The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Rumors and Sighs, Rongs and Rights

Update from the 71st: Big fight broke out on Saturday night at LPT. Two people brought to the hospital. Fight started inside, seemed to be under control, but the instigators came back and fought with the bouncer. Two arrests, plus someone got cut at some point (laceration was the word used by the cops). Also, gunman was drinking there the night of the tragic shooting on Lincoln. 

So yeah, it's a sweet, diverse Cheers-like hangout. But I don't recall Norm going ballistic and pulling sh*t like that. Maybe I missed the series ender?

Emails and phone calls are flooding in about Lincoln Park Tavern, and while I'd love to just turn the page and let the sleeping dogs lie, I see no reason not to share what the Q knows and doesn't know. I'm not shocked to find out, for instance, that no one but landlady Rong Ge could possibly convince a licensed broker to post the $12K a month listing for LPT. I wasn't surprised a few months ago either, when in a rambling monologue she told me Jim Mamary wanted out and was looking for someone to take over the recently renewed lease, and was looking for "too much money in key fee," in her words, money that the person taking over the lease would have to pay Mamary for the privilege, since the place was basically ready to roll. A poster on the Yahoo Listserv said it was $20,000, and noted that she found out herself when she spoke to the realtor. The only thing I regret so far was having posted on the listserv, rather than keeping my comments to the blog. A listserv is not the place for such stuff, and as if to tell me this, the God's placed the listserv's founder/moderator in my path today. Freaky.

Now, the Q wasn't born yesterday, and he knows the landlady is nutty. And I'm pretty certain she's under some sort of financial strain, given the bizarre and unproductively greedy manner with which she treats her tenants (previous and now) and the $7K a month she's charging for her house on Maple.  The Q also knows that LPT's owner has lots of businesses, and that he's opened and closed restaurants all over town, often quite abruptly. And I'm told, albeit by someone close to the management, that LPT is one of the few business he has that reliably makes money. Which may mean he wants to keep it, or, just as easily, may mean it's an attractive property to sell, particularly if he's in need of cash. Mrs. Q reminded me that back in the day, when while performing as a modern dancer she made her money in trendy understated NYC restaurants for many years, that it was not at all atypical for owners to keep their plans from their employees, and sometimes workers would show up to work and find the joint closed or under new management. Cash businesses too, particularly those with bars, are often rife with other problems specific to the industry. No need to detail them, nor perpetuate rumors about any in particular. My point is that it's a notoriously fickle industry, and only the best restaurants under the best management survive for long. LPT may live to outlive us all. But it would certainly be no reflection on the neighborhood if it did not.

However, in the case of this sub-block of businesses, I've noted more than a slight defensiveness on the part of everyone and everything involved. It's as if the hopes and desires of the PLG neighborhood were and are riding on what happens in one small row of shops. I hope I'm not the only person who finds this to be utterly absurd. Why these particular businesses? At that exact locale? I mean really, what's all the fuss about?

Well, apparently it's struck a nerve, AGAIN, as it has everytime ANYTHING at all happens on that block, and the number of readers of the Q double, and this time some folks along with the perceived "bad news" they want to blame the messenger. That's cool, I can take it. But something's going on, and ain't just the rent. In fact, one thing I'm told is going on is that the service and food have gotten better since the main chef got back in the kitchen. And so, I'm glad to take a friend up on an offer to go check out the vittles again and offer up as pretty a picture of the "newly renovated" dining room and newly reinvigorated menu. As I've said before, I'm no gourmand, and generally easy to please.

To recap: The owner of the building placed an ad; it pissed off and scared a lot of people, and now the tenant on the lease, LPT, claims it's not true that he's getting out and that the ad was bogus. A poster on the listserv asked the community if it knew who placed the bogus ad. Frankly, there's only one person who could have, and she's working with that same agent renting her house. The community shouldn't have to chime in on that one - it's painfully obvious.

I just hope our friends and neighbors who work at LPT aren't being dicked around by Mamary. I asked his compatriots to tell him to give me a call, or text or email, so I can tell you his side of the story. I hope he does, so we can just chalk it up to "weird" and go have some dinner and drinks at his joint, without this zaniness hanging over the place. The Q hopes all's well that ends well, and wishes no one anything but the best possible outcome.

However, if the food still sucks, I reserve the right to say so.

G'night y'all!

22 comments:

Bob Treuber said...

I don't go to LPT for the food. It's edible but I am a good cook and can do as well or better at home. I don't go there for the beer - I have beer at home. I go there to hang out. To star a conversation with someone at the bar. I like seeing people with their kids, friends meeting there to catch up, I like that the room has , patrons that are black and white and brown and young and old and scruffy and well heeled. Sometimes Karl plays good music. sometimes the TV isn't too obnoxious. I like the LPT vibe. At this stage of my life I have known and loved many watering holes in this city and many others. I have fond memories and LPT is a place I see lots of people having a nice time, the cuisine not withstanding. It's just a funky old joint. Everybody can just untwist their panties. BTW - this blog is a community treasure. Lets stop knocking the blogger and ease up on trashing the food at LPT. If you don't like it don't go there But -really - dont be a hater.

Anonymous said...

"It's as if the hopes and desires of the PLG neighborhood were and are riding on what happens in one small row of shops."

At least since K-Dog opened up in (I think) 2006, that block has been the focal point of a huge amount of the status anxiety of PLG. For a certain subset of people who have made major housing investments within Lefferts Manor, the success/failure of these businesses and changes on that block has come to represent the validation of their choice to live here. For people who want to see the neighborhood gentrified, the block is seen as a beachhead. I think it's absurd to hang so much symbolism on a handful of stores and the mercurial whims of a landlord. There are lots of other places that are effecting change here. If this Hudson project goes through, that's going to do more to alter the neighborhood than anything else in the past decade.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:06 Actually, we just want a few decent places to eat and drink at affordable prices.

Anonymous said...

A few decent places to eat around here! Please let it happen soon, Mangoseed is good but waaaaay overpriced.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Mamary should turn the place over to his employees. They're the ones who seem to have the most to lose in this silly battle. I've seen it work successfully elsewhere - pay off the key fee over a few months. That way he gets out, and they get in. And we all get to keep our neighborhood hangout. Maybe the place will even improve as a result.

The Snob said...

Anonymous #1 is right. That block of Lincoln (and its sister block on Parkside) are the only streets outside of Flatbush and the Aves. that offer foot traffic, transit, and retail. It's a natural focal point because of what "it could be." Worth noting that Michael of Delroys also has his portion of Fenimore on lock. It's a small neighborhood, and that's in part what makes it attractive, but also makes for this kind of Tinytown myopia.

Anonymous said...

imagine what our neighborhood would be like if the brighton line between Prospect Park and Parkside were underground, and the street grid extended all the way to the park. There would be five more potential foot-traffic commercial zones. So frustrating that I can actually see the park a block from my house, but have to walk 4 blocks to get there.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Snob: I just don't get it. There are TONS of retail opportunities, even right on Lincoln - just talk to the building owners and find out who isn't keeping current with their rent and make a play. But gee whiz what's wrong with Flatbush? It has more foot traffic than just about anyplace I can think of. Tugboat doesn't suffer because of it's location. Neither does 65 Fen, or Play Kids. Even Monk's Trunk does a good business, and it's in a private house. And how about Parkside?

By forcing a square peg in a round hole, we've witnessed 8 years of drama. Isn't anyone else besides me sick of it by now? If it ain't workin' it ain't workin' Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Ge has to sell the whole building, given her odd level of cash desperation.

By the by, it wasn't just the landlady that sucked Blue Roost down the toilet. It had help - a certain someone whose name rhymes with Dim Flammery didn't follow through on promises. This, folks, I'm not making up. Every wonder why the Roost had pastries from the intensely subpar and recently closed by the Dept of Health Catskill Bakery? Take a peek and see who owns that joint.

No, it's not personal. But honestly, I just don't get the myopia about that one strip of places. Except that somehow people have invested themselves in those business in a way that borders on obsession.

Cafes and restaurants open and close all the time, due to any number of issues. I think most entrepreneurs have more sense on the subject than a lot of the folks freaking out about Lincoln Road.

And a commenter a couple up had a great idea about selling to the employees. If they're super-invested in the place, why the hell not?

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Correction: The name of the place is "Catskill Bagel" and it's on Cortelyou. Take a look at their croissant and tell me what on earth is up with that...

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Update from the 71st: Big fight broke out on Saturday night at LPT. Two people brought to the hospital. Fight started inside, seemed to be under control, but the instigators came back and fought with the bouncer. Two arrests, plus someone got cut at some point (laceration was the word used by the cops). Also, gunman was drinking there the night of the tragic shooting on Lincoln.

So yeah, it's a sweet, diverse Cheers-like hangout. But I don't recall Norm going ballistic and pulling sh*t like that. Maybe I missed the series ender?

babs said...

No, Cliff went postal and shot everyone on the finale of Cheers. He was upset about people stealing mail out of mailboxes and thought Carla was the ringleader.

Anonymous said...

rong and clarkson flatbush are having a contest called who is the most mental in the village?

Clarkson FlatBed said...

hee hee. bring it on, y'all. the truth hurts...peaking at the local crime report, it's not the first time violent fights have broken out at LPT. Inside sources say it's way out of hand, especially around the pool table. Maybe the place turns into a pumpkin at midnight?

Cops agree a certain amount of trouble at a bar can be expected. But both LPT and Rhythm Splash have had trouble containing the "wrong" element. A better use of a bouncer would probably help. This ain't Kansas after all, Dorothy...

Anonymous said...

What kind of twit would knock a guy for reporting on what's going on in the neighborhood, especially if it involves a beloved but troubled local hangout? Get a life or stop reading the blog if it bugs you so much.

Anonymous said...

hey the truth hurtz as clarkson flatbush says. but seriously! you are polling very close in the neighborhood with rong for chief nutjob! good luck in your campaign!!

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Hilarious...

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Q - looks like you have a bona fide troll! Should be a proud moment in every blogger's blogging career.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:35, Post all you want about Rong and Q being crazy, but they're the only two people seemingly doing anything to 'be the change they want to see' in our neighborhood. I don't know Rong, I hear she's crazy, but I also see that somehow her block has had some great places on it. Q is a very sane person who is passionate about the neighborhood and taking time away from his family/personal life to put effort into OUR neighborhood -- sometimes it seems like he's the only one. So why don't you keep on bitching and moaning on your couch and THEN have the audacity to come here and read his updates and then write crap. Just b/c you disagree doesn't mean that you get to be anonymously ungrateful and hurtful. That's loser behavior.

Anonymous said...

The person involved in the saturday incident is the same person who causes nearly all of the problems in there (exception: the shooting). Why she hadn't been banned prior to Saturday (she has been now....hopefully it sicks) is beyond me, but it doesn't help that no one files charges. Allegedly charges may finally be filed with this last incident, but until that happens, its just another violent person who will very quickly be back on our streets.

They'll be getting rid of the pool table and the folks who come in to play pool but not really drink will no longer have a reason to come in, and that is a key part of the group involved in the violence. (Also: This is why we can't have nice things. Like a pool table)

MOST people who go there have a fine time and have never been stabbed/shot/robbed/etc, is intellectually dishonest. The problems there can LITERALLY be traced to one person/her family.

We live in an area where there are few late night options. Another one is rhythm splash, and they, too, have issues late night. I'm not apologizing for it, but I am saying that very little good comes out of drunk people at 1/2 AM, and that isn't unique to LPT, this neighborhood, or the folks here. But we are a neighborhood with some more violence than other spots in Brooklyn (not the worst, not the best) so to expect no violence in the one late night drinking spot is just full of optimism and lacking in reality.

Anonymous said...

Editing error - the third paragraph should say:

MOST people who go there have a fine time and have never been stabbed/shot/robbed/etc, and to use this one incident and the shooting as the predominant factors for judging the environment is intellectually dishonest. The problems there can LITERALLY be traced to one person/her family.

babs said...

As stated above (and as weekly crime reports attest), this is hardly one incident, even if it is due to the same group of people. No intellectual dishonesty there - just straight facts. Just saying that the place is not the warm fuzzy kumbaya place some people would claim it to be, at least not after 11 at night or so.

I like the former Enduro's spot and go there often, and hope to be able to continue to do so. Without the pool table, I'm hoping things will improve on the other side. If it's any consolation, other bars have faced the same situation and had to get rid of their pool tables as well (Soda, Buttermilk in Park Slope - although I hear theirs is back).

babs said...

And PS, I know several people who have been robbed there - of cell phones, credit cards, etc. However, it being a bar, they were usually inebriated and therefore too ashamed to report the incidents to the police, unfortunately.