One Traveler's Opinion: Brooklyn
Jun 21st, 2000, 11:02 AM
#3
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As near as I can figure it, the changes to Fodors' site appear to cause long posts to disappear into the ether... or possibly Staten Island. I'm going to try this in manageable bites...
I had the pleasure to spend this past weekend in one of the most exotic locales in the United States; a land whose name is known to all, but is a cipher to most. In short, I went to Brooklyn. Herewith a report.
There is a commonly thrown-around statistic that one out of four Americans has roots in Brooklyn. If they don’t live there now, their great-grandfather lived there when he got off the boat and was courting great-grandma. I have always been suspicious of such statistics; they’re the kind of hooey that proves we’re all related to Princess Di because of someone who died in 1354 leaving 23 children. But I can claim direct lineage to Brooklyn: I lived there for a few years in the late 1970s, when Brooklyn was the affordable alternative to Manhattan.
I was there this past weekend for two reasons: I read that the roses were in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and there was an interesting art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I also wanted to re-acquaint myself with an area I once called home and see some of the nearby neighborhoods.
Our original plan was to try out Amtrak’s new high-speed Acela service from Boston, but the Acela “regional” service is the best available at present and, at four and a half hours, it is the slower alternative to weekend driving on I-95. Maybe in 2001. Also, the Brooklyn Museum of Art (hereafter called BMA) has a very convenient parking lot, just off of Grand Army Plaza on Washington Street. For $6 a day, it’s a bargain. If you’re a museum member, it’s free. If you’re coming by subway from Manhattan, the Eastern Parkway/BMA stop on the #2 and #3 (west side) train is less than a block away.
The entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is at one end of the BMA parking lot. Entrance is ordinarily $3.00, but on this Saturday morning, it was free. I remember the Garden from my time as a resident; it was a place you visited once, checked it off your list of places to see, and never journeyed back. Maybe much of New York was like that twenty years ago; a little scruffy around the edges with an uncomfortable amount of graffiti. On a June weekend in 2000, it was a glorious spot; 52 acres of manicured beauty, teeming with diversions. I have never seen it look so good; it is as attractive as any garden I have been in, anywhere in the world.
Our first stop was the Cranford Rose Garden. As advertised, it was in full bloom. Try to imagine 1200 varieties of rose bushes, 5,000 rose bushes in all, every one of them in glorious color. It is a formal garden, full of trellises and arbors. Every rose bush is identified by name and date of introduction (a few traced back to the 16th century). We spent nearly an hour there, entranced by the color, scent, and scale of the garden.
The Japanese Garden has also recently been re-opened. I remember it as a forlorn spot; a faded outpost that was easy to ignore. The 2000 version has been restored to the 1915 original with some additional visual elements. Like a good Japanese garden should, it captures nature in miniature: shrubs and trees, all carefully dwarfed and shaped, surrounded by hills, a pond, and forest-scale trees. The viewing pavilion is inviting, the bridges demand to be traversed. Somebody invested a lot of money restoring the Japanese Garden; it was funds well spent.
We had also read about the new Steinhardt Conservatory, actually a complex of greenhouses covering desert, tropical, temperate, bonsai, and palm-specific environments – four or more acres under glass. The presentations were all done with care, the effort to be “educational” didn’t suffocate the beauty. All in all, very satisfying.
(end of part 1)
I had the pleasure to spend this past weekend in one of the most exotic locales in the United States; a land whose name is known to all, but is a cipher to most. In short, I went to Brooklyn. Herewith a report.
There is a commonly thrown-around statistic that one out of four Americans has roots in Brooklyn. If they don’t live there now, their great-grandfather lived there when he got off the boat and was courting great-grandma. I have always been suspicious of such statistics; they’re the kind of hooey that proves we’re all related to Princess Di because of someone who died in 1354 leaving 23 children. But I can claim direct lineage to Brooklyn: I lived there for a few years in the late 1970s, when Brooklyn was the affordable alternative to Manhattan.
I was there this past weekend for two reasons: I read that the roses were in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and there was an interesting art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I also wanted to re-acquaint myself with an area I once called home and see some of the nearby neighborhoods.
Our original plan was to try out Amtrak’s new high-speed Acela service from Boston, but the Acela “regional” service is the best available at present and, at four and a half hours, it is the slower alternative to weekend driving on I-95. Maybe in 2001. Also, the Brooklyn Museum of Art (hereafter called BMA) has a very convenient parking lot, just off of Grand Army Plaza on Washington Street. For $6 a day, it’s a bargain. If you’re a museum member, it’s free. If you’re coming by subway from Manhattan, the Eastern Parkway/BMA stop on the #2 and #3 (west side) train is less than a block away.
The entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is at one end of the BMA parking lot. Entrance is ordinarily $3.00, but on this Saturday morning, it was free. I remember the Garden from my time as a resident; it was a place you visited once, checked it off your list of places to see, and never journeyed back. Maybe much of New York was like that twenty years ago; a little scruffy around the edges with an uncomfortable amount of graffiti. On a June weekend in 2000, it was a glorious spot; 52 acres of manicured beauty, teeming with diversions. I have never seen it look so good; it is as attractive as any garden I have been in, anywhere in the world.
Our first stop was the Cranford Rose Garden. As advertised, it was in full bloom. Try to imagine 1200 varieties of rose bushes, 5,000 rose bushes in all, every one of them in glorious color. It is a formal garden, full of trellises and arbors. Every rose bush is identified by name and date of introduction (a few traced back to the 16th century). We spent nearly an hour there, entranced by the color, scent, and scale of the garden.
The Japanese Garden has also recently been re-opened. I remember it as a forlorn spot; a faded outpost that was easy to ignore. The 2000 version has been restored to the 1915 original with some additional visual elements. Like a good Japanese garden should, it captures nature in miniature: shrubs and trees, all carefully dwarfed and shaped, surrounded by hills, a pond, and forest-scale trees. The viewing pavilion is inviting, the bridges demand to be traversed. Somebody invested a lot of money restoring the Japanese Garden; it was funds well spent.
We had also read about the new Steinhardt Conservatory, actually a complex of greenhouses covering desert, tropical, temperate, bonsai, and palm-specific environments – four or more acres under glass. The presentations were all done with care, the effort to be “educational” didn’t suffocate the beauty. All in all, very satisfying.
(end of part 1)
Jun 21st, 2000, 11:05 AM
#4
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Part 2....
* * * * *
If the Brooklyn Museum of Art (BMA) was anywhere but in New York City, it would be the outstanding cultural gem of wherever it was. But, BMA is less than ten miles from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and so it is judged by a loftier standard and found lacking. “It’s nice, but its not the Met,” is usually what people say. BMA also has a penchant for the wrong kind of publicity. This is the museum that mounted “Sensation,” a show of modern art that was criticized for all quarters for variously being profane or for its attempt to enhance the value of the collection. I’ll steer clear of that controversy, thank you.
We were there to see an exhibit called “William Merritt Chase: Brooklyn Landscapes 1884-1890.” For about 30 years, from 1880 to 1910, Chase was America’s most influential painter. While American contemporaries Sargent, Whistler, Perry and Cassatt lived in Europe and traveled infrequently to the U.S., Chase trained in Europe but built his reputation here. In 1884, he was in the midst of a scandal, having married a woman who had modeled for him the day before she gave birth to his daughter. Part of his effort to regain public favor was to change styles and subjects; this show covers those years of his life.
The paintings focus almost entirely on Brooklyn, where Chase’s parents and sister moved in the 1870s. The then-new Prospect Park is shown many times, as are other Brooklyn landmarks. Chase adopted the impressionists’ style and palette; the results are very eye-pleasing 120 years later.
BMA also houses one of the world’s great Egyptian collections. There is virtually an entire floor of the museum devoted to Egypt. The displays aren’t nearly as slick as the Met (“It’s nice, but its not the Met…”) or the Louvre, but there’s no mistaking the quality, and the commentary is as good as any museum, anywhere in the world. BMA’s collection of American art is one of the best anywhere, though conservation of many paintings seems to lag.
Admission to BMA is $4.00. It is one of New York’s great bargains.
* * * * *
If the Brooklyn Museum of Art (BMA) was anywhere but in New York City, it would be the outstanding cultural gem of wherever it was. But, BMA is less than ten miles from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and so it is judged by a loftier standard and found lacking. “It’s nice, but its not the Met,” is usually what people say. BMA also has a penchant for the wrong kind of publicity. This is the museum that mounted “Sensation,” a show of modern art that was criticized for all quarters for variously being profane or for its attempt to enhance the value of the collection. I’ll steer clear of that controversy, thank you.
We were there to see an exhibit called “William Merritt Chase: Brooklyn Landscapes 1884-1890.” For about 30 years, from 1880 to 1910, Chase was America’s most influential painter. While American contemporaries Sargent, Whistler, Perry and Cassatt lived in Europe and traveled infrequently to the U.S., Chase trained in Europe but built his reputation here. In 1884, he was in the midst of a scandal, having married a woman who had modeled for him the day before she gave birth to his daughter. Part of his effort to regain public favor was to change styles and subjects; this show covers those years of his life.
The paintings focus almost entirely on Brooklyn, where Chase’s parents and sister moved in the 1870s. The then-new Prospect Park is shown many times, as are other Brooklyn landmarks. Chase adopted the impressionists’ style and palette; the results are very eye-pleasing 120 years later.
BMA also houses one of the world’s great Egyptian collections. There is virtually an entire floor of the museum devoted to Egypt. The displays aren’t nearly as slick as the Met (“It’s nice, but its not the Met…”) or the Louvre, but there’s no mistaking the quality, and the commentary is as good as any museum, anywhere in the world. BMA’s collection of American art is one of the best anywhere, though conservation of many paintings seems to lag.
Admission to BMA is $4.00. It is one of New York’s great bargains.
Jun 21st, 2000, 11:06 AM
#5
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Part 3 (there is no part 4)
* * * * *
The northern tip of Prospect Park is just across the street from BMA. I’ve always treated Prospect Park as a counterpart to Paris’ Bois de Bologne, a green haven that was there more to provide vistas of the surrounding city than as a park to visit. The events in Central Park of the previous week were still in our minds, and so we skirted the park’s west side enroute to our destination: Park Slope.
A little bit of geology. Long Island, of which Brooklyn is a part, is a terminal moraine. That means a glacier covered as far south as New York City, pushing rocks and debris ahead of it, and then retreated. The southern part of Brooklyn and Long Island is essentially a very old sandbar. Through the middle of Brooklyn runs the moraine - all those rocks scraped down from Canada. Prospect Park takes full advantage of the moraine to provide natural vistas and rolling hills. Park Slope is at the top of the moraine, stepping down to Prospect Park.
Park Slope came into being with the park, circa 1860-1885. To wander into Park Slope is to take a step back into New York’s golden age. Low-rise in scale, it is bow front townhouses, extravaganzas of stone and brick in Romanesque and Victorian styles. Park Slope has never had to be “gentrified” because it has always been an oasis of middle class (now distinctly upper middle class) gentility.
It is also a neighborhood of restaurants. Park Slope is defined by Flatbush Avenue on the north, Prospect Park West on the east, 15th Street on the south, and an ill-defined boundary that is definitely east of 4th Avenue (and maybe 5th or 6th Avenues) on the west. But the heart of Park Slope, 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue between President Street and 12th Street, has seemingly one restaurant per 15 or 20 residents. We stopped in Sotto Voce on 7th Avenue (we liked the name) and found a classic trattoria festooned with photos of Italy. The food was delicious, moderately priced, and the service was friendly. On a Saturday afternoon, virtually every restaurant was drawing a crowd. Park Slope is filled with people who don’t cook on weekends.
Like much of Brooklyn’s brownstone crescent, Park Slope’s streets are lined with mature trees. They provide not only shade, but almost a small-town feel to this urban neighborhood. It is also a place where fitting in was not a problem. The same casual dress that instantly marks you as a tourist in Manhattan let you blend in with the “locals” in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn can be done as a day trip from most of the Northeast, downtown Brooklyn has sprouted several hotels in the past decade, and I found a database containing several dozen bed and breakfasts in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill; all very nice and safe neighborhoods.
* * * * *
The northern tip of Prospect Park is just across the street from BMA. I’ve always treated Prospect Park as a counterpart to Paris’ Bois de Bologne, a green haven that was there more to provide vistas of the surrounding city than as a park to visit. The events in Central Park of the previous week were still in our minds, and so we skirted the park’s west side enroute to our destination: Park Slope.
A little bit of geology. Long Island, of which Brooklyn is a part, is a terminal moraine. That means a glacier covered as far south as New York City, pushing rocks and debris ahead of it, and then retreated. The southern part of Brooklyn and Long Island is essentially a very old sandbar. Through the middle of Brooklyn runs the moraine - all those rocks scraped down from Canada. Prospect Park takes full advantage of the moraine to provide natural vistas and rolling hills. Park Slope is at the top of the moraine, stepping down to Prospect Park.
Park Slope came into being with the park, circa 1860-1885. To wander into Park Slope is to take a step back into New York’s golden age. Low-rise in scale, it is bow front townhouses, extravaganzas of stone and brick in Romanesque and Victorian styles. Park Slope has never had to be “gentrified” because it has always been an oasis of middle class (now distinctly upper middle class) gentility.
It is also a neighborhood of restaurants. Park Slope is defined by Flatbush Avenue on the north, Prospect Park West on the east, 15th Street on the south, and an ill-defined boundary that is definitely east of 4th Avenue (and maybe 5th or 6th Avenues) on the west. But the heart of Park Slope, 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue between President Street and 12th Street, has seemingly one restaurant per 15 or 20 residents. We stopped in Sotto Voce on 7th Avenue (we liked the name) and found a classic trattoria festooned with photos of Italy. The food was delicious, moderately priced, and the service was friendly. On a Saturday afternoon, virtually every restaurant was drawing a crowd. Park Slope is filled with people who don’t cook on weekends.
Like much of Brooklyn’s brownstone crescent, Park Slope’s streets are lined with mature trees. They provide not only shade, but almost a small-town feel to this urban neighborhood. It is also a place where fitting in was not a problem. The same casual dress that instantly marks you as a tourist in Manhattan let you blend in with the “locals” in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn can be done as a day trip from most of the Northeast, downtown Brooklyn has sprouted several hotels in the past decade, and I found a database containing several dozen bed and breakfasts in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill; all very nice and safe neighborhoods.
Jun 21st, 2000, 11:23 AM
#8
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Great post, Neal! I really appreciated it, as a friend of mine recently moved to Brooklyn and I've been thinking of visiting him.
With as many times as I've been to Manhattan, I've never visited Brooklyn, although I've always been curious about it. I suppose it's not possible to be nostalgic for a place one has never been to, but for some reason just hearing the word "Brooklyn" has always conjured up a sepia-toned association. I learned a lot from your post.
With as many times as I've been to Manhattan, I've never visited Brooklyn, although I've always been curious about it. I suppose it's not possible to be nostalgic for a place one has never been to, but for some reason just hearing the word "Brooklyn" has always conjured up a sepia-toned association. I learned a lot from your post.
Jun 21st, 2000, 11:51 AM
#9
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Leave it to Neal to find and report on the exquisite and the unusual. Many thanks, Neal! My contacts with that borough go back to the days of the Korean War when I was a transient at the U. S. Navy Receiving Station on Flushing Ave., either shipping in or out. It was NOT a rose garden.
Jun 21st, 2000, 04:53 PM
#10
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Thanks for the report--it reminds me that visitors aren't the only ones who forget to take advantage of Brooklyn. So, often, do we Manhattanites.
Another terrific cultural resource in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), which is host to world-class touring companies, not just music, but also dance and drama. For example, BAM just finished hosting the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov, and in September will host the Almeida Theatre Company of England, which is performing Richard II and Coriolanus, featuring Ralph Fiennes and Linus Roache. Also part of the complex is a lovely old-fashioned theater, the BAM Rose Cinema, which shows revivals, series, and festivals (currently Satjavit Ray films), and the BAM Café, a restaurant that also features informal live music. www.bam.org
Another terrific cultural resource in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), which is host to world-class touring companies, not just music, but also dance and drama. For example, BAM just finished hosting the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov, and in September will host the Almeida Theatre Company of England, which is performing Richard II and Coriolanus, featuring Ralph Fiennes and Linus Roache. Also part of the complex is a lovely old-fashioned theater, the BAM Rose Cinema, which shows revivals, series, and festivals (currently Satjavit Ray films), and the BAM Café, a restaurant that also features informal live music. www.bam.org
Jun 26th, 2000, 09:24 AM
#12
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CM, my comment about lost affordability was made in the full recognition that Manhattan prices have skyrocketed to absurd levels in the past few years. I think I was waxing nostalgic that, in 1978, I was a first-time home buyer who was able to purchase a three-story, two-family brownstone in Boerum Hill (then recently upgraded from being called "Gowanus") for an amount so small that the tenant's rent covered most of the mortgage. Today, I read of comparable brownstones in Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill changing hands for $600-800,000 -- well out of the price range of most first-time buyers.
Lisa, I think Brooklyn sometimes views itself in those same sepia tones. On Atlantic Avenue near Bond Street, there is a wonderful piece of billboard-size art on the side of a building that advises those who see it to "Dress Smart". It shows a 1940s-style scene of a man and car; the man dressed quite stylishly for 1946. It is billed as a message from "the President's Council on Appearances". Naturally, the poster is done in shades of sepia.
Caitlin, BAM is surely Brooklyn's gift to the metropolitan area of high quality performing art at prices affordable to the rest of us. Anyone who is headed to Brooklyn should check out www.bam.org for a guide to what is being offered. Thanks very much for mentioning it.
Lisa, I think Brooklyn sometimes views itself in those same sepia tones. On Atlantic Avenue near Bond Street, there is a wonderful piece of billboard-size art on the side of a building that advises those who see it to "Dress Smart". It shows a 1940s-style scene of a man and car; the man dressed quite stylishly for 1946. It is billed as a message from "the President's Council on Appearances". Naturally, the poster is done in shades of sepia.
Caitlin, BAM is surely Brooklyn's gift to the metropolitan area of high quality performing art at prices affordable to the rest of us. Anyone who is headed to Brooklyn should check out www.bam.org for a guide to what is being offered. Thanks very much for mentioning it.
