Vespa Properties Stakes Its Claim

I have no love for real estate brokers. I generally feel they put scoring a sale at the most obscene rate possible over all other communal or moral concerns. But Vespa Properties Group of Court Street, in Cobble Hill, makes me think brokers' sense of entitlement is perhaps greater than I imagined. The outfit has a sign outside their office. That's fine. But it's not a stand-alone sign. It's planted directly in the sidewalk—the City-owned sidewalk—where a hole has been drilled specifically for the purpose. It may seem like a small thing. But it seems indicative of the personalities at work.

Easter Is Coming to Court Street

Marzipan lambs have appeared in the window of Court Street Pastry. Patriotic little lambies, too, who love Italy and the U.S. of A.

When I grew up, there were no marzipan lambs, only chocolate bunnies. But then, we were Protestants, and had no sense of flair or iconography.

Change of View

You're walking down a typical residential street in Jackson Heights, Queens, and you seen a lot of home like this:

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They Both Equal Two

On First Avenue and First Street.

And a couple doors down.

Katz's At Lunchtime

This Week on Lost City

The Rat-Squirrel House Is Getting Repaired, Maybe; Bloomberg Digs Brooklyn's Grave; Progress on Frankie & Johnnie's New Ground-Floor Bar; I Saw an Opossum and People Went Nuts; The SoHo Crocs Store Scrubbed Its New Home Too Clean; I Find the Most Untouched Block in SoHo; and New Lost City Carroll Gardens Tours Are Announced.

Comment of the Day

From Upstate Johnny G on the topic of urban opossums:

Brooks, please get the truth out about 'possums. According to my vet, they are not prone to rabies. From wiki (where it has a footnote reference) "Opossums are about eight times less likely to carry rabies than wild dogs, and about one in eight hundred opossums are infected with this virus." 

We raised an orphan possum a couple of years ago. When it was rescued it was only a few inches long and when we released her she was fully grown. Queens Crapper has it right....possums eat all sorts of things, including insects, fruit, carrion, and sometimes small animals like frogs or small birds, but the one we had loved yogurt, fruit, and cat food the best. If they are digging in your garden they are probably seeking out grubs and such -- the same pests that people fight with nasty poisons that are much more of a hazard than any possum. 

Their teeth look sharp, but I've felt them and they are so small and close together that they don't feel sharp and dangerous. As I recall, I let the possum close its jaws on my finger and it didn't even hurt let alone break the skin. An opossum may hiss at you but that's because it's scared. Ours never even tried to bite or act aggressive in any way and we raised it around several small dogs and cats. That possum loved to ride around sitting on your shoulder!

Almost everything in that Courier article reflects ignorance and stupidity. Possums are not a threat to people or dogs or cats. People are the main threat to possums!! They are actually very gentle creatures who want to be left alone to go about their business. Instead, ignorant buffoons deliberately run over them in the street or poison them thinking they are rats. I can understand people being surprised to see an unfamiliar animal in their neighborhood, but come on people stop the hysterics. In case you have forgotten, you are supposed to be tough, cynical New Yorkies who are not fazed by anything. Stepping over homeless beggars in Midtown a block from the glittery emporiums of Madison Ave doesn't seem to affect anyone, but a tiny funny-looking animal sets off a panic? C'mon! 

And I love the question: "how did possums get to NYC?" Duh! Possums were probably there before the Indians! Possums are native to the east coast. Possums won't hurt you, will probably improve your garden, will probably reduce the rat population by eating garbage rats would feed on, so leave'm alone!

Jackson Heights History in a Building

I like the look of this building on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, even if it does contain a Starbucks. It's so obviously different (white brick, not red), and of a different time (peaked roof, not flat). It reminds me of the sort of structure one finds on Main Street in four-century old towns in Connecticut.

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Some Stuff That's Interesting

A fire ravaged the lovely little Montagure Wine & Spirits in Brooklyn Heights. [Brooklyn Paper]

Another nail in the coffin of the dying Flower District. [Curbed]

Old Ukrainian East Village shop to become Manhattan branch of the Brooklyn pizza shop run by the owner of P.J. Hanley's, the age-old Court Street bar. [JVNY] Apparently, the owners of Hanley's are real yahoos. What do you expect from a guy who makes his cash in Carroll Gardens but lives in Tribeca?

Very annoying new hot spot The Breslin invents the "forkage fee." [Gothamist]

The Rat-Squirrel House is apparently being repaired. Didn't even notice this until yesterday. Shame on me for not paying attention to my own beat. [Curbed]

A Good Sign: Graey's Liquors

On 81st Street, near Northern Boulevard, in Queens.

What a beautiful and unusual neon hue. One of the very best liquor store signs I've ever seen.

The store is old. Take a look at the blue tile on the facade below.