Sheepshead Bay Gets Its First Holiday Banners — Sponsored By A Local Turkish Restaurant

A local Turkish restaurant has added some extra holiday cheer to Sheepshead Bay this year by sponsoring holiday banners in the neighborhood for the first time in recent memory.

Opera Cafe, the Turkish eatery located on Emmons Avenue, who wowed us this summer with their luxuriously rich lamb shank, has paid for the city to post 46 banners wishing neighbors a happy holidays. The banners can be viewed on Voorhies Avenue, Sheepshead Bay Road, Emmons Avenue, Coney Island Avenue, West End Avenue, and Brighton Beach Avenue, according to Benjamin Pokh, the general manager of the advertising agency that coordinated with the city to post the banners.

Pokh declined to say how much the banners cost, but explained that they weren’t cheap.

“Most businesses cannot afford to do this,” he said. “A lot of other restaurants and companies had the opportunity to do this, but Opera went above and beyond and spent quite a bit of money to wish everyone a happy holidays.”

Community Board Chairwoman Theresa Scavo said she could not recall another time that holiday banners have been posted in the neighborhood.

Opera co-owner Mustafa Boz, who has also covered the outdoor seating area of his restaurant with festive decorations, said he wanted to give back to the community that has been so supportive of his businesses.

“I love all holidays,” he said. “I have so many friends and I try to make people happy. We try to do our best.”

This isn’t the first time Opera has put up cash to sponsor banners around the bay. Boz said he paid for banners during the spring and summer to celebrate the changing of the seasons.