27 January 2010

A Perfect Storefront: 182 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn



I can't even give this perfect storefront a name, because there's no one occupying it at present. It was most recently a nail salon. It seems to be an unlucky address, as I've seen several businesses come and go over the years.



Such a glorious storefront. Arguably the best in Brooklyn, maybe in all of New York. And very old, too, the cast-iron, stained-glass, two-story commercial addition to the corner brownstone dating back to the 19th century. What possessed the builder to create so grand and graceful and detailed a curving facade, when any old facade might have done, I don't know. But I'm glad they did. It really is a visual triumph. I wonder why it can't keep a store. I'd go in just to take a look around, whether they sold plumbing equipment or parakeets.



Hey, maybe they can put an Arby's in here.

4 comments:

Jack Womack said...

A quick glimpse of that corner, and that window, is seen at the start of Hal Ashby's great movie "The Landlord" which also shows that part of the neighborhood as it was c.1970-71. One of the prettiest storefronts in the Slope.

Anonymous said...

I live a few blocks away from it and it is nice. I have actually seen people, prospective renters milling about through it too. Maybe the rent is too high.

prb said...

It was a spanish restaurant in the early 90s, back when Park Slope was much more ethnic and working class.

JJD said...

The proper address is 82 Sixth Avenue. It was a hair salon in the sixties and then a real estate office. Originally way back when it was a dress shop, back around 1900. The location has alot of history. Sam Aronowitz owned the Sixth Ave Cleaners on the first floor in the 60s and 70s. He was a survivor of the Warsaw Getto. He was a good man with alot of bad memories. May he rest in peace. "Do your best" he always told me.