Quicklink (& a Correction)

Today the guys at Curbed were kind enough to give me a shout-out regarding the monstrosity that is 94 Scholes Street. A guest commenter was kind enough to point out (and I quote):

miss heather is one of the most hideous thigns i have seen lolololololol

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In any case, my (ostensibly hideous) person doesn’t hold a candle compared to the crap being built in North Brooklyn on any given day. There’s only five feet of me. What’s more, I do not sport balconies. But I digress.

I found of specific interest that Philip Toscano Architects had a hand in this atrocity — albeit for very “geeky” reasons. You see, his office (which you can here in its resplendent pink stuccoed glory) is the site of a former Bonanno family hang-out. It took me a while to pin down which one— but I did!

Which brings me to my retraction:

On June 17, 2008 I wrote (in a post entitled “Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Hanging Out“):

To see what this corner (at the intersection of Huron Street and Manhattan Avenue) looked like back in the 1970’s click here.

Well, I was wrong. The Motion Lounge is— or more accurately was— located at 420 Graham Avenue. Here is what it looked like back in Sonny Black’s day.

Pretty neat, eh?

Miss Heather

UPDATE, 7:12 p.m.: I have received a very interesting pair of emails from a person we’ll call “S”. He/she writes:

Saw the link you had to that great pic of the motion lounge (now the be-stuccoed offices of toscano architect).  I live on the block and like to chat with some of the old timers about what used to happen in the area, and there’s more to that corner building.  in between being bonano hangout the motion lounge and an office, it was known for a while as the san giuseppe social club and was a hangout for some genovese family associates.  there was a mob related murder during a card game there in 1994.  in a very strange trial and turn of events, the owner of (a local bakery) was convicted of this murder at his second trial in 2007, while the other defendant walked away (the actual hitman had turned state’s evidence).  a judge overturned (said baker’s) conviction last year, and he’s a free man now.

oh, I forgot to mention his co-defendant! He owns a local pizzeria.

here are some articles about the case:

http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/fortunato-is-back-in-brooklyn

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/nyregion/15mob.html

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=16994