By Colin Mixson Love is in the air!
Everywhere you look
around, you see the signs that
Valentine’s Day is coming soon.
And if you’re being wise, you will
have a plan for Feb. 14, whether you
are happily paired up, on the prowl,
or forever alone and determined to
avoid sappy couples. We have found
a half-dozen events for every flavor
of Brooklynite:
Stupid Cupid!
Valentine’s Day is just a conspiracy
cooked up by chocolate
companies and Big Flower! Well,
you’re not buying what Hallmark
is selling! Valentine’s Day is just an
opportunity to embrace the bleak,
existential nature of existence —
with other people. Join other woke
lonely-hearts at Littlefield for the
concert venue’s annual “It’s Friday,
I’m (Not) In Love” Anti-Valentine’s
Day Party, where everyone wears
bohemian black, sings sad love
songs, and partakes in the universal
balm for broken hearts — booze!
Don’t celebrate Valentine’s
Day at Littlefield (635 Sackett St.
between Third and Fourth avenues
in Gowanus, www.littlefieldnyc.
com). Feb. 8 at 10:30 pm. $10 ($7 in
advance).
Get the hook up!
Sketched out by dating apps,
but still want some help finding
love? Jo Firestone and her band of
comedian matchmakers have you
covered! At the show “Friends of
Single People,” the wisecracking
love gurus will interview singles in
the audience, and then act on their
behalf in a classic dating game.
Get a date at Littlefield (635
Sackett St. between Third and
Fourth avenues in Gowanus, www.
littlefieldnyc.com). Feb. 10 at 8 pm.
$10.
Heart and Soul
Soul Swipe, a Tinder-like dating
app that markets itself as “black dating,
done right,” wants to hook you
up with a date for Valentine’s Day!
Its event, happening Downtown on
Feb. 12, will kick off with a twohour
speed-dating round, followed
by a mixer. Show up early for some
liquid courage — drinks and appetizers
are just $5 before 7 pm.
Find love at the Amarachi Lounge
(189 Bridge St. between Nassau and
Concord streets Downtown, amarachi325.
com). Feb. 12 at 7 pm. Free.
Register online at eventbrite.com .
Wine and dine
Brooklyn Winery will transform
its classy Williamsburg
booze depot into a guaranteed
three-pointer for dudes looking to
win Valentine’s Day, and ensure
at least a day or two of domestic
bliss. The evening features a
three-course candlelit dinner for
$65, beneath the clear glass sky
of the urban winery’s atrium, with
the option to spend a little more
— or a lot — on meal upgrades
and custom wine pairings. Why
overthink Valentine’s Day, when
you can reach into your pocket and
guarantee victory?
Dominate Valentine’s Day at
Brooklyn Winery 213 N. Eighth St.
between Driggs Avenue and Roebling
Street in Williamsburg, (347) 763–
1507, www.bkwinery.com. Feb. 14.
Reserve a seat by emailing reservations@
bkwinery.com.
What a ’tease!
Maybe you have a Valentine,
maybe you don’t — but when
COURIER L 40 IFE, FEB, 1-7, 2019 24-7
Shelly “the Singing Siren” Watson
is crooning love songs while wearing
a corset tighter than a hipster’s
jeans — who cares? Join Watson
and other vixens, including Miss
Coney Island 2019 Pearls Daily
and bendy burlesque boy Topher
Bousquet, at Brooklyn Bowl for
the “Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque
Valentine’s Spectacular,” which
fuses the art of striptease with bigtent
circus routines that will make
you forget your lonely heart — or
your Valentine!
Do Valentine’s Day dirty at
Brooklyn Bowl 61 Wythe St.
between N. 11th and N. 12th streets
in Williamsburg, (718) 963–3369,
www.brooklynbowl.com. Feb. 14 at
7:30 pm. $22 ($50 VIP).
Laugh at singles!
Comedian Lane Moore will
swipe right — into savagery —
and roast the desperate singles of
Tinder before a live audience at
Littlefield (which is really going
all-in on Valentine’s Day this year)
on Feb. 16, where she will project
her touch-screen antics on the big
screen as she deconstructs the shallow,
sex-fueled universe of online
dating. Funny people Jo Firestone,
Jean Grae, and Sam Grittner will
join Moore for the improvised
“Valentine’s Day Spectacular” edition
of her monthly “Tinder Live”
comedy show.
Chuckle at the expense of loveless
singles at Littlefield (635 Sackett St.
between Third and Fourth avenues
in Gowanus, www.littlefieldnyc.
com). Feb. 16 at 8:30 pm. $15.
Master thief: Author and historian Geoffrey Ward will discuss the
schemes of his swindler great-grandfather, Ferdinand Ward (pictured),
at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Feb. 7. Geoffrey Ward
HBy Julianne McShane e hit the Heights of
crime!
The great-grandson
of Brooklyn’s greatest con-man
will recount the crimes of his
ancestor next week, just a block
away from the house where
the 19th-century crook hatched
his schemes. At “The Swindler
of Brooklyn Heights,” at the
Brooklyn Historical Society on
Feb. 7, author and historian
Geoffrey Ward will reveal how
his forefather took a fortune
from former President Ulysses
Grant, and helped to prompt
the economic Panic of 1884 —
all to score some real estate in
America’s first suburb, according
to Ward.
“He loved Brooklyn Heights
— he saw the lovely streets and
how rich everyone was, and he
was determined to be one of
them,” Ward said of his greatgrandfather,
Ferdinand Ward.
Ward spent nearly five
decades researching his relative’s
heist, which he wrote
about in the 2013 tome “A
Disposition to Be Rich.” The
crook arrived in the Borough
of Churches as a penniless
24-year-old in 1875, but he soon
stole money from a Sunday
school, laundered it through
a local banker, and married a
woman with a hefty inheritance,
according to the author.
With his stolen funds,
Ferdinand bought a swanky
brownstone at 81 Pierrepont
St., where he launched his next
swindle in 1880. His brother
was the roommate of President
Grant’s son at Columbia, and
the fraudster met the former
commander-in-chief and convinced
him to be a partner
in what turned out to be a
pyramid scheme. Dubbed the
Grant and Ward Brokerage
House, the phony firm made
both the ex-president and the
confidence man rich, his greatgrandson
said.
“They really did have quite
a lot of money for a while —
he was the young Napoleon of
Wall Street,” said Ward.
But less than five years later,
the city’s banks began collapsing
— partly because so many
people had invested in Ward
and Grant’s flimsy firm — and
cops finally discovered his lies.
The Brooklynite went to Sing
Sing for seven years, leaving
the former president duped and
financially ruined.
“He lost everything,” Ward
said of Grant. “He had a lovely
house on the East Side which
he had to give up.”
The antique analog of
Bernie Madoff was a ruthless
and pathological liar,
inspired by the same avarice
that inspires criminals today,
said Ward.
“If you went to visit him,
he was this pious young man
who was just trying to make
some money for you — and
he was really good at it,” he
said. “I think greed is a timeless
quality. Easy money is a
temptation that almost nobody
can resist — even when it’s
clearly crazy.”
“The Swindler of Brooklyn
Heights” at the Brooklyn
Historical Society (128
Pierrepont St. at Clinton Street
in Brooklyn Heights, www.
brooklynhistory.org). Feb. 7 at
6:30 pm. $5.
Your feathered friend: Burlesque performer Broody Valentino will offer something
for the ladies at the “Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque Valentine’s Day Spectacular” at
Brooklyn Bowl on. Feb. 14.
So app-y together: Cobble Hill comedian
Lane Moore offers a special Valentine’s
Day edition of her show all about the dating
app Tinder.
Michael Robert Hartman Photography
Family guile
SAVE THE DATE
Six activities for your Valentine’s Day
Historian discusses
his criminal ancestor
/www.brooklynhistory.org
/www.littlefieldnyc.com
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/www.bkwinery.com
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