3 Best Sights in New York City, New York

Court Street is the eclectic main artery of Carroll Gardens. It's a quick lesson in gentrification, too, as you'll see shops like D'Amico, the third-generation coffee roaster, and tax offices sharing walls with cool dive bars and yoga studios. But Court Street, and Carroll Gardens in general, is not a story of "us versus them": sit on a bench in leafy Carroll Park and you’ll find nannies with strollers and octogenarian Italian men playing bocce coexisting in perfect harmony.

While Court Street is home to some of the neighborhood’s oldest businesses, Smith is a street of transition—a result of booming real estate prices and the neighborhood’s changing tastes. These days, you can find trendy bars and restaurants alongside long-dormant storefronts and sleek new constructions awaiting new occupants. On weekends the street can be packed day and night. This is the best drag of all the nearby neighborhoods to hear live music on Sunday evenings.

One of the oldest operating Catholic churches in Brooklyn, the neo-Gothic St. Mary Star of the Sea opened in 1855 and once had a clear view to the New York Harbor. Its well-known architect Patrick C. Keely was an Irish immigrant, the stained-glass windows were imported from Munich in 1897, and the altar rail—installed two years later—is made of marble from several Italian quarries. The church may be more interesting to some for the fact that Al Capone was married here back on December 18, 1918. Mass is held daily and open to the public.