Brooklyn Heights: 19th-Century Streets and 21st-Century Changes

As a Heights resident for nearly a decade, the neighborhood has changed considerably, some ways for the better, other ways not. The area immediately to the east has always confounded me. But Court Street has cleaned up its act somewhat in recent years, with the opening of Maison Kayser, Paris Baguette, and a few other shops, and nearby Fulton has even started to turn around. To the west, Brooklyn Bridge Park has had many stumbles in its development, and the buildings blocking the north Promenade view are truly unfortunate. Also, the amount of litter, noise and rowdy behavior from the crowds walking down Joralemon has lessened the street's appeal somewhat. But the green space there is getting better all of the time and it is a great amenity if you're a jogger or cyclist (the soon-to-open Pier 3 looks promising). Finally, yes, the Montague Street restaurants are a mostly uninspired lot but there are some great gems on North Henry, Atlantic Avenue and elsewhere. Above all, it's the tree-lined streets and well-kept homes that make it, IMHO, the nicest neighborhood anywhere in the city.

I believe the "photo" of 13 Pineapple Street is actually a Photoshopped rendering from the realtor, which eliminates the massive former Jehovah's Witness dorm behind it, which is being converted into apartments. I have lived in the Heights since 1968 and the days when longshoremen lived here. Then it began to change, with airline people, nannies, and limousines appearing, and elegant parties in the surrounding brownstones. So far, the overwhelming number of people to-ing and fro-ing from Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP) has adversely affected primarily Joralemon Street and the formerly quiet Willowtown area. The far north Heights, particularly Middagh Street, is also under pressure from those en route to BBP. When BBP first opened, they expected maybe 200,000 visitors the first year. Instead, according to the WSJ, they got 1.4 million. This year, they expect 5 million. The neighborhood continues to change and despite the impressions of Damian Totman in the comments here, the changes continue, some not for the better. We like our celebrities (Jennifer Connelly has just purchased a brownstone on Columbia Heights) but leave them alone. Having said all that, as super-talls go up around the city, some just outside the Landmarked area, I remain happy that I live here.

We arrived in Brooklyn Heights in 2012 as shell-shocked East Village survivors. We never looked back. We bought a great apartment in the hidden street that is College Place, in the old car park building. Occasionally we would encounter disgruntled, displaced parkers who would complain to us like it was our fault they had to look for a spot now. We met the knitting club that is the Brooklyn Heights Historical Society management. We ran into Bjork in the dry cleaners. We observed the alpha-parent-complex at St Ann's school morning drop-offs. We ate at the all the ritual places and wrote them off, one by one. As first we wondered about why nothing ever changed on Montague Street, and why it was always 1985. Then it clicked, Brooklyn Heights and its old money and huge daily civic workforce just like it the way it is. And that's it. The weekday lunch crowd dictate the food scene on Montague Street. And that's fine. I'm glad that I don't have to stand outside waiting for 45 minutes to get a seat for brunch while some wanker parked in a yellow Testarossa yells into his phone. There's quiet. There's trees. There's beautiful architecture. There's pavements relatively free of homeless encampments. There's the best subway links to wherever, at your fingertips. There's not Manhattan. We just moved to London nine months ago, and the only thing we miss about New York is Brooklyn Heights.

People like buildings like these. Why not build them instead of the impermanent steel and glass junk that's going up these days? If they could get it done 150 years ago certainly they can do it today.

This article totally glosses over the effect that the Witnesses and their departure had and are having on this neighborhood. There is a severe lack of grocery stores and restaurants/bars (that actually cater to locals instead of tourists or court employees) due to the fact that the JWs didn't spend any money on local businesses. Brooklyn Heights is about to get FLOODED with new residents and local (food-related in particular) businesses are about to get overrun. I see way more big box stores coming in as well as more crazy expensive businesses (Dumbo Soho House, anyone?). Not to mention the fact that an abysmal parking situation is about to get significantly worse. Finally, way to not mention the fact that the views from the Promenade used to include the entirety of the Brooklyn Bridge but are now limited due to the illegal height of the Pierhouse/BK Bridge Park condo development. Can we also talk about how the president of the Brooklyn Heights Association greased the wheels (and probably some palms) for the Pierhouse development and then promptly bought the first available unit? Ugh.

This is a wonderful overview of my neighborhood. Given its length (not enormous), it's inevitable that this or that resident would spot what s/he thinks might be an omission or 2 worth pointing out. In my case, I'll limit it to these 2, where the 2nd one actually has, I think, a little "real estate" connection. a) There ARE 2 ferry stops in Brooklyn Bridge Park; they really serve VERY FEW "commuters," because while it makes a wonderful way to get to a job on Wall Street, they're like our airports - situated in places that often double one's commute time - from 15 minutes, to 30, say - and ... "time is money." THEY DO, however, connect to 2 interesting Brooklyn "touristy" destinations - Williamsburg and Red Hook ... and to Governors Island. b) Before there was Brooklyn Bridge Park, there was - AND STILL IS - Cadman Plaza Park. Its several acres of green attract thousands of children and their significant elders on any spring day. When a neighborhood is bounded by spectacular waterfront, with a band of parks just within, ANOTHER lovely park ... and Atlantic Avenue - still almost entirely "small businesses" and eateries/drinkeries, ... well, it doesn't get any better than that!

Well, Brooklyn Heights has changed. The storefronts on Montague are glassier and glitzier, we have lost our wonderful second-hand bookstore, and the stationery shop has disappeared. Among other things. And seemingly permanently, the Packer Collegiate Institute seems to have lost the word "Institute." I noticed the change when Brooklyn began to suffer in the mid-1970s and Packer went co-ed. I figure someone hoped that ending with the word "Collegiate" would make it sound more like a boys school and give it some Upper West Side pizzazz. As if that were needed. Besides that, Brooklyn Heights has lost its library. Don't let the developers and the de Blasio administration snooker you -- the new one will be substantially smaller. But ah, that's all right, it'll include a latte bar. Isn't that great?

Another famous Brooklyn Heights resident was Yoko Ono, her first husband and their daughter. They lived on Columbia Heights. I lived in that house back in the early 1980's. It was a wonderful time for me back then, and i got to see the 100th year anniversary celebration and firewoks display for the Brooklyn Bridge from my roof top above the crowds(talk about a mob scene).

As a resident of Brooklyn Heights, I find it funny that anyone would label the neighborhood "funky". It is one of the least funky places in all of New York City. Watch the children and parents in tennis whites heading into the Heights Casino to play squash, and see if funky comes to mind. What prospective residents should know is that food shopping is a bit, lets say, limited, unless you walk to Trader Joes, or schlep to Fairway in Red Hook. The Witnesses provided meals to the thousands of followers who cycled through their residence halls, so our "diluted" local food purchasing-power was not addressed the way it is in Carroll Gardens, or Chelsea, etc, where similar demographics require good food suppliers. Same for restaurants, with the exception of Sociale on Henry Street. However, if you want to eat out and pretend it's 1985, there are lots of choices.