Flowers, No Hype

The oldest business on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights sure doesn't make a big fuss over it.

That would be James Weir Floral Company. The concern was founded in 1853, making it the oldest florist in the city, if not the nation. But you wouldn't know it to walk into 160 Montague. The storefront is narrow, and inside there is not one hint that you're entering a historic shop. No old, black and white photos of the shop way back when. (This is the original location.) No clippings of newspaper articles telling its history. No images of grand old Victorian James Weir. No charming, antiquated florist tools hanging from the walls. Abso-positively-fucking nothing! Just a note of their business cards saying "Est. in 1853."

I guess that's what you call modesty. Or an absence of marketing sense. Anyway, they've got nice flowers and plants. And the service is friendly. And they deliver anywhere in Brooklyn. Gravesend. Greenpoint. Anywhere.

One tidbit I learned about Weir comes from Forgotten New York. Apparently Weir himself suggested the name of the neighborhood be changed from Yellow Hook to its current moniker. Good move, James.