Montague Street-Brooklyn Heights

Thanks, Tom

Not Tom

I remember Foffe's and The Picadelli on Montague near Henry which we called The Nelly Deli, Years ago next to the Bossert Hotel was a coffee shop run by Greeks One waiter would rest his huge dick (through pants) on the table. Next to it was a dry cleaner. Owner was married, but gay. Today the Key Food I remember has expanded into the coffee shop and dry cleaner. Across the street was a deli (Lassen and Henig?) with a "Birds Eye Frosted Foods" sign

Brooklyn Heights always felt soulless to me.

Capulet’s on Montague!

I lived in Brooklyn Heights for years, probably 1990-1996, but hung out there starting 1986. I remember Foffe, but never ate there. Remember Lassen & Hennig well, and the Leaf and Bean (??) for brunch and Albert Ciccarelli’s hair salon on Henry Street. There was a cute little Mexican place on the north side, closer to the Promenade that served chorizo with peas and you ate them with toothpicks.

There was a studio for sale for $69k and I still regret not buying it. My ex bought a 1BR for $150 on Willow and it must be worth I don’t even want to know now.

OP, I lived on Montague 85-87. Right above the Häaagen-Dazs.

I worked in Haagen-Dazs! Cake decorator! I also worked in Key Food and the candy store down toward Hicks Street. I grew up on what was then the “wrong side of the tracks,” so to speak, down Cadman Plaza West in the Mitchell-Lama co-ops. It’s funny everyone remembering Foffe. How about the souvlaki place? Or the florist who displayed the giant painting of Hippie Jesus at Easter?

R8, I worked at Haagen-Dazs, too! Peter was the owner and Rhonda was the manager when I worked there (a few years after you). It was during the colder months and not that busy. Mostly scooping pints and selling cakes.

How about Danny's?

I saw Jesse from All My Kids at that Haagen Dazs once around 2000

I lived in Brooklyn Heights from 1975-87. My ex-wife and rented on Schermerhorn St., then over on Willow, where we bought our 1BR when the building went co-op, and later bought a triplex down at the Eagle Warehouse.

She and I used to walk our two Newfoundlands around the neighborhood. They loved ice cream at the Baskin-Robbins on the corner of Montague and Henry, and cinnamon raisin bagels from the bagel place on Clark St, across from the subway station.

Then we divorced, and I moved out and officially came out and got struck sober at an AA meeting on Montague St, on New Year’s Eve 1985.

I loved Capulet’s on Montague St. And Chuan Yuan, a Chinese place on the second floor of a building on the corner of Montague and Henry. (It closed in 1985, shortly after my ex and I split up.) In those days, there were several Chinese places in the Heights, including a Szechuan place on Henry called Su Su’s Yum Yum.

Also, in the late 70’s, there were 3 gay bars in the neighborhood: Danny’s on Montague St., and two more over on Henry, one of which is now a grocery store, and the other, I think on Orange St, which had an amateur mural on one wall, with named caricatures of local gay patrons.

The Heights was very cruisy in those days, especially on the Promenade, with a lot of activity in bushy areas at the north end. There was also another park down from there, which could only be entered by going down two steep ramps. That could get very busy. It’s locked shut now.

In those days, the Heights was really an enclave, and not unaffordable, with a number of different kinds of shops and outlets, and altogether pretty friendly. A lot of those shops and eateries are now long gone, and the whole place has now gentrified into mostly boutiques.

I used to go back there whenever I visited New York, but most of the people I knew, even in AA, are gone.

It’s still lovely to walk around in.

Now Yorkville is much cheaper than Brooklyn. I would have never guessed Brooklyn would take off like it did. Still seems isolated to me - ex., no gay bars in most of Brooklyn. I’d rather be in Manhattan.