Crown Heights and Prospect/Lefferts Gardens, formerly guarded secrets, are now two 'nabes that the rest of the world is starting to catch onto. Park Slope, the biggest brother of the "brownstoner" mentality, is on the other side of the park--and that is a blessing rather than a curse. Free you are from inflated rents, sort of. Welcome to family Brooklyn as it was meant to be.
The topography of the area is a familiar narrative to old-school Brooklyn. The neighborhoods began as bourgeois bedroom communities; hence the beautiful, late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century architecture and design, including tons of 3-story limestone townhouses. Eastern Parkway, the Champs-Elysses of Brooklyn, is a tree-lined multi-lane esplanade that people both commute on and relax around. In the summer, you'll find a lot of frozen ices and fresh fruit stands adorning the area. Hidden in the neighborhoods are stylish mansions and houses, including those in the Lefferts Manor area. The area benefits from your own exploring, but as a hint you should have the camera ready.
One of the most trumpeted aspects of this area (we'll give you a dollar if you can tell us where Crown Heights ends and Prospect-Lefferts begins) is the proximity to the park, which should come at no surprise. Prospect Park is a perennially underutilized resource, but most locals would agree things would take a turn for the suck if it turned into the overrun tourist zone like that big park in Manhattan. While the Park Slope side has featured newer redevelopments like the Bandshell and playgrounds, the attractions here are oldies but goodies. The Prospect Park Zoo and the Carousel have been local mainstays without much fanfare, but you'd be surprised how the good ole stuff for family fun holds up. Furthering the family fun is the award-winning Brooklyn Children's Museum.
But the "crown jewel" of Crown Heights is without a doubt the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a sublime destination filled with zen calm that makes you forget the city you left behind only five minutes ago. In springtime during the cherry blossom festival, the Garden is packed, but it's well worth it to see this fabulous nature show. And, of course, tucked in the most northeastern corner of the Garden happens to be the Brooklyn Museum, which now has at least one show of international stature a year as well as sporting a new post-modern front.
Demographically, this is a family zone with populations mostly of Hasidic and Caribbean peoples. Worth checking out is the West Indian Day parade come September. Also, at 770 Eastern Parkway, the Lubavitch Hasidic movement bought a building they liked so much that they rebuilt it all over the world for their global communities. However, probably the biggest thing to come out of this area was the Crown Heights Riot, a racially-charged conflict in the early '90s. It was Brooklyn back in the day of Do the Right Thing, where tensions were running high and the Hasidic and black communities were engaged in a conflict that bloodied up the streets. Gentrification and Giuliani have cleaned up said streets, though, so while there are still some leftover tensions the areas are much safer nowadays.
Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Garden are two beautiful, slightly unspoiled locales if you're looking for bedroom Brooklyn. The families are sweet, the Caribbean food amazing, the park access can't be overstated.
Nightlife
Neighborhood haunts abound here, usually with a West
Indian flavor. Check out Caribbean City to dance the night away, or
Tavern on Nostrand for a more relaxed beer. Newcomer Franklin Park provides the hipster/beer garden/patio vide.
Restaurants
Sit down places like Abigail and Chavella's are few and far between, but the take-out is amazing. Caribbean food is the name of the game, so get some roti or jerk chicken at hotspots like Culpepper's and Gloria's. On Lincoln Road, the choice is obvious: the fish tacos at Enduro.
Shopping
There isn’t exactly a shopping mecca here, though you can find fresh fruit and West Indian sundries everywhere. Off the beaten path are Jewish stores like Judaica World and get a whiff of the nearby Botanic Garden’s at Barbara’s. For baked goods, hit Allan's or Lily & Fig, and, to wake up in the morning, K-Dog & DuneBuggy is the place.
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This Neighborhood Featured in...
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Four Zoos and an Aquarium
By
Diana Pizzari
Animals! They're not just for slaughtering anymore. Diana Pizzari's got a thing or four to share about her favorite city zoos and aquarium. Open your ears and clear your minds of meat lust as she details some little-known factoids about bison, breeding and the Bronx.
Read More...
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On Our Radar:
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Monday, August 10, 2009
Posted By:
Craig Nelson
Photo:
S. Josephson
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
This Thursday, August 13, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's inaugural meeting of the
Linnaean Libation League convenes--which is a fancy way of saying BBG and
Brooklyn Based are inviting all to a fabulous summer garden party. In
honor of Carl Linnaeus, father of modern botanical taxonomy, the League
celebrates all the things Linnaeus was known for--beauty, botany, culture,
brilliance--over twilight drinks in the Osborne Garden. A
special cucumber-mint cocktail courtesy of the French aperitif Lillet will be
free the entire night and there will be $3 drafts of Sixpoint Craft Ale, the
evening’s other sponsor.Tickets for the night of cocktails and
live music are $15, available at bbg.org/lll, to everyone 21 and up.
(The opportunity to dress up in your favorite summer whites and seersuckers?
Priceless.) Guests are encouraged to find special Linnaean Libation
League calling cards scattered around Brooklyn at places like Champion Coffee, Ortine, home/made (formerly Tini Wine Bar) in Red
Hook, Franklin Park, Roebling Tea Room, Foragers Market, and Dumbo
General Store. Those who bring theirs, signed, will be entered into a drawing
for a year’s free admission to Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Posted By:
Rob Tallia
Photo:
Rob Tallia
Abigail
So far, Abigail is one-for-one; the jazz brunch was pretty great. Good food, loud jazz, completely relaxed atmosphere. And I love the people on Yelp complaining about the service; it warms my heart, it really does, to know that there are this many douchebags in NYC that I don't ever have to speak to. It's on fucking CLASSON Avenue, people--be happy there IS a fucking restaurant on this spot. Oh, you waited five extra minutes for your eggs benedict at brunch? Sorry! Walk north 15 minutes and go sit at a counter at one of Clinton Hill's crappy breakfast places; you'll be served inedible breakfast in five minutes for five bucks. Then leave the rest of us alone who don't mind waiting for good food while listening to live music that isn't some sort of inappropriate dub/DJ crap at 1:15 on a Saturday afternoon. Good riddance.
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Thursday, May 26, 2005
Posted By:
Annie Karni
Photo:
courtesy of www.bbg.org
When getting out to Fire Island or the Hamptons (or wherever it is that New Yorkers seem to run off to during summer weekends) does not present itself as a viable option for one reason or another, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a natural alternative. The Garden is teeming not only with flowers, trees, and footpaths, but with events— jazz concerts, roaming pirates, A Night in Havana (check their website for a full schedule if you’re into that kind of thing). But these events, which often infantilize adult behavior in the most embarrassing way, sometimes draw the very crowd one is trying so hard to lose. Our advice: ride the 2 train out to Brooklyn with a book and the crossword puzzle, find a shady spot among the lilacs and the roses, and spend the day sunbathing in a perfumed reverie.
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