(Photos courtesy of Arthur B.)
Construction at the Lowe’s Home Improvement Kings Plaza location is underway. Apparently, contractors felt the first thing the building needed was walls. Perhaps this is a new, graffiti-friendly approach to construction that we didn’t know about before, but it sure seems strange to us.
Councilman Lew Fidler is offering free health screenings Monday, September 14. The tests, which include blood pressure and pulse exams, will take place at his office at 1402 East 64th Street (corner of Avenue N) from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by Coney Island Hospital and no appointment is necessary. For more information, call the Councilman’s office at (718) 241-9330.
Date: Monday, September 14
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Where: Office of Councilman Lew Fidler
1402 East 64th Street (Corner of Avenue N)
(718) 241-9330
Free of charge, and no appointment necessary
There’s a lot of hustle-and-bustle going on at the landmarked Lundy’s building, as Cherry Hill workers prepare for their grand opening event. Sure, it’s coming more than four months after their actual opening, but the gourmet market has been embroiled in controversy and was keeping a low profile.
Well, say goodbye to those days. Though still squabbling with the Department of Buildings over a stop work order that continues to keep the restaurant portion shut, the owners have decided to shed the meekness and are preparing for quite the launch tonight. We saw workers stocking shelves, preparing tasting tables, and tying balloons all about. But in addition to free food and a come-one-come-all invite to the neighbors, tonight’s seating area will sport a VIP section, complete with a secret celebrity guest. David Isaev, Cherry Hill’s owner, was tight-lipped about who it was, but did note, “He’s coming all the way from Hollywood.” We’re hoping it’s Shawne Merriman, so we can thank him for doing what we’ve all wanted to do to the icon of L.A.’s talentless hackery.
When: 6 p.m. tonight
Where: Lundy’s, duh! — 1901 Emmons Avenue (corner of Ocean Avenue)
Free food and seating for all.
When we first met our “owner”, she introduced herself as a Ukrainian immigrant and said she needed us to help her out for a couple of hours.
She said she had some personal effects that needed to be hauled over to a new address. So, we figured that we could offer a helping hand. When we realized that the poor lady had been unable to pay her rent, lost her apartment, and had her few remaining belongings in these plastic bags, we felt very sad for her — but, we were wondering how we could have gotten involved in this situation. We did feel bad for her having to live on the streets as a homeless person, but it was short-lived when we realized that we were nothing but beasts of burden to her.
Night and day she leaves us parked out on the street in front of the Connie Lekas School (P.S. 811K) as if she doesn’t know us. She prefers to stay under the shelter of the Pathmark store bottle redemption center just across the street.
A couple of weeks ago, we spoke to a passerby with hopes that they would rescue us from this life. Instead, the person called 3-1-1 to help our “owner”. Some nice people from the NYC Coalition for the Homeless came by right after the 3-1-1 call and spoke to her, but she said that she didn’t want to go a shelter. They said they would come by and check up on her in the future, but they never even asked us what we wanted.
If you’re in the neighborhood doing some shopping or dropping the kids off to school, maybe you’re up for a little rescue. You can find us near 2525 Haring St. Don’t even bother asking our owner anything about the cargo. Just take the load off, drop it across the street and we’ll make a roll for it. Hope to see you, soon.
The last we heard from the Hebrew Language Academy (HLA) Charter School, they withdrew their proposal to move into Marine Park Junior High School in the face of riotous opposition. Now the school is raising eyebrows among the secular with their latest announcement: HLA is cohabitating with a Kings Highway yeshiva.
From the New York Post:
HLA, which is a public school receiving tax dollars as well as private funding, is operating on the first floor of Yeshiva Rambam, 3340 Kings Highway.
Critics say the space-sharing arrangement gives the appearance that HLA is blurring the line between church and state.
“I think that it kind of muddies the water on their original intent,” said Christopher Spinelli, president of District 22’s Community Education Council (CEC), which represents Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and parts of Midwood, Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay.
“It definitely detracts from the fact of it being a non-religious school,” Spinelli added. “To house it in a religious facility raises valid questions from people who are concerned about church, state issues.”
Read the full article here.
The Never Forgotten 9/11 Memorial Service and 8th Anniversary Candle Vigil details have been announced. Those of you who attended last year’s ceremony, know what a truly touching this ceremony is.
The event will be held again at the Bill Brown Park. Details on the flyer are as listed:
Date: Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Bill Brown Park – Handball Court
Avenue X and Bedford Avenue
This past week has been pretty chilly, reminding us that summer is coming to an end. So we’re bringing you the above photo from l_ameerrante via Flickr to give you something to look forward to (everyone loves those frosty days, don’t we?). Of course, the above is a B train, and we all know that by the time winter rolls around B train service will be suspended, right?
Slice, the pizza blogger over at Serious Eats, has been doing a heck of a job keeping track of Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano since a fire destroyed the legendary pie-tosser in March. After initial updates saying the pizzeria would be open in June, then July, then August, the site is now reporting that it will reopen in late-September or early-October.
Why the delay? After the fire, [Owner Lawrence] Ciminieri said, his family had two choices: rebuild from scratch or salvage what was there. The initial reports from the architect Ciminieri consulted with indicated that the building was sound enough to salvage, but once crews started renovation, city inspectors found more damage than expected. It turns out that the building needs to be shored up to support the weight of the oven and the coal used to fire it.
“It would have been easier to just knock the place down and start over,” Ciminieri said, “but we’re already in the middle of this [renovation] and just have to finish now.”
This time, he said, it’ll definitely be no later than October.
I can’t wait to have a slice of Totonno’s. Despite being so close to home, I’ve never made the trip there and had planned one right before it burned down. Come on, Totonno’s, we’re all rooting for you!
For those not following the conversation on our old Walgreens post, Sheepshead Bay’s fifth location of the pharmacy chain opened on Friday, September 4.
The photo above, came in from Kismet via Twitpic/Twitter, and she says the “atmosphere was super friendly, everyone was helpful and pleasant.” In the comment stream, others seem to be saying the same. It appears Walgreens’ 7,000th location is a big hit in the ‘hood, and pulled in more than $9,000 in front-end purchases on the first day.
This Walgreens, on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue W, opened two weeks ahead of schedule, according to commenter “walgreens mgt” – who we can only assume is Walgreens’ savvy social networking flack. He/She (My gut says “she.” Care to confirm, flack?) says a grand opening is coming before October 1, probably around September 28. Walgreens CEO, Greg Wasson, will visit to tour the store.
There is a wide variety of businesses in Sheepshead Bay. We’ve got great restaurants, boutique clothing and shoe stores, pharmacies, cell phone stores, salons, knick-knackeries, cafes and so forth. But we’re lacking a few establishments that will add flavor to Sheepshead Bay while keeping many from leaving the ‘hood to fulfill their wants. Here’s my top five of what businesses Sheepshead Bay needs. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section.
