In August 2017 I evaded the dead horse heat of the dog days for a half hour in Berg’n, a food mall converted from a manufacturing warehouse on Bergen Street between Classon and Franklin Avenues. My experience was enjoyable. Full disclosure: I worked for the joint’s co-owner Jonathan Butler (best known for Brooklyn Flea, but before that the webmaster behind Brownstoner.com; I blogged for an offfshoot, Brownstoner Queens). He and partner Eric Demby branched off into food service with Smorgasburg, which pops up in various locations around town in the warm months.
I was the youngest here, but that’s becoming the norm anywhere I go these days except Citifield. The seating is first come first served communal, with handcrafted tables and benches. The selections are comfort food vendors (my favorite kind) such as Landhaus (burgers etc), Brooklyn Pizza Crew, Lumpia Shack (Filipino eats, since closed) and Mighty Quinn barbecue. There is a full service bar on the left, out of the photo. There are events such as trivia Tuesdays, comedy and game nights. I’ll return next time I’m in Prospect Heights.
photo: NYCsubway.org
I recognized the Berg’n business’s logotype immediately; it comes from the enamel signs that were formerly found in the Bergen Street F/G train station on Smith Street, a couple of miles to the west. Unfortunately these signs, and their apostrophes, were replaced in the 1980s.
Why does this train, a 1972 photo, bear a number? It’s not an IRT train. Few remember, though, that all BMT division trains also once bore numbers. I am unsure of the overall practice but apparently here, what is now the F train all the way to Coney Island from 169th Street in Jamaica was using the #5 designation for the Culver Elevated, which once ran from Sands Street in downtown Brooklyn to Coney, employing the vanished 5th Avenue El, what became the Culver Shuttle, and then today’s Culver El from Ditmas Avenue south. I’m hazy on when the line finally became the F — I know it was the D for a time. In any case I thought the designation had changed from 5 to F long before this. Andy Sparberg, help me out here!
The JoeKorner is the place to go for subway arcana.
In this shot Berg’n is on the left, with the Franklin Shuttle tracks spanning the street. In the background, a former Heinz factory looms.
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8/21/18