I Like New York In June 13th: Windsor Terrace

The renovation of the former pet store revealed an old stained glass candy store sign at 216 Prospect Park West. I searched to get info on the store and found it on the Gowanus Lounge site

Yes, the new liquor-store owners are indeed keeping the stained glass! They are also buffing up the old tile floors and some other details inside, and told me they’re excited about the restoration.
I spoke with some old time locals about the place. It was called Wetter’s (sp.?) and run by a German-American family of the same name from circa late 1930s-early/mid ’60s. Your basic soda fountain scene that also served burgers and the like. The counter was on the right, booths on the left. It was most recently a pet food/supply store.

Note: Let's see if KV music trivia expert Steve Needle knows who is singing this version of "How About You?"

Panoramic Scene Windsor Terrace

Around the corner from the webmaster's home:
A panoramic scene made from 2 adjacent panoramic movies taken in Windsor Terrace in June 2008. The first movie was taken at the intersection of Windsor Street and Fuller Place. It connects westward to Prospect Park West and Windsor Street

Brooklyn Bridge Panoramic Scene

A 4 node panoramic scene (a first for me!) made from 4 adjacent panoramic movies taken on and below the Brooklyn Bridge on June 12th, 2008. The first visible movie was taken in the little park below and just east of the bridge. There were many pictures required for the "stitching" because of the oblong shape of the area. As you look for the hot spots they are arranged in a south to north direction from left to right. The first (most left) is closest to the Brooklyn side. In the panoramic movie closest to the Manhattan side Knickerbocker Village is clearly visible

Who's Almost Who In Knickerbocker Village History: Natalie Wood

This is a real "stretch" unless you count the fact that Natalie grew up n Santa Rosa near KV west-man Neal Hellman. That could be Natalie's mothers' record on the ship manifest shown above. Her boat docked in New York in 1922. Tamara, the name listed, could later be Maria? BTW there are plenty of Zakharenko's living currently in Brighton Beach.
Natalie's biography:

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, also billed as Natasha Gurdin (July 20, 1938, San Francisco, California – November 29, 1981, Santa Catalina Island, California) was a three-time Academy Award nominated American film actress. Wood began appearing in movies when she was 5 years old, had parts in successful Hollywood films and unlike many child actors made the difficult transition to adult roles, most notably in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and West Side Story (1961). By age 25 she was a three-time Oscar nominee for Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass and Love With the Proper Stranger. After her untimely death Time magazine noted that although critical praise for Wood had been sparse throughout her career, "she always had work."Wood's parents Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko were Russian immigrants. Shortly after her birth in San Francisco they moved north to Sonoma County and lived in Santa Rosa, California where Wood was noticed during a film shoot in downtown Santa Rosa. Her mother soon moved the family to Los Angeles and pursued a career for her daughter. By age four Natalia was being billed as Natasha Gurdin. Like many parents of child actors her mother tightly managed and controlled the young girl's career and personal life. Her father has been described by Wood's biographers as a passive alcoholic.
As a seven year old, Wood played a German orphan opposite Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert in Tomorrow Is Forever. Welles later said that Wood was a born professional, "so good, she was terrifying". Her performance in the 1947 Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street made Wood one of the top child stars in Hollywood. She would appear on over 20 films as a child, appearing opposite such stars as James Stewart, Bette Davis and Bing Crosby. Her sister Lana Wood also became an actress and later, notably, a Bond girl. They had another sister, Olga.
Wood successfully made the transition from child star to ingenue at age 16 when she co-starred in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean, Sal Mineo and Dennis Hopper. Her performance won her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She followed this with a small but crucial role in John Ford's The Searchers opposite John Wayne. Her sister, Lana played her as a child in the film's earlier scenes. She graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1955.
Signed to Warner Brothers, Wood was kept busy during the remainder of the 1950's in many 'girlfriend' roles that she found unsatisfying. The studio cast her in two films opposite Tab Hunter, hoping to turn the duo into a box office draw that never eventuated. Among the other films made at this time were Kings Go Forth with Frank Sinatra and the title role in Marjorie Morningstar.
After appearing in the box office flop, All the Fine Young Cannibals with then husband, Robert Wagner, Wood's career was salvaged by her casting in Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass in 1961 which earned her Best Actress Nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.
Also in 1961 Wood played Maria in the Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise musical West Side Story which was a major box office and critical success. She had been signed to do her own singing but was later dubbed by session singer Marni Nixon. Wood's own singing voice was used when she starred in the 1962 film Gypsy and she also sang in the slapstick comedy The Great Race (1965) co-starring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Wood received her third Academy Award nomination (and another Golden Globe nod) in 1963 for Love with the Proper Stranger opposite Steve McQueen.
Although many of Wood's films were commercially profitable her acting was often criticized. In 1966 she won the Harvard Lampoon Worst Actress of the Year Award. She was the first performer in the award's history to accept it in person and the Harvard Crimson wrote she was "quite a good sport."
Other notable films Wood made during this period were Inside Daisy Clover and This Property Is Condemned, both of which co-starred Robert Redford and both bringing subsequent Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. After appearing in the hit film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Wood semi-retired to start a family with her second husband Richard Gregson but their marriage ended in divorce a short time later.
She appeared in occasional theatrical films during the 1970's, preferring roles in TV Movies, including a remake of From Here To Eternity that won her a Golden Globe for Best Actress. At the time of her death, Wood was filming the sci-fi film Brainstorm with Christopher Walken.

Natalie Wood: Love With The Proper Stranger

One of my favorites from the time I saw this movie as a 15 year old in 1963. I'm searching for a KV connection for this beautiful soul sister, i.e. according to Arianna Ratner

silent star Theda Bara was born Theodosia Goodman, Fanny Borach became Fanny Brice, Betty Joan Perske became Lauren Bacall, Ethel Zimmerman became Ethel Merman, Sophia Kalish became Sophie Tucker, Natasha Gurdin became Natalie Wood, Joyce Penelope Frankenburg became Jane Seymour, Stephanie Federkrewcz became Stephanie Powers, Elaine Berlin became Elaine May, Judith Tuvim became Judy Holliday, Marion Levy became Paulette Goddard, Ella Geisman became June Allyson, Karen Blanche Zeigler became Karen Black, and Noni Horowitz is Winona Ryder.

lyrics, sung by Jack Jones in the background of some of the movie highlights above

I could fall in love with the proper stranger
If I heard the bells and the banjos ring
If two certain eyes with the look of danger
Smiled a welcome warm as spring
If the beating in my heart
Sounded out a warning
"Don't let her,"
"Don't let her walk through the door"
"This is the one you've been waiting for"
Oh, yes, I'd know
However wild it seems,
You know I'd know
And I'd whisper
"Come take my hand, proper stranger"
"Don't go through life as a stranger"
"For I'm a poor proper stranger, too"
"Don't let her,"
"Don't let her walk through the door"
"This is the one you've been waiting for"
Oh, yes, I'd know
However wild it seems,
You know I'd know
And I'd whisper
"Come take my hand, proper stranger"
"Don't go through life as a stranger"
"For I'm a poor proper stranger, too"

Gwyneth Paltrow: What Is This Thing Called Love

The KV Colonel's favorite gal.

Ella: What Is This Thing Called Love, 1961

The queen to Sinatra's king. The year of my bar mitzvah. Too bad she couldn't perform instead of Leo Fuld of the Cafe Sahbra.

I was a humdrum person
leading a life apart
when love flew in through my window wide
and quickened my humdrum heart
love flew in through my window
I was so happy then
but after love had stayed a little while
love flew out again
what is this thing called love
this funny thing
called love
just who can solve its mystery
why should it make
a fool of me?
I saw you there
one wonderful day
you took my heart
and threw it away
thats why I ask the lord
in heaven above
what is this thing
called love?
what is this thing called love
this funny thing
called love
just who can solve its mystery
why should it make
a fool of me?
I saw you there
one wonderful day
you took my heart
and threw it away
thats why I ask the lord
in heaven above
what is this thing
called love?

Catharine Market 1850

A Knickerbocker Village Dispensary

A section from a 1879 map showing a dispensary on Hamilton Street. There's no PS177 on Monroe Street, but PS35 instead. There's also a couple of breweries, a flour mill, an iron works, a saw mill and Catharine Market.

Sinatra And "Skin": 1966

taking a break from dispensaries :)
Frank with the Count Basie Band and the great Riddle arrangement

I've got you under my skin
I've got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart
that you're really a part of me.
I've got you under my skin
I'd tried so not to give in
I said to myself:
this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist
when, baby, I know so well
I've got you under my skin?
I'd sacrifice anything
come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of a warnin' voice
that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear:
"Don't you know, little fool,
you never can win?
Use your mentality,
wake up to reality."
But each time that I do
just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
'Cause I've got you under my skin.
I would sacrifice anything
come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of the warnin' voice
that comes in the night
And repeats - how it yells in my ear:
"Don't you know, little fool,
you never can win?
Why not use your mentality,
step up, wake up to reality?"
But each time I do
just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
'Cause I've got you under my skin.
Yes, I've got you under my skin

Essex Market Court House/Dispensary: Birds' Eye View, 1920

Essex Market Court House/Dispensary: 1891 Map