Dance Company Seeking PLG Brownstone for Performances

This just in from the email pile:

Tze Chun Dance Company has a unique project premiering this Spring in different neighborhoods in Brooklyn… We've recently completed rehearsals for our newest work titled "Parlour Games," which is a 45-minute dance inspired by parlor games played around the time of the Brooklyn Brownstone boom in the late 1800's.

We will be performing the piece in a number of Brooklyn brownstones and houses between April-June 2010 and the historic houses in Prospect Lefferts would be an ideal venue for the small performances… If you know of vacant buildings or apartments that are on the market or in between leases, this would be a convenient place for us to perform.

Our performances are free, and open to the public.  We are simply looking for beautiful houses to perform in.

What do you say, people? Contact Tze.Chun (at) gmail.com with any ideas.

Loew's Kings Theater Photo Gallery

Thanks to our friend Matt, who found this excellent gallery of interior shots of the pre-renovation Loew's Kings Theater by flickr user marioletto.

Flatbush Gardener is where Matt found the link to the gallery, so credit where credit is due. Nice find, Xris.

Book Documents a Year at a PLG Public School

While pecking around at Amazon, I was surprised to find Ms. Moffett's First Year: Becoming a Teacher in America (2004).

That the book follows the year in a life of a New York City Teaching Fellow wasn't what grabbed me. The surprise was where that teacher was working: at PS 92, right around the corner on Parkside.

The book was written by a New York Times reporter, Abby Goodnough, and much of it appeared in the Times' Metro section back when. It follows a first-year Teaching Fellow a decade ago, when PS 92 was considered one of the city's most troubled schools. (It no longer is, as Dept. of Education reports show a great deal of improvement.)

I don't know much about the book or PS 92, but I ordered a copy. If anyone else is interested in reading and discussing it, book-group-style, email me and let me know (brooklynite282 (at) gmail).

Affordable Housing Forum on Saturday

We received word from the Winthrop Street New Generation Block Association that the PLGNA Housing Committee is sponsoring a forum on maintaining affordable housing in PLG. The forum will include a showing of the film Some Place Like Home (see the trailer here) and guest speaker Wanda Imasuen, a representative of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), the advocacy organization featured in the film.

Some Place Like Home
A  Community Forum On Affordable Housing in Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Saturday, March 13
From 4-6PM
Church of the Evangel Fellowship Hall
Enter on Bedford Avenue, just south of Hawthorne Street.

For more information, contact PLGNA at Info@plgna.org.

New Mamary Bar Opening in Fly Fish Spot (updated)

Some neighbors on the Lefferts list alerted us to the fact that Jim Mamary & Company are putting a bar in the storefront formerly known as Fly Fish (49 Lincoln Road). According to resident realtor Bette Cunningham, the new place, dubbed Lincoln Park Tavern (an homage to Chicago?), will open on Wednesday Tuesday, March 9.

Good idea, huh? After all, the best thing about Fly Fish was the drinks. (Not that we drink much anymore, but still....) And this should leave more room at the bar at Enduro. Win-win!

Spotted on Washington Avenue

Yes, that bright new storefront just north of Lincoln turns out to be a real estate agency. Sigh.

KA Deli's New Middle Eastern Menu

I am always hoping for more restaurant options in our neighborhood so I was pleasantly surprised last week when a menu showed up in our mailbox listing Middle Eastern goodies. I was a little surprised, since I thought I - or someone - would have noticed a restaurant under construction until I realized that it was KA Deli (on the NW corner of Flatbush and Clarkson) that had added baba hummus to the usual egg sandwiches and cold cuts.

A neighbor got there first and recommended the char and marinade on the chicken kebabs, though he suggested getting a platter since the sandwich was a bit sloppy. On Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner and went by to pick up an assortment so that we could see for ourselves.

The menu doesn't have any prices, which is a little disorienting, but I can tell you this: two chicken kebabs over rice with salad, two kofte kebabs (ground lamb and beef) over rice with salad, babaganoush, tabouleh, and a half-dozen stuffed grape leaves cost $25 and easily fed four adults (three thin, one fat) and what little amounts the three toddlers were willing to try.

In general, we were all pleased. The kebabs were very good, particularly the kofte. The baba ganoush and tabouleh were both great (though Carrie thought the baba had a little too much acid). The rice was a bit bland but well cooked. It may be a better option for lunch/early dinner until they get a sense of how popular this is because they've been out of hummus both times we've tried to go.

Short answer: a welcome addition to the neighborhood and I look forward to going back to try the falafel.

Adult Ed Lecture Series Tonight in Park Slope

It's been a while since we indulged in blatant self-promotion, so allow me to mention that I'll be speaking tonight as part of Adult Education, a "useless lectures series" that Charles and I do at Union Hall in Park Slope on the first Tuesday of every month, at 8pm. The theme this time: "Animal Minds, Animal Bodies."

Canine cognition expert Alexandra Horowitz will look at anthropomorphic assumptions we make about dogs, photographer Kate Kunath will discuss the surreal world of rabbit breeding, and Kriota Wilberg will analyze how human anatomy could be altered to make us more like Spiderman, and I'll be talking about why you want a monkey. Should be a fun show. Come on down!

(And if you are coming, try to get there by 7:30 when the doors open because the show was listed on Flavorpill and the seats fill up even without that.)

The Real Deal on PLG Gentrification

Want to read about PLG real estate and gentrification? Here you go.

Info Session for Charter School on Wednesday Night

The Lefferts Gardens Charter School is having another info session on Wednesday night, March 3. This one is at the Brower Park Library, 725 St. Marks Avenue, at 6:30 pm.