Past issues
Feeds
The Paper in print
Twitter
Facebook
Contact
Email updates Twitter Facebook RSS Feeds
Gage and Tollner was once the fanciest restaurant in the city — but now its landmarked dining room is home to a discount jewelery store.
Ladies & Gents opened on Sunday in the former Fulton Mall restaurant, between Jay Street and Red Hook Lane, the latest location for a tri-state chain that sells fashion items to customers looking for glitzy, but affordable, merchandise.
“We’re expecting to do well here,” said Assistant Manager Efi Shalev. “So far it’s been good.”
The shop’s opening is part of the ongoing transformation of a once-fabled location, which housed the fish and chophouse from 1892 until its untimely demise in 2004 led to a rebirth as a short-lived T.G.I. Friday’s and an Arby’s.
The roast-beef-and-curly-fries hotspot lasted just seven months, closing last August.
The ground-floor store remained shuttered for nearly one year, most likely because the site is so difficult to rent because its interior — which features cherry wood paneling, ornate gas lamps and a marble-topped bar — is landmarked.
Ladies & Gents has added track lighting and wall panels to give the space a more modern feel, but the original bar, lamps and revolving door remain intact.
Shoppers were stunned at the transformation.
“They set it up well,” said Vanessa Castro, a nurse from Bushwick. “The prices are pretty good, too.”
But others lamented the change, saying it destroyed a piece of the borough’s history.
“It’s sad,” said Toby Nemiroff, a Cobble Hill resident who frequented Gage and Tollner as a girl. “The restaurant was an experience.”
©2011 Community Newspaper Group
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.
Print this story
Digg this
Del.icio.us