New to the neighborhood.

gazerrant

Hello all,

About to move to Bergen between Classon and Franklin. Looking forward to having more space and a far less annoying neighborhood (currently on the Lower East Side).

Just wanted to say hi and ask a couple questions:

Anyone know what the deal is with the factory building at 893 Bergen?
Where's a good laundry place close by?
Any tips/tricks/advice/etc. for a newbie to the neighborhood?

Thanks!

marla_singer

Welcome!

I like the laundry on St. Marks (between Franklin and Classon, closer to Classon). It's pretty new; the people are really sweet. I drop off my laundry, which is always done in a couple of hours and is cheaper than other services I've tried around here. Avoid Bubbleworks for laundry.

Search around this forum for other news and advice. There's a lot on here already.

xlizellx

for laundry i like the new place on franklin ave and park place.

ilovefranklinave

That whole factory complex on the Franklin Avenue side of the shuttle tracks between Bergen and Dean started out as a brewery, which folded in 1913 or 1914. The buildings have been used for various other things since, with the one at 893 Bergen getting a nice little write up in the NYT two years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/nyregion/10citywide.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/B/Buildings (Structures).

On the Dean Street side, the old brewery ice house is now green condos (http://greenhomenyc.org/whatisgreenbuilding/bldgs?id=1). I'm going to go ahead admit that I'm a history dork and was interested enough in this sort of stuff to start blogging about it when I arrived last summer. Here's a post about the brewery complex (http://ilovefranklinave.blogspot.com/2008/11/can-we-bring-it-back-to-life-as-brewpub.html).

I too use the laundry on St. Marks--they've got clean new machines and it's never too packed. The only drawback is that they're not open that late (last wash is at 8:30). The one on Franklin and Park is open later (11:30, I think).

There was a good thread about local food pretty recently, if you scroll down. Also, since it's restaurant week, you can get a ton of food (two big meals) for 23 bucks at Bombay Masala and Bristen's, both on Franklin. I'm also partial to the pizza at A Slice of Brooklyn (Propsect and Franklin).

capt. planet

I believe those apartments in the old ice house are rentals. The owners live in the building though and have gotten tons of press coverage.

gazerrant

Thanks all for the info!

ilovefranklinave, that's some great stuff about the complex next door to me. Loving your blog, BTW.