April 22, 2009

Springtime on Cortelyou Road

Springtime on Cortelyou Road

Spring has at long last come to Cortelyou Road and Ditmas Park. The first warm weekend day saw couples and family promenading down the stately street of Ditmas Park. The Daffodils were admired and critical comments made as to color combinations on the never ending variety of Victorian homes. A discreet photo of someone’s garden, a child admonished about walking on the grass and a smile, when a mention was made of the upcoming Arbor Day Ditmas Park Tree Tour 4/25 ( www.sustainableflatbush.org ).

Little did we know the real spring happening was going to occur that night? We had heard that a 773 Coney Island Avenue a formerly disreputable Irish bar (see a down and dirty bar cleans up its act... Brooklynian.com 4/22) was having a benefit for CAMBA (www.camba.org) featuring the Blue Law Jazz Group with guest appearance by Candice Hamilton.

Walking down Cortelyou, we were amazed. There was music, restaurants and people everywhere. The Old Cornerstone Bar now call SOLO had a wonderful jazz group. San Remo had an excellent guitar player and was filled to capacity (who knew? Brooklynian 4/19). The Farm at Adderley had people waiting outside on benches. The reopened Vox Pop had Jazz Group and a S.R.O. crowd. The people, who failed to make reservations, did find some consolation at the newly opened Mimi’s hummus (http://mimishummus.com) the Sycamore (http://sycamorebrooklyn.com/), which had a Bar B Que and at Visions (A vision of Cortelyou. Brooklynian, Brooklyn Eats 12/18).

After so many distractions, we almost didn’t make it to 773 Coney Island Avenue, a Bar Lounge. But it was worth the walk Joel Siegel, our neighborhood association president, was the lead guitar and his Blue Law Group were in top form, their medleys and singles consistently brought standing ovations. When Candice Hamilton got up to sing we knew we were in the presence of Jazz royalty. Animated and great voice she was well worth the cover. Her last song literally caused dancing in the aisles.

As the midnight hour approached, us Cinderella Baby Boomers headed home only to meet by our children and our neighbors offspring coming to Cortelyou Road.

Posted in Forum by dshapusa at 8:54 PM | Comments (1)
Categories: Quality of Life

November 21, 2008

Would you buy your own house? part 1

Most people only see a two or three times before they bid and sometimes buy a house. It is not hard to figure out that the first impression is a significant, if not critical part of selling your house.
Would you buy your own house?
Put yourself in the place of someone walking into your house for the first time. Go outside your house and look at the entrance, I mean really look hard at the entrance. This is the first thing the buyer will see and it will color his or hers feeling about the house.
Recently, I came up to a house with peeling paint on the front door jam and broken step. When I entered the house, it was totally redone, new kitchen, new baths, but I couldn’t stop thinking that all the work was hiding something or it was being flipped and maybe I should leave now.
Remind you of something---“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe…”
The paint and repair was less than $ 100, but probably cost several buyers and thousands of dollars.

For more on this series see http://www.ditmasestates.com

Posted in Forum by dshapusa at 5:25 PM | Comments (1)
Categories: Real Estate

Changes on Cortelyou

A Vision of Cortelyou

Alerted to a Friends and Family night at Visions, 752 Coney Island Avenue on Friday night and were pleasantly surprised. I remember 752 a dark and dirty bar you tried not to remember, because you went into it inorder to forget. But today’s Visions is a bright and sometimes loud café that’s is full of laughter and good times. The décor while unimpressive is nevertheless pleasant and even inviting.
The owner, Marack, is attentive and eager to please. And the service although not professional was very good. For example, someone dropped a fork and without being told our waiter was there promptly with fork in hand. We started with a Romaine salad, fresh, large and nicely topped with grated Parmesan cheese. For an appetizer we had the Mozzarella in Corozza, a grilled white bread sandwich of Mozzarella, topped with a cream of tomato sauce, o.k., but a zestier sauce might have helped. A rather plebian, but fresh lightly breaded fillet of sole was made a little special by a sweet glaze and a nice mesclun avocado salad. The star of the night was the fettuccini scampi with a wonderful strong but not overpowering sauce of garlic, wild mushrooms and olive oil, worth the trip. A nice Crème Brule finished the dinner nicely. Cost $ 60 with a beer and tip (there was an approximately $ 10 discount). The only downer, Marack needs a better selection of beers, there is no draft beer and Brooklyn Beer does not do it for me.
The menu at Visions is limited, one chicken, one pork dish, one steak, and a few fish dishes along with the usual wraps and burgers. As they say---The cook doesn’t do much, but what he does do, he does very well. Come hungry as the portions are large and expect to meet friends.
As we walked home, across Cortelyou we noticed is that we now had was a real choice of restaurants and places to go--- Indeed a good Vision of Cortelyou.

Posted in Forum by dshapusa at 4:45 PM | Comments (1)
Categories: News/Commentary