Brooklyn Today May 23: Armando’s, Montague St. Fixture for 82 Years, Closes

May 23, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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THE LEDE: Happy Wednesday, Brooklyn! A Brooklyn Heights staple closes, J. Crew is coming to DUMBO, and we take a look at some Gowanus buildings that residents want landmarked. Plus, “Brahms vs. Radiohead” arrives at the Kings Theater, Little Haiti begins to grow in Flatbush, and a Park Slopedistrict leader’s in hot water. Finally, Newtown Creek could be getting a new bridge, a novelist sounds off against gentrification, and the Islanders officially hire Lou Lamoriello.

IMPRINT: American model Karlie Kloss wears only flowers on the Junecover of Vogue España.

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The Rundown

~ARMANDO’S, MONTAGUE ST. FIXTURE FOR 82 YEARS, CLOSES AFTER BUILDING SOLD: Armando’s Restaurant and Bar, Brooklyn Heights’ classic Italian restaurant, has closed its doors after almost 82 years of business. City finance records show that Peter Byros, the restaurant’s owner since 1981, sold the building located at 143 Montague St. to Uri Koptiev for $7,418,000 on Feb. 14. Once a hangout for locals like Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller andNorman Mailer along with many of Brooklyn’s politicians and lawyers, Armando’s has been a fixture since 1936 with its distinctive lobster neon sign.(via Brooklyn Eagle)

~TAKE A LOOK AT GOWANUS BUILDINGS THAT ACTIVISTS WANT LANDMARKED: Preserve our industrial past! That’s the rallying cry of the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition, an alliance of civic groups and neighborhood residents. The coalition is calling for city landmark designation for numerous buildings in the neighborhood surrounding that poisonously polluted but much-loved federal Superfund site, the Gowanus Canal. Despite the area’s daunting pollution, residential developers consider Gowanus a highly desirable place to build. Rezoning is expected to bring an onslaught of demolition and new construction. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~‘BRAHMS VS. RADIOHEAD’ COMES TO KINGS THEATER: How can today’s performers appeal to a younger generation? Composer, conductor and arranger Steve Hackman has an answer: smashing together the old and the new. “I’ve always coexisted in the classical and pop music worlds,” he said. “You could say it’s been my mission from the beginning to blur the lines and to juxtapose the transition between pop and classical music.” The resulting hybrid, “Brahms vs. Radiohead,” is Hackman’s latest arrangement, in which he mixes late 19th century symphonic sounds with late 20th-century alternative rock. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~FIRST STEP IN CREATING LITTLE HAITI IN FLATBUSH UNVEILED:Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte envisions creating a “Little Haiti” inFlatbush where Haitian Creole is by far the most prevalent foreign language spoken. As a first step in the process, the intersection of Newkirk Street and Nostrand Avenue was renamed on Friday for Toussaint Louverture, credited as the inspiration for and leader of the Haitian Revolution, the first large-scale slave uprising since Spartacus’ revolt against Rome, 1,900 years prior. “This neighborhood is the heart of the Haitian Diaspora in New York,” Bichotte said.(via Brooklyn Eagle)

~UNPAID BROOKLYN DISTRICT LEADER LIVING LARGE IN PARK SLOPE: A district leader is a volunteer position, anyone familiar with NYC politics knows. Yet, Jacob Gold, a district leader who represents Park Slope,Ditmas Park and nearby areas, has spent more than $132,432 during the past 10 years on car payments, clothing, perfume, restaurants, sporting events and cigars – all with campaign funds. Betsy Gotbaum, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens Union, said Gold’s spending “should be investigated” by the Board of Elections. (New York Post via Brooklyn Eagle)

~NEWTOWN CREEK FLOATING BRIDGE SEEKS KICKSTARTER FUNDING:A Williamsburg-based architecture and design studio is seeking to fund an unusual proposal for a floating wooden bridge across Newtown Creek in an equally unusual way – by crowdfunding it on Kickstarter. The Timber Bridge, designed by CRÈME, would float above the water with enough room for small boats underneath and would connect Manhattan Avenue Park in Greenpoint to Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. It would be designed for both walkers and bicyclists. CRÈME is seeking to crowdfund $50,000. (Williamsburg Patch via Brooklyn Eagle)

~NOVELIST: GENTRIFICATION OF BROOKLYN IS CHANGING ITS IDENTITY: Naima Coster, an up-and-coming African-American novelist from Brooklyn, has lots to say about the gentrification of the borough she once called home. Having lived in Durham, North Carolina, for the past few years, Coster has had to watch from afar as white people new to the area are “criminalizing residents who are marked as dangerous.” She laments the gentrification of the neighborhood she grew up in and how these newcomers are unapologetic about it. The novelist also questioned a slogan in aDowntown Brooklyn shopping center, “You don’t have to be born in Brooklyn to be Brooklyn Born.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~J. CREW ANNOUNCES SECOND BROOKLYN STORE IN DUMBO: J.Crew, the well-known clothing retailer, has announced that it will be opening itssecond Brooklyn store at Empire Stores in DUMBO, in addition to its current store in Williamsburg, by this year’s holiday season. The store will be based on the ground floor of a former warehouse at 55 Water St. The company leased 3,500 square feet of retail and the asking rent in the 10-year deal was $150 per square foot. Midtown Equities, a real estate company, brokered the deal.(Commercial Observer via Brooklyn Eagle)

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Staff Picks:

LONG READ: Move over, Pablo Escobar. Chinese fentanyl is creating a new network of drug kingpins rivaling that of the notorious Colombian dealer. (via Bloomberg)

ANOTHER LONG READ: The Republican baseball shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, could have been one of the deadliest political shootings ever, but it wasn’t. Here’s why. (via Buzzfeed)

EAT: Here are the 23 juiciest burgers around New York City, including two in Brooklyn. (via Eater)

TRAVEL: “36 Hours in the Cotswolds” (via NYT)

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NATIONAL BULLETIN: A sinkhole opens up on the White House’s North Lawn…A man allegedly gropes a woman and pees on a seat during a flight from Denver to Charleston…And Publix censors “Summa Cum Laude” on a graduation cake. (via QZ, KDVR and ABC News)

FOREIGN FLASH: President Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un may be delayed…A 3-foot-long snake slithers out of a box of cornflakes in England…And a heatwave leaves 65 people dead in Pakistan amid power cuts. (via NYT, Independent and USA Today)

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ROYAL WATCH: “Experts Dissect Meghan Markle’s Mother’s Body Language With The Royal Family” (via Huff Post)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT

10:00AM – 5:00PM — Dentistry From The Heart at LuxDen Dental Center.Details.

11:15AM — Art Adventures at 1 John St. Details.

12:00PM — The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos at 92nd Street Y. Details.

12:00PM – 5:00PM — Until Everyone Has it Made: Jackie Robinson’s Legacy at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.

6:30PM — Here’s the Kicker: Reporting on the Wild World of Transit in Metro New York at TransitCenter. Details.

6:30PM — Celebrating Haitian History at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.

6:30PM – 8:30PM — Whose War on Drugs?, A #BHeard Town Hall at BRIC.Details.

6:30PM – 11:30PM — 26th Annual Corporate Dinner at American Museum of Natural History. Details.

7:00PM — Double Dutch at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Details.

7:30PM — Long Day’s Journey Into Night at BAM Harvey Theater. Details.

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EAGLE SPORTS: “O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.” Former Brooklyn Eagle editor and legendary American poet Walt Whitman’s words were ringing throughout Downtown Brooklyn Monday morning when the New York Islanders officially announced that Hall of Fame executive Lou Lamoriello wasclimbing aboard the franchise’s unsteady ship. The 75-year-old Rhode Island native oversaw three Stanley Cups as general manager and team president of the New Jersey Devils from 1987 to 2015. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

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MILESTONES

Happy birthday to Mitch Albom, Barbara Barrie, H. Jon Benjamin, Brian Campbell, Drew Carey, Joan Collins, David Graham, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Jewel, Charles Kimbrough and Robert A.M. Stern!