An account from someone who was watching the election returns at Greenpoint's Palmoa when a fire broke out. From the comments:
"I was there last night watching the election with a few friends, one of whom recently started working there. We smelled something burning but had no idea what it was, until about ten minutes later (during McCain's concession speech no less) when I noticed how smokey the room had gotten. At that point one of our servers and [owner] Camille ran through and started yelling at us to get out immediately, that there was a fire.
It was blazing wildly out the window and dripping onto the street making it dangerous and daunting to leave. It was tremendously frightening and a bizarre episode during such a joyful and amazing night. Not to mention my friend who works there broke her wrist running from the fire and we spent a good part of the night in the ER.
At about 2:00 we left and met some friends for a much needed drink, at around 3:00 I came home washed the burnt-out glass from my hair, watched Obama's Acceptance speech and cried.
I haven't eaten there that often but, whenever I have, it's been great not just because of their food but because of their friendliness and their sense of community. It was like a smaller, less evolved version of Diner for me and I was so proud of my friend that she had found a great new place to do what she does best- cook.
They were planning to open for lunch the thursday and I was genuinely excited for them. And I opened this stupid Eater account just so I could tell you that. I don't know why people get off crushing dreams and criticizing their neighbors but its pathetic and cynical and makes you sound lonely and old..."
· Greenpoint's Paloma Burned in Post-Election Blaze [~E~]For more stories from Eater, go to eater.com.
