Bloomberg Chooses Really Ugly Mini-Van For Next NYC Taxi

I guess we shouldn't have expected much. After all, New York City hasn't has an attractive or comfortable taxi fleet since since the Checkers were phased out in the '60s. But a minivan? A big, bulbous, boxy minvan? That's what the winner of a taxi competition is, the Nissan NV200. Even Bloomberg conceded it looked like a family car. Its selection confirms what I've always thought about our Mayor—that's he's essentially a suburban, bourgeoise type with no taste, who doesn't understand, or care for, the urban aesthetic at all. He wants Manhattan to look like New Rochelle or White Plains. A grid filled with minivans will help achieve that end, just as much as the administration's awful bus shelters, newsstands and pedestrian malls.

There are other reasons to dislike the choice, too. Nissan beat out Karsan, a Turkish company that was going to make a vehicle capable of running on an electric-only engine, and pledged to build the cars in Brooklyn. Nissan will build theirs in Mexico. (Another suspicion confirmed: Bloomberg doesn't care about the welfare of the outer boroughs, and isn't interested in any industries in New York beyond finance, construction and tourism.)

Additionally, there are already calls for an investigation of a conflict of interest in the contract-letting. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and Assembly member Micah Kellner. A consultant in the competition, Ricardo Inc., has had past dealings with Nissan, a former client.

Nursery of Olde Brooklyn

Gowanus Nursery moved for the third time in its short history this year. Normally, I would be sorry about this. A popular local business, and one I've bought plants from for many years, I don't wish the owners any unneeded trouble. Except that their new location happens to be super cool!

Previously, Gowanus Nursery was on Summit Street near Hicks. But they were forced to move when the owner of the lot they occupied decided to erect another ugly apartment tower. Luckily, Gowanus Nursery found a new location right around the corner, on Van Brunt Street between Carroll and President.

They are now sandwiched between two old brick buildings, one a tall tenement, long abandoned (above), the other a squat, long building that looks like a former garage or small warehouse (below).

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A Cornice to Bedazzle the Straphangers

The Hollywood Diner, at the northeast corner of Sixth and 17th in Chelsea, has what must be one of the most highly sculpted cornices in town. That's a doozy, cousin, and no mistake!

Surely, some grandiose business once dwelled here. And indeed did. The Knickerbocker Jewelry Company. It was built in 1903 by Simeon B. Eisendrath. Why'd Simeon execute such a big-deal cornice? To attract the attention of subway riders. The Sixth Avenue elevated train ran right by here, you see.

No elevated train today. So the top floor is for rent.

Cobble Hill Convent Gets Big Clean-Up

The former Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor/Congregation of the Infant Jesus, the old convent buildings at the corner of Henry and Kane in Cobble Hill—sold a little while ago for $5.4 million—is getting a major renovation as its being converted into apartments. The tall, wooden front doors are being sanded and stripped and repaired. The long, cast-iron fence around the property is being stripped of all rust. But, most important, the back yard, which for many years has been filled with weeds and appalling array of junk, is being cleared. A mini-bulldozer was busy leveling the brush and dumping loads of crap into a nearby dumpster. (See below)

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Carroll Street F Subway Station Taking Shape

It's been a couple years now that we've had to suffer the closure of the main entrance of the Carroll Street F line subway station, while zoning-regulation-and-public-decency-flouting developer Billy Stein has erected 360 Carroll Street, aka Oliver House, to please his selfish, penthousian desires.

Well, the towering eyesore is nearly done, and the refurbished subway entrance looks ripe to open. Note the old-fashioned, globular subway lamp above. (Saved from the previous design?)

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Salad Bar of the Damned

On second thought, I'm not that hungry.

On a side street just off Times Square.

The Brooklyn Heights Hillbillies

I'm not sure what the deal is with this grand home, one of the several brownstones on Columbia Terrace whose backs face the esplanade and the East River. The building's swank enough from the front. But the back porch! Usually, the owners of these million-dollar properties have lovely, tricked-out balconies from which to drink their Chardonnay and watch the sunshine. This balcony, however, could be in West Virginia. Anyone got a banjo? Not criticizing here, mind you. Nor do I necessarily want the owners to spruce the balcony up. I kind of like the contrast.

Brooklyn Esplanade Now Brooklyn Promenade Officially, It Seems

I may be wrong here, but did the official name of the Brooklyn Heights walkway over the BQE recently change from Esplanade to Promenade?

I took a double take when I saw this sign the other day. It looks new. I recall for many years passing a sign that said Brooklyn Heights Esplanade. I always smiled when I saw that sign, because I know that few besides I referred to the walkway that way. It was built and established in the 1950s as the Esplanade, but everybody in the area (in New York, really) referred to it as the Promenade. I thought this was mainly because promenade was not as alien or unusual a word as esplanade, even though they both mean basically the same thing.

But now it seems the Parks Dept. has caved in to public sentiment and also calls it the Promenade. The Parks Dept. website does the same. No mention of the word Esplanade. I know I'm not imagining this because all the old New York guidebooks I have call the stretch the Esplanade, even the AIA.

This is a small thing, I know, but I find it a shame. The constant clash between the two names made life more interesting, in the same way that the Avenue of the Americas is called Sixth Avenue by most New Yorkers, and people tend to call Grand Central Terminal by the name Grand Central Station.

Also, technically, esplanade is more correct. A promenade is any stretch of path meant for strolling. Esplanades are always by a body of water.

Puppet Theatre Tradition Returns to Columbia Street

I was walking home along Columbia Street when I was confronted by the ghostly, swaying, ten-foot figure of what was unmistakably a Ralph Lee puppet. Lee is the man who founded the Bread & Puppet Theatre and the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Sure enough, there was Ralph, inside a willowy, sad-face puppet, dancing to the sound of a nearby bango-guitar-harmonica trio. The occasion was the grand opening of a new puppet theatre, in the space that used to hold antique store General Nitemare.

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Lost City Asks "Who Goes to J.G. Melon?"

J.G. Melon sort of strikes me as an Upper East Side example of what Elaine's could have been. Like Elaine's, it's clubby and homey and attract stars and writers. Unlike Elaine's, it doesn't give two hoots about the celebrity of its clientele, and treats everyone well, be they famous or not. I'm not in this neck of the wood much. But when I am, I'm going to try harder to drop in for a drink or a bowl of chili, which is among the best I've had in the City.

Here's the Eater column:

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