Page 356 - Demo

A tlantic A venue Isn%u2019t W orld R enow ned,But It M akes W alking H om e a Lot N icerBY JUDY LINSCOTTWhen I moved to Boerum Hill three years ago, having prior to that barely ever set foot in Brooklyn, it was on the eve of the first Atlantic Antic. I didn%u2019t go. It never occurred to me to go, though from what I%u2019d heard from the previews, it sounded like it was going to be one hell of a street fair.It never occurred to me to go because I%u2019m not that big on street fairs and I didn%u2019t realize that Atlantic Avenue needed promoting. As far as I was concerned, the Avenue was just THERE, and was just one of the reasons why people did or didn't live in proximity.Mv rudimentary knowledge of the Avenue at that time had to do with the Mideast bakeries and restaurants, and the antique shops, where I would spend a few hours browsing %u2014 on my way to A&S. Oh %u2014 and i he St. Clair coffee shop, where we had breakfast %u2014 the first day we moved in, and which I%u2019m delighted to see has taken a quantum leap upward since.All of which is to say that for the first year I lived in Brooklyn, within a two block walk of the Avenue, the Antic had nothing to do with my perception of what it was, and in fact as the year progressed, I got to know the Avenue and what it had to offer incrementally, season by season, as need and desire and discovery dictated.Since then. I%u2019ve grown to enjoy and look forward to the Atlantic Antic, but the fact remains that the Avenue is there all year round Thank God.Thai first fall, we not only spent innumerable evenings at the mid-East places munching hommos and shishkabob, but found most of our paints and brushes and electrical fixtures, as well as sound and sage advice, at Misner%u2019s Hardware. We spent Sundays touring the art galleries and Saturday afternoons poking for hours in the antique and junk shops. One of our first and still favorite rugs came from Tony, whose outdoor-indoor junk-antique clothing etc. spot near Clinton Street became a virtual necessity.At Christmastime, the Avenue became a virtual godsend for someone who is yearly forced to produce interesting and eclectic offerings for oddball friends and relatives, and while t he downtown department stores offered the usual stuff, Atlantic Avenue provided the stuff I needed. From places like 100 Acre Woods, Oh! June and Bygones (the latter two now moved on) came presents that had their own kind of unique delight, the sort of thing one knew wouldn%u2019t show up elsewhere three weeks into January and on sale. Tee shirts from the Melting Pol and books and posters from Child%u2019s Play numbered among favorite %u2014 and still loved %u2014 presents for kids.In the spring, when thoughts turned to other things, I %u201cdiscovered%u201d the YWCA, and not just the swimming pool, either, but the incredib'e list of practical and inThe aven u e offers things th a t th e a vera g eth ro u g h fa re d o e sn %u2019t offer, a n d it s e e m e d to m eu nique a n d useful fo r p recisely th a t rea so n . %u201dteresting courses, the innumerable information referral services and the very supportive and yseful Women%u2019s Center.Long before I worked here, I used THE PHOENIX as an information source of its own sort. They weren%u2019t always organized (God knows), and their files were never handy (or, as I later learned, even in existence) but they could always give me the low down on what was happening with whatever local project or politician I needed to know about.I even managed to find an affordable typewriter and desk on the Avenue, from one of the used office furniture places.And as spring progressed into summer, the pleasure of walking home on a balmy evening was enhanced by my witnessing the nearly daily development of the Hoyt Street Garden, truly one of the most delightful gardens I%u2019ve yet to find in the city.Oh, the Avenue had its problems. It wasn%u2019t very pretty, all things considered, and it could have been cleaner, and there were plenty of times when shops I desperately needed access to weren%u2019t open. And there was plenty I couldn%u2019t find there, which I would have liked to have found, including a good stationery store, a bookstore, a variety store on the %u201cWestern%u201d end, a good coffee shop. But it offered other things, things that the average thoroughfare doesn%u2019t offer, and it seemed to me unique and useful for precisely that reason. A bit of an anomoly, and perfectly acceptable as that.But as time went on the avenue did%u2014and does%u2014%u201cimprove.%u201d The mix of stores gets better, and now there is a raftge of restaurants to choose from, up and down the street, that only augments the still delightful mid-East places. Coup de Glace provides the ice cream that summertime (and for plenty of us, the dead of winter too) demands, Biblomania provides cards and books and the St. Clair is a %u201creal%u201d coffee shop now. Hallelujah, things are moving.The Antic, of course, is something I make it a point to get to these days, and it%u2019s always worth it. These days it%u2019s part of my business to promote the Avenue. It%u2019s something I%u2019m happy to do, precisely because to my way of thinking, it never should have needed it.The Antic is over in a day. Money is made, spirits are revived and the charms of the street spread a little farther. But on Monday, it%u2019s back to business, and it%u2019s all still there. Thank God.And as Indian summer moves into autumn the colors in the Hoyt Street Garden grow richer. Winter will find it bedecked in Christmas colors and finery, and I%u2019ve every faith that spring will find it even lovlier and more colorful than this year. It isn%u2019t big and they may not know about it in Boston or Philadelphia, but it sure makes that long walk home a whole lot nicer indeed.