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It’s a Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO shocker. For New York Magazine’s annual “Best of New York” issue, there was — apparently — only one place in all of both neighborhoods (combined!) cool enough to make the list: the Dodge YMCA on Atlantic Avenue was voted Best Brooklyn Gym.
Yeah, I remember that gym. It’s the one I read about in the police blotter every other week because someone else got an expensive watch taken from his or her locker.
Is there nothing else in these two neighborhoods that deserves a place on New York Magazine’s vaunted list?
First we get fake grass in Cadman Plaza Park, and then Will Smith shuns us for the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge to shoot his film, and now this.
I had gotten all excited when I saw Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO in the list of neighborhoods, only to experience utter incredulity when I saw only one entry. And the disappointment was even worse because of the momentary sense of excitement I felt that finally Gaphattanites were going to get the skinny on all the places we already know and love around here.
What about Grimaldi’s pizza and Jacques Torres’s hot chocolate? Maybe the magazine was looking for something fresher (both places have made the list in previous years), so what about Almondine Bakery for best sandwiches or Henry’s End for most imaginative (and tastiest) use of an elk?
For that matter, what about the newly opened Housing Works for best non-thrift thrift store (they sell Chanel — not exactly Salvation Army fare)? Or the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory for best chocolate–chocolate chunk? What about Pedro’s for best real-deal dive bar or Retreat for best absolutely-not-a-dive-bar bar?
DUMBO Improvement District Executive Director Tucker Reed called the magazine’s selection of the Dodge YMCA “odd” considering all the other options available to the Manhattan-based staff (had it chosen to get out of the office, that is).
“DUMBO is a hidden treasure yet to be discovered by most of New York,” said Reed.
The point is, the New York Magazine staffers who wrote the article could have phoned in the Heights/DUMBO entry. If anyone had bothered to walk down Water, Henry or Montague streets, I doubt he could have missed all that the Heights and DUMBO have to offer.
But Reed isn’t relying on magazine articles to draw attention to the neighborhood.
“This is going to be a world-class waterfront destination and articles in New York Magazine aren’t the only thing that draw people here,” added Tucker. “As the area goes from industrial to more residential and commercial, more people will discover how great it is here.”
But the extra publicity certainly couldn’t hurt. Sure, not too many Brooklynites read New York Magazine — “Let’s not go into what I think about that publication,” said Rob Perris, district manager of Community Board 2 — but Gaphattanites who think DUMBO is a flying cartoon elephant could certainly use a clue.
How many of them do you think are going to come all the way to Atlantic Avenue to use a gym?
The Brooklyn Heights Association handed out four awards for architectural excellence during its yearly meeting last week. The owners of a townhouse, two brownstones and Jack the Horse Tavern received the honors for painstakingly restoring their buildings in historically accurate fashion. …
Our pal, nabe activist Aaron Naparstek, has been nominated for a Jane Jacobs Medal for all his work challenging convention and promoting good urban design. …
The Brooklyn chapter of the American Red Cross is offering babysitting, lifeguard and CPR classes at its Pineapple Street office throughout April. Visit www.nyredcross.org for class dates and times. They’re even offering a pet first aid class, in case poor little Muffy chokes on her kibble. …
Kudos to another pal, Scott at Retreat in DUMBO, for creating a great new cocktail that combines ginger vodka, grapefruit juice, Amaretto and a touch of grenadine. After our editor downed a few, he demanded that the drink be named “The Gersh.” The name change is pending. …
Lest we forget: Last week’s Paper suggested that the hot chocolate at Almondine in DUMBO was not as good as the cocoa across the street at Jacques Torres. But many a reader reminded us that Almondine’s cookies are better. …
The folks at Flying Saucer, an excellent coffee bar on Atlantic Avenue, were complaining the other day about the declining quality of the bagels they get from that overrated, Manhattan-based chain, H&H. Our response: buy Brooklyn!
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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