HOT BIRD, COLD WORLD, Cobble Hill

by Kevin Walsh

The “Hot Bird” chicken franchise originated in the mid-1970s in Brooklyn, with three prominent, yet simply designed, painted ads scattered around western Brooklyn.

The barb-b-que franchise clucked its last in the 1990s, leaving behind some large painted signs, a plain white, red and black ad on Court Street south of Atlantic Avenue, shown here; one on a now-demolished building facing Vanderbilt at Dean Street; and another on Clinton  Avenue just north of Atlantic. The Hot Bird name was revived below that sign as a Clinton Avenue bar that opened in a former auto repair place:

Now the bird is back – in a way. An old auto shop beneath one of the yellow signs has been transformed into a new business. But the new Hot Bird will be a bar, not a chicken joint, says owner Frank Moe, who also operates the Fort Greene bar Rope. “Just because the location is right under the old sign, I decided to name it after that,” he says. WSJ

Hot Bird was in the news lately, as Moe banned kids. In a bar? Fighting words near Park Slope.

7/30/14

1 comment

DDDDDuane September 12, 2022 - 9:15 pm

I started going to Vanderbilt Ave on a regular basis in the late 80s because I had a supplier there.
That “Hot Bird” sign (with the black background) on Vanderbilt near Atlantic was very visible…
There didn’t seem to be any “Hot Bird” food establishment around anywhere and I always wondered about that place…
In the late 80s that section of Vanderbilt Ave was very barren…. unlike now…

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