The Brooklyn Paper: SNA Newspaper of the Year, 2007

The current issue
By Neighborhood
Not Just Nets
GO Brooklyn
Perspective
Parenting
Brooklyn Cyclones
The Brooklyn Bride
Brooklyn Boom
Classifieds
About The Paper
RSS Feeds
Hall Street Storage

Glass is fully empty at ‘Half’

By Lilo H. Stainton
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper / Julie Rosenberg
Half, on Vanderbilt Avenue, is for sale.

Share this story

digg
del.icio.us

Apparently, the perfect Prospect Heights dream of one ambitious couple wasn’t all they imagined.

The popular wine bar, Half, on Vanderbilt Avenue near Prospect Place, has been closed for months, but now there’s a sign on the outside saying that the shop — lock, stock, and plenty of barrels — is up for grabs.

“Wine bar for sale,” it reads, ruefully.

Running such a gin joint might just well be every Yuppie’s dream. And for just $100,000 and a monthly rent of $2,600, it could become every Yuppie’s nightmare — just like it became for Patty and Max Jerome.

“It just proved to be too much for them, with everything else going on in their lives,” explained Steve Commender, a leader in the local merchant’s association who owns a flower and gift shop, the Forest Floor, across the avenue.

Brooklyn Bridge Realty

The Jeromes still live nearby, but they did not return calls for comment.

Like many Brooklyn entrepreneurs, the Jeromes crafted their business as a place they would like to hang out themselves, Commender said.

For a while, the place was exactly that. The Jeromes even ran a special, “Tots and Tonic,” that brought in some moms groups in the late afternoons.

But like so many things, the dream didn’t live up to reality. Patty Jerome had a baby, Max Jerome pursued art projects, and eventually the bar closed.

Whoever buys the location doesn’t have to keep it as a wine bar, of course, but the neighborhood is hoping to lure another young professional with big dreams who will keep the vino flowing.

“Lots of people are hoping a wine bar opens up again,” said Jan McGill, one of the owners of Fermented Grapes, a two-year-old retail wine shop across the street.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

< Downtown: Painting the town Dewars
Affordable housing smackdown in Slope >

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Buffalo Wild Wings
Water Street Restaurant
La Bagel Delight