The restaurant formerly known as W – located at 2812 Ocean Avenue and Avenue X – has changed its name to Le Bouchon. It’s got new owners to boot.
We’re not quite sure why the old owners decided to bail, and calls to the restaurant went unanswered. But from what we can gather with a little online research, the new guys bought into the place at the end of 2009. They kept up with the W brand until just a few weeks ago, when the new sign went up.
Just as W did, they’re pushing French and steakhouse food at upscale prices. Though we haven’t tried the food there, our favorite thing on the new menu is the “Galamâ” – a gussied up spelling of the Brooklynese pronunciation of calamari. Cute.
Shopping cart in search of a locksmith to let him back into his home. (Photo courtesy of Stefanee Rivera))
A reader, Stefanee Rivera, sent us this photograph of a lost shopping cart and gave us the background story.
This poor little guy was found early Saturday morning seeking assistance from the locksmith inside. Apparently he got locked out of his house (Walbaum’s) and couldn’t find a neighbor to help. He wandered over to the locksmith on Ave. X and Ocean Ave. for some help getting back inside. The nice locksmith who works there called his parents and told them he was waiting for them at the shop. They said they would be “right over” to pick him up. However, according to the locksmith, at 3:45PM, the lonely little shopping cart was still there waiting for his mom and dad. I suggested he call the Administration for Shopping Cart Services (ASCS) if they hadn’t come to pick him up by closing time.
Hearing the news that the shopping complex where the Waldbaum’s store is located has been sold for $10 million, may have made him a little nervous about his family’s future.
One of East 19th Street’s precariously leaning trees lost a limb during yesterday’s storm, which turned up jammed in this car’s windshield.
According to Ray Johnson, who sent in a mini-report last night, the car is between Avenue X and Avenue Y. It didn’t appear the owner was aware of the situation when Ray was on the scene (so if this is your car, don’t kill the messenger. Which is Ray. Don’t kill Ray. And especially don’t kill me.).
But it doesn’t look like the damage is just to the car. It’s hard to make out in the photo after the jump, but the other end of the tree limb is resting on the power lines, which haven’t yet snapped.
A reader who lives very close to this location was just telling me last week about the awful condition of trees and power lines on the block. Many of the trees are leaning or twisted. East 19th Street’s sidewalks bare the scars of unkempt vegetation through lifted and cracked concrete. The power lines weave in and out of branches, many with stress put on them, and some of the poles are leaning as well.
Is this a cry for arboreal assistance? Do you know of other blocks in similar states?
The Health Department shuttered DVIN Cafe (2219 Avenue X) yesterday, after the establishment racked up 88 violation points.
DVIN Cafe received six “critical” violations, including cold food being stored at unsafe temperatures; a lack of a food protection certificate; evidence of live mice; a lack of a facility to wash, rinse, and sanitize utensils; and inadequate “personal cleanliness.”
There were other minor violations as well.
The Health Department’s website doesn’t have any previous inspection records available for DVIN.
We’ve heard from a number of sources now that there was a shooting at around 10:07 a.m. on Avenue X between Nostrand Avenue and Haring Street.
Neighbors report hearing between three and five shots in the vicinity of the Sheepshead Bay-Nostrand Housing Projects. Within minutes, several police vehicles arrived, along with as many as three ambulances and a helicopter. The first ambulance left the scene with sirens blaring.
Another reader told us they asked witnesses and said the shootout involved “machine guns,” but we haven’t yet confirmed that.
If you have any additional information, please e-mail us.
UPDATE:
From reader Scott K.
There were about 9 or 10 police cars, a van, and step van that included officers with helmets riot gear, body shields and semi auto matic weapons. I drove by and left the scene as officers were going into the building. I heard the helicopter about 3 minutes later.
UPDATE:
From reader Amy:
2 suspects fled in a vehicle to the Housing Projects somewhere on Avenue V between Bragg and Batchelder ST. Both were detained shortly after.
(06/25/10) BROOKLYN – Police are investigating a double shooting on Avenue X that left one person dead and another injured this morning.
Authorities say the incident happened at 3043 Ave. X shortly before 10 a.m. One of the victims, a 26-year-old man, was taken to Lutheran Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to his leg.
The other victim, a 25-year-old man, was rushed to Coney Island Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead from a wound to his chest.
Police say they have arrested two suspects in the double shooting. Charges are pending.
A reader spotted this mysterious message scrawled on a public utility closet on Bedford Avenue, just south of Avenue X. The scribbling says, “Starting with Weiner, Ending with Schumer.”
We’re not entirely sure what this means, but we’ve got to wonder if it has anything to do with the anthrax scare at Congressman Anthony Weiner’s office following his “yes” vote on healthcare reform. That incident left his Kew Gardens staff in decontamination for days (it turned out to be antacid), and the envelope it came in was sent from the 11235 zip code. That puts this graffiti at ground zero. Could it mean that Schumer is next?
Surely, the healthcare vote did stir up some heated sentiments around the neighborhood. If the discussion turns to national politics, many (not all, but many) neighbors that I speak to at meetings and events invariably turn to venomous rhetoric against Weiner and Schumer for their roles in reform. But no matter your political leanings, the threats, hate speech and fanaticism growing on the right, especially in the Tea Party, have no place in a community like Sheepshead Bay (or anywhere, for that matter). Political ideas are to be formed, implemented and reformed through debate – not through a most chilling fear wrought by malice and threats.
After all the work done to get rid of it, graffiti is back. It took one week from the time the last building on East 19th Street was scrubbed clean until this was spotted. Let’s see how long it takes to remove it again.
Downhouse Lounge at 250 Avenue X (off McDonald Avenue) is importing some German rock weirdness tonight.
BudZillas blend punk rock and swing with traditional klezmer beats and instruments. The German band is playing the Gravesend bar for one-night only. This sounds like an awesome event, and more of the kind of weird, fun music I’d love to see take over Sheepshead Bay.
Check out the band’s Myspace page to get a sense of their music. Or just watch this video of one of their performances:
Where: Downhouse Lounge; 250 Avenue X
When: Tonight at 8 p.m.
Cost: $10.00
Hey, dude in the hood, what the hell are you doing? Are you spraying graffiti? Don’t you know we just got this block – East 19th Street between Avenue W and Avenue X – cleaned up?
Oh, my bad. You’re with the Graffiti Free NYC crew. So you’re here to clean up the last bit of graffiti on the apartment building, eh? Great! And to think, it was just at last week’s 61st Precinct Community Council meeting that Captain Mastrokostas said he would remind you guys to do it.
Glad to see a street we had long considered a problem area fixed up. At least one resident I spoke to – who was previously very sour about the whole situation – has chippered up. Kudos to the precinct for the extra work, but even more so to the residents who badgered their community leaders into acknowledging their needs. Let’s hope this ends the saga of East 19th Street.
Bump slow marking on East 17 Street, between Ave X & Ave W. (Photo by Ray Johnson)
This “BUMP SLOW” marking was seen painted on East 17th Street between Avenue X and Avenue W not so long ago.
A local resident told us that it was marked by the Department of Transportation because it’s slated for a speed bump installation. Another resident said that it was just painted there as a warning to drivers to be aware of the raised bump in the road, where the asphalt appeared damaged.
Since the time when this picture was taken, we haven’t had a chance to check for changes in the street marker or repairs in the road. Does anyone know more about the status of the bump in the road?
