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EditorialsGetting On With itThe Sixth Annual Brooklyn Brownstone Conference is upon us. Ourpages this week do not tell, but rather update the story: for the real truth,we need to read between the lines. The pride in various communitiesevidenced here is not a series of defensive stances but a series ofthoughtful and, we think, realistic assessments. Thai %u201c brownstoners%u201d aremoving into co-oping suggests not an abandonment but a furtherdevelopment of the %u201c owning dream.%u201d It%u2019s getting harder to buy a cheap%u201cshell%u201d in these parts but now areas that nobody thought of six year agoas %u201c viable%u201d are beginning to receive their due. Comfortably ensconced inone house, couples are thinking of renovating another, for purposes ofinvestment. Investment?For the real %u201c pioneers,%u201d of course, brownstoning life began muchfurther back than six years ago, when thre were plenty of raised eyebrowsand skeptical laughs. Now living %u201c like normal people%u201d in these parts ismore than a self-conscious way of life: it is life. Nobody%u2019s arguing anymore.For our part, we welcome the development; the sooner we get beyondhaving to justify our existence, the sooner we can all get on to enjoyingthose delights-and attempting to remedy those ills-that are the intrinsicand inevitable elements of city life....And Watching ItAlong with recognition of the value of %u201c inner city%u201d properties andneighborhoods is a growing awareness of the value of urban waterfrontproperty. Manhattan%u2019s South Street Seaport has long provided adelightful%u2014if somewhat shabby and deteriorating-glimpse into our city%u2019sseafaring past. In the last several years, as the national and local trendtoward revitalization has grown, interest in the Seaport has grown too,resulting in public, private and individual investment, both emotional andfinancial. The South Street Seaport Museum is just one natural result ofthat interest; the troubles the Museum is now facing, and the growingcontroversy over just how the area ought to be developed, as related in ournews pages this week, are two other, equally natural results.For us in Brooklyn, the problems and possibilities that %u201cthe other side ofthe river%u201d now must confront should be of major importance. Our recentlylandmarked Fulton Ferry waterfront area has seen its own growth anddevelopment in the last few years. The area%u2019s growing number ofcommercial and residential renovations, along with the State Parks andRecreation Department plans for a waterfront park, are only a few of thetangible changes in the offing, all of them heralded by the NationalMaritime Historical Society%u2019s move from South Street to Fulton Ferry twoyears ago.It is too simplistic to say %u201cas goes South Street, so goes Fulton Ferry,%u201dbut some truth undoubtedly lies there. It is at least truthful to say that thekind of development boom that South Street is now acing points to acertainty that interest in Fulton Ferry will grow too. It behooves us to watchthe South Street Seaport situation now. %u201cOur side of the river%u201d certainlyshares %u201c their%u201d potential, probably faces some of their problems. Better weshould watch and listen now, that we might maintain a rational approach toour own development, that we might be prepared with solutions beforeinsurmountable problems arise.Sound Off Feedback from ReadersThanks ExpressedA quick note to express the deepest thanks from the Warren Place Association for the really splendid coverage of our Centennial. (Phoenix, Sept 28) The Val Levy piece in that paper did much to intrigue Brooklynites and others and more than 450 people attended the open house and bazaar last Sunday. 1 think if the weather had been less threatening, we might have doubled our volume.As it is, we will probaly net, both from the Brendan Gill dinner and the house tour, in the area of $2,000 toward our restoration project.Many thanks for your efforts on our behalf%u2014Judith E. Daykin, President, Warren Place AssociationTo Err is HumanYour article on %u201c A Ramble Through the Past and Present on %u2018Parascourt%u2019 %u2019%u2019 was just delightful (PHOENIX, Oct. 5). However, you are in error about the theater on Butler and Court Streets, now called the Rex. It was called the %u201c Lido.%u201d The Parascourt was on the other side of the street.Well, %u201cto err is human.\ing views are always read and enjoyed by myself and family. Keep up the good work.%u2014Mrs. I. Buckley, Henry StreetDelightful Court RambleNino Pantano's delightful ramble through the Court Street of today and yesteryear (Phoenix, Oct 4) confirmed for me L.J. Davis%u2019 assertion in the same issue that New Yorkers never pay attention.totheir surroundings. Virginia farmboy was I then when the quaint charm of Court Street and the lively people around it made me a convert to this city where Manhattan never could.Now we tend to take all of this richness a little too much for granted. I am going to try to mend my own failing in this respect by strolling calmly some Fall afternoon with my mind swept of other cares and drink in all of the beauty and variety one finds there. The stores and eateries and the fine merchants are the best. This is a street to buoy us and enthuse us.%u2014WilliamHarris, Wyckoff StreetStory Worth InvestigatingWhat crummy pieces of reporting by Robert Crane and Gary Frederick (PHOENIX, P. 4, Sept. 28,). It%u2019s a %u201c landlord bias%u201d when the CAB approves rent raises for capital improvements but in the area where tenants usually win (overcharge and services reduction) it%u2019s only because the cases are \shut.%u201d The CAB may or may not be biased, but your reporters certainly are.There is a story worth investigating which the box on page 4 reveals. Why%u2014when everyone recognizes a housing shortage%u2014are landlords forced to abandon 4,205 walk-up buildings in Brooklyn alone? But investigative reporting requires an open mind.%u2014Basil R.Pollitt, Sidney PlaceNo Longer ExistsI wasted my youth pleasuring in movie houses like the late RKO Orphcum, subject of your \in the Sept. 28 Phoenix. While the photo is indeed of the Orpheum, the caption-writer is wrong in saying the Orpheum still exists. This great theater (which, because it dated to an era before the movie palaces, did not have a giant balcony but ascending circles of seating like an opera house) has been torn down and is now a parking lot. The Orpheum was located on the northwest corner of Fulton Street and Rockwell Place.The theater with the three lion heads on the facade referred to bv your caption-writer is, in fact, the former Brooklyn Strand, still standing on the southeast corner of Fulton and Rockwell. It still has the Strand sign in lights atop it. The Brooklyn Strandwas owned by Warner Brothers and received movies directly from the late New York Strand on Broadway. Many is the dimly lit Sidney Greenstreet or Faye Emerson epic 1 saw in the Brooklyn Strand.The corner of Fulton and Rockwell was a great piace for the 1940%u2019s moviegoer. Still standing empty next to the Strand is the Majestic Theater, which at one time played triple features. On the current site of yet another parking lot, just up from the northeast corner of Fulton a.,U Rockwell, was a fourth theater, the Momart. And just around the corner, of course, on Flatbush Avenue, were the Fox and Paramount.-- Charles Monaghan, Third StreetRex Was The Lido1 enjoy reading your paper but an error or misinformation is printed on page 15, (PHOENIX, Oct. 5). It is stated that the old theater on Butler and Court Streets is now called The Rex, back then it was called The Parascourt.The true facts arc that The Rex was formerly called The Lido, owned by %u201c Louie\of %u201c Joe%u201d Parascandola. the owner of The Parascourt and above it was the Paras Hall. Ibis is the locality where %u201c Ciao%u201d 292-294 Court St. is located presently; next door was the Pilgrim Hall (Now Casale%u2019s L.V. School for Gambling).On Page 20. Frank D%u2019Amico%u2019s photo appears with his father's name the late Emmanuel%u2014instead of his own name. Frank is correct when he stated that his father was a respected man in the community. He was a gentleman at all times. God Bless him.%u2014Samuel DIFazio, Sackett Street.Inklings by Gene SuchmaHe UM%u00a3 AN) %u00a3X~8l>uGAf?iA^ Po u c e HAVE REAS OnTt> B%u20acuevcLHe ms ATTACKED FROMBe M i Aj D ,,ev a man c a r r y in g - a ^U M 8 R C L L A ...O cto b er 1 2 ,1 9 7 8 , THE PHOENIX. P age 3