Overtures
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Type of Place: Gift Shops
Card Shops
Description:
We're hearing a lot right now about the end of summer. Excuse me, but
my calendar says I still have a month of it left. And I'm planning to
milk that month for all it's worth. If you, too, still have a lot of
summer in you, Overtures in Brooklyn Heights will help bring it out.
Year-round, the shop is a great one for gifts and special events. It
began--in 1981, in this same location, with the same owner (Michael
Davidson)--as a stationery shop, and you can still choose and order
stationery or invites here. But the shop has evolved into a terrific source for
unique home items: great additions to your own place, or presents for
the friends with summer houses you still have time to visit.
What's more, they're having a rare sale. A sleek blue glass pitcher
with a green rim that calls out for lemonade (or margaritas) is now
$36.95; and a jaunty pink/purple/orange polka-dotted bag by Jane Marvel is on
sale for $25--great for the beach, and useful as an everyday tote bag
that will help you keep summer with you all year. For kids, there's an
assortment of toys and gadgets, including a wonderful-sounding
contraption called "bubble blast" ($9.95) that squirts out bubbles it promises
will light up at night. I haven't seen this in action, but I sure want
to. What drew me in to Overtures was an item in the window that I'd
never seen elsewhere: an embroidered brooklyn pillow detailing the various
neighborhoods of Brooklyn ($125)--a great offering for devoted
Brooklynites tying the knot. There are also cute Brooklyn glasses ($12 each).
There's an appealing selection of bath product (soaps, lotions,
candles, and linen sprays); umbrellas for the occasional rainy day (I liked a
Frank Lloyd Wright pattern, $30.95); and photo albums to display the
summer memories (a green-leaf pattern from Home Essence caught my eye;
$18.95). Camera plus child plus the bubble blast plus photo album =
pretty much perfect.
As I shopped, Amy Winehouse's summer-smash album was playing, and Amy
was singing about how she doesn't want to go to rehab, though others
think she should. I've read that real life has caught up with Amy's song
and that she really did have to go to rehab, and might in fact still be
there. But if you're reading this, you're probably more free to get out
and enjoy the season. Do it--and bring some gifts with you.
- Pamela Grossman; August 19, 2007
Overtures
216 Hicks St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-643-9345
Map
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