The doorbell rang. On the steps of the brownstone in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn were two police officers, two firefighters and two Buildings Department inspectors. The one who did the talking said to get out immediately, not because there was a gas leak, not because anyone was suspected of selling illegal drugs, but because the brownstone was being used as a bed-and-breakfast.

He also said that anyone who tried to go back in would be arrested.

That left seven people in limbo on that September afternoon. Six were tourists. Four were upstairs, the other two were out sightseeing or doing whatever else tourists do in New York. The inspector said they could not even pack their luggage. The seventh was Ambyr D’Amato, the live-in host.

The scene played out on a stoop that moviegoers with good memories might recognize. The brownstone, at 7 Arlington Place, was the backdrop for Spike Lee’s 1994 film “Crooklyn,” a warmhearted film that critics praised for its pleasant focus on a lost place and time. The place was Bedford-Stuyvesant, the time the 1970s.

How different 7 Arlington Place was then: It was a two-family house. That was before the housing frenzy swept through Bed-Stuy; before 7 Arlington Place was sold for $1.7 million ($400,000 above the asking price); before it underwent a top-to-bottom renovation; before it was rezoned as a one-family house; and before the bed-and-breakfast opened.