Duke of Flatbush asks on the Prospect Heights Message Board:
Has anyone seen (or heard) this guy who rings a bell, presumably, on his way to church on Sunday morning?
He woke me up like clockwork for about three weeks in a row and I’d always go to see who the hell was ringing a bell at 9 o’clock in the GD morning. Finally I got a couple of snapshots of him and he quit waking me up.
More “Bell Man” sightings on the Prospect Heights Message Board
roux42 asks on the Prospect Heights Message Board:
“How long does it take for the city to clean off the graffiti, usually?”
“I was so unhappy to see it this morning. Since moving here, I have been so proud to have one of the grungiest BUT graffiti-free subway stations in NYC.”
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Museum is promoting an exhibition of “graffiti as a phenomenon of modern urban life.” nychas grouses: “Our tax dollars at work… It is one thing to exhibit art that people might find offensive; they are not forced to look at it. It is quite another thing to encourage people to deface public and private property.”
So begins an inevitable pro-graf vs anti-graf discussion… vanilla says: “NYC has some of the most amazing graffiti in the world … I would rather see graffiti than live in a police state. aren’t there better things the cops could be cracking down on? …like my neighbors beating the shit out of each other, or the kids selling drugs down the street, guns and other assorted violence?”
Look out, Wonjo… Brooklyn is about to give you a little competition. sje reports on the Prospect Heights Message Board:
“I’ve been told 2-3 weeks till the opening, then we can enjoy Korean homecooking and barbeque without leaving PH.”
“I’m VERY psyched! I love Korean food! It’s in the old Nalani space on the corner (of Vanderbilt Ave. and Pacific Ave.).”
Check out the latest entries in the Prospect Heights Photo Pool:
According to Bloomberg News, “The plant, dubbed “Baby,” has been growing at the Brooklyn garden, across the street from Prospect Park, for 10 years without producing a flower … The realization July 31 that the plant would blossom this year has sent the garden into a frenzy…” At an event this monumental… you know that you-know-who would be showing up: 
unknown writes on the Prospect Heights Message Board: “This property has been through the ringer…”
unknown continues to say (NOTE: we don’t have any way to verify this information, so read with a grain of salt):
“The original owner died in 1992, leaving the property to his grandson and his son as the executor. Through unknown reasons, the will was not probated until 2004 by the son and his father. The son sold the property to someone who promised to renovate the building, this person incurred violations from the DOB while cleaning out the building. This person then sold the building in late 2005 early 2006 to someone else.”
“The property is 696 Washington Ave and you can find the new owners name on the property tax website. This property is an eyesore to our community and I would love if someone can do something with it.“
What must-try PH restaurants would you recommend to a Park Sloper? steve asks in the Prospect Heights Message Boards: “I think I’m gonna cross the great divide tonight and head into the heights. Where would you recommend we go to dinner? I would prefer to stay closer to GAP, other than that I’m flexible.”
Here’s the short list so far:
1. Geido (sushi on Flatbush)
2. New Prospect Cafe (good lunch spot)
3. Garden Cafe (“this place definitively has the best food in Prospect Heights,” says Carnivore)
4. Grand Castillo de Jagua (El Carneviento. Need we say more?)
5. Aliseo (cozy but somewhat pricey Italian dinner spot)
6. Amorina (low-key pizza by the owner of Aliseo)
7. Sorrel (worth a try)
8. Beast (try the burger and/or skirt steak)
Where to? Check for updates on the Prospect Heights Message Board
bobobob posted a photo of the scene from my cellphone camera on the Prospect Heights Message Board: 
According to one of the crew, it was for a Rolling Stone magazine publication, but not necessarily the magazine — it sounded like some sort of calendar. Apparently Cassie, the hip hop singer, was there for part of the shoot at some point.
Blogger/journalist Paul Berger, who previously wrote about the Flatbush Pavilion anagrams for the New York Times, has another piece in that paper yesterday, this time on the creeping chain store takeover of Flatbush Ave. near Grand Army Plaza.
Brooklyn is one of the few places left in America where “Mom and Pop vs the Big Boys” is still a remarkable story, so go read this article now, which chronicles the Crunch Fitness squeezeout of Christie’s Jamaican Patties, the American Apparel takeover of the old Flatbush Pavilion space (and formerly anagrammed marquee), and… and… well, can’t all good trends be broken down into 3 bullet points?
Perhaps a third example is the Blockbuster across the street, which doesn’t exactly fit Paul’s story, as it’s not a “new” entry among the retail storefronts of Flatbush Ave., but it fits the character of “Future Flatbush” quite well. Blockbuster is certainly the villain in countless vintage “Mom and Pop vs the Big Boys” stories, since that chain wiped out perhaps thousands of independent video stores seemingly overnight (note that the photo accompanying Paul’s article does subtly bring Blockbuster into the story).
Small business owners on Flatbush, beware: the pace of change is likely to grow exponentially in the next few years, especially now that virtually no one outside of Prospect Heights seems to oppose Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project (at least, that’s the sense you get from reading this editorial from Bruce Ratner’s “partners” at the New York Times).
New (York Times) Discussions on the Prospect Heights Message Boards:
Thanks, trent, for the update! As noted on Regional Geographic, the Q Train of the Future is upon us: “It was bright and had a red LED on front of it. At first I thought it was a misplaced 6 train, but then it came closer.”
“… I looked inside and things were still shrink-wrapped; there were Print Shop Pro signs that said ‘Test Train – not in service.’ Inside was like you would expect. Not the L style with the barely-informative 3-color LED panels but the normal 4,5,6 kind with the regularly informative one-color strips and lighted maps.”
“There were other fantastic things on the train. The first couple of cars had flatscreen CRTs that had screen savers, scrolling [Windows] 95-style, that said ‘SUPER.’ And boy were they, because they had an octopus worth of cables going in and out of their boxes…”
Read more at Regional Geographic
UPDATE: Comments on the new Q Train on the Prospect Heights Message Board
spinningpinwheel reports on the Prospect Heights Message Board: “I walked by the old tattoo place on Underhill between St. Johns & Sterling – the one several DH people looked at renting only to balk at the ridiculous rental price. Anyway, the gate was open and a couple of guys were working inside. Looked like a fresh coat of pastel paint had just gone up. Is that the future location of the fabled Underhill Spa?”
Indeed, Carnivore said he saw an older Asian woman taking down the “For Rent” sign: “She said that it was going to be a spa … once they finish that giant condo on St Johns and Plaza, I think that whole stretch of Unerhill is going to change dramatically, in terms of the commercial properties at least. There’s going to be a huge influx of relatively affluent people who are going to want to buy stuff, and I’m not sure Hood Hing (the bulletproof Chinese takeaway) is going to cut it alone. I bet the stretch between Sterling and Eastern Parkway on Underhill is going to be unrecognizable within 5 years.”
Say goodbye to the old block on the Prospect Heights Message Board
