Something in the air in the bronx7/3/2023 Nearby, Wave Hill ( ) was a private estate visited by Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, and Theodore Roosevelt, but is now a serene public garden, looking out over the Hudson River. The 18th-century Van Cortlandt House has been restored as a museum, and its surrounding land is now the 464 hectare Van Cortlandt Park. To Gowanus, where the clean-up of its notoriously polluted canal is almost complete (you can now take sunset canoe rides, bookable at ), ushering in a new era of development around clusters of great spots: Threes Brewing ( ) for craft beer Insa ( ) for Korean barbecue and karaoke and the charming old-world Jalopy Theatre ( ) for folk music. In the evenings, fireflies dart between picnicking attendees while music plays.īut go deeper into Brooklyn still. On its north side, the Brooklyn Museum ( ) is at the forefront of culture (Duke Riley and Virgil Abloh are now showing), and the bandstand hosts the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival ( ). At weekends, the borough's de facto backyard is a ruckus of runners, cyclists, competing barbecues and birdwatchers, weddings and quinceanera birthday celebrations. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are well-trodden by tourists, the first neighbourhoods to gentrify and still generating some of the city's hottest dining destinations – just try to get a table at Cantonese American spot Bonnie's ( ).īut the red brick artist lofts and gritty dives that once gave it character have given way to luxury condos and pricey cocktails, and it can feel like a hipster Disneyland.įurther south, Fort Greene hits that sweet spot between harbouring genuine local culture and excellent fodder for any visitor.Ĭatch a show at Brooklyn Academy of Music ( bam.org), then stroll along DeKalb Avenue to find dinner – the eagerly awaited Saraghina Caffe ( ) just opened there – finishing at nearby Vanderbilt Avenue ( ) for one of the city's best Open Streets.įrom here, it is a short stroll to Prospect Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux of Central Park fame. It is reductive, in fact, to talk about Brooklyn as a whole – if it were a city, it would be the third most populous in the US and each Brooklyn neighbourhood has its own distinct vibe and calling card.Įach neighbourhood within Brooklyn has its own atmosphere. It has become a parody, too: quinoa milk lattes, tattoo parlours on every block, and unwanted innovations such as rainbow bagels and bars inside barbershops.īut there was a Brooklyn long before any of this, and a Brooklyn that lies beyond the reaches of gentrification still. ![]() ![]() There was a time when Manhattan-dwellers wouldn't deign to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, but those days are long gone, as are the cheap rents that originally fostered the artists and musicians who made this borough a byword for hip the world over.
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