As several people noticed this past Friday, there was some activity at the former Vox Pop space on Cortelyou and Stratford, making us hopeful that this means it may be rented out soon. A clean up crew with the hilarious name “Junk in My Trunk” was captured by neighbor Michael Milch, who saw they’d removed “lots and lots of papers, it looked like, a stool and some other odds and ends” from the shop.

Still unable to reach the owners on the phone, though.… Read the rest

The former Vox Pop space has stood as a vacant mess for over a year. A prime location on a corner of Cortelyou Road, the awning hangs broken, the bench torn and filthy, but all of that is easily fixed.

Any business able to look past the surface would see that the location is ideal–just ask the owner of the Fishing Shrimp food truck, who commented recently that he has “been trying to get in touch with them for over 5 months so I can really expand my menu.”

And that reveals the true problem: The owners of the space don’t seem to want to fill it. None of my calls to the phone number on the sign have been answered, no messages returned. How many people ready to set up shop have called, gotten no response, and looked at some other commercial strip?

The phone number is assigned to two company names, Unicomm and United Properties Of Florida, as well as to Aron and Rachel Wasserlauf of 58th Street in Brooklyn. If you’re interested in the space, you can try calling 718-837-7987.

But since that doesn’t seem to work, if anyone has any information about how prospective businesses can contact … Read the rest

It has been a year since Vox Pop Cafe closed its gates for the last time in beautiful Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. An anchor in this rapidly changing neighborhood, Vox Pop was a wonderful place for neighbors to meet, freelancers to connect, local artists and musicians to share their art, and local vendors to offer their goods. It helped to build strong bonds in this diverse neighborhood and many of those bonds continue today.

One year later, that corner stands empty and dark. What remains of the once thriving community space is the beautiful art work on the gates, the falling awning that was Vox Pop’s first of many public art projects, and the ghosts of the wide variety of adult and children’s music.

My wish would be to see this space utilized again in some fashion that would breath life and light back into this corner. It is the only space on the block that has outdoor … Read the rest

Vox Pop Café was packed today, perhaps for the last time.

The popular Cortelyou Road coffeehouse, closed since late August, was filled with

people bidding in a public auction of the café’s assets. Everything from mugs and

bags of fair-trade coffee to an industrial freezer was sold off.

Vox Pop had served Ditmas Park as an unofficial community center, art space and

hangout since 2004. For the past year and a half, Vox Pop has been owned by a

collective of community members who assumed control from the café’s founder,

Sander Hicks.

“It’s a wake,” Lashonda Harris, a frequent customer, said with tears in her eyes.

Debi Ryan, who ran the café until August, found one positive note amidst today’s

sadness. “We were able to build a community,” she said of Vox Pop’s regulars. “Even

if the brick and mortar is gone, the community still exists.”

Some $58,000 in back taxes are owed to the state, according to Brad Malone of the

State Department of Taxation and Finance. The money from the auction will be

… Read the rest

Debi Ryan writes:

It saddens me to announce on Tuesday, September 8, 2010, Vox Pop shareholders voted to allow Vox Pop Café to close permanently.

There will be a state run sale of the assets auction held at Vox Pop Café, 1022 Cortelyou Road, on September 15th at 11:00 am with a preview and registration starting at 10:00 am. There will be no preview list prior to the allotted preview time set for 10:00 am on premises. Anyone can register to bid at the auction but you must present identification. All sales are final and on a cash only basis.

There will first be a call for a bulk bid, meaning that people can bid one price for the entire contents. That will then be followed by a lot by lot auction, where you can bid on individual items (or groups of items that have been put together by the auctioneer). After the auction, they will add up the lot by lot bids and if they are higher than the bulk bid, the individuals will get the items they won. If, however, the bulk bid is higher than the lot by lot bids in total, the bulk … Read the rest

And Debi Ryan says they haven’t totally given up hope:

“The fate of Vox Pop has not yet been determined,” wrote Ryan in an e-mail to The Brooklyn Paper. “The Board and shareholders are currently looking at various options to make a final determination as to what is best.” Ryan did not respond to further questioning about the café.

Ryan has battled endless troubles at the iconic Cortelyou Road café, bookstore and jam space since taking the reigns from its anarchist founder Sander Hicks last year and transforming the space into a “for-profit collective” with shares owned by various community members.

…Ryan made strides toward getting the café back on financial track, but apparently not enough. state Taxation spokesman Gregg Semanick declined to comment due to privacy restrictions.

For now, the café is shuttered, and neighbors have their fingers crossed.

“It’s a very quirky and interesting and place — I always liked it because it’s so weird and unusual,” said Marion Weiner, an area resident. “I don’t even go there that often, but I would … Read the rest

First of all, i just want to say thank you for all of your kind words. For years, my mother has poured her heart and soul into Vox Pop. She has spent more nights sleeping on the window seat or the one-upon-a-time bench inside, or even on the floor in the loft than she has in her own bed. She spent Christmas in a storefront, and in order to be with her (since she refused to leave till we raised the money to re-open) I had to bring Christmas dinner to her. If anyone in the neighborhood needed some advice, or someone to talk to, or just a hug from a mom, she was always there, arms open wide.
We’ve been shut down by DOH (for fines, not cleanliness problems), had the power shut off twice, and this is the third seizure by the Department of Taxation. All for past dues that accrued BEFORE she even set foot inside of vox. Anyone else would have walked-no, run away at the first demand of a lump sum of $65,000.00, but she stayed strong, and brought a community together, and raised the money in 11 days. She did

… Read the rest

After the latest seizure by the marshalls this morning, Debi Ryan says she has had enough. And before any of you snarky commenters put fingers to the keyboard, I just wanted to say that I have never seen anyone work harder at making Vox Pop work for our community – to be the space to meet, talk, learn, listen – over coffee or not. The neighborhood simply is not the same without it. What will become of it, time will show. Right now though – leave a kind note for them.… Read the rest

Join us for this biweekly Dance Party event. Hosted by DJ BooshWheelz, come celebrate the middle of the week with great drink specials, and beats made to get you through the night and the rest of the week.

DJ BooshWheelZ is an anomaly in today’s NYC music circuit. There are so few DJs left in NY who pride themselves on spinning classic Disco music. BooshWheelz hasn’t forgotten the roots of today’s dance music scene. There is still a multitude of people who still love the groove of Disco: the genre that gave birth to House Music, Drum & Bass and the like.

DJ BooshWheelz is currently the resident emcee for the NYC chapter of Baby Loves Disco and can be found getting folks grooving at venues all over the globe.… Read the rest

The general theme:

After tumultuous stints in, and bitter divorces from, the city’s Socialist and Green parties (under the latter’s banner, he twice ran for the Senate), Mr. Hicks now finds himself where he was always destined to be: more or less alone, in charge of his own political fiefdom on the fringe.… Read the rest