For the past few years I've made an annual " Brooklyn Neighborhood Exploration" list. Each year,…read moreI've designated a Brooklyn neighborhood that I want to explore more in depth; Williamsburg and Greenpoint have been two spots that I have explored heavily and am continuing to do so. This year Bedford Stuyvesant is now my focus.
After reviewing history of Bed Stuy, as it is colloquially referred to, there is a lot to explore!
Here is a neighborhood snap shot:
1. Compass: Bed Stuy borders on Flushing Avenue (North), Classon Avenue ( West) , Broadway ( East) and Atlantic Avenue ( South)
2. Main Shopping: Fulton Street
3. Architecture: Victorian, 8800 buildings built @1900 and many beautiful brownstones can be found here
4. Films: Spike Lee's " Do The Right Thing", great film and filmed on Stuyvesant Street now renamed "DTRT Way" and another fave, "French Connection"
5. Famous Folks: Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Lena Horne, Chris Rock to name a few
6. Landmarks: Brooklyn Tabernacle, 6x Grammy winning choir, originally Loew's Metropolitan Theatre, Bed Stuy Historic District, Billie Holiday Theatre, Bed Stuy Walls, Shirley Chisholm Circle
7. Restaurants: Peaches Hothouse, C'mon Everybody, David's Brisket House, Ursula, Fan-Fan Doughnuts
8. Community Gardens: there are a wealth of these and most are free to access via NYC Parks Access Green Thumb. So far I've passed Quincy Street Community Gardens ( so lovely) and Madison Hall. No wonder Bainbridge, Macon and Chauncey were named greenest streets. And a wealth of parks: Saratoga and Fulton.
9. Mass Transit: A, C and G with the G stopping at Bedford- Nostrand Avenue station. Bus: B7, B15, B47
10. "Bed-Stuy represents something of a paradox: one of the largest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, it is practically a city within the borough, yet offers an intimate, slow-paced, small-town vibe."
There's so much to discover and the rest of the year to do it.
Bed Stuy, I'm ready for ya!
More to come!