A Good Look for a Bakery

Often when I'm in the Arthur Avenue neighborhood of the Bronx, I unexpectedly cross the sun-baked intersection of Hughes Avenue and 186th—which, though near the main drags of 187th and Arthur Avenue, is actually kind of off the beaten track and nearly free of traffic. I'm then confronted by Addeo & Songs Italian Bakery, which stands quite along on its corner, unencumbered by other businesses.

The sight always brings a smile to my face. This, I think, is what a bakery should look like. Addeo is so perfect in its simplicity and old world charm, that one might think it was built from scratch by a movie crew to represent a classic New York neighborhood bakery. It's not flashy. There's nothing about it, inside or out, that doesn't serve a purpose: no slick awning, no neon (bakeries are day businesses), no corny framed photos of idealized bread on the walls inside, no products for sale that are not freshly made baked goods.

The only bit of ballyhoo about the place is a sign hanging in the window advertising "Addeo's Original Pane di Casa." It's an Edward Hopper bakery. The shelves in the window are for displaying bread; they fill with loaves in the morning, they are empty at closing time. The place sells bread. Not iced coffee.

These days, mercantile purity is a rare and beautiful thing.

Brooklyn Supermarket Renaissance Continues

South Brooklyn is becoming a gourmet supermarket paradise.

First Red Hook got its own Fairway. Whole Foods on the Gowanus is on the way. Now the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that Trader Joe's will move into the old Independence Bank Building at the corner of the Court and Atlantic. Those Trader Joe's folks sure are smart; the location can't be beat, being at the intersection of Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights, three nabes bursting with wealthy eaters.

Though all these food palaces are essentially big box corporations that put small businesses in danger, I have to admit I love this trend. Fairway has been a boon to my kitchen existence. The store is attractive and, if you go in the morning, easy to manage. And I am comforted by the idea that it's a local chain. I used to laugh at Trader Joe's. My brother lives in California and he would rave all the time about the absurd sounding products he bought there. It all seemed so precious and fetishistic. But when I finally visited the Union Square store, I was won over. They had Usinger's bratwurst from my hometown, Milwaukee. And I became addicted to their various salsas. Plus, the help were so, well, helpful. (My affection ends with Whole Foods. Never liked the chain, expensive and not that great and with a real elitist attitude.)

Another silver lining: apparently the bank building was previously on the road to condoland. Trader Joe's is a much more preferable option.

The market is getting a cool and historic home. Built in 1922 as the South Brooklyn Saving Bank, the Italianate building has a palazzo feel and an ornate front door. As for the history, this is the very site of the actual Cobble Hill, the hillock that the British shaved down after the Revolutionary War troops used it as a lookout during the Battle of Long Island. That's right. George Washington slept here.

A Good Sign: Block Drug Stores

Possibly the coolest drug store sign in New York City. Certainly one of the oldest. Sign says it was founded in 1885, meaning it was there even before Second Avenue became Yiddish Broadway, lined with Yiddish theatres. McSorley himself of nearby McSorley's Tavern could have gotten his toothpaste there. The hugeness of the letters sets this sign apart. If you were desperate for aspirin and wandering lost, you'd see this sign beckoning to you from blocks away. Miraculously, it's held its ground at Second and Sixth Street in this age of Rite Aid. Can't say why.

One thing confuses me. Why "Block Drug Stores," plural? Were there more Blocks years ago?

Sunny Day in Sunnyside

Huzzah! The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission did the right thing this morning and voted unanimously to designate Sunnyside Gardens a historic district, giving the long suffering borough something to smile about for once.

At 17 blocks, the eight-decades old neighborhood will be the biggest historic district in Queens. Sunnyside Gardens has been on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, but that never brought any legal protection. Go take a look at NYC's newest historical district. It makes for a nice stroll.

So wasn't the hearing on the Domino sugar plant supposed to occur today too?

The Gertel's Round the Corner

This is a very sweet story. Though Gertel's kosher bakery is gone, in the retail sense, you can still buy their pastries in the same nabe, at a little place around the corner called Flicker's Coffee and Tea Shop.

Reminds me of the way the Eighth Avenue restaurant Rendezvous hired about McHale's cook after that bar closed, and began serving McHale's type burgers.

Happy Birthday, Cyclone!

The famous Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster is 80 years old today.

To commemorate the event, a group of coaster-loving octogernarians will ride the attractions. (Where they found these guys, I have no idea.) The lucky seniors soon to be bruised and battered for 110 seconds are: Chimilio Estanislau, 84, of New York; Louis Picariello, 81, of Bellingham, MA; Ed Murman, 81, of Smithtown, NY; and Seymour (Sy) Wershberg, 80, of Brooklyn.

Chumley's Update

I hadn't heard anything about the status of the shuttered Chumley's since an early May report that the building might be sold to the speakeasy's owners. So I decided to pay a call on 86 Bedford Street to see if I could learn anything.

It's still all boarded up in the most unsightly manner possible, and there was no sign of construction that I could see. Upon close examination of the Department of Buildings permits, however, I discovered something interesting/disturbing. There were two permits, side by side. One was issued April 23, 2007, and expired May 4. The second was issued May 25 and is set to expire.....May 4, 2009!

2009. Two years from now? To shore up the building and rebuild the collapsed chimney and whatnot? Are we now talking years before this landmark reopens? Maybe this is standard City procedure and signifies nothing. But two years does seem like a long time. Does anyone out there know anything about this? Please tell.

Wha? Gotham Book Mark NOT Dead?

The Village Voice has published a tantalizing, sadistic (to us book lovers, anyway) story which seems to purport that the Gotham Book Mark has not rolled over for the last time.

"Something's cooking," one former employee told the Voice. Another talked of "important things happening." Lost City would love to believe that, but after reading the sad, depressing article in its entirety—a tragic tale of carelessness and crippling cluelessness on the Mart's owners sake—it's hard to hope that the genius used-book store will ever again rise from the dead, at least in as run by former owner Andreas Brown.

I still find the behavior of Brown's "friends," developer Edmondo Schwartz and former Estée Lauder chief executive Leonard Lauder, as damning as ever. Under the guise of saving their struggling friend and fellow book maven, Brown, they moved Gotham from its longtime home on Diamond Row to E. 46th Street, in a townhouse they owned. But instead of handing Brown the building as a gift (which would have marked them as true philanthropists), they charged Brown market rent and then got all legal about it when he didn't pay.

That said, Brown seems to have been a dreamy idealist with his head truly stuck in books; the kind of person who drives hard-headed businessmen like Schwartz and Lauder mad. He didn't know how to operate a cash register. He declines to sell valuable books, because he loved having them around more. Death was pounding at the door, but he was listening to WNYC cranked up to 10.

It was only a matter of time before the moneymen turned on him and the Mart. And turn they did. The book store's rare holding were sold at a Marshall's auction. It was a rushed affair, and one only gained entrance by paying a $1,000 refundable deposit. The lots were not itemized. Nobody had a chance to look at anything. In the end the goods fetched $400,000. The winning bidder? The landlord's lawyer, John (ahem) Faust. His was the first bid uttered. None managed to surpass him.

Makes you wonder if the Brown's rich friends moved him to a new home (a building they now plan to sell) as part of an elaborate plan to claim his trove of rare books for their own. Scheme of not, that's how it turned out, isn't it?

Pizza Drought Over: Di Fara's Opens

Di Fara's, the little corner of Midwood that may make the best pizza in America, finally reopened today, according to the vigilant Slice.

Three weeks without Dom's pies, that was. Maybe the DOH will be satisfied for a while now, and let us all get some slices in.

I'm using one of Slice's photos for this article, because I'm so goddam sick of my own shots. Gotta get down there and take some more candids. Oh, and have some pizza, too.

Ferdinando's Gets a New Coat

The owner of Fedinando's Foccaceria, the great old Sicilian sandwich place in Carroll Gardens, has decided to spruce up a bit. The facade got a new paint job on Saturday. Nice sort of umber shade. Looks good. Brightens up the block.