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Christopher Plummer on Washington Avenue
The block of Washington Avenue between Greene and Lafayette Avenues in Clinton Hill was taken over yesterday by film shoot. We didn’t know which one until a keen-eyed reader sent in this shot of screen legend Christopher Plummer taking a break from filming Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, “a film about the politics and hubris surrounding the Vietnam War and the revenge exacted on America’s greatest sportsman of the 20th century because he refused to fight in that war.”
05/17/2012 9:42 AM
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Usher Visits The Flea
What do you do when you’re a world-famous pop star in New York for the weekend to play Saturday Night Live? Go to the Brooklyn Flea, of course!
05/14/2012 12:00 PM
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Pat Kiernan’s Upper West/Williambsburg Arbitrage
Remember last week when we broke the news that Pat Kiernan had bought a house on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg? Well, today, The Times gets the NY1 anchor to expound on the decision to move his family to a 2,600-square-foot home in the land of the hip. “We’re under no illusions that it could be confused with a trophy property from the front,” he tells the paper of record. “We’re not trying to build a showy property. We just want a comfortable place to live with our family.” The $2,025,000 price was the highest ever in the ‘Burg, says The Times. And just in case the recent renovations done on the house aren’t up to snuff, Kiernan should have enough loose change after the roughly $4 million sale on his Upper West Side penthouse.
Brooklyn Neighborhood Gets an ‘I Know You!’ Moment [NY Times]
Pat Kiernan Solidifies Hipster Cred with Big ‘Burg Buy [Brownstoner]
05/08/2012 9:00 AM
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Argentinian Celebs Buy Northside Piers Penthouse
Nicolás Repetto, an Argentinian newscaster, purchased a penthouse unit at Northside Piers, according to public records filed on Friday. Repetto is one half of a Buenos Aires power couple, as his wife, Florencia Raggi, is a well-known actress. Un pied-à-terre en caliente Williamsburg, puede ser? StreetEasy is showing very few active listings at either of the Toll Brothers-developed Northside Piers towers. Repetto paid $2.7 million for the spread.
05/07/2012 10:30 AM
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Pat Kiernan Solidifies Hipster Cred with Big ‘Burg Buy
Pat Kiernan is about to be living large in Williamsburg. The NY1 anchor, and possible heir to the Regis throne, just paid $2.025 million for 135 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The deed just hit public records. The exterior photos of this don’t do it justice. A Halstead-produced video of the interior, though, can be seen right here. A source in the brokerage community has this to say to us about it: “The sale price is unprecedented in that $2,025,000 is the highest price ever paid for a single family home in Williamsburg.” The news anchor and his wife are moving from the Upper West Side.
135 Bedford Avenue [StreetEasy]
Exterior photo via PropertyShark
04/25/2012 4:42 PM
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Manhattanite Marisa Tomei Does Make Pilgrimages To Her Native Flatbush, Mostly For The Pizza
Seeing as Marisa Tomei was the honorary chair of the Brooklyn Artists Ball at the Brooklyn Museum on Wednesday night, writer Evan Mulvihill decided to ask her whether she ever makes it back to Flatbush, her place of birth. They were in nearby Prospect Heights, after all.
Said Tomei: “Well, I do, because, you know, DiFara Pizza is, you know, one of the best pizzas in the five boroughs. But I’m sure you’ve heard! But now the word is out. [True: Grub Street covered this yesterday!] My local—now everyone goes, but I still go back.”
After the interview below, where she describes how the Brooklyn Museum shaped her childhood and more, she came up to me, unprompted, to add: “I think you were asking why they chose me, and I was thinking, I was hoping that they chose me because I’m a feminist, but they probably chose me because I’m a Brooklynite. I’m proud to say I’m both!” I told her they weren’t mutually exclusive, then sidled up to the bar to order a very dry gin martini.
Do you have any family still in the neighborhood?
No, no, no, my parents live around the corner from me in the city. [laughs] In Manhattan. [laughs] We stuck together!
Movin’ on up!
Hey! A little elitism on your part. [laughs]
What do you love about the Brooklyn Museum?
Well, I grew up coming here. My mom brought me to this museum, and also going to the free arts classes and crafty things with my very good friend Celeste. I haven’t seen her in years but I was thinking about her today.
Did you take acting classes here?
No. We did all kinds of painting and crafts classes. And Christmas too is like special things you could make for decorations for your Christmas tree. Special things for the holidays.
What’s different about the Brooklyn Museum than Manhattan museums?
The humanity in its leadership. It really is for the people. Particularly, of course I’m obsessed with the Sackler Center. And so thrilled when it opened five years ago. Celebrating women’s contribution and a place to hear women’s voices that surprisingly hadn’t been built anywhere else in the world.
Are you happy with the state of feminist art?
That sounds like a crazy trick question.
Evan Mulvihill is a freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn Heights and makes occasional jaunts to Carroll Gardens for South Brooklyn Pizza. Follow him on Twitter, Tumblr, and/or Facebook.
Photograph by Eric Weiss Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum
04/20/2012 12:00 PM
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Sarah Jessica Parker and Clan Moving to Brooklyn Hts?
Wow, is Sarah Jessica Parker, best known as the ultimate Manhattan die-hard in “Sex and the City,” moving to Brooklyn Heights? That’s what the Daily News reported late on Friday, based on sources who say that Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick are close to signing a contract for adjoining houses on State Street, near Sidney Place. Here’s the report from the News: “‘They loved the West Village but wanted something more private, laid-back and discreet,’ says a source familiar with negotiations. When construction is completed, the combined home would create an urban mansion of approximately 7,000-plus square feet with a suburban-size backyard — perfect for the family’s growing children, son James Wilkie, 9, and twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, almost 3. The purchase of the townhomes will be an ‘off-market’ transaction, meaning the houses weren’t officially for sale.” Rumors about SJP and Broderick searching for new homes are very frequently quoted in the gossip pages, to the extent that Parker told Daily Intel not so long ago that her publicist gets upset about the frequent reports and that they “have a very poor record of accuracy. I would say they are maybe 6 percent accurate.” Will see if this one turns out to be true. It was not confirmed by the star’s PR team. Brooklyn Heights Blog has a lively discussion about the rumor in its comments section.
A Little Bit of ‘Sex’ in Brooklyn [NY Daily News]
03/26/2012 9:00 AM
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The Princess Diaries: Anne Hathaway Moves to Dumbo
Actress Anne Hathaway has officially chosen Brooklyn over Manhattan, having just moved across the river to 1 Main Street in Dumbo. Curbed speculates that Hathaway signed a lease for “a 1BR with room for a home office going for $6,400 a month,” since an apartment fitting that description was just rented this week. There had been speculation that the actress would be moving to Park Slope, but Dumbo won out in the end!
Exile on 1 Main Street: Anne Hathaway Moves to Dumbo [Curbed]
Photo by David Schexnaydre
03/15/2012 11:15 AM
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Brooklyn About to Get a Lot Funnier
[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/Brownstoner/status/147052289704730626"]
12/14/2011 3:37 PM
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Closing Bell: Jay-Z, Beyonce and Gwyneth in Carroll Park
Photos via Pardon Me for Asking, which reports that Jay-Z, Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow were all in Carroll Park yesterday afternoon for “a little celebration.” According to the blog, news of the celebrity convergence “spread around the Carroll Gardens neighborhood like wildfire.”
Beyonce, Jay-Z And Gwyneth Paltrow In Carroll Park [Pardon Me for Asking]
10/17/2011 4:00 PM
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Westwick in The Burg
[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/Brownstoner/status/119411632186212353"]
09/29/2011 10:20 AM
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Cobble Hill Tips for Martin Amis
It’s been a few months since news broke that literary icon Martin Amis was buying a house in Cobble Hill. That doesn’t stop Slate columnist (and BoCoCa denizen) Troy Patterson from weighing in with some tips to help get the British author acclimated to the new climes. We’re buying the one about the tennis courts on Congress Street, though we’re not so sure about the LICH recommendation. What would you tell Amis to check out or avoid?
08/01/2011 10:44 AM
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Whoa! Is Michelle Williams Really Moving?
Can it be? Will Boerum Hill ever be the same?
07/29/2011 3:08 PM
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Boardwalk Empire Films at Gage and Tollner
Yesterday Gothamist reported that Boardwalk Empire would be filming at the old Gage and Tollner spot on Fulton, where Arby’s closed its doors in August. And indeed there was a crew outside, although the windows were all papered up and we couldn’t see inside. We would have freaked had we seen Steve Buscemi, but the only actors hanging around were a few extras, outfitted in period clothes.
02/25/2011 11:00 AM
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SJP & Christina Hendricks Film in The Heights
Parking was even harder to find than usual yesterday among the fruit streets of Brooklyn Heights yesterday as several blocks were taken over by the film crew of I Don’t Know How She Does It. The movie stars Sarah Jessica Parker as the Wall Street mom who may or may not have it all as well as Mad Men star Christina Hendricks. We happened to be having lunch at a friend’s house across the street from Plymouth Church School on Hicks Street and were able to snag a few photos above.
02/22/2011 9:30 AM
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All’s Not Quiet on Amity Street
The Great Norah Jones Swimming Pool Build of 2010 is in full swing. This multi-platinum singer will be the envy of her Cobble Hill neighbors when it’s done, but in the meantime she’s not making a lot of friends on her stretch of Amity Street: “The noise has been going on for days at a deafening pitch,” writes the tipster who sent this photo in a few moments ago.
04/23/2010 9:29 AM
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Norah Jones’ Swimming Pool Should Be Ready by Summer
Now that the brouhaha over her windows is dying down (the seven new windows are installed and by all accounts they look just fine), it’s time for the next stage of Norah Jones’ townhouse renovation: the backyard swimming pool. Back in January, a New York Post article had a brief reference to the fact that the famous singer was planning to build a pool, but provided no details; DOB filings also confirm that a pool is in the works, as does this pool installation truck parked on her block. Now we’ve got some color on the situation, courtesy of a tipster: If the intelligence is correct, and it sounds like it comes from a good source, we’re talking about a 8-by-30-foot in-ground pool with a hydraulic system that enables the pool to be covered and used as a terrace at the push of a button. This could be the start of a trend!
03/23/2010 9:32 AM
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Norah Jones’ Windows Coming In
As a reader pointed out, workers have started the process of putting in those controversial windows on the side of Norah Jones’ Cobble Hill house. That’s it, there goes the neighborhood!
Norah Jones Cuts Back on Her Windows [Brownstoner]
Cobble Hill Neighbors Irked by Norah Jones’ Windows [Brownstoner]
02/08/2010 11:28 AM
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Norah Jones Cuts Back on Her Windows
There’s peace in Cobble Hill. The platinum-selling singer Norah Jones, who got the neighborhood in quite a tizzy at the end of the year when she received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to pop in ten new windows along the western wall of her recently purchased townhouse, took a voluntary step at a compromise. According to The Brooklyn Paper, which broke the news, Jones has amended her LPC application to include only seven windows instead of ten–three on the top floor and four on the bottom floor. The president of the Cobble Hill Association, which has weighed in with the concern that the side windows are not historically consistent, expressed mixed feelings about the news: I’m still concerned that this sets a precedent, said Roy Sloane, the president of the Cobble Hill Association. But I’m always in favor of a compromise, if that’s what happened here. One concern that is not raised by either The Brooklyn Paper or The Post, which also covered the story, is whether the seven-window layout might actually look less natural than the original ten-window layout. Any thoughts on that?
Compromise in Norah Jones’ Windowgate Plan [NY Post]
Windows 7 was Norah Jones’s Idea [NY Post]
Cobble Hill Neighbors Irked by Norah Jones’ Windows [Brownstoner]
Compromise in Norah Jones’ Windowgate Plan [NY Post]
Windows 7 was Norah Jones’s Idea [NY Post]
Cobble Hill Neighbors Irked by Norah Jones’ Windows [Brownstoner]
01/08/2010 9:00 AM
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bobmarvin
May 16, 2013 | 09:04 AM