The Brooklyn Children's Museum -- the hands-on instititution popular with tykes from Tremont to Poughkeepsie -- is slated to reopen as the first LEED-certified museum in New York City on Sept. 20, according to a spokeswoman for the project and Interior Design.

The Rafael-Vinoly-designed addition to the Crown Heights insititution will, according to the design mag, double the size of the museum to more than 100,000 square feet. The addition, covered in 8.1 million (!!) very, very yellow ceramic tiles, will presumably allow for more exhibition space (and maybe even bigger digs for Fantasia, the 17-foot-long Burmese Python?).

To achieve LEED-silver certification, the addition has "rapidly renewable and recycled materials" like "bamboo and recycled rubber flooring.  read more »

First came the overhaul of the old Jewish Hospital into quasi-luxury rentals. Then came Saje. Chavella's. Bristen's. Two clothing boutiques. The beer garden. Abigail. The gentrification of Crown Heights -- in all of its prickly glory -- continues apace with the impending arrival of Lily & Fig Fine Cakes and Confections on Franklin Avenue and Park Place.

The high-end sweeterie sells its Florette cake (above) -- which is described on the store's Web site as "[f]our layers of chocolate sponge with a raspberry ganache filling, coated with your choice of Belgian dark or white chocolate icing and topped with an exquisite corsage of sugar-paste flowers" -- for $75.  read more »

Beer nerds, rejoice! Crown Heights can now count itself among the select group of neighborhoods to have a true, brew beer garden.

As reported in the Gothamist, Franklin Park, at 618 St. John's Place, officially opened its doors on Friday, tapping kegs of Coney Island Lager, Rare Vos Amber Ale, Hoegaarden, Green Flash IPA, Schneider Weisse, Raddelburger, Six Point Righteous, Blue Point Toasted Lager, Original Sin, Jever, O'hara Irish Stout and Stone Pale Ale.  read more »

If there's anything more symbolic of a neighborhood's gentrification, well, we can' t think of it: Nam's grocery on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights is going organic, according to Brooklynian.com.  read more »

In each nabe the students went to--which included Chelsea, Crown Heights, the Upper East Side, Harlem, City Hall and a Bronx college--the Upper East Side was the only place where the wallets were stolen twice. One student reported that a Upper East Side woman holding a bouquet of pink roses "picked up the wallet, did not look around at all, and simply kept on walking."

So, next time you're headed uptown on the 6 train, remember: hands in both pockets.

Proposed boundaries for the Crown Heights North historic district.

Originally a rural area tucked inside the village of Bedford, at the eastern reach of the city of Brooklyn, most of the land was owned by the Lefferts family and worked by the family's slaves. The Leffertses started to sell their holdings in the 1850's, and by the 1870's wealthy folks started to move to St. Mark's Avenue.
After the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, a large influx of people started to transform the rural area, and large-scale development started in the early to mid-1880's.
Having lived in the area ourselves, we can attest to the beauty of some of the large mansions in the area. We've got no pictures for as of now, but let's see what happens over the weekend.

Here are a few randomly selected interviews that show, if nothing else, the radically different priorities of voters in different parts of the district.

Brem Hyde

-- Brem Hyde, 39, landscape designer, corner of President and 7th Ave, Park Slope  read more »

Our real-estate reporter, Matthew Schuerman, received one:

Trouble is, this flyer landed in a building in the western half of Crown Heights, which is full of African-American and Caribbean-American churchgoers.

Well, it's not really a problem, except that it leads one to wonder: should the sixth question this Pesach be: Who exactly are my constituents?

Batson, who The Politicker notes has opposed the project, will be challenging its chief booster in the legislature, incumbent Roger Green (if he runs again) while Hakeem Jeffries, another challenger, has stood on the fence, at least officially.