Casa Vieja joins our roster of restaurants

Mariachi bands Play every Sunday Evening to accompany your food.

Casa Vieja has been open just over a little more than a Year and has picked up a good reputation among the locals. It now joins with a select group of restaurants that can be found on our online mall. She has an inspiring story that was covered by the new York Times and more recently by Chowhound relating the story of owner Lourdes Pena and her husband who in a previous life were street vendors in Red Hook. If you want  to try authentic Mexican food her place is the go to.This coming Sunday Jun 27, Casa Vieja will be featuring their Hometown team Mexico as it takes on Argentina in the World Cup..


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Copa Mundial means World Cup here in Brooklyn

Watching the USA game at the Black Horse Pub

As the World Cup enters the second final elimination faze two of or favorite teams have made it into the semi final. The neighborhood is a buzz of beehive activity as our locals favorite teams have made it into the semi finals.A couple of local places will be featuring the coming soccer games. The Black Horse Pub above @ 16th street and 5th Ave. just over the edge of our nabe. Casa Vieja Mexican Restaurant will be showing the Mexico vs. Argentina game this Sunday @ 2:30 PM. For some other places to watch the games check out the following article in Crain's. This article is subject to revision as people might want to contribute other spots or we discover them.

 
Casa Vieja will show the Mexico vs. Argentina game.

T-shirts of the teams on display at local businesses.

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An immigrant dream and Monsignor's Italian Restaurant

When Rafael Aranda arrived here in Sunset Park from Mexico in 1993 his first job was as a dishwasher at Gotham Bar and Grill. Barely a year after, he was given the position of chef specializing in Italian cuisine. So for over ten years he slaved away over a hot stove making Fettuccine Alfredo, linguine and many other dishes at Gotham, all the while honing his skills and improving his repertoire. He always had a dream that someday he would open his own establishment. As the neighborhood improved and gentrification began to move south from the Slope it seemed to Rafael that there was an opportunity for an Italian restaurant and so, less than a year ago he saw an opening with the availability off the present location ideally situated equidistantly from the Slope and southern Sunset Park and thus Monsignor's was born. It is the path that previous immigrants have taken to these shores.If you haven't dropped by yet do so.

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Village Voice rates 10 Best Sunset Park Restaurants

Being busy as I have been I missed the Village Voice rating of what they consider the 10 best restaurants in Sunset Park. New Belachan made the list and our Pacificana made the runner's up list. Sunset Park is becoming the place to go for Chinese and Mexican fare. The variety of eating fare that can be seen in our mall at our website is indicative of why our neighborhood is the up and coming hood to be in, even in this recession. I can only imagine what things would be if our economy was jumping. Remember that if you live in the area the only way to keep these places going is to patronize them and keep our capital in the hood. Now go out there and eat.


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A new kind of Bakery in Sunset Park

In what I hope is a new trend in the neighborhood is the opening of La Boulangerie Lopez in the Greenwood Heights section of the neighborhood. Hopefully the concept will spread. We are sadly deficient in good coffee establishments that serve good baked goods and internet as well. The only free wifi zones so far to have opened in the neighborhood are the free service offered by McDonald's and that offered by the Public Library. Though somewhat similar to a Starbucks, something we don't have in our neck of the woods, La Boulangerie boasts fresh baked goods baked right on the premises with a far wider variety than the fare at Starbucks. One thing that is lacking in the neighborhood is wifi access for those of us who are on the road and need to connect while we are out. La boulangerie is I hope the start of a good trend in the neighborhood. While we do have a goodly number of Internet cafe's in the area, especially on 8th Avenue. They do not have wifi access and you must use their computers. Out of luck if you lug a laptop as I do. The baked goods at La Boulangerie and the Cafe varieties should make Starbucks blush. The place already has acquired a rather strong local following and clientele. Perhaps now that some in the southern part of the hood are aware of it, they too will partake of the experience. Support your local businesses and drop by.

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Eating Italian in Sunset Park

Italian restaurants in Sunset Park were a rarity. Oh yes, you could get some at some of the pizzerias like pasta dishes, but the variety or ambience just wasn't there. If you wanted real Italian food you had to trek out of the hood to Rocco's Calamari or New Corner. Two great restaurants on the fringes of our nabe.

Well, we now have two new restaurants that have recently opened featuring Italian cuisine exclusively. The first is La Cucina on 5th Avenue and 45th street. The new restaurant features a full italian menu and a pleasant interior. Hopefully it will be able to do well and gives more culinary variety to the nabe. The second restaurant to open it's doors in the nabe is farther north at 5th Avenue and 20th in the Greenwood Heights section of Sunset Park. It's name is Monsignor's the name evokes a rustic Italian country side and it's menu is somewhat reflective of this. It is good to see these new eateries open in the neighborhood. Of course the only way to guarantee they remain open is for us to patronize them and help our local economy at the same time. If the food is good, I can certainly see them around for the long haul.

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Easter in the Hood

I stumbled on this wall in my meanderings in the neighborhood after visiting Green-Wood Cemetery and the graves of my parents and aunt and uncle and thought to myself. What an appropriate scene for an Easter Sunday. The wall is on the corner of 64th street and 7th Avenue on the side of the Dunkin Donuts located there. There is an evangelical church located across the street. It may be that they are responsible for it. Kudos to Dunkin Donuts to being open to having it painted on the side of their building.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Tomorrow

The Bay Ridge/Sunset Park St. Patrick's day Parade is slated to be held tomorrow at 1 PM. A bit late as compared to all the other Parades but nevertheless it will be a day for the Irish to show their colors. The parade begins at 1 PM @ St. Patrick's Church on 95th street and 4th in Bay Ridge and ends @ OLPH RC Church here in Sunset Park at 59th street and 5th Avenue. There will be a grandstand set up at 75th street and 5th Avenue. It will be an opportunity for some photographers to capture some good images of the cultural diversity of our nabe and borough.



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Rainbow Cafe Sells for $1.65 Million

The Brooklyn Eagle reports that the Building Housing the Rainbow Cafe a venerable institution of our neighborhood which has been closed for over a year has been sold for 1.65 million. The Rainbow which used to be a venerable hangout of longtime residents and a place where some rock bands got their start was reportedly purchased by a local investor. Perhaps the new owner will do something with the building. I hope it is not torn down and replaced by a condo as appears to be the pattern and fate of many other buildings in the nabe.

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Sunset Polish Deli on Fourth Avenue to close it's doors

The Sunset Polish Deli on 55th and 4th Avenue that was a staple of the neighborhood for almost twenty years and provided Sunset Park's small Polish community with Polish staples and products will be closing it's doors next month. The sad news leaves only one place for Polish goods in the southern part of our nabe. The owner cited the fact that the Polish population of Sunset Park is dwindling and many Polish immigrants are returning home to Poland because of the better economy there. I reported last December the closing of the other Polish Deli in our neck of the woods. The Sunset Deli will be missed, it gave the neighborhood a more varietal ethnic flavor. I suppose it is just a sign that the more things change, they just keep on changing. On another note, the owner informed me that Chinese bought other buildings on the block. Part of a larger sign that the Chinese community on eighth avenue is moving westward towards fourth avenue as more and more hispanic stores on the avenue are being replaced by Chinese owned 99 cent stores and bakeries. Whetehr this is a sustainable trend remains to be seen.



The only remaining place in our neck selling Polish goods remains the Podlaise Meat Market on the corner of 48th and 8th Avenue. It may be only a matter of time before they too sucumb to pressure and alos close their doors. The Norwegian and Finnish stores that once pockmarked the avenues 30 years ago are also long gone. Remaining only in the memories of long time residents that have seen the changes, but they too are increasingly moving out and with them the history of the nabe fades away. The new residents replacing them not having a clue of the rich history of the nabe.

The only Polish Deli and Meat market left in the neighborhood on the corner of 48th and 8th..


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Changes in our Little Chinatown in Sunset Park

Not being Chinese I did not notice changes in the Chinese side of the nabe. It took a visit to the Wikipedia article on the nabe to inform me of changes occurring right under my nose. I had not realized that the population makeup had shifted from Cantonese to Fujianese. From the article;


Brooklyn's Chinatown is now very quickly becoming the New Little Fuzhou(小福州) or Brooklyn's East Broadway(布鲁克東百老匯) and is now surpassing the one within Manhattan's Chinatown as the largest Fuzhou population/community in NYC unlike the Little Fuzhou within Manhattan's Chinatown remains surrounded by areas that are mostly Cantonese populated and in some parts moderately Cantonese populated. The Fuzhou ratio out of total Chinese population in Brooklyn's Chinatown however has already surpassed the Fuzhou ratio out of total Chinese population in Manhattan's Chinatown and it is rather becoming Fuzhou Town(福州埠) because it is also emerging beyond the current borderlines of the Chinese community on 7th and 9th Avenues and north onto 50th-42nd streets. Even though the Chinese community is starting to become a Chinese Fuzhou community and there are now hardly Cantonese residents residing there, there are still many Cantonese people living in ethnic-integrated areas near the Chinese community, there are still many Cantonese shops between 50th-62nd streets on 8th Avenue, however it is slowly on the decline in replacements to Fuzhou shops emerging and many Cantonese people coming from other parts of Brooklyn and other areas come into the Chinese community to go shopping and to eat in restaurants to meet up with family members and friends for socialization on the weekends. The Cantonese community identity is fading away very quickly unlike Manhattan's Chinatown still successfully continues to carry a large Cantonese population and successfully continues to retain the large stable Cantonese community/business district where the Cantonese residents still have a place of gathering for shopping and going to work that was established in the western portion/main section of Manhattan's Chinatown decades ago. By 2009 many Mandarin-speaking people moved to Sunset Park.

I frankly had not noticed the change and all this came as news to me. I did notice a change in some of the businesses opening and closing, but I took that to be the result of the ebb and flow of the business cycle. I suppose a part of me would have preferred that the neighborhood would have become a mix, rather than one group driving another one out. When I moved here back in 1970 the neighborhood was an eclectic mix of ethnic groups. 8th Avenue had a fair number of Italian, Irish and Scandinavian shops sprinkled with many Dominican and Puerto Rican bodegas. All of that is gone. The neighborhood once the home to large Puerto Rican and Dominican population is far less so with Puerto Ricans moving out of the neighborhood in what could only be called droves. Dominicans still remain, but even they are moving out, being replaced by Hondurans, Ecuadorians, Salvadorans and especially Mexicans.

The only thing it seems that is remaining constant it appears is me. I have been here 40 years, but I wonder sometimes if I won't be swept out of here by circumstance. So what do we do when the last Cantonese restaurant closes? Will there still be Mexicans in the neighborhood in ten years? Will I still be alive by then and will I even care?

One thing that is constant about this neighborhood is the constant change. Sometimes though, I let my memory wonder to the past. To shops that used to be, neighbors and friends no longer here. And while some buildings do remain the change is constant. Will I even recognize the neighborhood in ten years?

Heck, I would not have noticed the change along 8th Avenue if I had not read the Wikipedia piece, Chinese all sounds the same to my ear. Being of Latin American origin Spanish is my venue and those changes I have noticed. But I ask myself, are there other changes I haven't noticed? Is this the way it is all across this land? Is the America I emigrated to in the 60's a vanishing place? I suspect it is, and while English is still a predominant language I wonder how much longer the mythical America called the United States will exist. It is metastasizing to something else, and I suspect the old America will vanish in a generation or two into something else that none of us who are alive today will even recognize.

Maybe I am wrong, I may have to revisit this post in a few months and have a totally different perspective. Then again maybe not. One thing is certain, the old neighborhood and the old America only lives in our fading memories and when we die it will perish with us.


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Ellis Bar Closed

The Brooklynian reports that Ellis Bar at the northern edge of Sunset Park has closed it's doors. Their website is still up though. But according to eyewitnesses they were carting off restaurant stuff.

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Dine-in Brooklyn restaurant week offers $25 dinners

Over at NewYorkology they have a listing of restaurants that are offering $25 dinners for Restaurant Week. Some are located in our adjacent neighbors and Sunset Park. If you see one you might want to try it's worth a visit.

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Job for enterprising person selling advertising

If you need a few extra bucks the Sunset Park website is looking for someone to sell advertising on their Mall. The work is commission based, they are looking for someone who wants to do it part time on the side and can use some extra money. You would need a laptop and have a personable disposition. If you speak spanish and more importantly chinese it's a huge big bonus. With the economy the way it is and the current lack of jobs for younger people in the area this is ideal for a college or high school student or even someone who is retired. If you have any interest send us a note with contact information to webmaster at sunset-park dot com.

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Living on the cheap in Sunset Park

The Daily News has a nifty little article on where to get some bargains in Sunset Park. Food and other stuff. Having lived here since 70 I know there is a lot more than just CostCo.


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Milk is getting a RAW deal in Sunset Park

Over at the Gothamist they are covering a story on what appears to be a new craze among some people. Drinking raw unpasteurized milk. It appears someone is peddling the stuff in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park. I personally think it's nuts. There is a reason we pasteurize stuff. Pasteurization was one of the biggest advances along with the discovery of germs that led to a significant increase on lifespan in our society. In any case, you can read the rest of the story here.

From the story;

The dairy devotee has plans for a "drop off" service in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park, with each gallon of raw milk costing $6-7. The club also offers grass-fed beef, "true-pastured eggs" and "the best bacon in the world."


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Architect takes 3BD in Brooklyn | BlockShopper Brooklyn

Architect takes 3BD in Brooklyn | BlockShopper Brooklyn

Posted using ShareThis

Just stumbled on the above recent sale of property in Sunset Park. The website is useful for looking to find out what property values are doing in the neighborhood and what is being sold where.

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Brooklyn stroke victim and nursing student who saved him reunited

The Daily News had a nice story of rescue and CPR at the 36th street Subway station. The stroke victim was treated at the Lutheran Medical Center here in Sunset Park.

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Brooklyn Irish remember Bloody Sunday in Sunset Park

The Irish Echo had a story of a recent commemoration of Bloody Sunday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica on Fifth Avenue at 59th Street.


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Brooklyn Home Foreclosures spread to Sunset Park

Sunset Park is mentioned in this piece that appeared in the International Business Times



Meghan Faux, head of the Foreclosure Prevention Project of South Brooklyn Legal Services, said that Brooklyn home foreclosures have spread into Sunset Park and in other neighborhoods where no resident was distressed in the past. She added that the major foreclosure factor was still toxic mortgage underwriting, although the high unemployment rate has been forcing newer batches of homeowners to default.

With 25% of the national mortgage market under water, it was only a matter of time before we got hit. As it appears that the economy will not get any better any time soon and with the city raising real estate taxes to boot even though our house valuations have gone down the rising tax evaluations means we will be paying more, not less in real estate taxes. The city Government never shrinks as long as sucker taxpayers are around and we elect politicians who only see government as an employment agency for their cronies and supporters.

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