The cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden are just one reason why the borough holds a special place in our hearts.
Brooklyn’s had a place in our hearts long before it was hip.
Sure, it’s got rough spots, but that’s part of its charm. And with a new decade dawning and big changes afoot, we think there’s more than ever that makes Brooklyn the borough to beat.
Its art scene is booming; it’s the city’s go-to spot for restaurateurs and entrepreneurs; and it’s a place where Old World flavor meets cutting edge taste.
That’s just the start. Here are 15 big reasons we think Brooklyn rocks:
1. The best cherry blossoms this side of Kyoto are at Brooklyn Botanic Garden each spring.
2. The Brooklyn Museum’s big and bold enough to pull off art shows spanning thousands of years. In February, you can see one of Egypt’s oldest statues, and in June, you can check out Andy Warhol’s late works.
3. Thirteen acres of Brooklyn Bridge Park will finally open this month, featuring sweeping lawns, granite steps and a big playground along the waterfront.
4. Brooklyn’s a little bit country: You can rough it without leaving the city at Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, the only public campground in the five boroughs.
• Borough backyards are becoming farmyards one by one thanks to Stacey Murphy of BK Farmyards, who’s building a business raising organic vegetables behind homes in Ditmas Park.
• Student-grown, edible gardens are cropping up in schoolyards across the borough, like at Public School 107 in Park Slope.
• Brooklyn’s rebel urban beekeepers – from veterans like John Howe in Fort Greene, to newbies like Brandon Hoy in Williamsburg – are bucking the law to harvest honey from rooftop hives.
5. And it’s a little bit rock and roll: BAM’s Sounds Like Brooklyn festival will have home-grown bands like Les Savy Fav and Magnetic Fields.
• There’s Grammy-winning jazz at Puppets in Park Slope and even an opera-singing chef at da Tommaso in Dyker Heights.
6. Pro eaters down frank after frank at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island.
7. Brooklyn’s got heart.
• Charities from Salt & Sea Mission in Coney Island to St. John’s Bread and Life in Bed-Stuy feed thousands each day.
• Dr. Leisa Williams started the 1 City Youth Project so that neighborhood kids can learn basketball, cheerleading and step team on Saturdays in Bed-Stuy.
8. Brooklyn fits our (ever shrinking) budgets.
• A movie star shampoo, massage and blow out at Super Hair and Nails Salon in Bath Beach is just $10.
• Target’s free First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum make for a cheap date.
• Kids can get free lessons in ice skating basics at Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island as part of the Learn To Skate Program.
• You can spend a sunny summer day kayaking in Jamaica Bay with free kayaks and instruction from the National Parks Service.
• Baton twirling lessons from veteran twirler Cecilia Fedyn are free for kids Tuesdays at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sunset Park.
• A mere $5 gets you a heaping plate of curry chicken at Arthurine’s Kitchen in Crown Heights.
9. The borough’s finally getting its very own basketball team. Okay, everybody isn’t happy about that, but think of the T-shirt possibilities. With a population as big as Houston’s (and bigger than Charlotte’s), Brooklyn deserves it. And love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Nets’ history-making losing streak means there’s nowhere to go but up.
10. Flocks of wild monk parrots flit through the trees in Bath Beach, Red Hook, Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn College.
11. Brooklyn knows from pizza. It’s a place where connoisseurs argue passionately – and authoritatively – over the best pie, choosing from an array that includes Fascati’s in Brooklyn Heights, Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, Lucali’s in Carroll Gardens, and Ciccio’s in Gravesend, not to mention Di Fara’s $5 slice in Ditmas Park.
12. You can always find a chess opponent – at Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Fulton Park in summers or Wendy’s Restaurant on Empire Blvd. and Clove Road in winter.
13. The same Broadway block in East Williamsburg has signs in Spanish, English and Hebrew.
14. The Brooklyn Arts Council’s holding a year-long tribute to Brooklyn’s rich African-American heritage. Its Black Brooklyn Renaissance series starting in February will include performances by Haitian folk dance group the Brooklyn Jumbies and jazz legend Randy Weston.
15. You don’t need a plane to be transported to another world.
• One of America’s biggest celebrations of African culture and dance happens at BAM every year. DanceAfrica 2010 marks the series’ 33rd festival.
• Little old Italian ladies make fresh mozzarella with their bare hands at Lioni Latticini in Bensonhurst.
• Joloff Restaurant in Clinton Hill serves up traditional Senegalese dishes.
• Anything you can get in Russia, you can find on Brighton Beach Ave.
• You can pull up a lime green chair in Borough Hall Plaza and pretend you’re people-watching in Paris.
The cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden are just one reason why the borough holds a special place in our hearts.
Brooklyn’s had a place in our hearts long before it was hip.
Sure, it’s got rough spots, but that’s part of its charm. And with a new decade dawning and big changes afoot, we think there’s more than ever that makes Brooklyn the borough to beat.
Its art scene is booming; it’s the city’s go-to spot for restaurateurs and entrepreneurs; and it’s a place where Old World flavor meets cutting edge taste.
That’s just the start. Here are 15 big reasons we think Brooklyn rocks:
1. The best cherry blossoms this side of Kyoto are at Brooklyn Botanic Garden each spring.
2. The Brooklyn Museum’s big and bold enough to pull off art shows spanning thousands of years. In February, you can see one of Egypt’s oldest statues, and in June, you can check out Andy Warhol’s late works.
3. Thirteen acres of Brooklyn Bridge Park will finally open this month, featuring sweeping lawns, granite steps and a big playground along the waterfront.
4. Brooklyn’s a little bit country: You can rough it without leaving the city at Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, the only public campground in the five boroughs.
• Borough backyards are becoming farmyards one by one thanks to Stacey Murphy of BK Farmyards, who’s building a business raising organic vegetables behind homes in Ditmas Park.
• Student-grown, edible gardens are cropping up in schoolyards across the borough, like at Public School 107 in Park Slope.
• Brooklyn’s rebel urban beekeepers – from veterans like John Howe in Fort Greene, to newbies like Brandon Hoy in Williamsburg – are bucking the law to harvest honey from rooftop hives.
5. And it’s a little bit rock and roll: BAM’s Sounds Like Brooklyn festival will have home-grown bands like Les Savy Fav and Magnetic Fields.
• There’s Grammy-winning jazz at Puppets in Park Slope and even an opera-singing chef at da Tommaso in Dyker Heights.
6. Pro eaters down frank after frank at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island.
7. Brooklyn’s got heart.
• Charities from Salt & Sea Mission in Coney Island to St. John’s Bread and Life in Bed-Stuy feed thousands each day.
• Dr. Leisa Williams started the 1 City Youth Project so that neighborhood kids can learn basketball, cheerleading and step team on Saturdays in Bed-Stuy.
8. Brooklyn fits our (ever shrinking) budgets.
• A movie star shampoo, massage and blow out at Super Hair and Nails Salon in Bath Beach is just $10.
• Target’s free First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum make for a cheap date.
• Kids can get free lessons in ice skating basics at Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island as part of the Learn To Skate Program.
• You can spend a sunny summer day kayaking in Jamaica Bay with free kayaks and instruction from the National Parks Service.
• Baton twirling lessons from veteran twirler Cecilia Fedyn are free for kids Tuesdays at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sunset Park.
• A mere $5 gets you a heaping plate of curry chicken at Arthurine’s Kitchen in Crown Heights.
9. The borough’s finally getting its very own basketball team. Okay, everybody isn’t happy about that, but think of the T-shirt possibilities. With a population as big as Houston’s (and bigger than Charlotte’s), Brooklyn deserves it. And love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Nets’ history-making losing streak means there’s nowhere to go but up.
10. Flocks of wild monk parrots flit through the trees in Bath Beach, Red Hook, Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn College.
11. Brooklyn knows from pizza. It’s a place where connoisseurs argue passionately – and authoritatively – over the best pie, choosing from an array that includes Fascati’s in Brooklyn Heights, Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, Lucali’s in Carroll Gardens, and Ciccio’s in Gravesend, not to mention Di Fara’s $5 slice in Ditmas Park.
12. You can always find a chess opponent – at Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Fulton Park in summers or Wendy’s Restaurant on Empire Blvd. and Clove Road in winter.
13. The same Broadway block in East Williamsburg has signs in Spanish, English and Hebrew.
14. The Brooklyn Arts Council’s holding a year-long tribute to Brooklyn’s rich African-American heritage. Its Black Brooklyn Renaissance series starting in February will include performances by Haitian folk dance group the Brooklyn Jumbies and jazz legend Randy Weston.
15. You don’t need a plane to be transported to another world.
• One of America’s biggest celebrations of African culture and dance happens at BAM every year. DanceAfrica 2010 marks the series’ 33rd festival.
• Little old Italian ladies make fresh mozzarella with their bare hands at Lioni Latticini in Bensonhurst.
• Joloff Restaurant in Clinton Hill serves up traditional Senegalese dishes.
• Anything you can get in Russia, you can find on Brighton Beach Ave.
• You can pull up a lime green chair in Borough Hall Plaza and pretend you’re people-watching in Paris.
