Bear with me: In some ways, the Pavilion helped normalize bedbugs. While in most residential settings, the mere mention of the possibility of bedbugs can put genuine strain on a relationship – “Get me out of this apartment,” your brain screams as you watch your close friend absentmindedly itch their arm and talk about the great shirt they found on the street the other day. Yet, at the Pavilion, no one seemed to bat an eye at the suggestion. It may have impacted ticket sales, especially after the rumor made its way into the tabloids, and it sparked a flood of alleged bedbug sightings and theater-bashing, but the theater remained open for years to come. In the end, Park Slopers chose to continue servicing their most convenient cinema instead of schlepping to a farther, pest-free one. The bedbug fear will not keep Brooklynites away from local businesses!
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Now, though, one dog could change the storied theater’s legacy. Kona, a bedbug sniffing dog, recently declared the Pavilion bedbug free, DNAinfo reported. Of course, it is too late to bolster the Pavilion’s reputation in life – the theater closed late last year, and is being replaced by the second location of Williamsburg’s Nitehawk Cinemas.
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What have we learned then, from this post-humous discovery? Perhaps it’s that bedbug paranoia is easily overblown, that Yelp reviewers are not to be trusted with their bedbug claims, or that maybe the Pavilion was actually exceptionally clean, and the grossness was intentional, like purposeful rips in denim or exposed brick walls. Or maybe the bedbugs are fooling us, taking refuge in Prospect Park and waiting until the coast is clear to return.
[H/t: DNAinfo]