By Todd Stone
At the intersection of Dean Street and 6th Avenue yesterday, a U-Haul truck was parked outside of what used to be Freddy’s, a legendary Prospect Heights bar that served its last round of drinks over the weekend, after more than 70 years in business.
Freddy’s is among the last of the tenants of Atlantic Yards to pack up and leave – to make way for the much-protested construction of a basketball stadium for the New Jersey Nets, made possible by state laws of eminent domain.
It was moving day yesterday, and with an air of acceptance, mixed with nostalgia, a group of about six – mostly former employees of the bar – removed large pieces of furniture from inside.
One former employee named Michael walked out of the bar and into the heavy midday heat with a large monkey on his back, made of wood.
“We’ve got to keep that,” one of the guys said to Michael as he passed.
Michael used to live just three doors down from Freddy’s on Dean Street, in a brownstone building also condemned for the Atlantic Yards project. He moved out in February, but his next-door neighbors, at 481 Dean Street, stayed on until they were discovered still living there on Monday, as reported by the The NY Post.
“I’ve seen them going in and out [of the their home] all along,” he said, as if to convey that it was no secret to him that they were still living there. The fact that they were still there certainly didn’t seem to bother him; if anything, he seemed impressed.
According to Bill Murphy, Community Liason for Forest City Ratner, the developer of the project, everyone will be evacuated from the condemned buildings by tomorrow, May 7th. This includes Daniel Goldstein, an Atlantic Yards resident who became well known as the most vocal opponent of the development project, co-founding a group against the project called “Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.”
Until news surfaced this week of the hold-out family on Dean Street, it was believed that Goldstein was the last person, along with his wife and child, to remain in the condemned buildings. He refused to leave his three-bedroom apartment until the end of last month when he was offered $3 million to leave by the developer.
Murphy, the community liason, has an office on the Atlantic Yards premises where he fields questions and complaints from people in the community regarding the construction, which has already begun. While talking outside, a security man told Murphy that there are people on the roof, gesturing to the building where Goldstein still lives.
Realizing it was Goldstein’s building, Murphy said, “Don’t worry. It’s probably just Daniel Goldstein and his friends documenting the place.”
Murphy said that it was also moving day for Goldstein. Down below in front of Goldstein’s now vacant apartment building on Pacific Street, which was blocked off at 6th Avenue due to construction, there was a Rabbit Movers moving truck.
Tables, large wooden benches, and tall wooden bar chairs kept flowing out of Freddy’s. But right before the group stopped for a lunch break, one of the movers, Kirsten, recounted the big farewell party hosted by the bar on Friday night.
“There were so many people packed in here, I had to leave through the back,” said Kirsten, whose father is the former owner of the building.
As for the future of the bar, she said, “For now, we’re just putting things in storage and looking for a new place. But not in this neighborhood. It’s too expensive.”
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