Windjammer in a Jam

By Edmund DeMarche

 

 

When you walk into the Windjammer on Emmons Avenue and Bragg Street, it smells like a motel, only more so.

A light pink fake leather couch ripped on the side sits near a desk attendant behind a layer of plexiglass. He asks if you need anything. The halls are dark with a greenish glow.

Besides the fact one can rent a room for an hourly rate (For those in the market, $40 for four hours.), there’s something innately sexually provocative even in the name: Windjammer. But it really shouldn’t be. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a windjammer is a sailing ship or one of its crew.

For those living in Sheepshead Bay, the Windjammer Motel is a motel. You never hear “motel” after it– just “Windjammer.” When someone says, “I hope the date ends at Windjammer,” let’s just say it’s not for the scenic views of the mouth of Sheepshead Bay. That’s for sure.

Last week, the Windjammer was forced to temporarily close 15 rooms due to failure to provide natural light and poor ventilation, according to a complaint by the New York City Department of Buildings.

When a room lacks natural light, it does not receive enough sunlight through a window that may be blocked by a wall or is in some way obfuscated, according to the New York City administrative code. Poor ventilation may be a problem when a window cannot open or when vents in a room are not functioning well.

Terrence Lyght, the manager of the motel, said the rooms that do not offer enough natural light and ventilation will be corrected, but said the reason those rooms are darker is to provide the privacy.

“We closed off some rooms intentionally,” said Lyght. “We have some peeping Toms in the area.”

Back in May 2007, in what many consider a sex motel, Capt. James Currie, a zone commander in Brooklyn South’s detective bureau, was caught with his zipper down, filming a couple being intimate in the motel. This only added to the motels bad reputation.

“It has a bad reputation because it deserves one,” said Theresa Scavo, the chairwoman from Community Board 15. “The people that come and go out of it are generally not the world’s best citizens.”

Scavo has spent an increased amount of time around the motel because of the community’s push to build the Brigham Street Park, which would sit just east of the Windjammer.

She said there’s nothing but people getting in and out of cars and said you’d have to be foolish to think its used for anything else than sex.

“Nobody, and I don’t care how tired you are, is going to pull into a motel to stay for two hours,” said Scavo. “You pull over when you’re with a girl and you want to have sex.”

Lyght admits that 10 years ago there was a problem with prostitution, but he worked diligently with the 61^st Precinct to correct the problem and challenges anyone to prove otherwise.

 “Look, what people do behind closed doors is their business,” said Lyght. “I’m just here trying to improve the reputation the Windjammer has.”

It all started when a New York City disc jockey, Lyght could not recall his name, mentioned the Windjammer and how he brought a girl there. Lyght said ever since then, the motel became synonymous with sex.

The Windjammer is considered a “short term” motel, which means one can rent a room for 4 hours. Scavo claims that anyone can call and request a room for two hours, but Lyght denies the charge.

Last week, Sheepsheadbites.com, a local blog, uncovered the story after being informed by Gene Berardelli, an attorney from the Sheepshead Bay/ Plumb Beach Civic Association.

“Thanks to the diligence and research of SB/PBCA members and neighbors, the Dept. of Buildings have [sic] found the Windjammer Motor Inn in violation of different sections of the building code pertaining to providing natural light and ventilation to interior rooms,” Berardelli posted on his website sbpbcivic.org.

Lyght says the motel gets a bad rap. Sure it may accommodate a quick encounter, but he insists the motel’s main customers are upstanding citizens with one thing on their mind: sleep.

“We have people from all walks of life staying here, sometimes for weeks,” said Lyght, an African American who is middle aged. “We get families from Boston, New Jersey, you know, nothing we do here is shady or illegal.” Lyght questioned why the Brooklyn View was writing a story on the motel since it took ads out with us in the past.  

Trevor Gomes, the engineer of the motel, said the reason it was forced to close 15 rooms is because the former owner, Andrew Levenbaum, is dead-set on closing the business. It’s their opinion that Levenbaum informed the Department of Buildings.

What’s more, Lyght and Gomes said they both watched Levenbaum attempt to break the air conditioning unit outside the building.

 Andrew R. Levenbaum told the View he denies both charges.

There were poor reviews of the motel on Tripadvisor.com. One person posted: “I traveled to Brooklyn from Philadelphia on Aug 4th, because my wife had to catch a plane at JFk the next day so we stayed there over night. Well to make a long story short, it would have been much better if I did spend my night in my car. I would not let my neighbor’s dog spend the night there even if his life was in danger. The place has a funky smell, the carpet is horrible, the guest would be better off sleeping on the street pavement instead of sleeping on the bed they have for them.”

That seemed to be the general theme in reviews.

Cynthia and John, a Hispanic couple, were leaving the motel as your assigned correspondent was walking in, and when asked how their stay was, he replied, “Brief.” And they both laughed.