On a Saturday night in June 1989, a 37-year-old off-duty transit police detective burst into Wild Fyre, a strip club on the ground floor of the Hotel St. George, wielding his .38-caliber revolver. He paced the bar for 45 minutes, pointing his gun at various patrons and demanding a beer.
After a standoff with the bartender, the detective, Kevin Coyne, fired a shot at a stranger sitting at the bar. A few minutes later, about 50 police officers flooded the bar. Coyne fled out the back door into the Clark Street subway station, and was promptly tackled by officers.
The incident was one entry in the hotel’s long, strange decline. By the 1980s, the hotel, once a glamorous hotspot for celebrities like F. Scott Fitzgerald, had become “one of the city’s largest problem buildings,” according to The New York Times.
The original Hotel St. George was built in 1885 by Capt. William Tumbridge, a quarrelsome, larger than life businessman who served in the Union Navy in the Civil War. The 10-story hotel was one of Brooklyn’s tallest buildings at the time. In the following years, Tumbridge acquired more property on the block, expanding the hotel to over 1,000 rooms.
In 1922, the year after Tumbridge died, his family sold the hotel to real estate development group Bing & Bing, who continued to add new sections. By 1931, the St. George was New York’s largest hotel.
The hotel’s peak ran roughly from the 1930s through the 1950s. Presidents Truman and Roosevelt were among the guests who stayed overnight, and Brooklyn Heights local Truman Capote was a regular at the hotel’s massive saltwater pool.
By the 1960s, the St. George’s glamour had faded. Vacancies piled up and the building fell into disrepair. In 1984, the Tower and Grill buildings were converted to luxury co-ops. By the early 1990s, the St. George had effectively become a “ghost hotel,” The New York Times reported, “hauntingly half-empty, its paint-needy windows bare or draped with sheets or clothes, its hallways dark, its residents mostly elderly or ill.”
In 1995, a fire tore through the hotel, drawing more than 500 firefighters. City building inspectors ordered 350 nearby apartments closed until the most damaged buildings could be demolished, temporarily leaving hundreds of residents without homes. Police later said that the fire was sparked by a makeshift torch carried by a former Parks Department employee who had broken into a vacant section of the hotel in search of copper tubing to sell.
Today, the building houses student dormitories, and its old lobby doubles as the entrance to the Clark Street subway station — the same entrance where, just over a year ago, a corroded marquee came crashing down onto the sidewalk below.
But the building’s next chapter is already taking shape: Kings Athletic Club — a private club planning a bar and restaurant serving American classics, plus a pool, tennis courts, pickleball and other wellness amenities — is on its way. More on that in a future issue.
Heights Happenings
The public restroom near the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is the subject of an ongoing legal battle between the owner of a $4.95 million condo and Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York magazine reported. The condo owner, Salim Samaha, claims that the noises from the bathroom, including “banging of toilet stall doors, hand-dryer sounds and banging when the park employees operate doors in the storage room,” violate city noise codes. The restroom has been closed since 2020 as a result of the pending litigation.
Matthew Rhys, an Emmy-winning Welsh actor, Brooklyn Heights local and co-owner of the Brooklyn Bridge Marina, spoke with Good Day New York about his work with the marina ahead of a boating showcase this week.
The Brooklyn Book Festival is returning from Sept. 20 to 28. The main event, Festival Day & Literary Marketplace, will take place around Borough Hall on Sept. 27. It will feature award-winning authors such as Marlon James, Joyce Carol Oates, Douglas Stuart, Colson Whitehead and Tracy K. Smith.
New York City’s longest-running throwback dance party, Herbert Holler’s Freedom Party, is taking over Pier 6 Plaza in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Aug. 29 from 6 to 10 p.m.
The New York Transit Museum and the MTA are hosting a bus festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are free — advance registration is encouraged but not required.
L’Apéro by L’Appartement 4F is hosting a wine club event on Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
The Amateur Astronomers Association rescheduled last week’s stargazing event in Brooklyn Bridge Park to Aug. 19 from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Several Heights businesses are closed for summer holiday:
Lillo Cucina will be closed from Aug. 17 to Sept. 9.
Goose Barnacle is closed for August.
Diem Eatery will be closed from Aug. 14 to Sept. 9.
This week’s Movie with a View in Brooklyn Bridge Park is “Bridesmaids.” Entry for the screening on Aug. 20 starts at 6 p.m.
There’s a Coastal Cleanup volunteer opportunity in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Aug. 23 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Advance registration is required.
The Brooklyn Heights Association and the Atlantic Avenue BID both received grants from the NYC Department of Small Business Services to improve conditions for small businesses in the area. In Brooklyn, 32 organizations received a combined $2.8 million in grants.
The Center for Brooklyn History is hosting a Battle of Brooklyn Community Day to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. The all-day event will take place on Aug. 22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Read about the role that Brooklyn Heights played in the battle in the July 1 issue of Pineapple Street!)
Nearby News
Pony’s, a new cocktail bar at 424 Van Brunt St. in Red Hook, is opening Aug. 22.
Brooklyn Pop-Up and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition are teaming up for an artisan market on Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 from noon to 6 p.m.
Atlantic Avenue LDC is looking for vendors for Atlantic Antic, the oldest and largest street festival in Brooklyn, on Sept. 27. The application deadline is Aug. 31.
Planned Parenthood staffers rallied for better pay and working conditions outside of their clinic in Downtown Brooklyn last week, Brooklyn Paper reported.
A former NYPD detective was indicted last week for allegedly assaulting a handcuffed man inside a holding cell at a Carroll Gardens police precinct earlier this year, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office.
City & Courts
The New York City Council approved a set of bills to bring back outdoor dining year-round.
City Council also passed a package of four bills known as the Safe and Clean Outdoor Ownership Practices (SCOOP) Act to crack down on dog waste in the city following an increase in complaints about the issue. The bills would create a volunteer-led dog waste composting program, install dog-waste-bag holders on at least 1,200 public trash cans citywide, post signage warning of a potential $250 fine for not picking up after your dog and launch a citywide education campaign.
Councilmember Lincoln Restler is pushing to cap Citi Bike fares at $3, the cost of a subway ride. The push comes as Citi Bike fares continue to skyrocket. (A Pineapple Street ride from Red Hook to Brooklyn Heights last week: $18.)
Love the history!