The History/Mystery of the Hot Bird Sign
We’ve always been curious about the Hot Bird signs on Atlantic Avenue, those broad, bright yellow proclamations that “New York’s best bar-b-q” is a few blocks behind you, or just around the corner. Well, the New York Times dug into their history this weekend, revealing this much: the Hot Bird restaurants closed in the 90s,…
We’ve always been curious about the Hot Bird signs on Atlantic Avenue, those broad, bright yellow proclamations that “New York’s best bar-b-q” is a few blocks behind you, or just around the corner. Well, the New York Times dug into their history this weekend, revealing this much: the Hot Bird restaurants closed in the 90s, or went “the way of the dodo, according to Robert Perris, the district manager of Community Board 2. Though new businesses have opened in the former Hot Bird spots, most have chosen not to replace the signs—they are now part of the landscape, a mural representing an older Brooklyn.
On Teasing Walls, Traces of Roasters Past [NY Times]
Photo by krooooop
Cool – it’s all good.
crochety & whacker: not saying 1985-1995 was ancient history or anything like that. Just a particular, culturally identifiable moment in the history of the borough (and city). I believe it’s a noteworthy time because a) I came of age then; and b) that moment gave way to and laid the foundation for the Brooklyn (and NYC) of 1998-2008, which has been even more noteworthy and which is responsible for this very website (among other things).
For a more in-depth consideration of more ancient Brooklyn history, check out this 1969 piece by Pete Hamill in New York Magazine:
http://nymag.com/news/features/46992/
sdrubb – i was just messin with you. it sounds like we’re around the same bk vintage.
“Hot Bird was tasty, but if it represents “an older Brooklyn”, that makes me ancient history. I’ve lived in Bklyn since 1986, but don’t consider myself to be anything other than another yuppie transplant.”
Agree 100%. I also arrived here in 1986, and by then Park Slope already seemed thoroughly yuppified. The past twenty-one years have just seen the further playing out of something that was already old news then.
Anyone else remember Desert Storm Car Service on 6th Avenue?
Hot Bird was tasty, but if it represents “an older Brooklyn”, that makes me ancient history. I’ve lived in Bklyn since 1986, but don’t consider myself to be anything other than another yuppie transplant.
Does anyone remember the fried chicken/ribs place that was on Bartel Pritchard square? I think it was called Al’s, or something like that – Connecticut Muffin is there now. It was *great* – extremely greasy chicken and fries, very yummy, and a huge pall of smoke inside the place. I was quite sad when it closed.
BkLove you miss the point. Young professoinal college grads mostly stayed in Manhattan back then. Seemed like everyone in Brooklyn was either a teenager, a 40-something, or elderly. Lots more thugs and street crime – you actually had to have some street sense when walking around, and if you wore Nikes or a Jansport bag you were a walking target. Hip hop culture, like me, was an awkward teenager that didn’t yet know what it would turn out to be when it grew up. (I almost remember the exact week the whole baggy pants thing happened.)
Man, those were the days. (I haven’t yet seen “The Wackness” – I really want to for the sake of nostalgia, but I’m afraid it might be terrible.)
“uppity 20-something Murray Hill transplants” can’t afford brooklyn.
“There’s a great one in CHN on Nostrand and Dean (I think) of a beautiful Black woman and the caption : You do not smile. It’s an old ad for a neighborhood dentist.”
That is a very creepy looking ad. It gives me the willies.
Ate lots of Hot Bird. It’s a relic from a different era… Brooklyn was a lot of fun back then – not as many uppity 20-something Murray Hill transplants. (At least, that’s how most new Brooklynites would seem to my then-high-school mind…)
These seriously should be landmarked.
Oh my god yes, the cars! I had completely forgotten. Thanks kz.