/herself.

I agree that the price for this home is too high, given the area's high crime rate. MM, if the area has no problem with crime, then why was it designated an Operation Impact zone? I guess the NYPD is just stupid and assigns resources randomly rather than according to need.

Yes, I know that Crown Heights is a large neighborhood, but the influx of Operation Impact officers is seen only one block away from this house.

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39857&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

As usual, you assume that anyone who mentions crime in CH has never visited the area. Quite the contrary, I have been to the neighborhood many times and have several friends who have resided there since the early 70s (two on New York and Park Place, one on Prospect, between Nostrand and NY, and another on Sterling, between Brooklyn and Kingston). All have said that even though things have improved since the 80s and 90s, the area still has significant problems with violent crime.

I have every faith that you will continue to deny or minimize this issue, but, like it or not, the crime rate is a major reason why property in CH is so much cheaper than other, more prime Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Whew, I better stop, lest I be guilty of a "Monstrose Morris" (i.e. a long-winded postin). :)

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 10:37 AM

Some of the houses in Crown heights rival the ones in Park Slope, They are beautiful and grand...but are less in price. WHY??? Don't you think the area has anything to do with it. Get over yourselves for denying it.

For the same price, I'd rather live in Bay Ridge than Crown Heights

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 11:02 AM

So the proof that NOP and I are the same person is that we both are long winded, and both like CH? Yah, makes perfect sense. NOT.

"MM, if the area has no problem with crime...." NEVER said anything of the kind, EVER. I SAID the subway stop was very busy, had lots of police, and people at all times of day and night. SOMEONE ELSE implied you won't make it home without getting mugged. I refuted his/her attempts to make funny.

"but the influx of Operation Impact officers is seen only one block away from this house".

If you are going to use this Brooklynian thread as backup, at least read it. Operation Impact put most of the police in the Crow Hill section of CH, between Classon, Franklin and Nostrand. A house in between New York and Brooklyn Ave wouldn't even hear the sirens. While technically true that the END of the operation at Nostrand is a block away from the BEGINNING of the block that this house is between, you are talking about very long blocks, and a world of difference. You make it sound as if the police are massing on the corner by this house, and that is highly misleading and misrepresentational. Everyone knows that ALL neighborhoods, even the best, can change character in the space of a block. Why hold us to a standard not imposed on other neighborhoods?

"I have every faith that you will continue to deny or minimize this issue, but, like it or not, the crime rate is a major reason why property in CH is so much cheaper than other, more prime Brooklyn neighborhoods."

As usual, you take from thin air and what you want to take from every post I have ever written about Crown Heights. NO SHIT, that is a reason why home prices here are lower, and that is the ONLY redeeming characteristic of a higher crime rate than other neighborhoods. And no shit, we have crime. I HAVE NEVER SAID OTHERWISE. I have only said, and I will continue to say, no matter how long winded I get, that in spite of crime, in spite of negative press, in spite of people like you who get some perverse glory and thrill from constantly rubbing "crime" in our faces, people who live here, like it, and are in it for the long haul. They enjoy the many positive things about our neighborhood, including beautiful homes and streetscapes, great neighbors, and easy access to transportation and the rest of the city.

We all know there is crime. We all applaud the efforts of the police to stop it, and we all look forward to the day when we are not "required" by people like you to apologize for the crime and other negative elements of where we live, whenever the neighborhood of Crown Heights is uttered.

People in Park Slope may get tired of being razzed for stroller moms, and people in Wmsburg probably are sick of the word hipster, but at no point are they required to add an apology or explanation to a conversation about their homes. (I live in Willamsburg. I love it, but I'm really sorry about the hipsters.) But we constantly are told we live with blinders on, or are trying to prop up our property values, when we don't mention crime in the same breath as Crown Heights. I'm touchy about it because it's bullshit, and it happens every single time. Everyone who reads this blog knows our crime rate is higher than some other neighborhoods. You know what, that didn't stop a lot of new peoplw from buying, and it doesn't keep them, or old timers barricaded in their homes. We go in and out, and enjoy our neighborhood, just as people in Park Slope or Williamsburg or Clinton Hill do. We are in it for the long haul, and will be here after the crime rate declines, and after the commercial streets improve, and when some of the amenities and services that Nostalgic on Park Ave remembers return. If you can't understand that tenacity, or that commitment, then I can't help you, and that is your loss.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 7, 2008 12:44 PM

What Montrose said.

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 12:57 PM

No, Montrose Morris and I are not the same person. (We've never even met.)

As for those who find our postings "long winded," take a tip from Mrs. C., my third grade teacher at P.S. 138, who taught us how to read using the New York Times:

1. Scan the top of the piece to see if it interests you.
2. If it does, scan the rest of the piece to find out if it makes points you'd like to learn more about.
3. If you don't care for the piece go to the next article.
4. If it does interest you, read it with the advantage of increased comprehension because you've scanned it.

These tips helped her charges read at the 12th-grade level according to the tests given at the time.

Another advantage of a Crown Heights public-school education.

NOP

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 2:29 PM

TOUCHE!

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 7, 2008 2:35 PM

Do houses like these get sold to non-Orthodox?

I'm Jewish but not Orthodox, and I don't know how it works or whether this is a hard-core Lubavitch block. I remember the you-can't-buy-if-you're-not-Chinese Dumbo building from several weeks back, and I'm not sure whether this n-hood is like that.

Thanks...

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 4:36 PM

For what it's worth, this block has mostly black American or Caribbean owners and tenants. The corner by Kingston Ave may be different, but it is definitely not considered an Hasidic block.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 7, 2008 5:51 PM

4.36pm:

Housing discrimination is against the law. If you feel that you've been turned down for this wonderful house because of religious reasons, go to www.housingforall.org and follow the directions to local authorities and make your complaint.

Note: Recently, Corcoran suffered public embarassment because offices in Brooklyn were charged with discriminating against African Americans. This house is listed with Corcoran. If you feel you're being discouraged because you're Jewish but not Orthodox, let them know you're willing to let the word out, then be sure to lodge a complaint.

Crown Heights' future is dependent on good people of all types committed to the neighborhood.

Hope you like this house, buy it, and enjoy it.

NOP/BCHM

Posted by: guest at February 7, 2008 7:37 PM

4:36:

Did you look at this house?

What did you think?

NOP

Posted by: guest at February 10, 2008 1:13 PM