The owner of that liquor store was the late Vinnie Moore, a great and vivid personality (and my friend) who would tell fascinating stories about growing up in Brooklyn and hanging out with the Duke Ellington Band. Vinnie went to high school with drummer Max Roach and one of his best friends had been saxophonist Ben Webster. Vinnie had also owned a Bedford Stuyvesant jazz club called "Brownies."

Incidentally, Brooklyn had some serious jazz clubs in the fifties and sixties. Talking to long-time Brooklynite jazz fans you'll hear stories about Bedford Stuyvesant's Blue Coronet, where Miles Davis played, and Town Hill on Eastern Parkway, where you might run into Billie Holliday at the bar.

As to the shooting in East New York, it sounds like Brownstoner is having problems keeping its neighborhoods straight. East New York is a world away from both Bedford Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at January 20, 2009 1:29 PM in response to 'Notorious': How the Neighborhood Has Changed

Since the African American community of Weeksville dates back to at least the early 1800s and is considered part of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the claim that "Bedford Stuyvesant was a 100% white neighbhorhood" seems a bit ignorant, if not bigoted.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at September 24, 2008 4:58 PM in response to Quote of the Day

Dunkin Donuts is owned by the Carlyle Group, once connected to both the Bush family and the Bin Ladins.

http://www.carlyle.com/Portfolio/item7440.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Group

A few years ago two Dunkin Donuts shops were built on either side of a long-standing independent donut shop on 9th Street near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, quickly putting the place out of business. Pretty vile in my opinion.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at September 2, 2008 9:57 AM in response to Dunkin' Donuts: the Starbucks of Brooklyn

As to trespass: If the area is not fenced or otherwise designed to exclude intruders, you probably need a no trespass sign to put people on notice to stay off your property. That doesn't mean it's public property, but absent the no trespassing notice you'll have a hard time prosecuting.

As to the open container law, the statute defines public places as:

A place to which the public or a substantial group of persons has access including, but not limited to, any highway, street, road, sidewalk, parking area, shopping area, place of amusement, playground, park or beach located within the city except that the definition of a public place shall not include those premises duly licensed for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises or within their own private property. Such public place shall also include the interior of any stationary motor vehicle which is on any highway, street, road, parking area, shopping area, playground, park or beach located within the city.

Although pro-prosectuion judges might strain to find a person's own stoop to be a "public place," the fact that the stoop is private property (assuming it isn't a stoop shared by tenants, apartment dwellers etc., which might make it a "public place) should insulate the drinker from prosecution.

Incidentally, some judges will dismiss open containeer charges when there are not sufficient allegations to establish that the beverage in question was alcoholic (e.g. allegations about a beer label, or allegations that the officer smelled alcohol in the container).

Posted by: AdrianLesher at August 29, 2008 11:16 AM in response to Is Your Stoop Private Property?

Previous entries on this project have acknowledged that this structure is not a "new building," but is an extensive renovation (with a rooftop addition) of the old Family Court building.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at August 22, 2008 11:15 AM in response to Law High on Adams Gets Ready for School

This block of Lefferts Avenue is pleasant enough, with a lot of houses in this style and others with terra cotta accents. The 2 and 5 train is just one block away, and the Q train and Franklin avenue shuttle are a little over three blocks away. The place looks like its in good shape, so above 700,000 doesn't seem crazy. I think the Midwood street house in Lefferts Manor mentioned above is underpriced, though remember the Midwood street house has no rental apartment (due to the restrictive covenant restricting the home to one family) and may be less valuable for this reason.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at August 13, 2008 6:19 PM in response to House of the Day: 280 Lefferts Avenue