Is it Fat Albert or Fad Albert? Take your pick.
A few days ago, I had the misfortune of having to go pick up a package at my post office. Folks in the North Stuy have to visit the Metro Bushwick Post Office near Broadway to get their packages, and that, in and of itself, is a nightmare. Did you know that the unair-conditioned Metro Bushwick Post Office has taken to showing pro-post office propaganda films on that one television bolted to the wall? In a sad attempt to brainwash us, the film showed us just how wonderful the post office really is and it featured lots smiling customers (clearly actors). Even if you don’t have to get a package, drop by the post office just to see the film.
But this isn’t about the post office, it’s about Broadway. Since the Fulton Mall faces major changes in the coming years, a common complaint I’ve been hearing is that the masses will have nowhere to do low cost shopping. I’ve got one thing to say: go east, young man. To Broadway.
Low cost furniture? Check. Sneakers and cell-phone covers and the guys shouting from the storefronts about bargain phone plans? Yep. Wig shops? Got ‘em. Kid selling pit-bull puppies on the sidewalk? Uh-huh. Cheap eats, muu-muus, bootleg Dora the Explorer coloring books? It’s all there. Did I miss anything?
Beautiful building with bad signage housing a cheap store on the lower levels. Wait–is this the Fulton Mall? No! It’s Broadway!
For a fleeting moment I actually thought that there was a Broadway renaissance going on. I spied a new chicken restaurant near Woodhull. It’s in a beige stucco building and at first I thought it was an El Pollo Loco, but it turned out to have some other name that didn’t ring a bell (Tropical Chicken?). I didn’t get a pic because technically it was on the Bushwick side of Broadway. In keeping with the beige stucco theme, there is also a relatively new Walgreens on the Bushwick side of Broadway. 
I also saw this nice dance studio called Salsa Salsa Dance Studio. Athough their website claims that this studio is in Bushwick, I’d argue that because they are on the west side of Broadway that puts them in Bed-Stuy. In any case, it seems like a great business and if you’re interested in taking lessons check out their website. In addition to this location, they also have a location in Park Slope.
Broadway’s retail strip is the heir apparent to the bargain shopping throne. Even though there are a few nice places along the strip, most of it is a dead-ringer for Fulton. So when the Fulton Mall abdicates the bargain shoppping throne, don’t worry, we’ll always have Broadway.
LOL Fad Albert on the awning…
Don’t forget about the art gallery near Kosciuszko street – Studio A I think. Lots of hair places and 99 cent stores abound. I wish there was a place to get a good salad, or healthy food, especially near the Halsey Street and Broadway.
I wonder what it’s like to live above one of those stores, and hear the roar of the train constantly. Anyone have any clues.
Yes, Fulton Mall is scheduled to become the next Soho, and bargain will still be on Broadway, despite the noise.
The Pollo Tropical is actually a fantastic restaurant Cuban/Caribbean fast food chain recently to enter the NY market from Miami. The Broadway location is their first of many to come, according to the cashier who served me two weeks ago. The food is actually very good, though arguably not to the standard of the originals in Miami.
I think that gallery is called A Space Gallery. I’ve got to get over there and see it. I’ve never been near the Broadway/Halsey area. If it’s all hair products and 99 cent stores, then I’ve seen that already at Broadway and Debevoise.
So the place is called Pollo Tropical. I thought there was something non-NY about it, and I mean that in a good way. The day I passed by there were a lot of people in the restaurant. I have to go pick up another package at the post office this week unfortunately, so maybe I’ll grab at bite at the Pollo Tropical.
I prefer Flatbush Ave around Church — similar to Broadway, but with a decidedly Caribbean flair. Jamaican-Chinese restaurants (gotta love that jerk chicken lo mein), Haitian bakeries (there is a distinct French influence in their patties — made with flaky pate feuillete, much lighter than the usual variety), Trinnie roti — yum! Not to mention cheap clothes of all sorts and lots of veggies.
I think it’s worth a good trip. Check it out sometime. If anyone has been to the food court in the Associated Supermarket with Subway, Nathan’s etc, it’s an experience, and odd to have a food court with a supermarket.
A space gallery looks cool from the outside can’t wait to get there. It is near Kossuth Place and Broadway I think.
this blog is brilliant. love it. i’m totally going to go looking for those pit bull puppies if there are any left. who writes this and how do i get in touch?
Hey krista, you can email me at thechangeling@bedstuyblog.com
at broadway & halsey there is Lucy’s Fruit Market, which actually has some good stuff if you don’t mind cooking. the produce is pretty good and they have a lot of odd asian foodstuffs. it’s not exactly Whole Foods but this vegan is surviving on it!
meanwhile, it will be interesting to see who Fulton Mall’s successor is. if nto Broadway then perhaps Knickerbocker in Bushwick? but then, none of these spots have the subways access of FM.
There’s never going to be another Brooklyn bargain shopping mecca with the subway/bus access of the Fulton Mall. Maybe places like Flatbush and Church, Broadway, Knickerbocker, etc. will see an increase in shoppers as the Fulton Mall slowly disappears, but I’m a bit doubtful that any one commercial strip will become THE center of it all.
And J-Legs–you’re a vegan surviving in Bushwick? God bless you. I thought most vegetarians and vegans died within months of moving to Bed-Stuy and Bushwick due to the lack of food.
The post office on Cadman Plaza is showing the same propaganda films. The solution? Buy a TV-B-Gone!
Keep a TV-B-Gone on your keyring, and you can stealthily switch off those annoying post office films (as well as those blaring TVs that have become ubiquitous in airports, emergency rooms and just about everywhere else we are forced to cool our heels and wait).
No, I don’t work for them, but I sure appreciate their product.
TV-B-Gone®