The Kensington Word: Meet Mike Sheehan & Diana King
From new transplants hailing from places across the city, country and globe to residents whose families have lived in Kensington for generations, our neighborhood is home to an amazingly diverse collection of people. This interview is the second in our The Kensington Word series, in which we’ll get to know some of our wonderful neighbors who make Kensington what it is today. For this week, we interviewed Mike Sheehan and Diana King, who for 12 years have lived in a house (with a backyard beehive!) in our neighborhood. Mike is a photographer and bartender, and Diana is a graphic designer and bartender.
How long have you lived in the neighborhood?
Diana: We have lived in the neighborhood for 12 years.
What prompted the move to our neighborhood?
Mike & Diana: We had been living in a co-op in Boerum Hill and were looking for something bigger. We had been to some parties in the neighborhood and liked it. Once we learned we could buy a house here for the same price of an apartment elsewhere, we decided to move.
What do you like about the neighborhood?
Mike: We enjoy all of the new restaurants that have sprung up. We love our backyard space. We both grew up in a small town and to us, this neighborhood feels like a small town. All of the business owners are very friendly.
Diana: We used to live in Queens but it did not have the same community feel; it felt very insular. Brooklyn feels like a series of small towns.
What is missing in our neighborhood?
Diana: A really good fish store. In addition, it would be nice if there was a green space or pocket park where adults could go and sit that is not filled with playground equipment.
Finish this sentence: Kensington is…
Mike: A great community. We both used to bartend at 773 Lounge on Coney Island Avenue before the fire, and we had gotten to know many of our neighbors that way. We also learned a lot of interesting neighborhood history. At one time, George’s Restaurant on Coney Island Avenue, near Cortelyou, which has been around since 1956, used to be a much larger restaurant, extending all the way to the corner. I would have liked to see it then. [Editor’s note: After being seized by city marshals last month, George’s will reopen and be run by the family of the original owners.]
Do you have a favorite restaurant in the neighborhood?
Mike & Diana: We enjoy dining at Lea, The Farm, Hamilton’s, Ox Cart Tavern, and Gyro King. The owners of Ox Cart are opening a new restaurant on Cortelyou, and we are looking forward to trying it.
What is the neighborhood’s best kept secret?
Mike: I think that people might not realize the beauty that exists at the nearby Green-Wood Cemetery. I photograph events at Green-Wood, and recently I took photos of 20 monuments of Civil War soldiers for an upcoming exhibit to be held at the cemetery. Green-Wood was originally designed to be like a park where people could go for carriage rides. It is a very beautiful and fascinating place. One of my favorite monuments there is to the founder of the ASPCA, Henry Bergh. His mausoleum is in the shape of a pyramid.
How would you sum up your daily commuting experience?
Diana: The express bus is my best friend.
We live in a very diverse neighborhood — how meaningful is that to you?
Diana: It is especially good if you are a cook because you can find any ingredients that you will need; there is no food item so exotic that it cannot be found in our neighborhood.
What do you think of Brooklyn’s newfound popularity?
Diana: We find it very amusing. We moved to Brooklyn in 1987, and, at that point, we could not get people to come to a party at our place because no one wanted to take the trip. Happily, that is no longer an issue.
How did you get started as beekeepers?
Mike: Five years ago, someone posted on a local website that he was looking for backyards in the neighborhood to host hives. We were interested in learning about beekeeping but did not know how to start. The person who we were hosting the hive for tended to the bees for the first two years and taught us about it. I also took a free comprehensive class on beekeeping through NYC Beekeeping.
What is involved in tending the beehive?
Mike: Since our bees did not survive the last winter, I drove to Wilkes-Barre, PA on Saturday to get new bees for the hive. I picked up three pounds of bees (approximately 10,000 bees) to repopulate the hive. The hive will grow to about 60,000 bees. In the early spring, you feed them sugar water to stimulate breeding. Once a week or so you tend to the hive to make sure that the queen is still laying eggs, check for pests or disease and watch for signs that the bees might be raising a new queen. They may try to do this if they think that the existing queen is not laying enough eggs, if she is injured or if they feel they have outgrown their space.
How much honey will the bees produce?
Mike: The amount of honey that is produced varies from year to year; last year they produced 150 pounds, or 150 jars of honey. It takes a couple of years for the hive to become that productive. [Editor’s note: You can see more about Mike and Diana’s bee and honey adventures on their Facebook page, Fun City Bees.]
Where are you bartending now?
Mike: Since the fire at 773 Lounge we have been bartending at Visions Cocktail Lounge and at Highbury Pub on Coney Island Avenue. We will also be working at 773 Lounge when it reopens.
Diana: As a graphic designer with my own company — Fun City Design, specializing in packaging and branding — I work from home and miss the exchange of ideas that takes place in an office setting. I think it would be a great idea to organize a Friday afternoon networking happy hour at one of the local bars for all of the other freelancers and work-at-home folks in the neighborhood. Preferably, during one of our shifts, of course.
If you know someone you’d love to see featured in this series, let us know! You can email us at editor@kensingtonbk.com.