Is Dennett Place Really Bennett Place?

Dennett Place, the one-block thoroughfare of workingmen's cottages situation behind St. Mary Star of the Sea in Carroll Gardens, has always been a favorite conundrum of local historians. (That's a 1940s tax photo of the street above; it's not as attractive today—lots of aluminum siding—but still cute.) Nobody knows for whom it was named, or even if it should be spelled Dennet or Dennett. There are no famous Brooklyn Dennetts. But there is a history of Brooklyn Bennetts.

I got the idea that the street has been misnamed for more than a century when I read a personal history of the street, written by a resident of the street and published on the Brooklyn Historical Society's blog. The writer tried to get to the bottom of the street name's origin, and in doing so uncovered this old map from the 1860s where the alley is named Bennett Place.

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South Brooklyn Bike Thieves Caught

Brooklyn Paper reports that the local police have "collared two men last week that they believe are responsible for a spate of bicycle thefts in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens this month."

Readers of this site will be familiar with the stolen bike problem. Thefts began to rise in late June, and people began carting their bikes inside rather than risk locking it up on the street.

The robbers apprehended were Adrian Figueroa, 37, and Gasper Alcade, 49, who were seen clipping the locks on two bikes on Wyckoff Street on July 20. According to BP, there were at least seven other cycles stolen between July 1 and 15 in the 76th Precinct. (I think the number is far higher than that. I've personally heard of at least 10.)

The article contines:

But since a cop cuffed the pair between Hoyt and Smith streets, there have been no reported missing penny-farthings, according to a community affairs officer in the precinct.

That said, the police have not linked Figueroa and Alcade to any of the earlier crimes.

“We’re still investigating it,” said Vincent Marrone, a cop at the the Union Street stationhouse in Carroll Gardens.

Good job, 76th! Thanks to Brownstoner, who picked up several of my stories on bike thefts, and Channel 12, who did a subsequent TV segment on the matter.

Lost City's Guide to Boerum Hill

This is the eighth of Lost City's guides to the shards of living history and cultural potency that remain in various New York neighborhoods. The tours are published occasionally. Previous guides can be found along the right-hand navigation bar.

First off, let me say that I consider the western border of Boerum Hill to run straight down Smith Street. I know that there is some dispute about this. Some say it stretches to Court Street. But I suspect this is the work of real estate brokers who know the listing "Cobble Hill" will fetch them more money that "Boerum Hill." Furthermore, I don't know any merchant on the east side of Court who thinks they're part of Boerum Hill.

I am perfectly in accord with the other borders: State Street at the north end, Fourth Avenue to the east and Warren Street to the south. For many years, I considered the neighborhood a kind of Johnny-come-lately wannabe area, riding on the fast-gentrifying coattails of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. In the last five years though, though many bike trips through its street, I've come to love the place and recognize it as having a distinct character of its own.

THE NEW ST. CLAIR RESTAURANT: This diner is as good a place as any to begin a Boerum Hill tour. Founded in 1920 at the corner of Smith and Atlantic, it's one of the oldest, consistently operating businesses in the area and has seen many waves of incomers, from Italians and Irish to Hispanic peoples to Yuppies. It's been through a few transformations in that time, the most recent being in 2008. So it doesn't look very old. But its spirit is.

THE STATE STREET HOUSES: Walk north to State Street. The block of State between Smith and Hoyt contains 23 beautifully preserved Renaissance Revival brownstones dating from the 1840s to the 1870s. The group is landmarked.

CHURCHES: Head back to Atlantic. At the north corner with Bond, there's the stark Byelorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church, which is kind of simple and plain, but which I love because it's called the Byelorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church. Down the block is the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, a nice Romanesque Revival job. It used to be the Swedish Pilgrims' Evangelical Church, when there were tons of Swedes along Atlantic.


SYNAGOGUE: Look across the street at 368 Atlantic at what used to be Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Joseph. The slim 1917 structure was an antique store for a long time. Now it's something tacky called the Deity Lounge. You need an invitation to gain admittance. Eesh.

EX-LAX BUILDING: Walk down to 423-443 on the North side of Atlantic. Yes, Ex-Lax, the king of all laxatives, had its factory here. Even though the huge building was convented to co-ops in 1981, the doorway still proudly proclaims the address' former use. I wonder how it must feel to say you live in the Ex-Lax Building.

TWINS PIZZA: OK, here comes my favorite part of Boerum Hill, the remnants of what used to be "Downtown Caughnawaga." In the middle part of the 20th century, this area was settled by a large collection of Mohawk families, who had moved from a Quebec reservation in the 1920s to take jobs building New York's new skyscrapers. They were particularly adept at this task, as they were not afraid of the dizzying heights at which they had to work. Joseph Mitchell chronicled their lives in his essay "The Mohawks of High Steel." Turn a half-block north of Atlantic on Nevins to the Twins Pizza store. This address, 75 Nevins Street, used to be the Wigwam, a dark bar favored by the Mohawk workers. Over the door was the slogan "The Greatest Iron Workers in the World Pass Thru These Doors." Canadian beer could easily be had.


HANK'S SALOON: Head down Atlantic to Hank's Saloon, at Third Avenue. This rather scary-looking, low-slung dive bar has enough character on its own to merit a mention. It's of further interest, however, as another bar once popular with the Mohawks. It was called the Doray Tavern before it became Hank's, and some Indian workers lived upstairs, above the bar.



CUYLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Walk down to Pacific Street to No. 358 between Hoyt and Bond. This former church—now a private residence with a landmarked facade—was where the Mohawks went to worship for decades. There was a yearly pow-wow, with traditional dances, prayers and smoke signals. It was built in the 1890s.



NEW YORK TIMES WAREHOUSE: On the block of Third Avenue between Dean and Pacific is a highly ornate, neo-Classical warehouse befitting the proud nature of its former owner: the New York Times. Notice the various noble friezes at various points on the building.

THE SIDE STREETS: As you roam around Boerum Hill, be sure to take note of the curious array of short and unusual brick structures that line Hoyt, Bond and Nevins Streets between State and Bergen. Unlike Cobble Hill, which tucked its carriage house and stables on the east-west streets, reserving the north-south veins like Clinton and Henry for grand brownstones, Boerum Hill seems to have employed its east-west thoroughfares such as Dean and Bergen for displaying the public face of its architecture. The workaday structure meant for storing stuff were put Nevins et al. Today, this makes for fun viewing as you turn corners and confront odd-job one-story and two-story structures, now converted into quaint homes.



THE BROOKLYN INN: Be sure to make time for a beer at the Brooklyn Inn, at the corner of Hoyt and Bergen. One of the oldest watering holes in the borough, it has retained much of its 19th-century architectural details and feel, and has an invitingly anonymous atmosphere.


108 WYCKOFF STREET: An impromptu piece of urban, outdoor art. Half the three-story home is caked with a near-decades worth of tiles, sequins, mirrors and do-dads, all applied one by one by artist Susan Gardner, who lives inside. It's a delight.


ZIAD'S DELI: Head back to Smith, just north of Bergen. For me, and many others, Boerum Hill is Jonathan Letham Land, an area depicted in colorful detail in the writer's novels "Motherless Brooklyn" and "The Fortress of Solitude." Ziad's is a nothing-special deli, except that it was the basis of the deli Zeod's, which the hero of "Motherless Brooklyn" frequently visited. The Brooklyn Inn also makes an appearance in the book.

Progress on the Wyckoff Wonder

It was back in March 2007 that I first discovered the wild and wonderful bejeweled address of 108 Wyckoff Street in Boerum Hill, which artist Susan Gardner has been slowly covering with colorful tiles and beads since 2001. I thought that, two years later, it was time to reinspect the evolving mosaic.


The facade of the building remains pretty much the same as it was two years ago (though there are more posters of Obama in the window). But considerable work has been done on the wrought-iron fence that fronts the property. Half the fence is now encrusted with a swarm of colorful and mirrored chips and shards—flowers, grapes, leaves, vines, fruit, checkboards, and other less specifiable things. And on top of many of the posts's are delightful plastic butterflies and bits of fern. Nice touch.

Local Color

A reader tipped me off to something he called the "mosaic house" on Wyckoff Street between Smith and Hoyt, asking if I'd seen it. I thought I had seen everything in my general neighborhood and all the neighboring 'hoods, but, no, I would've remembered this.

Three-story 108 Wyckoff is covered up to its waist in a riot of colorful beads, tiles, mirrors and ceramic chips. The swirling designs depict people, windows, silhouettes, orbs and various undulating shapes. Every available space is covered, including the window bars. It all communicates an atmosphere of joy which is punctuated by the word "celebrate," spelled out several times. Also repeated in the design is the number "108," to ensure spellbound mailmen deliver the post.

The in-progress mosaic is the work of artist Susan Gardner, who's been at work transforming her house since 2001. She does a little more every year. A neighbor said she emerges when the weather turns warm to recommence the project. (Personally, I think it looks good as is, the color and chaos of the lower floor contrasting nicely with the safe gray brick up top.)

The whole thing could easily have been a garish eyesore, but instead it feels like a classic quirky, architectural oddity in the making—the kind New York neighborhood's are blessed with from time to time, like Clinton Hill's ill-starred Broken Angel.