OF NOTE- People In The News: Wednesday, December 4

Comedian Veronica Garza. Photo via Twitter

Some Brooklyn comedians are mining (allegedly) straight films for LGBTQ laughs. Each month, comedian VERONICA GARZA hosts Queer Film Theory 101 at the Downtown Brooklyn Alamo Drafthouse, where she and a team of guest comedians highlight the homoeroticism so often teeming just below a hetero plot line. The LGBTQ comedians “out” the mainstream movies, like “My Girl” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” that helped shape their budding queer identities during their formative years. Wednesday’s performers are CAITLIN REESE, FOXY AFRIQ and ALEX KIM. The show is free and begins at 8 p.m. at the theater’s House of Wax bar, 445 Albee Square West. 

Comedian Foxy Afriq. Photo via Twitter. 

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It’s hardly surprising that professional decorators are behind the over-the-top Christmas lights in Dyker Heights; The lights draw thousands of tourists to the neighborhood each year, and whole companies have sprung up to cater to residents who want their block’s most decked-out windows, extravagant light shows and elaborate animatronic displays — and are willing to pay for it. According to JAMES BONAVITA, a Bensonhurst native and owner of B&R Decorators, homeowners in the neighborhood regularly spend in excess of $1,000 in their bid to out-Christmas their neighbors. Bonavita has been decorating Dyker homes for 27 years. NANDO DIMEGLIO, who runs B&R’s main competitor, DiMeglio Decorators, says the companies have worked out an unspoken truce. “[They’re] more Bay Ridge and I’m more Dyker Heights,” he told Brooklyn Paper. “We don’t step on each other’s toes.” 

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A new garment manufacturing hub is coming to Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, and the New York Economic Development Corporation has just released designs for the facility, which will house 30 to 40 garment companies, as well film production companies and related industries. NYCEDC Vice President JHAELEN HERNANDEZ-ELI started overseeing the design of the space, along with the Brooklyn-based team nARCHITECTS and W Architecture & Landscape Architecture, in early 2018. He said the group’s goal was to keep garment jobs in the neighborhood. “Sunset Park is probably one of the highest concentrations of garment manufacturing outside of Manhattan, and what’s happening is folks are moving out or closing down,” Hernandez-Eli told Brooklyn Eagle. “Now they don’t need to. We’re providing space for them.”

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Gotham Greens co-founder Viraj Puri. Photo via indoor.ag

A Brooklyn-based company that pioneered hydroponic farming is poised to expand its urban empire to the Midwest. Gotham Greens, which opened its first greenhouse in Greenpoint a decade ago, will open a 30,000-square-foot greenhouse in Aurora, Colorado this year, where it will grow basil and 12 varieties of lettuce to sell at Whole Foods and local restaurants. The new farm will be the ninth facility operated by Gotham Greens, which Brooklyn residents ERIC HALEY and VIRAJ PURI founded in 2009. To grow their greens, Haley and Puri use a “nutrient film” technique, which uses about 95 percent less water than traditional farming while providing a higher yield, according to Haley. By the end of this year, the company expects to have facilities in nine   states, a distribution network that reaches 30 states and over 300 full-time employees. 

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Singer Christine Andreas. Photo by Stacy Sullivan

Two-time Tony Award nominee CHRISTINE ANDREAS will pay tribute to Broadway’s leading ladies on Saturday at On Stage At Kingsborough. “Here’s to the Broadway’s Ladies” will feature the greatest hits from stars like Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury and Barbara Streisand, from Broadway productions like “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “Funny Girl.” The show begins at 8 p.m. on Dec. 7 at On Stage At Kingsborough, 2001 Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach. For tickets and info, visit OnStageAtKingsborough.org

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JASON GOODMAN and TRAVIS TALMADGE are bringing communal bathing culture to Brooklyn. The entrepreneurs, along with restaurant maven AKIVA ELSTEIN, have joined forces for a slippery new venture: a public bathhouse on the site of a former 1930s soda shop in Williamsburg. At the bathhouse, (aptly named “Bathhouse”), visitors enter a sunlit reception area, then are led to a cavernous underground spa, where the walls are covered in Roman bathing scenes by muralist and illustrator AMIT GREENBERG, and the amenities include two saunas, a steam room, thermal pools, heated marble slabs and a sensory deprivation chamber. “The spa is often an isolated experience,” Goodman told Vogue. “But bathhouses are bustling, fun, engaging spaces.” For those in need of liquid courage before stripping down with strangers, Bathhouse also serves wine. 

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