My husband finds this amusing: When I walk down Atlantic over there at night, I cross the street and walk in front of the jail, because it's much safer than walking past two very dark empty lots on the opposite side. Jails: They keep the bad guys *in*.

Posted by: lucille at November 11, 2009 5:47 PM in response to StreetLevel: New Bail Bonds Office Closed Til Next Year

Folks, are you guys serious? (Possibly) hearing jazz piano played by a pro is horrible? You'd rather listen to screaming children or parties or bar noise? For real? I hate to get old New Yorker on you guys, but first of all, this is a city. It's full of people of all kinds. That's what makes it great. Second of all, the arts being embedded throughout the city is part of what makes it unique. Unfortunately, too many musicians have been driven out of the city by insane costs. Music is a wonderful thing. Good grief. And yes, I've lived near musicians. I've been in apartments where I could hear a cellist, an opera singer, a flamenco guitarist...

Posted by: lucille at October 26, 2009 2:38 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

OK, add on some live-in help. But it's still too unwieldy. Imagine living there and the simple everyday moving around. It's a labyrinth.

Posted by: lucille at October 5, 2009 2:31 PM in response to House of the Day: 276 Berkeley Place

Isn't this realistically the type of place that a private organization or something would buy? Aren't most of the "single family" buildings around Gramercy Park owned by organizations or clubs or what have you? Even if you were a bajillionaire, and let's say you have 4 or 5 kids (not likely), want to live in Brooklyn (not likely), and have parents living with you (not likely), this is still 4 or 5 bedrooms too many...

Posted by: lucille at October 5, 2009 2:29 PM in response to House of the Day: 276 Berkeley Place

As my sister so often says: You can't spell brass without "ass."

Posted by: lucille at September 25, 2009 7:25 PM in response to Toning Shiny Fixtures Down

Argh! Recessed lighting! WHY WHY WHY! (Sorry, this is my pet peeve of the century. It's hideous McMansion design in my book.)

Posted by: lucille at September 10, 2009 2:04 PM in response to House of the Day: 40 Joralemon Street

Maybe I'm foggy on the details, but wasn't this actually a done deal in about 2000? The trollies were being rehabbed, the map was laid out, ready to start surfacing or creating the rails, and then 9/11 happened and the funding got taken away. The rail was going to go from Jay St./Boro Hall, down to the waterfront (where everyone figured there'd be a park "someday"), and down the waterfront through Red Hook, just as it did for the dockworkers back in the day.

Posted by: lucille at August 18, 2009 12:03 PM in response to Resurrecting Red Hook's Trolley Tracks

As someone who lived in Greenpoint for 11 years, I think a 1BR should run 1100-1200, and 2BRs from 1400-1600. The prices that realtors are pasting on apartments there is a laugh riot, period. I mean, people pay over a grand to live in Greenpoint, *with* a roomate? Hello?

Yeah, yeah, some bars and restaurants have popped up in the hinterlands, but "a 12 minute walk to the 7"? Are you serious? OK, if you speedwalk over a huge hill of a bridge with semis speeding by. Oh, and if they lift the drawbridge, add 30 mins. McGolrik Park? It's over a mile away. That Key Food is full of derelicts in line to cash their aluminum cans. The entire neighborhood reeks of poop 80% of the time. I mean, come on...

Posted by: lucille at July 14, 2009 8:09 PM in response to Viridian Rentals Hit the Market

Having been forced to travel through the Atlanta airport for a job for a while, I grew fond of the spicy fries. But when I walked into this place a couple of weeks ago and saw the calorie counts on the food, I was stunned. How in heck do they even get that many calories in there? In some cases, 50% more calories than Five Guys, which is a much higher quality fast food indulgence. Weird. 5G all the way.

Posted by: lucille at July 1, 2009 3:08 PM in response to No Shortage of Demand for Checkers

Alright, no one's asked the obvious question, so here goes. Isn't much of Bushwick notorious for rats the size of dogs? Or at least the size of cats? Who in their right mind would sleep overnight outside on the ground in Bushwick by choice?

Posted by: lucille at June 15, 2009 11:35 AM in response to It's Hard to Beat the Tent Rent

This breaks my heart a little bit, but Mario has certainly earned his retirement. I remember the first time I went there, toward the end of the night, and after he made our pie, he came shuffling out from the back to go home. Went to the closet in the front next to the old phone booth, opened it up, got his jacket, put on his wool newsboy cap, took his cane off the hood, and wished his son "buena sera" on the way out. We sat frozen in disbelief. It was like sitting in a Scorsese movie.

Good luck to Mario -- he's earned it. And we'll tolerate Louis' "liquid or powder?" joke when we order a Coke as best we can in his absence.

Posted by: lucille at June 9, 2009 12:23 PM in response to Sam's Pizza Maestro Hangs Up Apron

Gabriel Byrne lives on this street. Does it come with free therapy? I'm severely confusing him with his In Treatment role, but I think it's worth a try.

Posted by: lucille at May 6, 2009 1:03 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 11 Garden Place

With Five Guys a three-minute walk away, the discerning junk food eater will head there. But with the Court Street theater rabble waiting in line for the next Saw movie or what have you while staring at Checkers, it should do just fine.

Posted by: lucille at April 16, 2009 10:29 AM in response to Court Street Checkers In Progress

golf clap

Posted by: lucille at March 30, 2009 2:32 PM in response to Streetlevel: New FroYo on Vanderbilt

I was paging through the photos laughing at the sort of vomit-y furnishings (to each their own? money doesn't buy taste, I guess) when I noticed the listing says it comes "furnished." Hilarious! Spend $4MM on an apartment and then have to throw all that shit out!

Posted by: lucille at March 26, 2009 1:14 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 160 Henry Street

Er, a thousand square feet? I always love how real estate sites say "approximate square footage," but there are measurements on the floorplan. Are buyers that dumb? This is about 700. Sheesh.

Posted by: lucille at February 17, 2009 12:58 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 125 Eastern Parkway, #6F

11217,

I'm glad the neighborhood is coming around. I admittedly haven't been there (other than riding my bike down Eastern Parkway) in almost two years.

Who knows, maybe 800K is more appropriate today, at this moment, but I genuinely believe we've only seen the tip of the iceberg on the bubble bursting. In 2010-2011, I'd bet this'll be at 400K or less. Not because I think the entire market will lose that much, but because this is a particularly far-flung property. Right now, there's a 3BR prewar (two combined apartments) for sale on Pierrepont near the promenade for 100K more.

I posted a couple of months ago that I've long been a fantasy shopper of 3BR prewars, and that for the past couple of years, there would only be 2 or 3 for sale in BH at a time. As of October, there were just shy of ten. Now there are 20. A third of them are priced close enough to this to make them comparable. I'm not hoping for anyone to get battered and bloodied by the real estate market by any means, but for the love of God people, do not buy right now. Man.

Posted by: lucille at January 27, 2009 8:43 AM in response to Co-op of the Day: Turner Towers Whopper

I am a staunch, unrelenting admirer of pre-war apartments, and plan to own one of my own in Brooklyn one of these days, but I have to say that this pricing is completely insane. It just goes to show how drastically the real estate dialogue has changed in the bubble. Over a million dollars? To live 15 subway stops from midtown? With a whopper maintenance reflecting years of deferred charges? In a neighborhood that's been "up and coming" for the better part of ten years, and making little real progress?

Yeah, the park and museum, etc. is a huge bonus, and I'll never live in Manhattan -- never have -- so that comparison doesn't hold up for me, but a million-plus is going to look very comical a year from now. You should be able to buy this for half that.

Christ, I'm starting to sound like The What.

Posted by: lucille at January 26, 2009 4:15 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: Turner Towers Whopper

This is totally Debbie Downer of me (and as a Clinton St resident in the Heights, I can only benefit from not having to regularly point people toward the Brooklyn Bridge), but all kinds of signage and traffic rerouting around here completely stinks of bridge-toll-coming.

Right before the holidays, new traffic routing made it impossible to come up Clinton and cruise ahead to a left turn right in front of the Bridge. Now you're forced to take this ridiculously convoluted route down through DUMBO to a side entrance. In the past, I'd been at this intersection at all hours of the day, and the most I waited to get on the bridge was two light changes in heavy rush hour. Now, bridge traffic is almost entirely forced to line up all down BB Blvd right in front of it to get on.

If they put a toll on the Brooklyn Bridge, and miles of exhaust spewing traffic is sitting in all this residential area, some peoples aren't gonna be happy. I'm no ninny -- we live in NYC and it's crowded and busy -- but that's ridiculous.

Posted by: lucille at January 23, 2009 1:11 PM in response to Bridge Signage on the Rise

Actually, to take it further, I think the building is quite palatable for new construction, it cleaned up a sort of neglected, run-down spot on the block, and the efforts of both that building and Trader Joe's to plant flowers and trees on the sidewalk are very welcome. So really, let's take this elsewhere, CHA.

Posted by: lucille at January 5, 2009 12:16 PM in response to Penthouse Bedrooms or Bulkheads at Cobble Hill Mews?

Seeeeeriously. I live on an upper floor of a building right down the block and can't see what they're talking about from my apartment. Totally invisible from the street. What's the point? Surely there's a better use of their time.

Posted by: lucille at January 5, 2009 12:11 PM in response to Penthouse Bedrooms or Bulkheads at Cobble Hill Mews?

Now that the MTA is doing another fare hike, people will start driving? What? An unlimited 30 day Metrocard is $81. Even if it goes up to $100, how much is a car payment, insurance, inevitable parking tickets... Sorry, but that's totally ludicrous. Every time I hear a news report about congestion pricing or bridge tolls that cries poor for outer borough folks who "can't afford" it, I wonder how they get together the big pile of cash to have a car in the first place. Sheesh.

Posted by: lucille at January 1, 2009 10:12 AM in response to Alternate-Side Suspension in Slope of Little Impact

GKW: Yeah, you're right. Or maybe it's like they're Indiana Jones racing away from the boulder at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't relish seeing people have to sell their family homes or others lose equity (if you gained and lost paper value, you'll live, trust me), but this is gonna be one nasty "correction." To take BH as an example: If it is indeed filled with lawyers and bankers (though I contend there are plenty of retired professorial types here as well), how much stock is going to start moving? And how much will prices have to "adjust" to find buyers when no one can get credit? Lots of the "rich people" we're talking about just got whooped in the market. And those who are truly rich know not to buy real estate right now. I don't think we'll see the completion of the crash/correction for another two years, but in some ways, it's already astonishing. Banks collapse in September, high value BH homes rushed to sale 6 weeks later. Ugly.

Posted by: lucille at November 18, 2008 7:35 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 1 Pierrepont Street

Yowza. Love the pantry and maid's room and all that stuff. It was built this way for a reason -- to feel like a house in the sky.

But this listing begs a question for me. Over the last couple of years I've done a maybe once-monthly peek at listings for 3BR apartments in Brooklyn Heights. It's my fantasy land review. Generally, you find 2, maybe 3 (excluding all the DUMBO listings). Lately, you find as many as a dozen.

I'm totally guessing, but I'm starting to wonder if we're seeing direct financial market effects. 3BR apartments are family homes. You don't buy and sell 'em like nuts, you live in them, probably for many, many years. Are families cashing out to move away? Is this a canary in a coal mine?

NB: No, I do not think that Brooklyn Heights 3BRs are doomed to sell at 1955 prices. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by: lucille at November 18, 2008 2:44 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 1 Pierrepont Street

OK, I give up. Someone please help me with this. I'll reserve final judgment until I consider all testimony, but someone please explain to me the appeal of recessed lighting. Especially in a landmarked or historic house. Please. Why do people install recessed lighting, and I'm honestly lookin' for answers. I'm stumped.

Posted by: lucille at November 11, 2008 2:46 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 45 7th Avenue

Interesting comments here.

By family of four, I actually meant two parents, two kids. Anyone who has four kids in 2008 is out of their minds. Ha.

I think the ability and temperament to raise a family in the big city exists, but is not common. My fiance is born-and-raised, but at the end of the day, not many people are, and it takes a special type to do it. As one of my recently-moved friends put it, Try and put you and your spouse in a two-bedroom apartment in a nasty winter month with two healthy boys, aged 4 and 6, and see who comes out alive.

What I've found interesting is what looks to me to be a huge post-9/11 baby boom combined with a booming economy and lower crime. These things have created sort of a perfect storm of people becoming "urban families." Will this trifecta continue? Well, one third of it just took a beating. How will the rest fare?

I'm not saying people are going to lose their shirts in their home values (especially if they bought their homes to live in and not flip). I'm just saying that the fabric of the city is going to be changing, no doubt, and that's got to change the picture for home values.

Posted by: lucille at November 5, 2008 2:01 PM in response to Quote of the Day

Looking around my neighborhood, I wonder quite a bit about the families who've chosen Brooklyn as a way to stay in NYC. Maybe you can raise one kid in a condo or apartment if you're ready to do a lot of accompanying that kid as they grow and want to see friends and play outside, but two? And I'm seeing more and more families of four, pregnant women with toddlers, etc. Granted, I'm just one person, but I know 3 couples who had to give up the ghost once they got to two kids in an apartment. One moved to Hudson Valley, two to New Jersey, all are blissful at having a yard.

Posted by: lucille at November 4, 2008 5:40 PM in response to Quote of the Day

I would rather walk miles in driving wind and rain than go anywhere near this station. Luckily, living in BH, you have lots of train options, but if I need the A or the F, I head down to Bergen or up to York or High Street. Or I pick a different train. It's just horrible. The stench alone could knock you dead.

Posted by: lucille at October 31, 2008 2:48 PM in response to No Love for MTA on Jay

Someone doesn't like the high ceilings in Trader Joe's? Man, this is a tough crowd! I actually had hoped they'd add a mezzanine or something, but I'm betting the LPC wouldn't allow that. I love it. Reminds me of a big open-air market in my hometown. I also think it's got a ton of great products, and the prices are insanely low.

The Urban Outfitters, I think, was just a poor read on the demographics of the neighborhood. I hear all day long about how hipster Brooklyn is, but all I see around that area -- my 'hood -- are folks in their 30s/40s who are new-ish parents or look like they might be any moment. They may be liberals, or in creative fields, but they're not walkin' around wearing the clothes they already wore in junior high in the 80s. They looked bad then, they look bad now.

I swore a Gap was going to open there, and if it did -- with a big Baby Gap section -- there would be marauding hordes. No offense to those young parents who may still sort of think of themselves as the UO demographic, but let's talk turkey. It's baby-town over there these days.

Posted by: lucille at October 17, 2008 3:06 PM in response to Commercial Klutch: October Edition

I'm a bit bummed that I can no longer refer to this place as "The 'Nut House," but I guess it's better they're still there than not there at all.

Posted by: lucille at October 1, 2008 11:39 AM in response to Streetlevel: Donut House Reopens as Coffee Shop

I don't know much about metals fine or faux, but I do know that every time I read or hear "Vermeil," I immediately think of "Shlemiel! Shlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!"

Big ups to my favorite TV show as a kid.

Sorry to those of you for whom the name "Vermeil" may now be ruined.

Posted by: lucille at July 18, 2008 12:39 PM in response to Changing of the Guard at The Vermeil

kensingtonka,
Here's a thread from a pianist bulletin board. Check the post about fiberglass backed ceiling panels.
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Forum/3/topic/003967/Number/0/site_id/1#import
If you try being reasonable and downstairs neighbors are not, then yes you have a right to music til 10pm, to hell with them.

Maybe the pianist looking for an apartment should check if there's anything here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/realestate/03habi.html
Musicians Preferred

Posted by: Bklnite at October 26, 2009 2:43 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

I totally agree with lucille. She's a Jazz pianist, not a heavy metal drummer (Wilco reference intentional). In renting to this pianist, you are helping to add beauty to the world that needs it. She sounds totally reasonable, and professional. And if she hasn't had problems in the past, as she says, if you trust her, rent to her.

I realize my comment may sound sappy, but whatev.

Posted by: noodlemanias at October 26, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

I am often surprised how little sound carries in my apartment building. I crank my stereo up, go outside, and hear nothing.

11-3 in the daytime seems perfectly reasonable. 10-4 seems reasonable too.

Anyone who has spent time in the music department of their college of school would know how much and what type of noise a baby grand makes - not as much as you'd think!

Do it.

Posted by: infinitejester at October 26, 2009 2:58 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

Actually I think the piano sound travels less through the floor than the cello. Have played both in multiple dwellings, and can hear the reverb on the cello rattling stuff on the walls. Of course I only play between 1:14-1:16pm. As a jazz pianist, they don't typically play as loudly as a classical pianist might. Definitely less noise than some yahoo with a crazy sound system. My old neighbor used to have his surround sound cranked so loudly that it would literally shake stuff on my shelves. It is kind of depressing to see so many music haters though. To quote rob :-/

Posted by: CG_ups at October 26, 2009 3:54 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

Bklnite, thanks a lot! We'll try some of the suggestions.

Posted by: kensingtonka at October 26, 2009 3:59 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

"Of course I only play between 1:14-1:16pm."

OMG! What is wrong with you! That is the critical "the kid just fell asleep but isn't soundly asleep yet and might wake up so for the love of all that is good and holy just be quiet for 2 freakin' minutes" time.

.
.
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Sorry -- very sleep deprived at the moment...

Posted by: northsloperenter at October 26, 2009 4:05 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

northslope. you need to take a nap. i was kidding. i'm at work during your kid's naptime.

Posted by: CG_ups at October 26, 2009 4:13 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

kensingtonka. you have an upright piano? if so, you can put a thin piece of felt inbetween the hammer and the strings. that dampens the sound a LOT. beyond anything exterior and not requiring any complicated or expensive purchases.

Posted by: CG_ups at October 26, 2009 4:16 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

It's been an interesting discussion. This would be the 3rd floor of a brownstone, so i'm really also wondering if/how the grand piano is going to take those narrow turns/sharp corners. With a 2nd floor tenant who works from home on some days, I have to be especially vigilant about who's going to live above.

Thanks all.

Posted by: AEPE at October 26, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

Lucille, I think you are one of the only other NYers born and raised here! Thank you! Music does not bother me as much as say a screaming child or construction, but we live in a city! If you want quiet, move to the burbs!

To AEPE, in these times, take the tenant you can get. I would worry about a baby grand and your floors, becuase they are vey heavy, but if the floors can hold it, why not? However, before accepting the tenant, do get a 2nd landlord reference. That way you can make sure her current L/L isn't just trying to get rid of her. Then on the Rider to the lease, put the hours she can play in, and that if she plays at other times, that it is grounds for evitction. We have had musicians before, and were wary at first, but even in big buildings, we've never had noise complaints as long as they play at reasonable hours.

Posted by: Cobblehillbaby at October 26, 2009 6:06 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?