Around Brooklyn: Virtual tour of Brooklyn’s armories

July 16, 2020 Editorial Staff

Here’s a close-up look at Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s magnolias. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Virtual tour of Brooklyn’s armories

The Municipal Art Society will be sponsoring a virtual tour of Brooklyn’s armories. Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen and preservationist Morgan Munsey will discuss the architecture, history and current status of three National Guard armories, all in Central Brooklyn. The virtual event will take place on Saturday, July 8 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, visit Brownstoner’s event page.

DA creates Street Safety Bureau

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has created a new Street Safety Bureau to help the NYPD with its investigation and follow-through of traffic violence cases. Its goal is to protect cyclists and pedestrians after a year filled with accidents on Brooklyn’s streets, and to prepare for a return to more cars on the road in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a prosecutor from the DA’s Office will respond to every crash scene and help the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad, according to Streetsblog.

Fort Greene Brownstone selling for $4M

An 1870s brownstone at 374 Vanderbilt Ave. in Fort Greene is selling for $3.995 million. It features a bay window and mansard roof, and was in “rough shape” by the time the previous owner, Mihoko Samejima, acquired it in 2015. Samejima, a Philadelphia-based architect, began a two-year renovation of the home. The house is now a two-family home, with the owner’s triplex above a garden-level studio apartment. The home features built-in bookcases, original woodwork, a wood-framed mirror in the parlor, a quartz-topped island between the dining room and the kitchen, two floors of bedrooms and more, according to Brownstoner.

Staples are back at supermarkets

Toilet paper, pasta and flour, in short supply when the COVID-19 pandemic began, are back in abundance at local supermarkets. However, things are not back to normal at New York-area groceries. Manufacturers have cut back on the number of different products they make, and some are producing different varieties altogether, such as reduced-fat Jiff peanut butter. Shops that might have stocked six brands of tuna fish now stock only two or three. And some items are still in short supply, such as Lysol, according to the New York Times. The shortages have led some people to change their diets — for example, one vegetarian, finding that tofu was in short supply, switched to tempeh.

De Blasio raises $54.5 million for relief fund

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday that the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City has raised $54.5 million for the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to help frontline health care workers and others who were hard-hit by the coronavirus epidemic. Most of the funds were raised through public-private partnerships, but some also came from individual donations. More of the funds go to initiatives such as Food Heroes, which creates care packages with household cleaning products and personal hygiene products for hospital workers and meal deliveries for EMS, morgue and sanitation workers. More of the money has been given to the city’s public hospital system to purchase personal protective equipment, according to amNewYork.

Smorgasburg reopens as ‘Smorg to Go’

Smorgasburg, Brooklyn’s well-known outdoor food market, is reopening as a takeout-only institution known as “Smorg to Go.” The new version, opening on July 20, will be located across the street from Smorgasburg’s regular Williamsburg location. Smorg to Go will be open seven days a week with a list of 10 vendors, which will change weekly. Among the first vendors will be Jamaican food purveyor Excell Kingston Eatery, Brooklyn bakery The Good Batch, Korean barbecue pork stand Gogi, and Thai restaurant Mai Bpen Ra, according to New York Eater.

Ample Hills Creamery to reopen with new ownership

Schmitt Industries, which closed its $1 million purchase of the bankrupt Brooklyn ice cream chain Ample Hills Creamery on July 10, said it plans to bring back the brand and its outlets as soon as possible. “The safety and well-being of our ‘Amployees’ is of the utmost importance as we reopen rental locations in the greater Brooklyn and New York area,” said Michael Zapata, Schmitt’s CEO, in a statement. Schmitt also plans to rehire 200 furloughed staff members as well as put in place precautions against the coronavirus, according to amNewYork.

Winning lotto ticket sold at Brooklyn deli

A winning PICK 10 lottery ticket was sold in Brooklyn on July 15. The ticket was sold at King Star Nostrand Deli Corp. at 1559 Nostrand Ave. The PICK 10 drawing takes pace every evening at approximately 8:30 p.m., according to amNewYork.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.