Bedford

• The Malaysians are coming! The Satai at 40 Broad Street, yet another new Manhattan luxury condo, will have "double-height entry doors with solid walnut frames and [a] rubbed-bronze paneled facade." Rubbed-bronze is sexy; so is "Basaltito lava stone borders" in the flooring. [Multi-Housing News]
• Pink-nosed speakeasy fans were horrified to see that 86 Bedford was recently put up for sale. After all, what would West Village intoxication be without Chumley's? We won't have to find out for a long time: the lease lasts for another 79 years. [Curbed]
• Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Landmarks Commissioner Robert Tierney showed up at the opening for the Meatpacking District's new club Theory. Was it because of intricate High Line politics? Or maybe because the club painted Ms. Quinn and kin as "icons." [See above] [NY Mag/D.I.]
• Days are numbered for the L.E.S. indie-rock palace Sin-e (which was immortalized by Jeff Buckley's performances there in 1993). The younger Meatpacking District club R&R is rumored to be closing soon, too, sadly. [Brooklyn Vegan]
- Max Abelson
• 1 comment

On Sept. 19, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will be considering the designation of a Crown Heights North historic district. Tucked between Eastern Parkway on the south and Atlantic Avenue on the north, this neighborhood is smack-dab in the middle of Brooklyn's Caribbean-immigrant enclave. It's also got a rich history, according to the L.P.C.'s monograph on the 'hood:

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.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

In keeping with our ongoing obsession with the up-for-grabs 11th Congressional race, we sent our man John Koblin out into the district to talk to residents about what they hoped for out of their new member of Congress.

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

I'd like to see the the new congressman stop the futility with the war in Iraq. On a more local level, I'd like to see the new congressmen become involved with city and state energy issues and social issues like Healthcare.

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

KARA: During the wedding planning process, I've stewed about many senseless things. But the idea that my reception venue would be struck by lightning never crossed my mind.

On Friday evening, the impossible happened: The Bedford Village Inn was indeed struck by lightning. Initial reports out of Bedford, New Hampshire, stated that the historic barn where the reception would take place had burned down as a result. A knife in my heart.  read more »

• Nicolai Ouroussoff on the death of Jane Jacobs: "[Her] death may also give us permission to move on, to let go of the obsessive belief that Ms. Jacobs held the answer to every evil that faces the contemporary city." (The New York Times)
• Afraid of color? Sick of beige? Introducing: The Huetrals! In other design news: furniture makers believe in the bubble. They fear the bubble. (Real Estate Journal)
• Herman Badillo wants to build "four towers of 38, 36, 20 and 12 stories" on Bedford in the Northside of Williamsburg. (The New York Post)

-Tom McGeveran

As the city rather melodramatically girds for riot over the Teitelbaum succession in the Satmar section of Williamsburg, police found themselves having a job of work handling the neighborhood's hipster population Saturday Friday night*.

Onlookers at a bar across the street from 184 Kent Street, the waterfront loft building cleared for conversion into luxury condos, said a crowd of thousands had made their way into the building to party through the building's last night of occupancy.

But come midnight, they were trespassers. So a passel of police cars and fire engines showed up at the scene to clear them out.

Neighbors have objected to the conversion, and lost a battle to get the building landmarked last year.

At one point, an exodus of hipsters could be seen filing down the street from the building, but some were more stubborn.

One large group of them took up residence atop the canopy hanging over the building's loading dock.

As police moved in to clear out the building, there was some vague fist-pumping in the crowd. Mostly, though, the mood seemed merry as the hipsters filed out of the building and towards the L train under an almost full moon.

We've got a call into the police to ask what their account of the evening was. Write in! Send pictures!

We were safely ensconced at the outside patio of Check Cashing, watching the proceedings from a distance and without a cameraphone.  read more »

* Apparently your correspondent had a bit too active a weekend to be precise the first time about which night the party took place.

- Tom McGeveran