Urbanite

Will "The Real World: Brooklyn's" roommates be party people like Vegas'? (Getty)

So, "The Real World" is heading to Brooklyn, hopefully starting to film this summer. Great (that can be read sarcastically or straight, depending on who you are).

Jim Johnston, executive producer of "The Real World," answered our questions:

Why Brooklyn?
Brooklyn right now is this vibrant, diverse community. It’s fun to live in. It’s close to manhattan. It’s been affordable as opposed to manhattan. So young people can pursue a career in manhattan and live in Brooklyn. There are fabulous neighborhoods.

Do you have an exact location nailed down? If so, which neighborhood?

No we don’t. We’ve looked mostly at the neighborhoods that are close to Manhattan: Greenpoint, Williamsubrg, DUMBO, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook. We even got as far as Coney Island.

So is Coney Island a real possibility?
We don’t know. We haven't locked anything down.

What's the process of working with NYC on a production like this?
In new york, you’ve got the mayor’s office and governor’s office. It's great with working with them. When we finally do settle on a place, one of the things you do is meet with the neighbors. You tell them what the process will be like and try to address concerns.

What's the timeline?
We're going to get it on the air January 2009. Casting, we're working on it. We're really close but haven't selected the final individuals. The process takes about 3-4 months.

How will you deal with neighborhood restaurants, bars and stores, some of whom might not be so happy to have cameras around?
We’ll want to go to all those places. In advance of a camera ever going in there, [we get an] agreement signed to shoot the establishment. We'll eventually send people out in the neighborhoods and get those clearances.

Some Brooklyn residents are wary of "The Real World" coming to the borough. How do you respond?
We understand it. We see it every place we go. We’ve done 20 productions of this. Our approach is that it's like a documentary. It's not like you hear directors screaming. It's very low-key. Our goal is going to be as anonymous as possible.

Partying and drinking have become a big part of "The Real World" in recent seasons, garnering some criticism. Will it continue to be a focus?
That age group will always do that. We will always follow that. Really what they do with their time is up to them.

Will the roommates have a job?
We don’t know if they’re going to have a job. We want them to follow their career paths, much like we’re doing in the Hollywood. It brings the show back to its roots.

— Julie Gordon

It's hard to miss this sign -- and the store's purpose is exceedingly clear. Below, The Loews Kings, closed in 1977 and still awaiting a redevelopment plan. Barbra Streisand was an usher here once.

We took a long tour the other day through the Flatbush and Midwood sections of Brooklyn, beginning with lunch at Di Fara's and ending with dinner at Picket Fence on Cortelyou Road. In between, we found lots of noteworthy stuff, including some of New York's most charming residential neighborhoods. A few of us will be dropping occasional posts on our experiences. Here's some highlights from a short stretch of Flatbush Avenue we traversed. On a late Saturday afternoon, it was teeming with vibrant street life and interesting shops and sights. Our photographic highlights continue after the jump.

-- Rolando Pujol

Just a perfect neighborhood stationery store sign, with plastic lettering and a corrugated metal background.

Photo from the Every Person in New York blog

Artist Jason Polan is trying to draw every person in New York.

He may have already drawn you. He could be drawing you right now. He's started a blog to document his progress on this behemoth of an art project, posting simple line portraits as he finishes them. It's appropriately titled "Every Person in New York."

He's always drawing, according to the blog, on the subway, on the street, in museums. Everywhere. But come on, there are 8 million people in this town, so it's understandable that the guy wants some help. He wants to draw you. So if you'd like your likeness sketched, zap him a note at: art@jasonpolan.com

Here is Polan's plea for subjects, and instructions on how to meet up:

"If you would like to increase the chances of a portrait of YOU appearing on this blog please email me a street corner or other public place that you will be standing at for a duration of two minutes (I will be on the corner of 14th street and 8th avenue on the North-east corner of the street from 2:42-2:44pm this Thursday wearing a bright yellow jacket and navy rubber boots, for example)."

Additional instructions: Give him 24 hours notice, and don't go out of your way in case he can't be there. Work those two minutes into something that's part of your normal routine -- he might not be there -- or he might be, and you just may not notice.

It's a huge ambition - but if anyone can do it, we think Polan can. Our pals at Boing-Boing note he's already drawn every piece of art in the MoMA.

And what better do you have to do this weekend than become part of a living work of art?

-- Lauren Johnston

Pomme de Terre, a charming restaurant on Newkirk Avenue in Ditmas Park, opened recently next to an old storefront Pentacostal church. This image offers a striking illustration of a block in transition. The process is also under way in nearby Cortleyou Street, with restaurants like Picket Fence and The Farm on Adderley, whose owners are behind Pomme de Terre. It definitely stands out among its neighbors, with photos of some of these old-school shops after the jump.

-- Rolando Pujol

We've been seeing fewer Sabrett hot-dog cart umbrellas, (and more for banks and other advertisers that buy up this valuable space) so this sticker for the purveyors of the street-food classic caught our attention -- and made us smile.

It's in the subway entrance at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights, which itself is a decidedly unique and refreshingly unpolished portal to the subway. Right outside is a wine shop with fantastic neon, and inside you''ll find a mix of retail, a sushi restaurant, and then, an elevator ride down to the 2 and 3 trains, where some very 1950s flooring awaits you. A few more photos after the jump.

-- Rolando Pujol

We swung by the site of Armando's on Friday during a hours-long exploration of Brooklyn Heights. The iconic Armando's sign was standing guard, and the interior, as seen from the sidewalk, was largely the same, and looks as though the restaurant is closed for perhaps renovations, not forever. One token that saddened us was the discovery of an "Open" sign, sitting by the window never to be used again.

A pleasant counterpoint was our visit to the very much open Lassen & Hennigs, another Brooklyn Heights institution on Montague Street. From the moment we saw the sign, we were intrigued, and ordered the L&H Express, a roast beef-cheddar extravaganza on a roll. The sandwich choices -- many named for Brooklyn neighborhoods and streets -- were overwhelming. But the atmosphere was pleasant, the place was packed, and the staff was friendly, just what we like in a neighborhood joint, in this case one that dates to 1949.

-- Rolando Pujol

Lassen & Hennigs
114 Montague St.
718-875-6272

Photograph of 475 Kent Avenue by imjustsayin' on Flickr

April 28. That's when the Fire Department will give the artists colony building in Williamsburg a once-over, according to long-time resident and "floorlord" Lillian Mauer, checking that new sprinklers have been installed, fire alarms in good working order and the hallways have been sheetrocked.

"We are expecting positive news, but there are a lot of caveats to that," Mauer said.

Another floorlord, Deborah Masters, said the situation was confusing, but that she hoped the building will be certified for occupancy after the inspection.

Mauer added that well over half of the former tenants are still in a state of limbo, sleeping on couches and shacking up with friends.

"I think not knowing the move-in date has been the worst part of it," she said. "If people knew it was going to be three months then they could have stayed with friends or gotten a short-term sublet, but nobody knew when we'd be able to come back. But they want to return. This is a very dedicated group of people."

-- David Freedlander

The C-Town I helped gentrify. (Photo via MTMONT on Flickr)

By Sara Baumberger

A month ago I knocked a stack of apples onto the floor at my neighborhood grocery store.

I was maneuvering around the usual clutter in the produce section. This grocery store was always a mess: unstocked food was stacked everywhere.

This week, at the same store, I bought Boca burgers.

After living in Bushwick for two years, the C-Town across the street has added a new frozen- foods section. I can finally get my Boca without trudging to the expensive veggie-friendly hippy market in Williamsburg.

The changes in the grocery store don’t stop at Boca, though. A usual trip there used to involve reaching around the boxes — stacked four-high in the aisles — to get to the canned peas, or stepping over dollies to get out of the produce section. All that is now cleaned up, and new tile is being installed.

Even more noticeable: Last week the normal blaring Latin-music station was replaced with an English-language soft-rock station.

I wonder if this revised C-Town will still have produce bags that catch dead flies under the bug zapper this summer.

The changes in my neighborhood have come slowly. But even small changes bring a realization: Gentrification is here.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Mazhar Alhadid, a dentist from Flushing Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, and Jim Moore, senior vice president of business affairs for FreshDirect chat in Bedford-Stuyvesant Thursday.

It was announced in late May on the Bed-Stuy blog that grocery delivery company FreshDirect would begin service to Bedford-Stuyvesant and the launch day has arrived.

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz was present to usher in this new era of fresh foods in a box delivered to the doors of Bed-Stuy residents.

"Those who love to eat but are always rushed—-both the good cooks and those “foodies” who, like me, never attained that skill and head straight for the tasty prepared foods, are thrilled that Fresh Direct is catering to underserved neighborhoods, which benefit from the availability of more quality, healthy foods,” said Markowitz in a statement.

-- Lauren Johnston

AP Photo by Jason DeCrow

Oh how the mighty 80s rockers do fall -- or is this a rebirth? Anyway, the latest in a string of (formerly) big name acts to perform (oddly) at J+R Music and Computer World downtown is: Asia. Do you have "Heat of the Moment" stuck in your head just hearing the name? We do!

If you want to see Asia - get moving. It's Noon at J+R (23 Park Row)

We wish we could go to the "show" ... but we can't -- so if you go, can you send us your video clips? Please? (lauren.johnston@am-ny.com).

And now, New York City, put your hands together for ASIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Lauren Johnston

Try a light scent in spring, like CB I Hate Perfume's "to see a flower."

Are you already popping Zyrtec or Claritin like it’s candy? Then you might want to stay away from certain perfumes.

“Once in a very blue moon I get someone who has very severe hayfever who tries my grass [fragrance] and sneezes. There’s zero pollen in it. So it’s just an [idea] that I sneeze when I smell this, so therefore I sneeze,” says Christopher Brosius, owner of CB I Hate Perfume in Williamsburg.

Spring and summer allergies can also be set off by other scents — so switch to something lighter in the warmer months.

Get scent-hunting advice and our top picks for spring fragrances in Monday’s Style section of amNewYork.

— Julie Gordon

The campus lighthouse at Kingsborough Community College. (Photo via Megapickle on Flickr)

John Kostick arrived at Kingsborough Community College Tuesday expecting to take a campus tour. Instead, the prospective student wound up spending two hours on a boat observing the hands-on training of 24 students in the school’s maritime technology program who were recreating a rescue mission with the help of a Coast Guard helicopter.

“I came to see the college, to check out courses,” said Kostick, who wore an orange life vest as he stood on board of a boat floating in quiet waters between Manhattan Beach and Rockaway Point. “They asked if I wanted to see their hands-on training.”

Kostik, 48, of Manhattan, is one of many people turning to the maritime technology program for what he hopes will be a career change. He said he drove trucks for 16 years and now works as a tour guide on a double-deck bus.

“I’ve always worked a lot,” Kostick said. “I pushed my education behind.” He said he likes outside work and believes there are good paying jobs in maritime trade.

It's difficult to believe one year has passed since Virginia Tech massacre. But as family and friends mourn today at remembrance ceremonies in Blacksburg, Va., a rabbi in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, honors Professor Liviu Librescu, who saved at least 22 people that fateful day by blocking the gunman and enabling his students to escape.

Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, was one of the 32 victims of the massacre.

Rabbi Shea Hecht, co-chairman of the Crown Heights Coalition, has produced an powerful 10-minute video documentary chronicling the life of Librescu, a Romanian-born "scientific superstar" who developed an experimental aircraft. Called "Courage Under Fire," Hecht remembers Librescu's heroism.

— Emily Ngo

L&B's slice has gone up by 25 cents, to $2.25. (Photo via Kenyee on Flickr)

Everyone is feeling the pinch of food prices going up as the economy continues to struggle along.

A few months back there was a lot of upset pizza lovers when Di Fara's in Midwood upped the price of a slice to $4. We were surprised that L&B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst, long regarded as one of the best pizza restaurants in the city, was holding on to its $2 price for both its round and famous square slices.

But, L&B gave in on Monday, upping the price for both to $2.25 -- just in time for the spring when things start heating up at the popular pizzeria, which is also a hangout for the young and old when it becomes warm thanks to its ample outdoor seating.

-- Pete Catapano

Justin Smith and Tara Tanico were engaged Sunday under a cherry blossom tree in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. (Photos by Kathleen Bulson)

Tara Tanico, 24, strolled down an oak-tree-lined path at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden holding hands with her new fiance Justin Smith, 32. The longtime Manhattan couple had just gotten engaged under a pink cherry-blossom tree, a proposal that Tanico said she was not expecting. “I asked her if she’d spend the rest of her life with me,” says Smith.

The couple was among the New Yorkers who braved the chill for the second day of Hanami, the Japanese tradition of appreciating the cherry blossoms -- and a traditional sign of spring in New York..

The garden has 42 varieties of blossoms on 52 acres with several prime locations, but so far only a few trees have blossomed. The festival continues through May 11.

The entrance near the parking lot gate has several trees in full bloom, including a light pink Everblooming Cherry. The Cherry Walk is still bare, but three Weeping Spring Cherry trees are in bloom nearby at the Cherry Esplanade.

The New York Aquarium won't be the same without Bertha, the 43-year-old sand tiger shark who died today and was believed to be the longest-living sand tiger shark in captivity. She was dropped off at the aquarium in 1965 by a local fisherman.

The aquarium director called her "a belived resident of Coney Island" and "a great
animal and a symbol for the plight of all sharks in the wild.”

This isn't the first time Bertha's been in the news. She was the star of this science feature on ABC News last year.

The aquarium reports that Bertha was about 7 feet long and 270 pounds.

-- Lauren Johnston

We can only assume this bizarre crime was triggerd by the grief these four Yonkers teens are feeling over the untimely death of Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin.

Or maybe they really want McD's to comply with new public calorie count rules?

Anyway, here's what happened: Two of the fast food offenders were from Yonkers, one comes from Brooklyn and one from the Bronx. The hoodlum quartet was arrested after they videotaped an assault and robbery on employees of a local McDonalds, said Yonkers police.

One of them danced behind the counter in his undies while the rest beat up the burger staff and stole one employee's wallet.

Needless to say, the golden arches staffers weren't lovin' it.

-- Lauren Johnston

Bishoff and Brienstein Carousell horses wait to be shipped for restoration. (Photos by Jed Kim)

Fifty ornate carousel horses sat in a warehouse in the Brooklyn Army Terminal Tuesday morning, waiting to be shipped to a new location. Even under wraps, their bright blues, reds and greens cheered the dusty workspace, and the horses looked alive enough to breathe, to whinny, to buck and kick – their marble eyes rolling forward, their hooves never quite touching the ground as they pounded around an unending track.

“I think there’s something innate about the carousel, going back to childhood,” said John Krawchuk, director of historic preservation for New York Parks and Recreation. “People love to tell me a happy memory of coming to ride the carousel.”

New York is losing one of its icons, the Bishoff and Brienstein Carousell; but the iconic attraction will return to Coney Island in a new home at the Steeplechase Pavilion in about two years. Today, its many dismantled pieces were loaded onto a truck headed for Marion, Ohio, where they will be restored by Todd Goings, a renowned expert in carousel restoration.

Even with the carousel horses standing motionless in a silent room, it’s easy to imagine riding one.

How's this for a sure sign that spring and summer are just around the corner?!!

We spotted the city's fleet of Kool Man trucks peeking out into the sunlight from an open warehouse on South 1st Street in Williamsburg - just waiting to hit the streets blaring the jingles most of us love to hate and some just flat out love.

So now we know where Kool Man hibernates for winter - just in case the craving for a Rocket pop hits mid-December.

And, we know they're rivals and all, but we also like this YouTube series of Mister Softee jingle singers (Dozens of singers!) - We never knew this song had lyrics:

And one last scream for ice cream, while we're on the topic - for those with more refined tastes when it comes to frozen confections- check this video on the making of gelato at Cones in the West Village.

- Lauren Johnston

The past has a knack for resurfacing, even from under the weight of decades of paint. To wit: This sign at the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn, which, if you struggle to read it, directs straphangers to the Nos. 4 and 5 trains that will take you to a Dutch-sounding eden known as Vanderveer Park. From what we can make out, the sign says: "To Atlantic" on the first line, "East New York" on the second, and "Vanderveer Park" on the third. Below the words is a directional arrow.

If you wanted to go to Vanderveer Park today, you'd be visiting the Flatbush area. According to nyfd.com:

Vanderveer Park was the northern most part of the Town of Flatlands, which was annexed along with the Towns of Flatbush, New Utrecht and Gravesend in 1894. Today Vanderveer Park lives only in name at the Vanderveer Park Houses on Foster, to Newkirk Avenues between Nostrand and Brooklyn Avenues. Other than the housing projects the name is lost in history and the area is now the junction of Flatbush, Farragut and Midwood.

The name also survives in Vanderveer Park United Methodist Church. Vanderveer Park was also the name of an LIRR station. Here's a look at the vanished regal homes of Vanderveer Park.

The neighborhood made the news from time to time. For instance, in 1898, Vanderveer Park had some burglars "prowling around." From the New York Times of Oct. 2, 1898:

Capt. Knipe and Acting Detective Betts of the Flatbush Precinct, Brooklyn, went sleuthing yesterday morning in such a crafty way that they aroused the suspicions of the residents, and were "held up" by eight citizens with revolvers. Burglars have been prowling around the Vanderveer Park section, and the residents have agreed that if one of them sees a burglar he shall fire a pistol as a signal to rouse the neighborhood.

A year before, one of the Vanderveers was involved in a lawsuit, according to a Times article:

Peter F. Vanderveer, principal owner of Vanderveer Park, in Flatbush, and one of the wealthiest representatives of the old-time families in that suburb, has been sued by Dr. William H. Nans, a Flatbush physician, for services alleged to have been rendered Miss Kate Hoffman at the instance of the defendant.

Please share with Urbanite whatever you know of Vanderveer Park's history, tabloid friendly or otherwise.

-- Rolando Pujol

"In the future, all phone booths will look this way." That must be what the folks at New York Telephone were thinking when this funky pay phone was installed in Brooklyn Heights, no doubt in the 1970s.

You can drop a few dimes in it and complete the retro look by actually using the thing. (Wait, we didn't actually pick up the receiver, so we can't tell you if it is working.) We did test our pipes inside the metallic shell, and found that the shape does magnify your voice nicely, but the sound echoes, not making for a particularly private conversation. But who can argue with its aesthetics? (Though admittedly, it's not particularly contextual with Brooklyn Heights brownstones.)

It's a nifty relic and we're glad it's still there. You can find it by the Brooklyn Promenade, at the end of Montague Street.

As for the history of this style of phone booth, we see a few from time to time on 1970s television shows and movies. But they hardly became a Bell System standard.

Here's more on city phone booths from Forgotten NY and the Payphone Project. And here's something we wrote last year on the demise of pay phones (and the possibly last public rotary phone.)

-- Rolando Pujol

* Albany press corps heard whispers of Paterson's affairs for years ... [Observer]

* ... But really, why are we still talking about this? [Daily Gotham]

* Speaking of circuses, as Coney marks its possibly last summer (sound familiar?), the Circus Sideshow opens Sunday. [Kinetic Carnival]

* New York's boulevard of shoe stores is skipping a few steps these days. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

* A theater designed by none other than Thomas Lamb has gone dark in Ridgewood. [Lost City]

* Thursday is the 97th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. [Daily Gotham]

* Scotland Week will mean haggis hot dogs coming April 4 and 5! [Midtown Lunch]

* City Room has an update on the leaning tower of Broadway. [City Room]

* Toll Brothers target Murray Hill/Kips Bay. Check out the comment thread on the virtues of Murray Hill. (Mighty fine townhouses there, for starters.) [Curbed]

* And just north in Turtle Bay, the UN is suspending weekend tours. Be sure to visit if you haven't before the renovations get under way. [NewYorkology]

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: jason.I.ryan via Flickr

Back in October, preservationist Roger Lang described the slew of landmark designations on October 30 as a "landmarks Lollapalooza." We were so taken by the phrase that we made it a cover headline. Well, the Lollapalooza tour is back, and this time, its stopped at Webster Hall, which became a landmark today. The several other designations today bring the number of protected sites in the city to 1,189. Take it away commission:

* Webster Hall in Manhattan, 125 E. 11th St,

Says the commission:

Constructed in 1886 in the Renaissance Revival style, Webster Hall is one of New York City’s most historically and culturally significant 19th-century assembly halls. Architect Charles Rentz, who was responsible for a number of flats and tenements, factories, and stables buildings across the City, designed the assembly hall, which is clad in red Philadelphia pressed brick with brownstone trim and features a metal cornice and unglazed red terra cotta ornament. Now a nightclub, Webster Hall has been the venue for numerous balls, receptions, lectures, meetings, conventions, political and union rallies, military functions, concerts, performances, and sporting and fundraising events. It was the site of the formation of the Progressive Labor Party in 1887, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1914.

Here's AP on Webster's landmarking.

* The Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District in the Flatbush

Per the commission:

This district comprises 250 eclectic houses that were largely completed and occupied by 1914, and were built by two prominent local builders and developers. Most of the houses in the district adhere primarily to the popular early 20th-century architectural styles, especially the Arts and Crafts, Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival styles. The houses were typically constructed in one of three forms: the box-like foursquare, crowned by a hipped or pyramidal roof; the temple-house, featuring a prominent front-facing gable; and the bungalow, with its low profile, deep porch with thick tapered columns, and broadly overhanging eaves.

* Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Anshe, 242 E. 7th St.

Per the commission:

This Beaux Arts-style synagogue, whose name translates to Great House of Study of the People of Hungary, was constructed in 1908, and rebuilt from an existing house by the architects Samuel Gross and Joseph Kleinberger for a Hungarian congregation that had formed in 1883. The congregation ceased to exist by 1975 and in 1985 the building was converted to residential use.

* Elizabeth Home for Girls, 307 E. 12th St.

Completed in 1891, Elizabeth Home for Girls was a shelter for young women operated by the Children’s Aid Society, which was established in 1852 by Charles Loring Brace to house and educate the City’s poorest children. The Elizabeth Home for Girls, a four-story brick and sandstone building in the Queen Anne style with German Renaissance flourishes, was used by the Children’s Aid Society until 1930. It has retained virtually all of its original defining characteristics

11th Street Public Bath, 538 E. 11th St.

Per the commission:

This elaborate Beaux-Arts style building was designed by Arnold W. Brunner, the architect and city planner who is responsible for the public baths at Asser Levy Place, Shearith Israel Synagogue and Temple Israel—all of which are New York City landmarks. It was used as a public bath until the 1950s, and purchased in 1995 by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams and converted into a fashion and corporate photography studio.

* The Allerton 39th Street House in Murray Hill.

Per the commission:

The Allerton House was completed in 1918 as a long-term residential hotel for young, middle class, single men. Designed in the Northern Italian Renaissance style by architect Arthur Loomis Harmon, the Allerton House was one of a chain of six that were built in New York City between 1913 and 1924. The base of the building is clad in granite and its main façade is structured around three bays of windows, constructed primarily of red brick with projecting headers that ascend to a central hipped roof tower. The prominent roof garden, emphasized by the three arched openings separated by twin terra cotta columns forming the crown of the building, was a central feature of the hotel’s communal facilities. In 1956, the Salvation Army converted the building to the Ten Eyck-Troughton Memorial Residence for Women, and remained in use by the organization until it was purchased recently by a private developer.

And the commission held a public hearing, a key step toward landmarking, of this neighborhood:

* The proposed NoHo Historic District Extension, which includes 60 buildings, and the proposed designations of the former American Society of Civil Engineers Clubhouse, now the site of Lee’s Art Supply at 218-222 West 57th St. former Fire Engine Company No. 54 at 304 West 47th St.; and St Michael’s Church, Parish House and Rectory at 201-225 West 99th St.

In addition, the commission scheduled hearings for Chase Manhattan Plaza and these sites:

* The West Chelsea Historic District in Manhattan, comprised of 55 19th- and early 20th-century industrial buildings; to expand the Douglaston Historic District in Queens, with a proposed extension that includes 21 Greek Revival, Italianate, and Mediterranean Revival-style structures.

* George Bruce Branch of the New York Public Library at 518 W. 125th St., a Georgian Revival-style building designed by Carrere & Hastings; the East 125th Street Branch of the New York Public Library at 224 E. 125th St., a Renaissance Revival style building by McKim, Mead & White; 275 Madison Avenue, a 42-story Art Deco-style skyscraper at 40th Street

In related landmarking news, the Daily News today looks at an issue we covered last month: Complaints that Queens is behind on the landmarks game. Here's David Freedlander's story, an Urbanite post, the News piece today, and a post on Queens Crap.

Photo: Wallg on Flickr

One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the modernist complex that helped revive lower Manhattan's financial fortunes, will be considered for landmarks protection, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday.

The complex was designed by one of the most significant architects of the International Style, Gordon Bunshaft, the mind behind the already protected Lever House and the Pepsi Cola buildings on Park Avenue, and the Manufacturer's Trust bank on Fifth Avenue.

The commission seeks to protect the entire Chase complex, which includes an elevated plaza and a sunken rock garden, left, by Isamu Noguchi. A noted sculpture, Group of Four Trees, top, by French artist Jean Dubuffet, also sits on the plaza.

The complex' merits go beyond architecture and design. Under the guidance of Chase's leader, David Rockefeller, the completion of the complex in 1961 helped pave the way for other significant downtown projects, such as the World Trade Center. Interestingly, a stroll through the plaza and lobbies of Chase Manhattan evokes a somewhat similar feel to the lost trade center.

According to the commission:

The complex drew widespread attention from the media when construction ended, including former New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who wrote, “These are ambitious structures of character and quality, surrounded by the most expensive urban luxury money can buy. In a remarkable duality of purpose, reconcilable only in the commercial age, they aspire to be trademark and work of art.”

As with any discussion of "tower in the park" complexes, even ones that are beautifully executed, observations are rightfully made about the low-rise street life that may have been lost to build these giants of commerce. When the subject is lower Manhattan, these discussions often replay the loss of the Radio Row neighborhood that was cleared for the Twin Towers. A comment in a New York Times report on the Chase story Tuesday captures this view: "This unfortunate though capable modernist design led the way to the ruin of the lower Manhattan skyline and the gross congestion that came with it."

As for JP Morgan Chase, the firms supports designation, and renamed the plaza after David Rockefeller on Tuesday. David Dunlap at The New York Times has more.

Now that Chase has been calendared, the complex needs to pass a few more steps before it actually becomes a landmark. The commission will schedule a public hearing, and then hold the formal vote. After a City Planning Commission review, the City Council then gives the final nod in a vote.

More later today on other landmarking matters, including Webster Hall.

-- Rolando Pujol

Top photo: Lisanne! via Flickr. Photo of garden: Greenswardspark.org

A few weeks ago, we told you about Mooney's Pub in Brooklyn, which, fighting for its life in a rent battle, might not make it to St. Patrick's Day. Good news: The taps will be flowing on Monday at this Park Slope institution, a bartender at the pub told Urbanite after we called to check in on Sunday. The court battle, though, continues. Stay tuned.

-- Stephen J. Bronner

Photo: Jay Morrison via Flickr

In Brooklyn Heights only occasionally, we'd always be sure to pass Armando's on Montague Street, marveling at the neon sign and savoring the idea that such places were still among us. But we didn't get around to dining there until we were hit with this news: Armando's is closing Sunday after more than 70 years in business.

So we stopped by with some friends Thursday night, and were immediately taken by the coziness of the place, with its leather booths and chummy bar, its eclectic decor (images of old-school Hollywood actors, historic Brooklyn scenes, fancy lamps), and well-trodden wooden floors. It's simply what we just knew it would be: A place we wish we'd been savoring for years, instead of in a last-minute attempt to soak up its charms.

Our meal was satisfying, thanks to our congenial waiter, who so enthusiastically touted the Chicken Rollatini that we each ordered it. The meal, served with salad and side (we chose pasta) was so generous that we skipped dessert. And we spent plenty of time just walking around, trying to make mental notes.

Retirement of the owner sealed Armando's fate, but it's impossible not to put its loss (it will be replaced by a chain store called Spicy Pickle) into the greater scheme of unique New York institutions that have vanished in recent years.

And as much as we bemoan the dimming of the sign's neon, we think this contributor to Brooklyn Heights Blog, which launched an effort to save the sign, summed it up nicely in this excerpt:

It’s not about the sign ... Armando’s had “classed up” Montague Street for 72 years with good Italian food in a classic setting. It is a piece of history in this neighborhood, and we all know there are so few left. I remember eating at Foffe’s with my parents and seeing former governon Hugh Carey there — think him and his ilk would come to Brooklyn Heights for Spicy Pickle? It’s a shame.

The Brooklyn Paper did this round-up in 2001 on classic Brooklyn eateries, which is now painfully out of date. Gage & Tollner, for one, was still around, and if ever there was an unthinkable restaurant loss, it was that place.

-- Rolando Pujol

Check out more photos from our visit after the jump.