At a dozen stops that included brownstone basements, storefronts with black-painted windows and places that looked more like industrial sites than nightclubs, the officers approached, pounded on a door and yelled: "Police!

Mr. Davis was the co-owner and manager of Leon & Eddie's, which began as a Prohibition-era speakeasy in a brownstone basement at 18 West 52d Street.

Waxie, on the other hand, had slowed considerably in the two hours since they'd visited the brownstone basement where the first body had been found more than three months before.

Calculating that persons might be watching him, he was trying to coax them to the brownstone basement, that he might spot them in his turn.

Time was when Case had looked forward to such an adventure, but his experience in the brownstone basement had taught him much.

Second, Sunset Hills Vineyards, a winery scattered around a brownstone basement in Sunset Park, three minutes from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, won a silver medal for its first entry, an '85 zinfandel blended with grenache.

From the 1930's through the 60's, few blocks of Manhattan's West Side were without a bistro or two, often in brownstone basements that had once been speakeasies.

I have heard the urban legend that the grates that lead into many storefront or brownstone basements are notorious for giving way when people step on them.

Built in 1887 and designed by William J. Merritt, this row has rock-faced brownstone basements and deep red-brick facades with a varying oriels, terra cotta trim, cornices and roof lines.

Only 144-148 now survive, but they share typical detailing of the Italianate style: rusticated brownstone basements, plain brick facades, projecting brownstone window lintels and bracketed cornices.