A Perfect Storefront: Franklin Street Laundromat

This is just a laundromat on Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that I like the look of. Guess what it's called? Franklin Street Laundromat. Old painted sign. Old brick building. Old stick-on letter advertising "Prompt Service," "Drop Off Service" and "Self Service." Every kind of service!

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Goodbye, Happy End Diner

Glad I found time to visit the very homey Happy End Diner in Greenpoint in 2012, and took in its wonderful semi-circular counter and stools, and menu of tripe soup, borscht, pierogis, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, blintzes, pig's knuckles and Hungarian potato pancake (stuffed with beef goulash). Because its gone now.

Eater reports that it reopens at the Brew Inn, a fancy beer bar, tonight. Silver Lining: it's still in the family. Martin Cyran, son of the founders of the Happy End, is the owner of the Brew Inn.

That Old Bar in Greenpoint

At 623 Manhattan Avenue, corner of Nassau, in Greenpoint, there's a bar called Irene's Place. Though you won't see that name anywhere on the outside. The owner is one Irene Kabala. There are signs that say Idle Hour Tavern on the inside. And that does seem to be the joint's real (or original) name, at least as far as The New York Times and the local Community Board are concerned. It's frequented by the area's Polish population, and Polish beer is served. (There's a neon Zyweic sign in the window.) There's also Polish music on the juke box. But, usually, it's extremely quite inside. And it's always dark.

While the bar has always intrigued me, the building it's in has intrigued me more. A three-story brick number, it looks terribly, terribly old. The cornices, the lintels, the vents, the wooden door on the side, the flagpole perched on the corner, every detail looks original. Only the faux-stone facade on the ground floors seems modern, and even that was probably put in in the '60s.

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The Ghost of Sunview Luncheonette

As one of my regular objects of obsession, I have checked in on the Sunview Luncheonette at least once every year since the classic Greenpoint diner shut its doors in 2008, after an inspection from the Department of Health made things too cost prohibitive for the old Greek woman who ran it to reopen. The owner has left the interior untouched. I like to peer in and see how time is treating the old booth, telephone booths, stools, counter and menu board. But never once have I seen a flicker of life inside.

Last week, however, I was sitting on a bench opposite the diner, resting my feet, when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a darkened figure slip in the front door of the diner and the screen door bang shut. I jumped to my feet and crossed the street. Maybe, if I asked nicely, I could gain access to the restaurant and ask a few questions about its future. I came to the window and peered in. No one was inside. I went to the door. It was locked. Strange.

I stood outside the diner for a good ten minutes. Whoever had gone in there was not making a sound or moving a muscle. I know I had seen someone. Had they slipped out the back? Or is the Sunview Luncheonette haunted?

A Good Sign: Cato's Army & Navy

In Greenpoint. Dramatic name: Cato.

A Perfect Storefront: New Warsaw Bakery

I don't think I have to go into too much detail as to why the New Warsaw Bakery in Greenpoint is a perfect storefront. Tile signage! Looks like a painting! Salmon-colored!!

Believe it or now, the bakery is less than two decades old. You can buy a loaf directly from them if you ask nicely.

The Russian People's Home of Greenpoint

I was passing through Clay Street, an obscure little side street in northern Greenpoint, near the BQE overpass, when I came by a simple brick building with a curious little off-center, hand-painted sign over the entrance. What, pray tell, is the Russian People's Home of Greenpoint? And why is it so small? And why is it in the middle of nowhere?

According to New York Shitty, this is an artifact of previous waves of Greenpoint immigration. We tend to think of the Brooklyn neighborhood as the home of many Catholic Poles. But, prior to that, there were many Polish and Russian Jews. The sign is a favorite of NYS's Miss Heather, who has mentioned it many times. She seems quite obsessed with it, actually. I get that. It happens to me.

I don't know when the Russian People's Home was established or if it is still in operation—there are no records of its operation anywhere—but I know that this address used to be a saloon in 1902 run by one Stephen Kerkens. He was arrested at that time for kicking a little girl who lived in the same building. A lot of people who lived and/or worked here at that time were arrested, including: Frank Ferkel, who was taken in for firing shots at a wedding, including one that struck a six-year-old boy; John D. Gaul, another saloonkeeper, who was in the country illegally; and the parents of eighteen-month-old Frank Salinsky, who fell from the third-story window in 1895 and died.

Oak Street's Haunted House

Give or two a few bends, the Greenpoint streetmap is a fairly predictable grid. But there's an interesting twist or two. If you walk westerly on Manhattan Avenue, then hang a right on Calyet, in a couple blocks you'll reach an interesting intersection. On the left, it's Guernsey Street. On the right it's Guernsey, too. But a right turn will take you only a hundred yards or so before the road makes a severe left. At that turn, it becomes Oak Street. After that, Oak runs a few blocks before being stopped dead by the East River.

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The Happy End Diner

The Happy End Diner of Greenpoint looks older than its 20 years. The wonderful semi-circular counter and stools inside, in particular, make you want to tack an extra 20 years onto its age. It surely must have contained a different diner previous to the arrival of Happy End.

This is a Polish eatery in every way. The food is Polish, the menu is in Polish (there's an English version), the talk is in Polish. But the welcome is friendly. There's nothing on the bill of fare that's over $10. Tripe soup, borscht, pierogis, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, blintzes, pig's knuckles and, my favorite, Hungarian potato pancake (it's stuffed with beef goulash). In the back, there's an additional room with a few no-frills tables. I feel you could play cards back there for hours and no one would give you the bum's rush.

Mizgalski Funeral Home Leaves Greenpoint

Heavily Polish Greenpoint is where you would find a funeral parlor named Mizgalski.

On Java Street, off Manhattan Avenue, was were the mortuary sat. It seems to have closed fairly recently. The property is advertised as for sale. The handpainted name on the metal awning is touching.

Looking in on the Sunview Luncheonette

It's been more than two years since I checked in on the Sunview Luncheonette, the beautiful old Greenpoint diner that closed its doors in early 2008 after an inspection from the Department of Health made things too cost prohibitive for the old Greek woman who ran it to reopen. I wanted to see if it had been occupied, gutted or remained in a state of suspended animation. 

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A Delivery in Greenpoint

Greenpoint Donuts in Carroll Gardens

I don't like donuts in general. But I love Peter Pan Donuts. Unfortunately, I only eat the a couple times a year, whenever I happen to be in Greenpoint during the day and can visit the landmark bakery. So I was happy to find out the Brooklyn Farmacy in Carroll Gardens, near where I live, will start carrying the donuts. It's a stroke of genius. Wonder shy no one thought of it before. (Oh, by the way, Cobble Hill Blog, the Farmacy is in Carroll Gardens. DeGraw is the dividing line between the neighborhoods.)

Good Things Go, Bad Things Stay

You have to sort of wonder how the scrappy SoHo flea market lasted this long in a hostile environment. A remnant of the nabe's artistic, scruffy past, it's now finally headed for the gallows.  Curbed points out "there's a fresh real estate listing out there for the lot at Spring and Wooster." Gosh. I hope they put up a glassy condo or something.

Meanwhile, the Greenpoint Food Market, which everyone loves, and the Times said was wonderful, needs to be shut down, the DOH decided. Well, of course it does! Who wants a wholesome gathering of locally made, delicious foodstuffs? Not me. I want all those happy creative cooks to go through official channels until their expenses skyrockets and they can pass the cost on to me!

Lost City's getting tired. Lost City's city is lost.

Greenpoint's Manhattan Furrier In Peril?

I've posted in the past about Manhattan Furrier—which is not in Manhattan, but on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It's a curiosity that was founded in 1913 by the father of Irving Feller, who (I assume) runs it today. Feller, 81, is the sort of eccentric you'd only find in New York. He is an abstract painter in this spare time and his works fill the walls of the small place. He is also obsessed with Native American culture. He has visited the Kutenai, Shoshone-Bannock, Crow, Nez Perce, Apache, Navajo, Zuni and Hopi out west. In his store window are Native American jewelry he has bought from them; everything is for sale. Manhattan Furrier also offers fur storage, of course.

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This Week on Lost City

New York Loses Giambelli—the MTA's At Fault; Armando's Readies for Reopening, but Lobster Sign Nowhere in Sight; Totonno's Reopening Delayed Again; Jam's Stationary in Greenpoint Gets an Awning; Cafe des Artistes Bites the Dust.

The 3 Decker Restaurant

There are many greasy spoons in the city (though not as many as I'd like), and sometimes it's just the little touch of weirdness that sets one apart from the pack. With the 3 Decker Restaurant, in Greenpoint, it's the name and their odd devotion to the club sandwich. You can order a great many different sandwiches here in the club format—that is, two sets of filling separated by a third slice of bread placed halfway between the bottom and top slices. Strange. And wonderful. It's a gimmick. A simple one, but a good one.

Then, there's that name. Generally, if club sandwiches are called by another name, it's a "double-decker." The sandwich has three slices of bread, yes, but two "decks." If someone did decide to call it by the number of bread slices, they would say "triple-decker." But this diner is called the "3 decker," which is totally strange, in its mild way. And that's what makes the name great.

The place is celebrating 30 years in business just now, so go in and say hi. And have yourself a three-decker tuna salad and sliced egg sandwich.

The Awning Police Claim Another Victim

Some people consider a brand, spanking new awning on an old business a 100%, super-duper improvement, hiding all sorts of backwardness and dirty, unsightly evils.

Then there's the other camp that thinks the gentrifying cloth awnings homogenize everything and rob each shop and store of the idiosyncratic character that it's built up over the years.

Submitted for your approval: Jam's Stationary, an age-old business in the heart of downtown Greenpoint. Above we see it, not too long ago, in all its old-school glory, sans awning. Now, see it below, as it stands today. Red traded for green. All those little side signs ("Paperbacks" "Hobbies") now hidden.

I'll say no more. What do you think? Duller? Snappier? An improvement? A desecration? Or just no big deal, not even worth thinking about? Weigh in.

The Mysterious Appeal of the Faux-Stone Frontage

Diners have, over the years, tried many looks in order to lure the passing customer. Art Deco, gleaming silver rail car, lunch cart style, Colonial, Mediterranean, Tudor, Road House, etc.

One style I have never understood is the faux fieldstone facade. You still see examples of it in various New York neighborhoods. The above diner is in Greenpoint. Below is the Capitol Diner in Inwood. I'm not sure what the intention of the design is. Are we supposed to think the diner is housed inside some sort of grand, stone castle or medieval structure? Is is supposed to lend the restaurant a patina of history? The two diners I mention here are both Greek. Maybe they like the idea of looking like an ancient ruin. For my part, I think the design is inherently drab. It usually causes the owner to order a brown awning in order to keep with the color scheme. It all looks pretty dusty and dingy after a few years.

Tragedy in Greenpoint

It was only in February when I published a paean to Greenpoint's Paris Shop Store, one of my favorite small, independent shops in New York City. I thought at the time, it will be a dark day when that store is forced by the times, and the city's brutal real estate market, to close. Yet, I somehow knew that that day would come soon.


Well, that rainy day is here. Paris isn't disappearing, but it is moving from its lovely, old world storefront 832 Manhattan Avenue to a far less picturesque location at 704 Manhattan Avenue. A large white banner, almost completely covering the sweet Paris Shoe Store sign, advertises the space as being for rent. Flyers taped to the windows notify shoppers of the coming move in both English and Polish.


How sad that this little operation should lose its longtime space, which, in its modest way, is quite beautiful, quite romantic. It's the kind of storefront that makes you feel like you live in a neighborhood when you look at it. I still don't know much about the history of the place (it was closed when I went by the other day, so I could ask no questions), but it's at least 50 years old. I stumbled upon an oldtimer's remembrance on the web. She said the store used to have View Masters hanging from ribbons in the store windows to entertain the kids while the adults were shopping.


Below is the space where Paris will move—another shoe store, as it happens. I hope they take the sign with them. Too bad they can't take the twin, facing, glass display cases. They are simply classic.