PICKING UP WHERE YOUR DOG LEFT OFF

I've just about had it with irresponsible dog owners. What's so hard about bringing a little plastic bag when you take Fido for a walk. All over the neighborhood, I'm finding poops and unfortunately many of the globs are smooshed. Someone has smelly feet today.



Because of these irresponsible dog owners, more and more "Curb Your Dog" signs have gone up. Some people think if they let their dogs poop in planters and around sidewalk trees that's OK. It isn't.



What I really don't understand is why anyone who actually lives here in Carroll Gardens would actually allow their dog to mess up the neighborhood. A block or so away lives one of these culprits. I've seen them walk their giant mutt and let it poop all over the sidewalks, even in front of their own home, if you can believe that. One day I followed the said suspect. Their brownstone is split into a bunch of tiny apartments on four floors and the outside of the turn of the century building looks like a dump. The paint is peeling and garbage is piled sky high. It's no wonder their such slobs when they walk their dogs.



One day I decided to collect some of their errant poop. I plopped the poop into a brown paper bag and delivered it to their doorstep with a note attached. " If you fail to clean up after your dog, I will continue to deposit its poop on your doorstep. Thank you in advance for your future courteous behavior.

THAT SUCKS!

Not quite sure how this happened, but the owner of this Nissan van must be pissed! I found this gem today while walking down Carroll Street here in Carroll Gardens. The past few days have been windy, but if you look at the base of the tree, it looks like it was a clean chainsaw cut. Vandals? Don't know.



It also doesn't appear as if the owner is even aware that a tree has crushed his car, because the tree is still there and the windows haven't been patched up to keep the rain from flooding the van.

RON KUBY BACK ON THE RADIO

My friend and former radio cohort, Ron Kuby is returning to New York City airwaves, albeit for just a week. He's on Air America this week doing the afternoon show.You can find him at the end of the dial at 1600AM, WWRL. That's the city's so-called progressive (read liberal) radio station. Ron's auditioning for an open slot from 3-6pm on Air America. Give him a listen.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROOKLYN BRIDGE!

Our beloved bridge turns 125 years old this week. The city of New York is throwing a big party to celebrate, but what's under the 5989 foot span is often ignored. I remember seeing skateboard kids doing their thing near the giant masonry anchorage of the bridge on the Manhattan side of the span. I couldn't help but notice those giant archways, big rooms actually that had been cemented, doored or locked shut.



Turns out for the past few decades, they've been municipal storage units and repair shops. Old traffic lights, signs, trucks and assorted maintenance equipment. But, when John Roebling started building the structure in 1870, he had something else in mind. Roebling wanted to use those catacombs as public space and indeed over the years the 29 brick and granite archways have hosted open markets and even a playground.



During the cold war, New York city stored thousands of rations in the event the Ruskies dropped a bomb on us. In 2006, while doing routine maintenance, workers discovered boxes of medical supplies, drugs and assorted sundries. 352,000 high calorie crackers were found in water tight containers. The boxes had been stamped with the dates 1957 and 1962. Think Sputnik and the Cuban missile crisis.



Years earlier, in the 1970s, historians made an even more important discovery, boxes full of Roeblings original drawings of the Brooklyn Bridge. In all, they hauled away 8000 items that have now been forever immortalized in books, museums and city storage vaults. The nearly 50 foot high vaults were sealed off in the 1930's until that discovery in the 70's. Many of those giant rooms remain sealed to this day.

But, alas, in 1986, Beatrice Gotthelf and her Catgo Group came up with a plan to put the space to good use. She envisioned 185,000 square feet of retail, commercial and even residential space in the vaults. The project at the time was estimated to cost
24-million dollars, a price tag that would surely rise dramatically in 2008 New York City. She even got the city to sign a 50-year lease to develop the project. But, several years into the planning, the project stalled. Gotthelf and her one-woman development corporation were told by the city that before anything could be built in the catacombs, she would have to invest millions more to repair the badly damaged six foot thick masonry walls. Water was also leaking into the space. To this day, the underbelly of the Brooklyn Bridge has never been developed.



As we head into the 125Th anniversary of the bridges opening on May 24, 1883, one has to wonder with no room to build or expand in our crowded city, why the government hasn't jumped on board to create a unique space under the span. My first thought was that September 11Th changed the city's original ambitious plan.



That may still be the case, but if you look under the Queensborough bridge you'll find just what I'm talking about, retail space including a beautiful restaurant with soaring ceilings and a glass roof that gives you a spectacular view of the support structure of the bridge. Listen if terrorists are going to bomb the bridge, they're going to bomb it with or without retail or residential space underneath. Just do it.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I've just added a new feature to me blog, a map that tracks where our readers hail from. It's only been up for a few days, but the results are quite amazing. Besides New York City, people have visited us from Keyport, New Jersey, Fresh Meadows and Sea Cliff in New york and from far away places like Quincy, Massachusetts and the real zinger, Chestnut in the United Kingdom. Scrawl down to the bottom of the page to see the map. Click on it and it'll take you to a site where you can see where everyone is from....and have fun. George

BROOKLYN'S BEST PIZZA

Okay, maybe not all of Brooklyn. But, a few of my friends started talking about the best slices in the neighborhood, meaning Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn. I've got to say, despite my neighborhood's Italian heritage, it's really hard to find a great slice in Carroll Gardens. The neighborhood is dotted with pizzeria's, so here are my Top 5.



5) SAL'S PIZZA STORE This place is a Carroll Gardens institution. It sits right at the corner of Court and Degraw streets and at night it has one of the coolest neon signs you've ever seen. You'll get a cheesy, greasy slice here, but opt for the fresh mozzarella pie and you'll be in for a treat. They go light on the sauce and cheese and the crust comes out crispier than their regular pizza's.



4) HOUSE OF PIZZA I'd like this place more, if it was open a little later. The shop on Union Street between Hicks and Columbia is really only open for lunch and closes by 5 or 6pm. House of Pizza is located in the middle of a one block business district that was once the heart of Carroll Gardens. When I moved here more than a decade ago, it had it's own butcher shop, bakery, pizza place and an old style Italian restaurant, Ferdinandos Focacceria. The butcher shop and bakery have since closed. This is a classic slice of Brooklyn pizza. Nice sweet tomato flavor and a yummy crust.



3) WORLD PIE I haven't been here in a while and its name has changed a few times, but the pizza remains solid. Your basic Brooklyn pie, but the crust really makes this one. The court street haunt is notorious for slow delivery. I remember a few years ago, I had walked by and saw the guy inside tossing the pizza while a few customers were waiting. When I got home, I decided to call to order a pie for delivery. The phone rang....and rang....and rang. So, a few minutes later, I tried again. Same thing. I was puzzled.The place was clearly open! Next time, I called, put the phone down on my desk and proceeded to walk the six blocks to the restaurant to see what was going on. When I walked in, get this, the phone in the shop was still ringing. The pizza man asked me what I'd like and I told him, I'd like him to answer the phone.




2) LUCALI This used to be an old time soda fountain. In fact, before it closed five or six years ago, it was voted to have the best egg cream in Brooklyn. They don't serve fountain drinks anymore and the new owner, Mark Iacono has taken over and gutted the place.



It's been turned into quite the family and date destination. It's a tiny space with some of the best pizza in the city. Thin crust, brick oven style. There's always a line outside and you'll wait a good 30-minutes to an hour to get a seat. They don't deliver and take-out isn't speedy, either. The pies, though here are delicious and this would have been my number one pick had the next place not come along.



1) MARCO POLO TAKE OUT The legendary mobbed up high-end Italian restaurant is spreading its wings and in a good way. Right next door to the original on Court Street, the owner of Marco Polo opened a take-out joint. Very clean, very simple and the best pie in Carroll Gardens and I would say probably one of the best brick oven pizzas' in town. The place has only been open for a few months, but I'll never forget the first time I ordered a plain cheese pie there. I called in advance to pick it up. When I arrived, 20-minutes later, they hadn't put my pie in the oven yet. This is a good thing. I realized it takes just 12 minutes to cook the pizza in that super hot brick oven. The pie was perfect. Not too much cheese, a nice sweet sauce, fresh basil and a golden brown top with a crispy crust. Best pizza in the neighborhood. Hands down.

HOW MTV IS ABOUT TO RUIN BROOKLYN

Great! MTV's popular reality show, "Real World" is coming to Brooklyn. Just what we need. In a news release this week, MTV announced, “A tree isn’t the only thing growing in Brooklyn!" As always, the location of the 12-part reality series is kept secret to avoid upsetting a neighborhood. This is the third time MTV has brought the show to the Big Apple, but the first time it has ventured into the outer Boroughs.
So, we really don't know where they'll be filming, beginning this summer.



My hunch is Williamsburg. It's hipster heaven. Garage bands rocking out in converted loft spaces, scruffy looking skater dudes and a few soccer moms thrown in for good measure. Hey, reality is this once gritty neighborhood is now officially gentrified. That's fine, I suppose. They can stay in Williamsburg. That way, my neighborhood of Carroll Gardens won't get any more publicity. Listen, they've filmed a lot of movies in Carroll Gardens. Perhaps the most famous was "Moonstruck", which was filmed in the old Cammareri Bakery right down the street. The place is no longer there, but it had nothing to do with the film. Most people didn't know Carroll Gardens was the location of the film. They knew it was Brooklyn, but this is a big Borough.



Conde Nast Traveler did a piece on the nabe. Fodors Travel Guide now lists several hip watering holes like The Brooklyn Social Club on Smith street. The website Gridskipper proclaimed, "Carroll Gardens, the new West Village. Ugh! But, it was the New York Times that really put the neighborhood on the map back in 2002 when it did a neighborhood profile in its popular real estate column, "If you're thinking of living in...."



Quite frankly, I found Carroll Gardens by accident, strolling the streets of Brooklyn Heights looking for an apartment and wandering 20 blocks South or so. I don't need a magazine, newspaper or a reality TV show to exploit my nice, quiet predominantly Italian neighborhood. Sure, Carroll Gardens is gentrified, rents are through the roof ( A place that cost $1400 12 years ago now goes for well over $3000.)but, this neighborhood has grown enough. A handful of butcher shops, old bakeries and mom and pop restaurants still remain. We lost plenty of good ones, though because of rising rents and the popularity of the neighborhood.



I say all of this because while the best guess is that a bunch of 20-somethings on "Real World" would most likely want to hang in Williamsburg, plenty of that same group now live here, a little bit more professional, but still young and vibrant.
I'm just a little worried that maybe they won't pick Williamsburg. Maybe they'll pick Carroll Gardens. Then, we'll have a bunch of showboating wanna-be TV stars roaming about with video cameras in tow.



I remember about ten years ago, some newspaper or maybe it was a TV show, revealed the film location of one particular "Real World." You know what happened? They packed up their bags and moved somewhere else. So here's how you can do you're part. If you notice a bunch of good looking 20-somethings coming and going from a cool looking building (they always pick big, luxuriously renovated buildings) with cameras in tow, let it be known. Put posters up in your neighborhood. Let the locals know where they're filming. Send an email to this blog or better yet, call your local radio and TV stations. Notify the buildings department and report bogus violations. Oh, and honk a lot. That always disrupts filming. What Williamsburg....and certainly Carroll Gardens DOESN'T need is MTV's "Real World."

SHOULD VITO FOSSELLA RESIGN?

Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella has got himself in a heap of hot water, but does his crime fit the punishment so many seek, his resignation? His Democratic challenger, Steve Harrison wants him to step down for driving drunk in Virgina and so does his local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance.

Let's review his crimes. He's stopped for driving drunk and now admits the woman who bailed him out of jail is the father of her three year old daughter. Okay, so now, he has a love child out of wedlock to a former U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel and he got drunk barhopping all over Washington D.C. He could have cracked up his car....or worse, he could have killed someone. But, he didn't.



Plenty of people behave like this and usually get thrown in the slammer for a few days and are publicly embarrassed. I can understand if you're a police officer and you're arrested for DUI, or even a driver of a Greyhound bus. You don't want drunks behind the wheels of these vehicles, nor do you want a convicted drunk driver enforcing DUI laws. But, a Congressman? Okay perhaps he should avoid voting on issues like lowering the drinking age or imposing a higher alcohol tax, but aside from that he's a politician. Most of them drink. Many are drunks. Plenty drive drunk.



I suggest you give lie detectors to every member of Congress and ask them if they ever got behind the wheel of a car drunk while in the U.S. House or Senate. Hundreds of them would be forced to fess up and what, resign?



The other day at a local bar (I'm not naming names), five or six off-duty cops were in their drinking up a storm. Budweiser mainly, but they also had a few shots and plenty of beers over several hours. They were all loopy. They work at a local precinct house, but don't live nearby so they, ready, DRIVE to and from work. Think if they were stopped and given a breathalyzer they'd pass? Don't think so.

How bout all those school teachers who get all boozed up at a local watering hole on Friday's. Think they should all resign from teaching after getting behind the wheel of a car. I've never been arrested for drunk driving, mainly because for the past 11 years, I haven't had a car to drive. I take the subway or a taxi. They should, too, quite frankly. Now, when I was younger I was a periodic drunk driver. To take advantage of New Jersey's 18 year old drinking age, my friends and I would pile into a car and drive from Pennsylvania into one of the border towns like, Lambertville. We'd proceed to get drunk and drive home, night after night, it seemed. Stupid, right? Bet you did it too. Should I have been kicked out of college? No, and I wasn't.



Point is, we all do stupid things that we learn to regret. Vito Fossella did that.
He even lied about it. Had a baby out of wedlock. He's a screw up. He's apologized and we should allow him, like the cops, the school teachers and the young college student, to get on with their lives.

MY KNIGHT IN A CASTLE

Castles are for royalty, but this guy was just rich. Back in the gilded days of the 1920's, Otto Hermann Kahn built his castle on the highest point in Long Island. It's been known as OHEKA(short for his full name) castle ever since.



For one night, a few weeks back, I got a chance to hang out there. It was a charity event for Lustgarten Foundation and Pancreatic Cancer Research. It was a star-studded night packed with celebrities and some of the city's biggest movers and shakers. Roving magicians, jugglers and stilt walkers mingled with the crowd of a couple hundred. Cablevision owner and HBO founder Charles Dolan was there. So was Vincent (Big Pussy) Pastore from the Sopranos and actor Matthew Modine. Pastore at one point got up to the microphone and complained that his donated auction item, a night on the town with him, had only reached a bid of $150 dollars. But, by the time I could get over to the table and out bid the cheapskate, the auction was closed.



It cost Mr. Kahn 11-million dollars to build the 109-thousand square foot behemoth, the second largest residence ever built in America. It featured 127 room, but Hahn rarely stayed there. He built it solely for entertaining on weekends, which is why the place is now an elegant catering facility and luxury small hotel.

To build the place today would cost 110 million dollars, but renovations that began in 1984 by developer Gary Melius set the guy back about 30-million, three times the original cost of OHEKA. The painstaking renovation followed years of decay and dozens of fires set by vandals. Much of the original copper and marble were either destroyed or stolen.



But, now, you can walk through a grand ballroom, a warm library, a wide and long gallery and take a stroll through the beautifully manicured gardens on 38 acres around the castle. Now, us peasants of society can feel what it's like to be filthy rich. You can get a nice room there for about $300 a night. A suite will set you back a few hundred more, but get a load of this weekend luxury package Oheka is offering up to those who can afford it. This from Oheka's online brochure:



For one unforgettable evening OHEKA Castle is yours exclusively* for you and that special someone. Dine in the Ballroom on our award winning cuisine. Dessert will be served in the Library where you and your loved one can cuddle in front of the fireplace or take a stroll along the grounds.

After wining and dining perhaps take in a game of pool before you retreat to your Luxury Suite to relax and sleep like royalty. Awake to enjoy the lovely views of the estate while an attendant serves your hot-breakfast in your room. The Togetherness Massage for two follows to complete your Ultimate Romantic Evening at OHEKA Castle.

The evening includes:

Round-trip limousine service
(within the five boroughs and Long Island)
Exclusive use of the Ballroom, Formal Dining Room, Library, Billiards Room & the Formal Gardens.* (6 hours)
Seven-course gourmet menu custom designed for your evening

White glove butler service

Dom Perignon Champagne
A string quartet
One night stay in a Luxury Suite
Breakfast served to your room
Togetherness Massage (60 min.)
A Special gift from Tiffany's
Private security
Price: The Ultimate Romantic Evening at OHEKA Castle is $15,000 per couple inclusive Monday through Thursday

Now, that's a honeymoon!

ANNOYING BARFLIES

Sal is about 30 or so, a Guido from my predominately Italian neighborhood of Carroll Gardens. I've known him for years. I wouldn't consider us friends, but there's something I like about the guy.

He used to hang at at a place called the Red Room at 4Th and Court street. That's where all the goomba kids used to hang out. Most were wanna-be mobsters. Some were the real deal. The older ones were. I won't name names, because I cherish my life.



Anyhow. He walks into Angry Wades the other night. Drunk. But, it wasn't the drunk part about Nick that I didn't like, it was the cracked up, cocaine Sal I didn't like. I think he was high, AGAIN. I couldn't understand a God damn thing he said. He was slurring his words. Then, he says, maybe its my teeth. He proceeds to remove his faux teeth, basically, the entire front of his mouth. He's holding his teeth in his hands and saying, "can you understand me now." Amazingly, I could. Sal goes on to explain how he was in a bar fight and that's when he lost his teeth. I asked, "so what's the other guy look like." He goes, "I won the fight." I'm thinking, if he won the fight (and I doubt it) the other guy must be in the hospital or dead. He didn't elaborate.

Sal won't stop talking. He's talking about nothing. You know the type. Vapid conversation. It goes nowhere. He's like that character on Saturday Live, the irritating guy who just won't leave you alone, who's always in your face.....talking about, nothing!

I finally convince him, he should leave. He's too drunk, too high and he's bothering too many people. Some preppy guy wanted to punch his lights out. I rescued him.

Minutes later, this dapper looking guy, with a suit coat and receding hairline walks in. He takes the seat where Sal was. I'm thinking, thank God, a normal person. He wasn't. Another barfly. This guy had a speech impediment and he was DRUNK.



First thing out of his mouth...and I'm not making this up was...." Do you like blue."
I said, "blue, like the color blue." He says "yes." I say, "yeah, I guess." Next question. "T.V is nice." Where to go with that. I'm thinking, OK, T.V is nice....buttttttt. I don't answer. He goes, "nice floor.' "Nice, fucking , floor."
What the fuck. Ok, he's either some secret spy playing a role or he is a bonafide idiot. I conclude he's a bonafide idiot. He's talking like Forest Gump, but looks like some corporate executive. The scary part is, maybe he is!



I've come to the conclusion that unless I'm as drunk as the guy sitting next to me, I have no idea what they're saying and I want to get as far away as possible. Oh, I've been drunk before and I'm sure I've been annoying, but what ever you do, don't go into a bar and hang out with drunks, unless your drunk. I'm sure some drunk guy had a very interesting conversation with either of these drunk guys. They were probably slapping each other on the back, giving each other nookie's and play fighting.

It's nice to be sober and see that side of people, because I'm sure I've been like that and now I know what it's like to be a complete idiot, seeing it through the eyes of the barfly.

RAMBLING WITH GAMBLING

John Gambling is back. His first show on 710 WOR debuted today. This, after a few months off the air since the Black Friday layoffs at WABC and dozens of other Citadel owned radio stations.



John sounds great. He's pumping new energy into WOR and the new branding of NEWS/TALK radio is what WOR needs in order to compete against market leader WABC. WOR needs to stay local and relevant and that's what John Gambling is doing in mornings and Steve Malsberg is doing in afternoons. They're topical, local and passionate.

I had to chuckle a few times when John gave out the old WABC listener call-in line and every once in a while said NewsTalk radio, 77 WABC. Hey, it's happened to me in the past. Try switching from a "K" station, like KGO in San Francisco and then going to a "W" station on the East coast. On one of my half hour updates on the ABC Radio Networks, I almost said, I'm George Weber, WABC news...rather than ABC news!

INVASION OF THE BARBIE DOLLS

One might be able to argue that "Grand Theft Auto IV" should not be viewed by kids, that the Ouija board could be harmful to one's religious well being. But, Barbie dolls? That's right, despite an Iranian effort to confiscate all toys Western, Barbie dolls have flooded Iran's black market. Kids all over Iran have been seen gleefully playing with cute little blond bombshell, dressing her up, and pushing her around in her big bright yellow Barbie bus.

Now, a top Iranian judiciary official is warning against the "destructive" culture and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls. In 2002, Iran began a crackdown, seizing the toys out of the clutches of unsuspecting little girls. Then, as an alternative, the Iranian government introduced their own dolls, Dara and Sara who promoted traditional values.



What, we wouldn't want Barbie climbing into her bus all hopped up on crack cocaine and drunk on Whiskey. Oh, and those skimpy little dresses she wears. Horrifying!

WRITING ON THE WALL

Kirk Hanley writes on his myspace page "I'm a fatal error, the Frankenstein of the 21st century, a godlike nonbeliever, the product of a racist hypocritical world. I don't believe in racism because I pretty much hate everything that exists. To me life is nothing but a meaningless coincidence,every breath just brings us closer to death."

If that wasn't a big enough clue, that this 21 year old City College student was about to go berserk, maybe it was the next line of his Internet rant. "I'm a lonely loner, but it wasn't a choice, this miserable existence has been forced upon me.I'm incredibly sad and depressed because all my life I've received nothing but shit."



On Wednesday, Hanley pulled out a gun and held a young woman hostage on the school's campus. She had rebuffed his romantic advances. Hanley began yelling that he was going to shoot her, but would rather have police shoot him. He wanted suicide by cop, as the phenomenon is known. This story has a happy ending. The disturbed young man dropped his gun, allowing police to tackle him, drag him out of the building and take him away in handcuffs.

But, back to the writing on the wall. So, he calls himself a fatal error, a lonely loner, and explains how depressed he is. Not enough. Check out his favorites.

Movies: Revenge of the Sith, Natural Born Killers, Saw 1-4, American History X, Land of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead

Books: Silence of the lambs, Red dragon, Hannibal, Master of the game, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, All-American Monster&;amp;amp;quot;: The Unauthorized Biography of Timothy McVeigh

He lists Timothy Mcveigh as one of his hero's. Still not convinced this guy could go off the deep end at anytime. Watch this Youtube clip he posted on his myspace page.



Oh, and there was one more little clue, perhaps the most telling of all. Why somebody, anybody should not have known what was going on in this kids mine is beyond me. One of the fun elements of facebook and myspace is that you can list your friends with a link to their own page.



Kirk Hanley had just one.

JOHN GAMBLING RETURNS TO NYC RADIO

Congratulations to my friend and former colleague John Gambling for landing back on the airwaves in New York radio after a short Hiatus. John will be hosting the morning show on WOR, where his grandfather started a 75-year family dynasty on the airwaves. Joe Bartlett will anchor the news and Donna Hanover will contribute to the show in a much smaller capacity.

I spent several great years anchoring the news on John's show at WABC and I can tell you in the days and weeks leading up to the Citadel layoffs, we saw the writing on the wall. But, John would always tell me how much he enjoyed working at WABC.

Keep in mind, John was fired from WOR in what appeared to be a cost cutting move, before he landed at WABC, where again he was fired in a cost-cutting move. Despite this, hats off to the management at WOR for doing what was right, not just to give a respectable broadcaster his show back, but for in one giant leap, greatly improving the line up at WOR, what I often refer to as "the little engine that could." Good luck, John.

If you'd like to see John interview on FOX 5's "Good Day New York" you can click on this link or copy and paste it to your browser.

http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=0d3677cc-2f82-44e2-9105-7026b9397be0

THE CHEYENNE DINER LANDS IN BROOKLYN

I'm happy to report, the Cheyenne Diner is not lost forever. As a matter of fact, it will soon land in Brooklyn's gritty Red Hook neighborhood. Michael O'Connell, the son of Brooklyn developer Greg O'Connell, has purchased the old time silver diner for just $5,000. Some guy in Wyoming actually wanted to buy it and put the Cheyenne in the city of the same name. But, the owners of the diner wanted it to stay local and it will. O'Connell has agreed to pick up the exorbitant cost of moving the structure to its new home in Red Hook. That's why he got it for just five grand.

What we don't know is whether he'll immediately plop the diner on a parcel of land and re-opened it as a restaurant. Maybe they could do with it what they did with the Continental diner in Philadelphia, turn it into one of those trendy cocktail lounges that also serves food.



Or maybe, it'll go on the waterfront right near Sonny's which for decades served up breakfast and coffee to thousands of dockworkers in the 20's and 30's when Brooklyn's waterfront was thriving. Either way, I'm glad it survived.