Truman Capote might’ve lived in Brooklyn “by choice,” but he never had to deal with such critics.
The late, great “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” scribe is at the center of a controversy in Downtown Brooklyn. Some residents are peeved and perplexed over a famous Capote quote now being prominently featured in some of 78 directional signs and maps recently installed throughout the area to prevent people from getting lost.
The quote, “I live in Brooklyn. By choice,” is the opening of his 1959 essay, “A House on the Heights.” It’s now displayed on new directional signs hung in and around Brooklyn Heights, not far from the author’s former home at 70 Willow Street.
“I don’t like the signs,” said Tom Falvey, a 45-year-old learning specialist. “It sounds like it was put up by someone who doesn’t live here.”
“It’s offensive,” chimed, Laura Eisley, a 28-year-old architect. “Before I asked and learned that [Capote] said it, I took it to mean that we live in Brooklyn because we can’t afford Manhattan.”
Other Brooklyn Heights residents like Aaron Epstein, a 29-year-old wine salesman, said it implies that “we’re forced to live here.”
But Michael Weiss, executive director of the Metro Tech Business Improvement District, which spearheaded the $1.4 million signage plan, said the critics “ought to lighten up a little.”
He said the signs and kiosks were thoroughly scrutinized by city agencies, local community boards and civic groups before the BID got the green light to begin hanging them in November – and there was no criticism about the quote.
Weiss also said the signs are designed to include historical location markers, accompanied with whimsical quotes, to help tourists and other pedestrians get around Downtown Brooklyn.
Lee Stern, 55, who runs a music program and lives in the Heights, is a fan of the signs.
“People need to get over it,” he said “I like the quote. Because it’s Truman Capote, it’s a little off, a little more colorful. I was drawn to the sign by the quote.”
Ironically, after saying he lives in Brooklyn “by choice,” Capote in his essay then clarifies the statement by adding, “Those ignorant of its allures are entitled to wonder why. For, taken, as a whole, it is an uninviting community.”
Lee Goldman, a 83-year-old retiree from the Heights, pointed out that when Capote wrote “A House on the Heights,” “Brooklyn was going downhill” but is now “relevant” and “very high-priced all-around.”
Nowhere is that clearer than Capote’s former residence on Willow Street, as the five-story townhouse is on the market for $15.9 million.
“I wonder if he’d live in the borough by choice if he had to pay that price,” said Lauren Myers, 29, of Park Slope.