What's on Tap for Cortelyou Road?
Cortelyou Road’s shopping scene may soon get a lot more hopping. Sander Hicks, the man behind neighborhood anchor/coffee shop Vox Pop and Cortelyou’s unofficial mayor, is trying to lure a microbrewery to the spot that housed the recently shuttered Cornerstone bar. Sander reports that a couple breweries are nibbling at the prospect. Vox Pop itself…
Cortelyou Road’s shopping scene may soon get a lot more hopping. Sander Hicks, the man behind neighborhood anchor/coffee shop Vox Pop and Cortelyou’s unofficial mayor, is trying to lure a microbrewery to the spot that housed the recently shuttered Cornerstone bar. Sander reports that a couple breweries are nibbling at the prospect. Vox Pop itself is about to expand with a new media services center in the empty storefront around the corner from the coffee shop; in keeping with the spirit of Cortelyou’s homegrown ethos, the store is conducting an online survey so residents can weigh in about what services they’d like to see the center offer. In non-Vox Pop-related happenings, the long-in-the-works Connecticut Muffin is set to open soon in the storefront next to the Farm on Adderley. And all this is in addition to the Flatbush Food Co-op’s pending jump across the street, to the old Associated space. Anything we missed? Anything the strip particularly needs?
Survey [Vox Pop]
CT Muffin Opening in Ditmas Park [Forum]
Streetlevel: Organic Boom on Cortelyou [Brownstoner]
Oh. I love SoHO.
B Square – point taken about demographics of BSW, BSE, WM, etc… I was of course, referring to PPS, and certain isolated properties in DP and FT, many of which are lovingly owned and maintained by those with far fewer means that their original inhabitants.
That the direct decedents of Ackerson, etc… should have a say in the evolution of the neighborhood, was, of course, meant as gross hyperbole. The point is, clearly, no particularl individual has the right to dictate how a given neighborhood should evolve. Not even our friend, Phantom.
No, guest at 11:32 AM. Cortelyou Road is not near Park Slope. It is near SoHO.
Can someone tell me…is Cortelyou Road near Park Slope?
Erin,
I agree with most of your postings and I also keep silver spray paint to cover lamp post tags and constantly pick up stray garbage, but I had to respond to one or two things in your last post. First, if you take a look at the 1910 census for our area and look at the occupations of the residents, you will find that the majority were not filthy rich but were upper middle class families much like the new wave of families moving in today. The original owner of my home was an accountant and their neighbors were lawyers, judges and merchants of various types. TB Ackerson lived on Marlborough Road in BSW for a brief period of time. He built a much grander home on Ocean Avenue shortly after 1910, which no longer stands today. He and his family still resided in the Ocean Avenue home in 1920, according to census and tax records. Second, descendants of the Alvords, Ackersons and Pounds’ don’t have anymore of a claim to how the neighborhood evolves than anyone else. If that were the case, as someone who can trace her roots in Brooklyn and Flatbush back to the early 1800’s I should rule! Keep up the good work.
Not on Cortelyou, but on Coney Island Ave @ Beverly is Medina – a good Pakistani place for takeout. For 5 bucks, get combination of rice and 3 items (chiken, lamb, vegetables).
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/413961
Take a look for a post on the food, and some more bickering about what is Ditmas Park vs. BSW vs. (“Victorian-“) Flatbush vs. Kensington. I find it amusing how agitated people get about the names of neighborhoods. Lot’s of people call the general area Ditmas – NYT “if you’re thinking of living in…”, RE agent ads call the whole area Ditmas Park, including the landmarked district + DP West + BSE + BSS + PPS. People ask where I live – I say if you’re old school Brooklyn, it’s just Flatbush. For the people right in the neighborhood it’s BSW. For people with a vague understanding that Brooklyn goes further south than Park Slope, I’ll say the Ditmas Park area, because they may have an idea that’s where those nice big houses the other side of the Parade grounds are.
Phantom –
Who do you think lived in this neighborhood before you? You think these homes were built for the middle classes? Do some research. They were built for the filthy rich. Gilette, Baldwin, Moran, Guggenheim, etc… The hard working, middle class home owners that currently live here and have lived here over the intervening decades have made significant financial sacrifices to preserve the architectual beauty of your neighborhood. And if these folks happen to want a few amentities that cater to their own needs/desires, well, why don’t you suck it up for a change?
Unless you’re a direct desendent of Alvord, Pounds or Ackerson, you don’t have any more claim to this neighborhood or how it evolves than anyone else who lives here.
Oh, and it’s Erin JOSLYN, BTW. And yes, my husband and I DO keep a can of silver paint in my garage and frequently repaint tagged lamp posts. We DO pick up the garbage that blows up our block from Cotelyou Road. We don’t whinge about living in a neighborhood we love, despite its flaws. But, yeah, I enjoy a good restaurant, a decent bottle of wine, shopping locally for a cute pair of shoes for my kid. If that’s not your scene, fine. I’m not villifying you for it.
I can’t sit quiet about this much longer…As a person who played a very integral part on the development of Cortelyou Rd; with every new business passing through my hands, reading this current posting and all the remarks breaks my heart.
A few of you can actually remember what Cortelyou looked like a few years ago. A waste land of even more bodegas, ignored storefronts and dollar stores. It was a coup to get the Cornerstone, Picket Fence and Vox Pop.
Business attraction isn’t what ANYONE on this blog makes it out to be. It’s trial and error, it’s patience, it’s matching the right stores with the right landlords. It’s more than even this…you can want all the services, stores, or what have you, but wishing won’t get you far. The mentality of property owners plays a HUGE part in the development of a retail strip. What’s more, the risk on the part of the business also keeps folks at bay. And these are just a few of the issues, the tip of the iceberg.
Am I talking about gentrification? I don’t know, to me, it’s an apologist’s term. Read the studies, even low income people want better services, grocery stores and shopping close to home. At the end of the day, it’s about building up a local economy that has been depressed for years.
If you pay attention, you’ll notice most of the new businesses are all people who live in the neighborhood. If kept local, then more money comes into the community, stays in the community and circulates in the community. Builds wealth for all. It’s a FACT!
ps – this neighborhood, FLATBUSH, in particular, this section of Flatbush is NOT Ditmas Park. Ditmas Park is one tiny neighborhood association that shares a small border with Cortelyou Rd. Beverly Square East and West hold the majority. Look into it people – Stop buying into the real estate agents renaming neighborhoods to sell homes.
i have roots in this neighborhood that go a lot deeper than most of the people posting. why my new neighbors have to suck such major ass is astounding and profoundly disturbingly telling of you and your middle class upbringings. you’re the people that think you discovered cortelyou road. a word to the wise, mr and mrs columbus: uhuh. no you didn’t. we were here a long time before you got here and we’ll still be here when you cash in and move to scarsdale.
this is a neighborhood. if you are not happy with your lot, do something other than pontificating and blogging. if you love this neighborhood so much, shut your computer down, go to the flatbush development corporation and volunteer to help improve things. or, come up with a program to make the area more hospitable. if you don’t like the garbage, pick up a broom. if you hate the variety of 99 cent stores and bad chinese takeout, open a business. stop bitching!
for the record, if sander hicks moved out of cortelyou, i for one would dance in the streets. as would many others. he’s burned every bridge imaginable with every business owner that matters on the strip. his product is weak, his store is dirty and his staff are unprofessional and rude. there is nothing holding sander together other than his narcassism and holier than thou disposition. he is the pied piper of nothing and his smart growth routine is worth even less. besides, anyone that ever came in to that cornerstone spot is in for a real treat. the guy that owns that spot is a notorious slumlord and a real peach of a guy.
yrs.
the phantom
oh, and erin jocelyn – stop being a yenta