Isn’t It Just A Bunch Of Cream Cheese?

The simplest pleasures have the most convoluted history:

It is, at most, a footnote to what the world remembers about Junior’s, one of New York’s storied restaurants, a footnote to its famous recipe for one of the things that people think of when they think of New York. Jeffrey Horowitz acknowledges all that.

But when he heard a radio report recently that Junior’s, the Brooklyn palace of cheesecake as well as corned beef, was building a 180-seat restaurant near Times Square, he decided it was time to make the case for the footnote. He decided it was time to tell a story that has been forgotten, except, it seems, by his family.

It is a story of three families — his and two others — and the restaurant business after World War II. That much seems certain. According to him, it is also the story of a $100-a-year licensing agreement, a corporate bankruptcy and the recipe for Junior’s quintessential cheesecake.

The family that has run Junior’s since it opened in 1950 flatly denies Mr. Horowitz’s account of how the cheesecake originated, and disputes other parts of his story. But there are some elements of both families’ stories that appear to match, though others can no longer be verified — they are lost in the memories of people who have died. So there is really no way to prove or disprove Mr. Horowitz’s version of who did what to the cheesecake, or his other claims.

How Do We Put This? Let’s Just Say Identity Politics Still Exists . . .

The Daily News delicately tries to sort out the race (heh) in the 11th Congressional District:

When City Councilman David Yassky formally announces his run to represent the 11th Congressional District today, he’ll roll out a rainbow coalition of supporters to deflect “colonizer” accusations.

Black, white, Jewish and Pakistani leaders plan to bless Yassky’s controversial campaign at the Wyckoff Houses today, the Daily News has learned.

. . .

Yassky said, “I think that the campaign has support from every part of this congressional district.”

He has drawn criticism for running in a district created by the 1967 Voting Rights Act to give more representation to minority voters.

The other four candidates, who are black, are Councilwoman Yvette Clarke, Assemblyman Nick Perry, Chris Owens and state Sen. Carl Andrews — the last also a front-runner with a series of black and white endorsements.

Besides Hamilton, community activist James Caldwell and public housing leaders Charlene Nimmons and Marguerite Scott, all black, also will be at Yassky’s side.

The support from Hamilton and the others is crucial for Yassky because he’s the only white candidate running in a district that includes Brownsville and Flatbush.

Black support also could galvanize white liberal voters who might otherwise shy away from backing Yassky for a seat first occupied by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

“White voters need to feel that blacks will not be upset if they vote for Yassky,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Previously on: Nothing Against Your Policies, It’s Just The Color Of Your Skin, Barack Obama: Some Guy They Stuck In There.

Ironic, Because Everyone Knows The G Never Comes

The only thing worse than getting killed by a subway train while taking a leak is getting killed by a G train while doing that:

A man was struck dead by a train as he was using a Greenpoint subway tunnel as a toilet yesterday, police sources said.

The unidentified man was in the tube for the G line near the Greenpoint Avenue station relieving himself around 5:30 p.m. when an incoming Queens-bound train struck him.

Witnesses told cops they had seen an intoxicated man climb down into the tunnel shortly before the incident.

Towards A More Respectful Phallus

Brooklyn College art students cannot fathom why it’s offensive to exhibit provocative art in a war memorial:

A Brooklyn art exhibition that included a pet rat and a sculpted penis has been shut down by city officials who judged it too raunchy for the public.

The show, by Brooklyn College graduate students at the city-run Brooklyn War Memorial, was canned by the Parks Department after some people complained about the phallic display, which bore an obscene inscription, sources said.

A spokesman confirmed the exhibition was deemed offensive to families and said the department, which owns the space, has an agreement with the college to display “suitable” art.

But exhibitor Marni Kotak complained, “We have spent thousands of dollars and many hours putting together site-specific installations.”

See also: Brooklyn War Memorial.

Fuhgeddaboudit!

The Greenpoint Terminal Market is totally destroyed, and whatever is left will be demolished. That took care of that problem:

To step into what’s left of the Greenpoint Terminal Market is to step into a war zone.

The few warehouses still standing after a huge fire ravaged the historic Brooklyn waterfront were gutted and the remaining catwalks connecting them looked ready to fall.

Huge piles of crushed brick and corrugated metal lined cobblestoned Noble St. And a thick haze from the small fires still smoldering two days later hung over it all.

“It looks like an atomic bomb hit it,” Department of Environmental Protection worker Fred D’Amore, 45, said as he surveyed the site. “This looks like a war zone. Everything’s totally burned down. Fuhgeddaboudit.”

Down by the East River, a damaged wall with wood beams sticking out was all that was left of the pre-Civil War building where fire marshals believe an arsonist touched off the enormous blaze Tuesday.

FDNY First Division Chief John Bley said investigators have not yet been able to sift through that wreckage because “we’re afraid everything is going to collapse.”

The 21-acre site is owned by Joshua Guttman and his son, Jack, who was on the property yesterday wearing a white construction helmet and dress clothes. He declined to be interviewed. The Guttmans have strongly denied torching the buildings.