SHORT TAKES : Spike Lee’s Hometown Is Proud

Spike Lee has been celebrated as a trailblazing filmmaker, the talk of the Cannes Film Festival and a Hollywood maverick.

But residents of the Ft. Greene section of Brooklyn, where he has opened a store that sells memorabilia from his movies, insist he’s still one of their own.

“You have to respect Spike,” said Marc Sweeting, 20, a student who looked over T-shirts after Spike’s Joint opened Monday. Lee’s latest movie, “Mo’ Better Blues,” had its premiere in Manhattan the same day.

“He came from Brooklyn. He makes his movies in Brooklyn. And he put his store right here. He didn’t go off to Hollywood with everything,” Sweeting said.

Spike’s Joint offers T-shirts, posters, books, caps, postcards and other items celebrating such movies as “Do The Right Thing,” “She’s Gotta Have It” and “School Daze.”

Lee, 33, lives in Ft. Greene, where several scenes from his movies have been filmed.

He said he opened the store because he was besieged by fan mail and phone calls requesting buttons, T-shirts and other movie memorabilia.

Lee said he hopes to use profits from the store to finance movie projects.