"I live in Brooklyn. By choice. Those ignorant of its allures are entitled to wonder why." Truman Capote (A House on the Heights).
Brooklyn (named after Breukelen, a small town near Utrecht in Holland) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Borough limits are identical with King County limits. It is located on the westernmost point of Long Island, sharing a land boundary only with Queens. Brooklyn was an independent city until 1898, when it was consolidated into New York City. It is its most populous borough, with nearly 2.5 million residents. One of its slogan's is "Home to Everyone From Everywhere!". Unlike the other boroughs of New York City, Brooklyn maintains a strongly distinct character of its own. Waves of immigrants have settled here and the fusion of cultures has resulted in this distinct Brooklyn flavor and some say a distinct Brooklyn dialect. Expressions such as "Fugheddaboudit", "Oy Vey!" and "Schmuck" are typical Brooklyn. They say that every seventh famous American was born in Brooklyn - a number which Brooklynites are proud of but one which is rather difficult to verify.
People who don't know Brooklyn tend to think of it as a middle & lower class dormitory suburb of Manhattan. That's not the image most New Yorkers have nowadays. Like Manhattan, its smaller cousin in terms of population (2.5million versus 1.5million), it has always been a borough of many neighborhoods, some rich, some poor and many solid middle class. Like Manhattan, gentrification is now progressing mercilessly, expanding from the already gentrified areas of Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens) into areas like Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Prospect Heights, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. The challenge for the coming years will be to manage Brooklyn's growth and maintain its cultural diversity.
This website does not strive to describe all the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. We rather focus on those areas, which are of interest to visitors. There are many other areas in Brooklyn, from the good to the bad to the ugly - like in every large urban area. So rather than taking an encyclopedic approach, we focus on the areas in Brooklyn we like best.
Most neighborhoods in Brooklyn are residential. The one exception is Downtown Brooklyn, the third largest business district of New York City after Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. Many of Brooklyn's neighborhoods are architecturally and ethnically distinct. But gentrification, especially in South Brooklyn, is gradually eliminating this ethnicity - for better or for worse. Example: Carroll Gardens used to be a working class Italian-American neighborhood. But today most of the residents are young singles and families and only a few of the oldtimers are left.
But there remain very ethnic neighborhoods: South Williamsburg and Borough Park are largely Orthodox Jewish. Bedford-Stuyvesant is New York City's largest African-American neighborhood next to Harlem. Brighton Beach is home to many Russian-Americans and Sunset Park to many Hispanic and Chinese Americans. The general rule is: the more upscale the area is the less ethnic it is or will become over time. Totally gentrified neighborhoods are Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope, historically the most upscale areas of Brooklyn. They are followed by Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Dumbo. On their way to gentrification are Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Williamsburg (Northside) and parts of Greenpoint. Also rapidly developing in a similar manner are Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. Recovering from industrial plight are the waterfornts of Red Hook and Williamsburg, where major residential developments are planned.
Brooklyn for Visitors
The "must do" for a day trip to Brooklyn are:
- walk over the Brooklyn Bridge
- be photographed at Fulton Ferry Landing (next to the Brooklyn Bridge)
- view Manhattan and the East River from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
- walk through historic Brooklyn Heights and view its brownstone row houses
- walk through historic Park Slope and beautiful Prospect Park
- have a peek at the Brooklyn Museum's Egyptian Collection
- have dinner on Smith Street in BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens)
- go on a nightly prowl in Williamsburg's Northside (Bedford Avenue around 10th Street)
