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- 1T he M ood o f M e rc h a n ts. R e s id e n ts a n d R e a lto rs:Atlantic AvenueBY KAY HOLMES SEARESAllantie Avenue, like Gaul, is divided into three parts. There%u2019s the old school, unassuming trade section; the main-featured antique and crafts section; and the slice of Middle Eastern exotica that draws hungry M anhattanites by the droves.Today, on the occasion of Atlantic Antic IV, all are alive and well and co-existing without melting into a nameless pot. Each different facet of ^he avenue, while well delinealed and quite separate, adds shape and contour to the whole. Add to this combination the transform ation of the Ex-lax factory into co-op lofts and Atlantic Gardens, a nine building restoration project between Third and Fourth Avenues, and you have a mixture so potently positive that prognostications smack of the Pollyanna.In interviews with scores of merchants, residents, developers and realtors, the mood of the Avenue seems clear: while no one is saying that the commercial strip from Flat bush Avenue to the waterfront isn't without its problems, almost everyone agrees that things have never been better, and are only going up. Among the biggest problems, of course, is that part of what%u2019s going up are rents, but most merchants seem to recognize that inevitability as the (literal) price to be paid for \Although businesses still come and go, which is to say that some don%u2019t survive, the ma jority that do %u201cmake it%u201d are rapidly becoming established, in a way that they certainly weren%u2019t even a year ago. Just as many merchants pointed out that the Avenue now sports a healthy and ever increasing mix of shops and services%u2014lending the street a new kind of %u201ccredibility%u201d as a shopping area%u2014many also noted that the Atlantic Antic, which a mere three years ago was a wild gam ble conceived to celebrate pioneer efforts, has now itself become established tradition.And as the Avenue becomes more established, merchants seem to become increasingly aware of the need to work collectively, to cooperate in a general effort to promote the street as well as individual shops and services. Withthe coming of age seems to be a growing sophistication.As Fran Gertz, co-owner of City Barn Antiques and a veteran of eight years selling on the street, said: %u201cAtlantic Avenue has finally arrived.%u201dNOT SO GOOD IN YEARSWhile others, such as Charles Crozier of Gallery 91 are less sanguine in their assessment, the fact is indelibly clear. AtlanticAvenue, on the eve of its fourth Antic, hasn%u2019t looked so good in years. Ten years ago it was mainly a heavy-duty truck route with pockets of poverty to rival the Bowery.Today it seems to be the East Coast center for oak furniture, sustaining an expensive French restaurant, a stained-glass craftsw'oman and a myriad of colorful small shops. Where once the main patch of greenery was in front of the Brooklyn House of Detention, there are now 200 trees lining the avenue and an atmosphere which attracts rather than repels pedestrians. Although nobody says the battle against urban decay has been won, the blight certainly appears to be in retreat.\who puts the seed in the ground, never reaps the harvest,%u201d said Irving Meshel, whose 68-year old family furrier business, Meshel%u2019s, saw the Avenue touch bottom. %u201cBut 1 know the area is on its way up again. We own seven properties on the street and shop rents have gone up from $40 to $315 a month. People are inspired to buy brownstones around here and banks are giving mortgages. That%u2019s a sure sign the neighborhood is improving, since banks are conservative institutions,%u201d says he.%u201cTen years ago Atlantic Avenue was a zoo,%u201d said Ted Kanakos, whose shop The Critical Cook sells everything from pepper-mills to food-processers. %u201c It was a gamble moving here two and a half years ago, but it was a gamble that paid off. People around here have taste. There are a lot of refugees from Manhattan who crossed the Bridge and moved to the country. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who%u2019s renovated a house in the last five years.%u201dThe renaissance of Atlantic Avenue may be a matter of cause and effect. There%u2019s no doubt that the influx * of brownstoners in Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens brought money and %u201cmiddle class values%u201d to the area. The young professional families are %u201cinto%u201d antiques and refinishing furniture, had an appetite for good food and an appreciation of crafts and quality items. As the demands of theresidential community exerted pressure on the commercial community, Atlantic Avenue changed. It%u2019s not simply coincidence that many of the owners of antique and craft shops live in adjacent Boerum Hill.Fran and Steve Gertz, co-owners of City Barn Antiques, bought a house on Bergen Street 11 years ago and opened shop three years later. Their shop has metamorphosed in the last month from arambling, cluttered, three-store front city-style barn into a smaller, carefully placed, front parlor. Their style has changed with their perception of the street.%u201cYears ago Atlantic Avenue was a junk street where people looked for bargains,%u201d Fran Gertz explained. %u201c Now it%u2019s an expensive street with high quality merchandise. Three or four years ago there was a quick turn-over in oak. Now it%u2019s so expensive that a dresser can go for $800 and that cuts out a lot of people. We used to get knowledgeable, artsy, craftsy people in here. Today we get Mr. and Mrs. Forest Hills.%u201dA few doors down is one of the newest antique shops on the avenue, True Grit, owned by Dick Dickert. %u201c I like the street,%u201d he said, %u201cit%u2019s definitely coming up. There%u2019s nowhere you can touch the space for the price and when you%u2019re dealing with bulk furniture and refinishing, you need space.%u201dNo stranger to the street, Dickert managed Horseman Antiques for five years and owns a shop on Bleecker Street in Manhattan. %u201cTurn-of-the-century oak changed from used furniture to antiques in five years,%u201d he said. %u201cEveryone remembers the days of going upstate and scoring pieces for $10 or $20 but those days are over. Oak is a fixed price item with major furniture companies all over the country, making reproductions. People come from all over to buy oak furniture on Atlantic Avenue and the fact that there are 30 stores here selling it is a real drawing card.%u201dOak isn%u2019t the only old item on sale on Atlantic Avenue, although it remains one of the most popular. Country Hearth Antiques, which featured early American furniture, closed this year and moved to Bleecker Street in search of a more receptive public.But Lee Rosen, who opened Remember When Antiques two months ago, is undeterred. With her collection of antiques, art and nostalgia items she hopes to educate the area into an appreciation of things other than oak. She felt the Avenue to be %u201cup-andcoming%u201d but wished there was more cooperation among the merchants to promote the street . . . a sentiment echoed by othersliiflll