New York City Places

Downtown Brooklyn

Downtown Brooklyn encompasses multiple brownstone-filled neighborhoods, from Fort Greene to family friendly Park Slope, that are a joy to explore on foot. Indeed, with the exception of art exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum, the lush grounds of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and cutting-edge performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, so-called "sights" are thin on the ground here. Instead, the neighborhoods' real draw is their residential vibe, proudly local restaurants, and downhome shops and bars.

Fort Greene has long been a home to famous writers and musicians, and fittingly it's also the locale of one of the city's top performing arts powerhouses, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, known as BAM.

Park Slope residents are mostly academics, writers, and late-blooming couples pushing Bugaboo strollers to its cafes and designer stores. Seventh Avenue has long-established shops, while a slightly edgier crop of eateries, boutiques, and cafes can be found along 5th Avenue.

The park that gives Park Slope its name is the 585-acre Prospect Park created by Central Park designers Olmsted and Vaux. At the park's northeast corner is Prospect Heights, with its elegant high-rises overlooking the Brooklyn Museum and Botanic Garden.

The three adjacent neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill are quiet residential enclaves of leafy streets lined with 19th-century town houses. Action swirls around Court Street, with old-fashion Italian bakeries and meat stores, and Smith Street, Brooklyn's restaurant row, where there's a bevy of fresh, fashionable boutiques as well.