Wooden Phone Booth Sighting: 473 Third Avenue

A sharp-eyed reader sent me a photo of this old wooden phone booth, spotted inside 473 Third Avenue, at 10th Street, in Brooklyn. The space is under construction, but the new owners seem to have retained the phone booth from the address' previous incarnation.

According to old newspaper records, this was the location of the Third Avenue Pub & Restaurant, at least until 1973. And it was a store of some sort going back to 1900. The property was purchased by someone last December. Plans unknown. Note the intact shelf on the side, used for perusing phone books. Remember phone books?

More Doings at Monte's Venetian Room

Recently there were reports of new construction at the long-silent Gowanus institution, Monte's Venetian Room.

The work apparently continues at the 1906 restaurant, one of the oldest in Brooklyn. The Department of Building reports a Jan. 28 partial permet to "RENOVATE EXISTING EATING & DRINKING ESTABLISHMENT. INSTALL NEW KITCHEN EQUIPMENT," and a Feb. 1 approval. The workers will also "REPLACE /REPAIR FLOOR JOISTS AND REPLACE CEILING." Are the same owners renovating it? New owners? What of the famous murals and banquettes? Don't know.

Monte's was founded in 1906 and is one of the last remnants of what was once a thriving Italian community along the Gowanus Canal. Frank Sinatra was rumored to be a patron (but then he seemed to have gone to every New York Italian joint at least once). It was last owned by Toni Monti. Nick Monte, his father, died on Oct. 13, 2007, at age 90.

What's Going on at Monte's?

I had given up Monte's Venetian Room—purported by some to have been the oldest Italian restaurant in Brooklyn—for dead. It mysteriously closed up shop in fall 2008, and has been quiet as the grave ever since, gathering dust inside and out, even as the interior remained intact.

But recently Pardon Me For Asking noticed that the Gowanus restaurant (located on Carroll near Nevins) noticed some activity around the property. There's a dumpster outside and paper on the windows, which indicates to me that the insides are being either gutted or renovated. Complaints filed in January with the Building Department state the work was begin done without a permit.

Monte's was founded in 1906 and is one of the last remnants of what was once a thriving Italian community along the Gowanus Canal. Frank Sinatra was rumored to be a patron (but then he seemed to have gone to every New York Italian joint at least once). It was last owned by Toni Monti. Nick Monte, his father, died on Oct. 13, 2007, at age 90.

Old New Business

There's nothing new about the Gowanus business Four and Twenty Blackbirds. The pie company has been open only a few weeks. But I love the Olde English look they've given the industrial building they work out of. Reminds me of many a whitewashed shop I've encountered in quiet English villages. Modest and handsome.

Saw a Duck on the Gowanus Canal

I'd have gotten a closer shot, but he/she swam away before I could zoom.

Justice: EPA Designates Gowanus Canal a Superfund Site

In a rare defeat for Mayor Bloomberg and his powerful pals in Big Development, the Environmental Protection Agency has seen obvious sense and designated the long-putrid Gowanus Canal a Superfund Site. They thus rejected Bloomberg's hastily and cynically constructed plan to clean up the canal, which was nothing but a chimera designed to preserve the ravenous and selfish interests of the Troll, er, Toll Brothers, who planned to building a series of towers alongside the poisoned canal. How interesting and strange, in today's New York, for the interests of the greater community to be put ahead of a single wealthy developer. And how typical that such a decision has to come from outside the City. Little Boy Bloomberg, who thinks Wall Streeters deserve bigger raises and that rich people are the salt of the earth and the heart of this town, would never have for a second listened to the arguments of a community that thought the general welfare trumped private ambitions.

“After conducting our own evaluations and consulting extensively with the many people who have expressed interest in the future of the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding area, we have determined that a Superfund designation is the best path to a cleanup of this heavily contaminated and long-neglected urban waterway,” Judith Enck, the agency’s regional administrator, said in a statement.

The Toll Brothers, showing their true colors, and petty and vengeful to the end, said "Given the way Superfund sites work, it could be a decade or more from now before clean up starts. We just don't have that time horizon. We will most likely walk away from the properties." Great supporters of the community, they. Real loyal. Did they think the City plan was going to take six months? No. Because it was fictional. The City would have done squat if the EPA has decided not to confer Superfund status and went away. That's the "time horizon" Toll wanted to work with. The real contest here was always a Real Cleanup (the EPA version) vs. No Cleanup (the true City version). That's why it was so easy for people like me and other South Brooklyn activists to make a decision.

And besides, the E.P.A. readily estimated that the federal cleanup would last 10 to 12 years and cost $300 million to $500 million. Big cleanups take time. And the Gowanus has been steadily polluted for decades.

Now we just await Bloomberg's stubborn, childish condemnation of the EPA's ruling. Let's hope this is only the first policy defeat in the robber baron's ill-gotten third term.

The Ironwork of St. Agnes

It has been observed that South Brooklyn contains some of the most interesting and decorative ironwork in the City. The cast-iron fences, bannisters and gates on the various brownstones and churches are remarkably detailed and varied, if you take the time to notice.

Some of the most flamboyant ironwork in the neighborhood encircles the Church of St. Agnes on Hoyt Street, between Degraw and Sackett. The design includes a number of striking shapes, including fleur-de-lis (far below), crosses, quatrefoils (below), orbs (above) and what I believe are artistic renderings of the three nails (also far below), which symbolize the crucifixion.

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What's Going on With Monte's Venetian Room?

It's been more than a year since Monte's Venetian Room, one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Brooklyn (the oldest?) unceremoniously closed. As Gowanus Lounge reported at the time, the reason for the shuttering of the then-102-year-old landmark was unclear. A sign in the window said it was closed for renovations. But a tipster said they were closed by the City for “operating without a license.”

OK, questions. Whether it was closed for violating the law, or for renovations, shouldn't it have been easy to reopen? Yet, there it sits, dusty and abandoned. The inside has not been gutted. The bar, the banquettes, the old wooden phone booth (Wooden Phone Booth sighting!), the juke box—they're all there where they've always been.



City records show that perhaps the owners tried to reopen this year. There was an inspection on Feb. 4, 2009. Monte's incurred 19 violation points, including ones for improper plumbing, improper hand washing facility and spoiled food. The records show that no follow-up inspection was required, since the count was below 28.

There is one strange hint that we will never see Monte's reopen again: a message written in marker on the dirty front window: "We need to pick up the jukebox," with a phone number to call.



Nick Monte, the owner of Monte’s died on Oct. 13, 2007, at age 90. Monte’s father, Angelo, opened the Venetian Room in 1906, and Nick and his four brothers owned and operated the restaurant until 1993.

Comment of the Day

Three months ago, I posted an item about this old building at the corner of Nevins and Sackett, wondering idly about what sort of business might have occupied the ground floor back in the day.

Among the few pieces of evidence I could cull from newspaper archives was that, in 1901, John Hogan, aged one, died here.

Yesterday, I received this message from one Ed Stewart:

John Hogan the infant who died at 285 Nevins Street in 1901 was my grandmother’s first cousin. He was the son of Jeremiah Hogan, a boxmaker, born in Brooklyn of Irish parents, and Jeremiah’s wife, Julia Noonan, who emigrated from Barleymount West, Killarney, Co. Kerry in 1886. Young John still has 2 nieces (who of course never knew him) living in Brooklyn and a nephew on Long Island. At the time of John’s death the Hogans had only recently moved to 285 Nevins from either 47 or 49 Sackett Street. I believe Jeremiah Hogan also died at 285 in 1915 or 1916.

Every old building in New York holds a hundred stories.

Paterson Joins the United Traitors of Gowanus

So, Bloomberg, Toll Brothers, Buddy Scotto and the whole truth-defying, money-grubbing gang got to Governor Paterson, who now agrees with them that it's just a terrible idea to allow the Superfund to clean up the Gowanus Canal, which has sat fetid and stinking for decades now without New York City or New York State ever thinking about how to clean it until now.

Not that anyone should expect anything noble from a man like Paterson. He's show himself a thousand times over unfit for his position since becoming New York's Accidental Governor follow Eliot Spitzer's meltdown.

Writes the Brooklyn Paper:

The state Department of Environmental Conservation told the Bloomberg administration that it was not opposed to the mayor’s plan — as long as it sought a comprehensiv e clean-up. That Aug. 6 letter was a departure from the state’s December request to add it to the Superfund list.

“The Department remains committed to the need for a clean-up to Superfund standards,” wrote Stuart Gruskin, executive deputy commissioner. “We believe that it is appropriate for the EPA to carefully review and consider the [city] proposal.”

Gruskin’s correspondence said that the EPA should investigate if the mayor’s claims are true that his plan will be faster and more efficient than the Superfund and to make sure that the city approach won’t delay or hinder the clean-up if a Superfund designation is later deemed necessary.

The Bloomberg administration heralded the letter as a vindication of its idea, which has been criticized by the EPA and Gowanus Canal zone neighbors who doubt the city has the ability or the interest in fully restoring the channel.

There's nothing Bloomberg won't do for wealthy developers, is there? He'll tell the Feds to get lost on one hand—the Gowanus clean-up—while taking their stimulus money with the other hand and giving it to—needy working people? small businesses?—NAH! Wealthy developers, of course!

Josh Skaller, a candidate for the City Council seat that includes the canal, and the strongest critic of Bloomberg in the bunch, spoke the truth soon after Paterson's announcement. “Governor Paterson has not knocked on thousands of doors in Carroll Gardens, but I have,” said Skaller. “It is clear the community supports Superfund status. [Superfund] is not a perfect solution, but it’s the best way to make sure the Canal gets the clean-up needed before we can build along its banks.”

Some Stuff That's Interesting

Whole Foods announced it's not coming to Gowanus. Nobody is surprised. [Curbed]

The New York Police Department still uses typewriters. Some people are surprise. (Not me. I'm pleased. And not only because the story caused the Post to run a picture of "Barney Miller.") [NY Post]

Someone wants to put the screws of Joe Jr.'s former landlord. Hey, I'm all for putting the screws to landlords, whatever the reason. [Eater]

New screw-up named to lead MTA. [City Room]

The Museum of the City of New York is opening a speakeasy, which is about the coolest thing the Museum of the City of New York has ever done. [City Room]

Tony Avella tells off CB7 in no uncertain terms. [Queens Crap]

Some Stuff That's Interesting

[Picture courtesy of Best View in Brooklyn]

Wrap-up of the various ways the City lied to the Gowanus community at the Jan. 23 public meeting about the Superfund Scandal. [Found in Brooklyn]

The City then returned on Jan. 24 to lie some more. [Pardon Me for Asking]

The owner of an eminently landmarkable 1870 house in Bayside doesn't think the place is "elegant" enough for landmark status. Gosh, think he might have selfish personal reasons for that stance? [Daily News via Gothamist]

The inside of Circus legend James Bailey's unwanted Harlem mansion is crazy beautiful. [New York Mag]

Big crack in building: no good. [EV Grieve]

That was Beauty Bar, and don't it look grand. [JVNY]

Cuckoo control freak Bloomberg said on WNYC, regarding school control bill: "If the Senate passes something that differs by one word or more, it is saying to the city ‘We want to resurrect the Soviet Union. We want to bring back chaos.’” [Queens Crap]

Gowanus, the Superfund and the Evil of Today's New York

There is perhaps no better way of illustrating the utter wrongness of the way development issues are handled in today's New York than an examination of the Gowanus Superfund scandal that has been unfolding over the past two months. (Yes, it is a scandal.) It has been a pageant of mendacity, chicanery, greed and utter disregard for public welfare from the get-go, from the tactics of the developers The Toll Brothers to the behavior of politicians at nearly every level of City government, from Bloomberg on down.

To fill in those who are not aware (they can't be many, the issue has been given such press coverage), in April 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to list the long fetid and neglected Gowanus Canal on the Superfund National Priorities List. This might have been good news at another time, under another Mayor. But during the boom-boom development decade that has just recently died, the Toll Brothers decided the Gowanus Canal was like Venice or something, and whipped up a bizarre plan to erect a bunch of tall, luxury housing towers along the waterway.

Let it never be said the any New York developer ever came out on the side of the community. And, sure enough, the blindsided Tolls hated this idea. It would slow down (money) development! It would hinder (money) the rebirth of the area. And, you know, they said, the canal isn't really that dirty, when you think of it. (They actually went on the record with this position!) Plus, plus, plus, plus....we've got our own plan to clean up the canal! No, really we do. It's around here somewhere, just give us a minute. And it's so much better than the EPA's!

Bloomberg, suddenly hearing that one of his peeps (i.e., wealthy developers) was in peril, immediately came out against the clean-up. Again, the main concern was that the Toll Brothers would be negatively impacted. Lots of other pols came out against it, too, including the super-slimy Bill DeBlasio, who takes a bath in extra virgin olive oil every morning so as to render himself as slippery as possible. No surprise there, after the Tolls spent near half a mil on lobbying City Hall for the zoning change that gave them the ability to build on the canal. Nobody, meanwhile, seemed to be thinking about the communities of Gowanus, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens, and how the rejection of a free clean-up of a poisoned canal might effect them.

One of the first folks to come out in favor of the Superfund was Josh Skaller, one of the five candidates for the City Council seat that DeBlasio vacated. Skaller—who refuses to take money from developers, and is supported by The Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development (C.G. CORD) and the Friends and Residents of the Gowanus Canal (FROGG)—held a press conference at the Canal today to elucidate his position, and counter the campaign of misinformation that has clouded the issue.

And what misinformation! As Skaller pointed out, the Toll Brothers have hired the same environmental "expert" and the same high-priced public relations firm that Bruce Ratner employed when he was busy raping downtown Brooklyn for Atlantic Yards. They've been challenging the EPA's Superfund track record—while playing down the fact that the City has absolutely NO track record in large clean-ups. They promote the idea that the Toll Brothers are fully intent on cleaning the canal—while making no mention that the Tolls might not like the Superfund because its rules would require them, as one of the responsible parties involved, to chip in for part of the clean-up, whereas a plan they support might not cost them a single dime, simply because, well, when the EPA goes away, they might just forget to do it! (The City described the Superfund as "an adversarial process focused on enforcement and litigation." Don't you just hate law enforcement and people who sue you when you don't do the right thing?!)

There's also little explanation in the anti-Superfund camp of how or why Bloomberg suddenly whipped up a plan to fix the Gowanus after the Superfund showed up, whereas before that he seemed to be content with letting things be. As had every other Mayor—for decades! "Any cleanup plan proposed by the City would clean the canal to the same standards as Superfund," said the City. Funny, the timing, isn't it?

Take a look at the pictures of the canal on the nyc.gov site. They all look very pretty, don't they, no signs of sewage and refuse. Makes you want to live there. Then look at pictures on Pardon Me For Asking that are a tad more probing.

Recently, residents, including Katia Kelly of Pardon Me For Asking, started to notice anonymous, fear-mongering flyers being distributed around the neighborhood. We will be stigmatized!, they cried. The Feds will sue us to pay for the clean-up! It will take 20 years! The City can do it in two!

Only after extended negative exposure did the authors of this flyer actually sign their names to the screed of lies. Why, it was the Toll Brothers! Can you imagine? Plus dogged old Buddy and Debra Scotto, who can be counted on to be behind every bad and dishonest real estate idea along Court Street. (Poor old Buddy. He used to be a leading force in the area's rejuvenation, but now is just a shifty old nuisance who can't get around the idea that men with money don't always mean well.)

The Mayor's Office, meanwhile, showed how much it wanted to hear the people's voices on this urgent issue by scheduling "two meetings for the property and business owners who are adjacent to the Gowanus Canal to discuss the proposed listing and the City’s alternative plan." Problem is, he didn't notify any of them. Instead, the notification was sent to people in Fort Greene! The meetings, FYI, are on June 23 at 6 p.m. and June 24 at 6 p.m., and will be held at P.S. 32 at 317 Hoyt Street, near President.

The Brooklyn Paper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, was there at today's press conference, and asked Skaller a few pointedly anti-Superfund questions, like "Do you think the government has a good record at clean-ups." But Marlene Donnelly, a founding member of FROGG, pretty much shut him up with a persuasive five-minute answer that reminded the reporter that the City has no record at cleaning anything up, took forever to come up with a plan, and that it is misleading to compare (as has been done) the tiny 1.8 mile long Gowanus Canal to the Superfund's efforts to clean a mighty river like the Hudson.

You know what this whole affair keeps reminding me of? That episode of "The Simpsons" where Montgomery Burns ran for Governor in order to prevent regulation of his nuclear plant. He was accused of polluting the area when a three-eyed fish was found in river downstream from the plant. Burns' campaign is only foiled when he's invited to a public dinner at the Simpson house and Marge surprises him by serving the three-eyed fish. Burns takes a bite, but spits it out, thus ending his campaign.

I might might believe the Toll Brothers and Bloomberg and DeBlasio more if they took a nice cooling swim in the "not that dirty" Gowanus.

[Picture courtesy of Pardon Me For Asking]

Mystery on Nevins and Sackett

Certain buildings grab me on sight. I look at them and just know something interesting once happened inside.

Such a building is No. 285 Nevins Street, on the southern corner of Sackett, just a block from the Gowanus Canal. Three stories, red brick, with the street-level floor painted white. It's a residence now, but the angled door on the corner, the cast-iron pillar that divides it, the shingled mock roof that frames the first floor—all these details tell the knowing eye that this was once a place of business. Very likely a business that served the workers at the various busy businesses that lined the canal.

But what business? Over at the Department of Building website, there are two Certificates of Occupancy, one illegible, and one for a completely different address. (This sort of misfiling happens often at the DOB.) A property search tells us the building is owned by one Rafet Cekic. I'm just guessing, but I think that's a Serbian name.

Newspaper archives relate the grisly story that Michael Farrell once lived here. A car coupler, he died in 1894 at the age of 30 when an elevated train hit him at Third Avenue and 65th Street. Also dying here, in 1901, was John Hogan, aged one. And Mrs. William Miller, age 41, in 1918. A lot of death was recorded here, but nothing about who might have made a living.

The American Can Company was located at the same intersection. So there was an audience for a bar or grocery. But that's it. I can find nothing else. Anyone out there have any knowledge?

A Rare Occurance

Not in general. Just for me. 15 years living in the South Brooklyn area and today was the first time I was present when one of the bridges over the Gowanus Canal was going up to let a vessel pass through. It was the 3rd Street Bridge. I got to see official bridge personnel in action!

Lost City's Guide to Gowanus

Gowanus always seemed to me a leftover neighborhood. It's composed of the blocks that Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill don't want for themselves. Still, for those who like landscapes that evoke New York's bygone industrial era (that would be me), it has its share of architectural and cultural attractions.

LYCEUM THEATRE: This triumphant structure stands on Fourth Avenue, the eastern border of Gowanus, between President and Union Streets. It was built in 1906 as a public bath, though it actually looks more like a theatre. Now, it frequently is used as a theatre, among other things. Anyway, it's active.

TWO TOMS: Walk west down Union and turn left at Third. The downtrodden patch of Third Avenue below Union Street has always been a favorite area of mine, mainly due to its hints at the Italian enclave the once thrived here. The classic corner Italian-American Grocery is gone, but the Glory Social Club is still around, as is Two Toms, an old-school Italian restaurant that feels like a social club. Plain tables, no decor and no menu; the waiter will tell you what's available. It's often closed for private parties.


MONTE'S VENETIAN ROOM: Walk down to Carroll and turn right, heading toward the canal. Monte's, though much altered, may be the oldest Italian eatery in the City, having been founded in 1906. They let you know that Frank Sinatra used to frequent the place by pasting the Voice's portrait near the entrance. During Prohibition, it was a speakeasy. Inside there are curved red banquettes and a huge mural of Venice that dates back to the Depression. That such a place should survive a century on a nondescript side street next to a fetid canal is a miracle in itself.


THE CARROLL STREET BRIDGE: Walk a few paces closer to the canal. Here is one of my favorite landmarks in the entire city. The Carroll Street Bridge may not look like much at first gander, but it is one of a kind. Or, rather, one of four of a kind. Built in 1889, it is the oldest of four remaining retractable bridges in the country. It is still cranked back every time a ship comes through. The Belgian bricks of Carroll Street give way to the wooden planks of the bridge, making for a very pretty picture. Artists often choose the bridge as a place to paint.


SOUTH BROOKLYN CASKET COMPANY: Walk north up Nevins Street to Union and turn east to Third Avenue. Gowanus doesn't have much industry left, but this outfit stands firm, because there's never a dip in the death market. When people on the B71 bus see the name lettered across the low, red-brick building, they usually laugh or gape in awe, not certain of what they're seeing. The name is too classic; it's like something a novelist of screenwriter would come up with. The business is the subject of ghoulish fascination for many, and the workers do not appreciate the curious who hang around trying to get a peek of what goes on inside. Sometimes, however, if you're lucky, you'll catch the workers loading their cargo onto trucks idling on Union. Brooklyn at work! And rest.


DAILY NEWS BROOKLYN GARAGE: Turn north on Third and walk to the block between Degraw and Douglass. This forlorn area of Brooklyn seems to have been where the big newspapers kept their warehouses. The New York Times facility is just up the avenue a few. Here is the former Daily News haunt. The News decamped a while ago, but we can still enjoy the bold, mausoleum-like structure, particularly the detail used in carving out the tabloid's signature image of the camera.


THE GOWANUS WATER STATION: Proceed north to Butler and turn left until you get to Nevins Street. Finding living history in Gowanus is tough; so many of the historic things have closed or disappeared. This beautiful pumping station is a supreme example of how utilitarian civic structures can bring beauty and majesty to an otherwise rough area. Check out the insignia with the Dutch windmill up top.


AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BUILDING: Across the street from the pumping station, further down Butler, is a building erected in the 1920s by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal. It was the headquarters of all society activities in Brooklyn, and contained offices, an ambulance house and even shelters for animals. The words above the door say the building is the Rogers Memorial. Who Rogers was I have not learned.

ST. AGNES ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Turn left on Nevins, heading south. Turn right on Union and cross the UNION STREET BRIDGE—not as famous as the Carroll Street Bridge, but not an unenjoyable span. Walk to Hoyt Street and turn right to Sackett. As it so dominates the skyline around here, it's funny that the hulking St. Agnes doesn't get more attention. I think it's one of the more unappreciated churches in Brooklyn. It's the sole surviving creation of Thomas F. Houghton, the son-in-law of Brooklyn's most prolific church builder, Patrick Charles Keely.



MAGIC TOUCH RESTAURANT: To end, double back on Hoyt, walk south until you reach 3rd Street. Look up. Here is one of my favorite lost eateries in the city. The Magic Touch is long gone, but the swankarific sign hangs on for all to enjoy. I tip my top hat to it.

Why Bother?

OK, here you have a piece of friggin' Crapitecture as plain and flagrant as you could ask, on Third Avenue in Gowanus. Obviously, the architect made no attempt whatsoever to make the building distinctive or attractive. No lintels, no cornice, Plain-Jane windows, air-conditioners all over the place—just a boxy blight.

But then you peer inside the "lobby" (I'm being generous by using that term). And what do you find? A chandelier! I mean, what's the point? After the masterpiece in homeliness that is the apartment house, the developer thought he would class things up with this trashy trinket? To little, too late.

A Good Sign: Hot Dogs

I have passed this little bodega on 9th Street in Gowanus many times, but always at night on the B75 when it was shut. I assumed it had closed for good a long time ago. But recently a biked by midday and it was open. Inside, they sell the usual deli stuff. They just happen to also served hot dogs and make that their claim to fame. They're not fantastic dogs; just the usual. But the staffer made a very pretty design in ketchup and mustard on mine that made me smile.

The sign has a real retro look, doesn't it? As if it's been around forever? It's only nine years old. I still like it.

Some Things That Are Kinda Depressing

Why are such things built? I mean, seriously. Why?

An old Depression-era movie house named the Polk was torn down in Jackson Heights. Not the Roxy or the Strand or the Thalia. The Polk. What? Was it named after the President?

The Toll Brothers are at it again. You read it here first: Won't Ever Happen.

Trusting Cleaners is gone for good. Welcome, whatever crap the greedy landlord lets come in next!