NewYorkology: On the Blue List Trail

January 26, 2007 at 1:08 PM | by djk | Comment (1)

We are happy to announce the return of NewYorkology to Jaunted for the weekly update on things to do in NYC, courtesy of Amy Langfield.

2007 is the year for Brooklyn. At least that's the word from Lonely Planet in its new Blue List travel guide.

"Any New Yorker worth their street cred knows the new downtown lies just across the East River, over the stately 18th Century bridge sharing its name with its home borough, Brooklyn, the USA's biggest city-within-a-city," the book asserts.

But the problem is, Brooklyn's downtown probably isn't where you'd want to be. Its sights are sprawled across the borough and you're likely going to have to do more walking or bus navigating than you would in Manhattan. Cabs are hard to come by. The subway ride to Coney Island, for example, is a good 45 minutes to an hour from Midtown. I'm not saying don't go, just throwing in the caveat that seeing the stuff in Brooklyn requires a completely different strategy than across the river.

I've lived in Brooklyn for about five years now, two in Park Slope and since then down in a small little pocket of a neighborhood next to Red Hook sometimes called the Columbia Waterfront District. I'm about a block from Alma Restaurant, one of the spots singled out in the Blue Guide, for its "absofuckinglutely unreal views of Manhattan."

Like most neighborhoods in Brooklyn, we're pretty much tourist-free, despite the fact I'm only a 30 minute walk from the Brooklyn Bridge. This past weekend we were hanging out in Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Overcrossings,) and noticed how completely empty the streets were despite the absurdly warm weather. Pickings were too slim for a picnic lunch from Almondine, so we trekked over to Bubby's, a family friendly emporium with a full bar and stunning waterfront views. (I had a Krusovice beer on tap; the only other place I've had one outside the Czech Republic was at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Queens.)

After lunch, we spent some time in the waterfront park - this is where U2 did their free show in 2004 - and raced on the new sandy beach as subways roared overhead on the Manhattan Bridge. Lots of little furniture design shops had sales going on, and we also spent some time in the Halcyon record shop (yes, real records.) Last stop was Jacques Torres crowded chocolate factory. It's located next door to Jane's restored 1922 carousel, but she was still closed for the holidays. Eventually the carousel may be placed in the waterfront park if all goes as hoped.

The whole novelty of Brooklyn being cheaper is pretty much over. Restaurants are priced about the same as Manhattan, and even real estate is on par in some places, with some recent reports of people moving back to Manhattan for the cheaper prices. But still it's worth the visit. It just requires a bit of planning.

[Photo: wallyg]

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