Smith Says Goodbye to Professionals

I was walking down Smith Street in Cobble Hill when I noticed the old Professional Building had been emptied out and was for rent.

I find the so-called "Professional Buildings" of our country so square and quaint, products of another time. You'll find them in every town, typically squat, one or two-story structures hewed of quasi-ugly, quasi-Modernist Postwar design. Inside is usually a warren of doctors, dentists and other people meant to do you good.

The one on Smith was a grungy thing: dirty, with chipping paint and black roller shutters. But it was one of the last remnants of the old Smith Street, before it became Brooklyn's Restaurant Row. It provided solid dental care for the surrounding, (once) largely poor population. I went there once in the mid-90s when I didn't have any dental insurance and didn't know where to go. (Wait—have I ever had dental insurance?) The waiting room was certainly depressing, but they did a good job.

But, of course, what Smith Street really needs is another eatery, right? Not people with healthy teeth to chew that food.