Brooklyn Today: May 18, 2012
Good morning. This is the 139th day of the year. So you think that electric cars are a new idea? The May 18, 1902, issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle contained an ad from the “Electric Vehicle Company” for “broughams, Victorias and business vehicles.” “Physicians find our runabouts economical, safe, and with three times the working capacity of a horse-drawn vehicle,” the ad states.
Well-known people who were born today include writer-comedienne Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live”), actor Dwayne Hickman (“Dobie Gillis”), Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson, Hall of Fame tennis player Yannick Noah, and Hall of Fame baseball player and manager Brooks Robinson.
Today at 10 a.m., Borough President Marty Markowitz will welcome the Beijing Guo Sheng Peking Opera Troupe to Borough Hall. … Today and tomorrow at Chelsea Piers, Manhattan, more than 600 political, business and civic leaders will focus on the harbor at the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s 2012 Waterfront Conference. The Brooklyn waterfront is sure to be discussed, and several Brooklyn notables, such as Councilman Brad Lander, are on the panel. … Tomorrow and Sunday, the Prospect Park Zoo is hosting its 18th annual Fleece Fest celebration, featuring live shearing of the zoo’s sheep and alpacas. This promises to be a fun-filled event for people of all ages. Weavers will demonstrate wool working, and the Otter Brothers will entertain the crowd with live country music. … The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College will conclude its 2011-12 Target Family Fun series with the American Family Theater’s production of “Cinderella” on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Whitman Theater.