Chronicles: Brooklyn’s Eye on Manhattan

 
The Brooklyn promenade is without a doubt, one of the greatest sites in New York City. Forget for a second about the cobbled streets or gorgeous Gothic revival architecture of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood where it sits and instead, cast your eyes western, across the East River, and gaze upon one of the most famous and awe inspiring views this city has to offer, that of Lower Manhattan; the location where it all began. A city founded there by the Dutch in 1624 and which has been expanding north, south, east and west ever since. In fact, if it was up to New Yorkers, they’d have annexed New Jersey and slapped the title of western most borough on it long ago. 

Situated in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Brooklyn promenade is where nannies push prams filled with perfectly adorned babies from expensive Brooklyn Heights; where in the summer, the ice cream truck parks and sweethearts buy each other cones; where the intrepid tourist flocks to snap that perfect picture and where every year, Brooklynites gather together to celebrate the 4th of July. In the 400 years since Henry Hudson first set sail from the tip of Manhattan the skyline has, not surprisingly, changed dramatically; from low wooden structures to soaring skyscrapers. In 2002, the most prolific artist to ever contribute his works to New York City, Greg Lefevre, created a series of bronze plaques situated along the boardwalk that depict the changing skyline. The works are a chance for visitors to imagine what the city looked like on the eve of independence in 1776, at the time of the first steamship crossing in 1880, of the Brooklyn Bridge under construction on 1877 and to remember that once, two towers were the most prominent feature this view had to offer.
 
It is in Brooklyn Heights where the Cosby’s lived (at the fictional 10 Stigwood Avenue) and where Loretta falls in love in Moonstruck. It is also the place to find some of the city’s best pizza and ice cream after a long day of starring moonily across the river. This pizza and ice cream comes with a price though, and we’re not talking calories. People line-up sometimes for hours to experience a pie from Grimaldi’s and a scoop from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory but we guarantee you, it’s worth it just to say you have.
 
Grimaldi’s
19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 – (718) 858-4300
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Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
Old Fulton Street & Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 – (718) 246-3963
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