Vines & Voices 040: Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig Irish-exit the neighborhood
Lindsay Lohan films in Brooklyn Heights, Emma Straub releases 'American Fantasy' novel 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 at info@courtstreetjournal.com. Your voice helps shape the story.
On CSJ
I had the privilege of profiling the Caputos of Caputo’s Fine Foods, a fifty-year-old Carroll Gardens institution where mozzarella is still made fresh every hour. I spoke with Frank Caputo and his sons Joseph and Franco about how Giuseppe Caputo bought the building outright in 1976 for double its market value, why Frank turned down a job at Chase Bank to join the family business and what brought Joseph and Franco back full-time in 2020. It’s a story about family, foresight and a neighborhood that takes care of its own — and based on the reaction so far, many of you already love the Caputos! Read it here.
Elsewhere
Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig have left the neighborhood without so much as a goodbye. The couple recently sold their Cobble Hill home for $11.8 million, having sold the next-door property they also owned last year. I thought I’d run into James Bond at least once, but no such luck!
Lindsay Lohan, Kit Harington and Shailene Woodley have been filming Count My Lies, an upcoming Hulu series, in Brooklyn Heights. The show is based on Sophie Stava’s 2025 suspense thriller about a compulsive liar who fakes her nursing credentials to land a nannying job for a wealthy couple with a dangerous secret.
Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co.’s revamped Bar Bruno is now open, featuring a new menu with seafood additions.
Gowanus: it contains multitudes. Work on The Westmark, a two-tower residential complex, is wrapping up. There are 603 units between both towers, as well as 51,000 square feet of commercial space and two parking garages. The complex is also running an affordable housing lottery for 325 Bond Street, one of the two towers: 67 units are available ranging from $903/month studios to $1,142/month two-bedrooms, with income restrictions applying.
The city towed and scrapped a beloved Gowanus landmark overnight on Wednesday, April 1 — no joke. The bright green “monster mini” truck that had sat outside New Millennium Motors on 3rd Avenue since 2019 was a memorial to the shop’s late owner, Andreas Stylianou, who was struck and killed by three cars in front of his business that year. His widow Maria had decorated it for every holiday, locals posed with it for photos and neighborhood kids called it the “pickle car.” The city said it was towed because it had no license plate or VIN number, and was recycled before the family was notified.
The mixed-use building that houses Chase Bank’s Carroll Gardens branch, 390 Court Street, has sold for $6.1 million. Cobble Hill Ballet previously occupied the upper floors.
One lane of the Staten Island-bound BQE will be closed over four upcoming weekends, likely starting mid-to-late May, as the Department of Transportation continues rehabilitating the southbound deck over Old Fulton Street. The work was originally set to begin April 11 but has been pushed back; the exact start weekend will be announced closer to the date.
Our friends at the Red Hook Star-Revue attended a March community meeting at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church about the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Vision Plan for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (the proposal that would bring 35-to-45-story residential towers to the Columbia Street Waterfront and Red Hook). “The meeting was supposed to enlighten us on how to give compelling testimony about the environmental review process to the EDC. But our time would have been better spent watching Netflix,” wrote reporter Lisa Gitlin. Read the dispatch here.
Goings On
Enrollment for Green Thumb’s Cobble Hill CSA program is now open. The share is $673 for 27 weeks of organic produce, running June 9 to December 8, with pickups at Christ Church. Learn more here.
The Garden Club, a women-owned cannabis dispensary, opens today at 227 Smith Street.
City Foundry is holding its bi-annual Studio Sale this weekend, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Think: Discounted vintage furniture, lighting, art and décor.
The annual Spring Street Fair descends on Court Street, from Union Street to 9th Street, on Sunday, April 12. While you’re out, Black Gold Records (between Luquer and 4th Place) will hold its popular $1 music sale.
Friends from the Canal, a series of vibrant inflatable sculptures by Brooklyn-based artist duo Mookntaka, comes to Gowanus starting Wednesday, April 22. The works are designed to encourage connection and play and will be on view at Cafe Mars, Union Channel and Wyckoff Gardens, presented by Van Alen Institute.
The Atlantic Avenue BID kicks off its fourth season of Hoyt Open Streets with an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 25 from noon to 3 p.m. Stop by for free plants courtesy of the Horticultural Society of New York, kids’ activities with The Nature Company and composting and containerization info from the NYC Department of Sanitation.
Arts Gowanus, the nonprofit that advocates for and supports artists in the Gowanus community, has announced a packed 2026 season. Coming up: the fifth annual Tower Show opens Thursday, April 23 at Union Channel and runs through Sunday, May 17; The Other Art Fair runs Wednesday through Saturday, April 16 to 19 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; and the Patterns Gala, the organization’s largest annual fundraiser, takes a Venice theme this year and is set for Thursday, May 21 at Union Channel. Read the full lineup here.
Public Address, a public art exhibition conceived by artist Alex Strada — the inaugural Public Artist in Residence with the NYC Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Cultural Affairs — has taken up residence in Columbus Park, next to the Kings County Supreme Court building in Downtown Brooklyn. The show features handwritten reflections and drawings by people impacted by homelessness, including children’s drawings of family members and faraway roads through mountains. It runs through summer.
One Last Thing
Books Are Magic founder Emma Straub’s new novel American Fantasy released this week. To celebrate, Straub has teamed up with Lassen & Hennigs, the beloved Brooklyn Heights deli institution that has been family-owned and operated since 1949. Buy her eponymous salad there and get a discount on the book — a very Brooklyn way to launch a novel.