Vines & Voices 030: Small Businesses Navigate the ICE Blackout
Plus, the weedification of West Brooklyn, billionaires can now eat Lucali in St. Barts and more.
Welcome to Vines & Voices, your weekly look at life across West Brooklyn. Curated by CSJ, this free newsletter brings together the local news and goings-on shaping our neighborhoods, plus a few extras worth knowing. Have a tip, a story idea or something you think deserves attention? Write to us. Your voice helps shape the story.
This Week for Paid Subscribers
A New Year’s trip to Copenhagen, complete with an unexpected Bear cameo and a lingering appreciation for Danish pragmatism, led to this meditation on food, beauty and trust. I spoke with Maya Ebbesen, co-founder of Frø, a Red Hook bakery bringing Danish rye bread to Brooklyn.
The Weekly Edit
Yesterday’s ICE Blackouts forced local businesses to make tough decisions about how to show up for their communities. Some chose to close their doors, others stayed open and turned the day into something meaningful.
Sujuk announced it would close its shops for the day and donate to mutual aid funds. L’Appartement 4F stayed open, writing via Instagram that “January is our slowest month and we have too many people relying on us for a paycheck.” Liz’s Book Bar also remained open and pledged a portion of sales to support the cause. Collier West committed 25 percent of the day’s revenue to www.immigrationdefense.org.
In a quieter message on Instagram, Rue Saint Paul said it would remain open and asked others not to “turn this into a marketing moment.”
Ward 6 reviewed Buzzy, Yerba Buena and other neighborhood dispensaries for a report on West Brooklyn’s weedification.
ALCOVE, a Park Slope–based startup offering on-demand, soundproof pods for private work, has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round and is expanding nationally with new hotel partnerships at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington and Fairmont San Francisco. The announcement builds on momentum from more than 1,000 customers, 10,000 hours booked and a model that can generate up to $100,000 a year per hotel in no-cost incremental revenue.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch wants NYU Langone Cobble Hill to retrain its entire staff after mistaking NYPD officers for ICE agents.
A man was found dead in the Gowanus Canal this week. His body was recovered Thursday afternoon.
Actress and Boerum Hill resident Rose Byrne’s role in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You has earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Salter House created a basics line made in Los Angeles out of organic cotton pointelle. Items are embroidered with the brand’s signature bunny.
Bar Bruno closed its Greenpoint location, though the original Carroll Gardens one remains open.
Lucali opened a St. Barts outpost, according to this article whose headline reads, wildly: “The Remote Island Where Billionaires Ring in the New Year, but Can Still Order a Pizza.”
Goings On
Brooklyn Daily Eagle put together a guide to the 58 Brooklyn eateries participating in Restaurant Week, which runs until Feb. 12.
Books Are Magic is hosting a free screening of Arco at Cobble Hill Cinemas tomorrow, Feb. 1. Interested parties can pick up tickets and free coloring books at the Smith Street bookshop.
The Thea’s Treats x June Wine pop-up has been rescheduled for tomorrow, Feb. 1 due to last weekend’s snowstorm.
The Brooklyn Museum’s 2026 First Saturdays series will begin with a tribute to Black History Month. The museum also announced that a forthcoming tribute to Dutch fashion designer Iris Van Herpen will open in May.
Babe Wine Bar, a community for queer folks to learn about wine, is throwing an event on Monday, Feb. 16 as part of their residency at the Ace Hotel Brooklyn.
Dollhouse enthusiasts will want to go upstate the weekend of March 6 for The Six Bells Countryside Inn’s miniatures workshop, led by artisans Lee Thomas and Peggy Kimball.
One Last Thing
New plates worth ordering: 6 NYC’s Kaas souffle appetizer and Insa’s black sesame sorbet with sweet puffed rice dessert.
Excellent curation, especially the ICE blackout coverage showing how different businesess navigated principle versus pragmatism. The ALCOVE soundproof pod model is interesting timing wise given the shift in remote work patterns. I saw a similar pod concept fail in SF three years ago becuase they underestimated the operational overhead, but partnering directly with hotels seems way smarter for unit economics.