May 19, 2007 / Carroll Gardens–Cobble Hill / Perspective / Brooklyn South

Blogs ain’t got reality

By Ariella Cohen

The Brooklyn Paper

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The candle-lit, carved wood bar on the corner of Hoyt and Bergen streets has been the unofficial living room of Boerum Hill since before the neighborhood had a name.

So last month, when an anonymous tipster posted a warning about the bar’s impending closure on the foodie blog, Eater.com, people flipped out.

The online set held rambling virtual conversations about the economics of running the $6-a-beer tavern. They mused about the possibility of a Starbucks taking over the building, a recognized historic landmark, and theorized on which beloved neighborhood institution “gentrification” would take down next.

Anxiety about the rumored change bubbled up from the blogosphere until finally, the manager, Jason Furlani, decided to stop the gossip mill at its source.

“[F]or almost 13 years I’ve worked for the individuals who NOW own/operate the Brooklyn Inn … and … they have NO PLANS to turn it into anything other than what it is... the Broooklyn Inn,” said Furlani, a longtime resident of Carroll Gardens, in a May 4 e-missive to Eater.com.

The post was Furlani’s first foray into the blogosphere, he told me over a Yuengling at the Inn this week.

“Apparently, people read that s—,” he said of the online forums.

Like most rumors, there was a grain of truth to the gossip: the guy who ran the bar for the last decade had retired and new management took over.

Furlani maintains that the only changes planned are maintenance improvements — a paint job, new bathroom tiles, flushed beer taps.

The only change in so-called character could happen in the bar’s red-walled backroom, a formal dining room that is now occupied by a pool table that could in the future be booted to make way for tables, a nod to the bar’s speakeasy past, Furlani said.

If you ask me, the real news is how deeply the blogs have affected how we learn about our neighborhood. Food blogs have broken many a tale, most recently the tabloid-friendly story of Porchetta chef Jason Neroni. They have become 24-7 talkboxes — and word-of-mouth just doesn’t work the way it used to. The chattering classes aren’t at the bar anymore; they’re behind a computer talking about the bar.

Although in reality, the Inn was not in danger, the rumor spread as fast as word of a keg party in a high school because, well, everyone was at his computer instead of at the bar, knocking back a beer — and a shot of the truth.

The Kitchen Sink

B WACK: Brooklyn Waterfront Artists’ Coalition opened its annual show on the Red Hook waterfront last week with an appearance by Borough President Markowitz. “Come back to this neighborhood in 10 years, and you won’t even recognize it,” the prez told the crowd. Hasn’t anyone told Marty that not all Hookers are so happy about that? …

Salad days: The greens are fresh fruits are reasonably priced at K & Y Fruit and Vegetable, which opened this month at 291 Court St., near Degraw Street. But plenty of local tongues are gliding over the joint’s name.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper