UPDATED: Finally Some Action At Former Maybelle Space On Henry Street

***UPDATE***

Friend and PMFA reader Rick Luftglass reached out to me after reading the post below to inform us that Purbird Flame Grilled Chicken of Park Slope, not Sweet Chick was moving into the space vacated by Maybelle's Café on Henry Street.

Whatever 'bird' place moves into the storefront that once housed the famous Cammareri Italian bakery, you may enjoy the photos that Rick sent to us of the original bakery equipment that is still stored in the basement of the building. (You can see the photos by scrolling down)
Rick writes:

"They left the Cammareri Bros. bakery equipment in the basement. They put up drywall around the equipment. Apparently the equipment was too large and heavy to be removed, so none of the restaurant owners moved it out.
As you see in the photos, they had already started to put up the walls, and were preparing to put up the drywall. By now, I assume they're covered up.
Someday, decades from now, an urban archaeologist is going to find it. "


Thanks for the information and the photos Rick. What an incredible time capsule and a reminder of one of the best bread bakeries in the neighborhood.

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Original Post
Maybelle's, a favorite café spot at 502 Henry Street across from Farmacy, sadly closed its doors last January. Since then, the storefront has been empty.

However, reader Edward alerted PMFA last week that there has been some action recently and that it appears as if Sweet Chick , a "rustic-chic eatery" that serves "American cuisine with a Southern accent" may be moving in.

Edward writes:
"It looks like Maybelle's at Sackett and Henry will become Sweet Chick.They seem to be working on the interior until late night so it may be soon. Sweetchick as to other restaurants by the same name in NYC."

Sweet Chick has an outpost on Ludlow Street in Manhattan and a second one on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. Apparently, their waffles and fried chicken are pretty awesome. So are their drinks.

Of course, Maybelle's occupied the space which was once the beloved Cammareri Bakery. In the late 1987, several scenes of the movie Moonstruck with Cher and Nicolas Cage were filmed in the bakery.

(stills from the movie Moonstruck)

Here are the photos Rick Luftglass shared with Pardon Me

(photos courtesy of Rick Luftglass)

And here is a wonderful scene of Moonstruck's Loretta Castorini and Ronny Cammareri's first encounter filmed in Camareri Bakery's basement.

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Moonstruck: When Cher Walked Into Camareri's On Henry Street Twenty-Five Years Ago

(stills from the movie Moonstruck) 

I remember the day Cher and Nicolas Cage came to Carroll Gardens to film a scene for the movie "Moonstruck" as though it was yesterday.  This was back in early 1987,  and unlike today, film crews and big movie stars were a rare sight in the neighborhood.   So, there was much excitement about the fact that Cher and Cage had been sighted at Cammareri's, an old fashioned family-owned bakery that made the best bread in the neighborhood.  It is hard to believe that 25 years have passed.

The "Moonstruck" scene was filmed in the bakery's storefront and in the basement at 502 Henry Street.  It focused on the first meeting between Loretta Castorini (Cher) and Ronny Cammareri (Cage), the brother of the man she agreed to marry. 

One of the residents who caught a glimpse of the goings-on that particular day was John Khoury, author of Go Sit On Your Own Stoop, a wonderful memoir of growing up in South Brooklyn in the 1970's.

Khoury recently recollected the day on his site.  He writes:

After learning that Cher was in the movie, I walked over to the corner of Henry St. and Sackett St., where the giant lights stood and began watching the fascinating process of movie making. Fascinating because I never saw anything get done,  yet I know the movie did get released and won awards and was popular. I stood for hours on end across from Cammareri’s Bakery, waiting for a glimpse of Cher. That never happened. The only person of note I saw was a guy named Tony, who used to work in Nino’s pizzeria. Tony had aspirations of being an actor and I think he either wormed his way onto the set or was invited as an extra. Either way, the only thing I saw him do that night was lean against a doorway, talking to some other guy I didn’t recognize, while the crew ran around and did stuff.  

They were both in white shirts and pants and both looked like they were trying too hard to look cool. If leaning against a doorway doing nothing was considered acting then there was a star on every block in the neighborhood back then. I eventually got bored and tired, went home and never stopped to watch the filming again. 

When the movie was released I, of course, went to see it. I was really interested in seeing the neighborhood more than anything else. So imagine my surprise when Nicholas Cage appears in his first shot and I instantly realize that he was the other nobody hanging out in the doorway with my friend Tony! 

The other interesting thing about seeing the movie recently was to watch the background in certain shots. In these brief snippets you can get a real feel for life in the neighborhood at that time. The first thing I noticed was graffiti on a parking meter, in front of the Rex Theater, which is now the Court St Cinemas. But the biggest eye-opener was seeing old women walking around with their shopping carts. It felt like they were contantly roaming the streets back then, like ‘The Warriors’ , only with canes and curlers . There were very few young families at the time and there were certainly no throngs of young, single, career-minded people. The neighborhood was comprised mainly of families that had been there forever and I don’t know, maybe it’s because people exercise and eat better now but God, everyone seemed so old back then, even though they were probably only in their 30s or 40s.

So much has changed in the neighborhood.  Cammareri stopped baking at this location in the 1990's.  Many still miss their great bread. Today, movies and TV shows are being filmed in Carroll Gardens all the time, and stars are spotted in Carroll Park.

But I am sure others still remember catching a glimpse of Cher on Henry Street back in 1987.

John Khoury and I  would love to hear from anyone who was there that day.

Below is a  scene of Loretta Castorini and Ronny Cammareri's  first encounter filmed in Camareri's basement.

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