Park Slope, Prospect Park & Prospect Heights
This is the first in a long series of walking tours to learn about my new home NYC. Learn about the project here. Crafted at #writeshopweds.
Claire is an old colleague and forever friend. Our organizations worked together out of 401 Richmond’s City Builder’s Lab. She created amazing content and programming with the City for Centre Ecology and then the Ryerson City Builder’s Institute while I was managing communications, events and community for Park People. Claire went to school in New York, and came back to tour around her old neighbourhoods. We started out with brunch at my place then set off on foot directly to Prospect Park, making a few stops along the way like the pit behind the Atlantic Terminal/Barclays Centre which is the setting of the dramatic documentary ‘Battle for Brooklyn’ which Claire had introduced to me years earlier. Little did I know I’d soon be living a block away from this rapidly changing site. We did a near full loop of Prospect Park, spent time admiring the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and explored and admired street infrastructure and the landscape architecture.
Highlights from the walk
- A detailed tour of Prospect Park’s different ecosystems has been a long time coming. Glad I was able to do it with a friend who doesn’t mind stopping to photograph different buildings and wayfinding systems within the park. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same person behind Golden Gate Park in SF, and Central Park in NYC.
- Claire’s reflections on the changing neighbourhood of Prospect Heights. Learning about how neighbourhoods change and evolve is a great step towards my understanding and belonging in a space.
What I’ll come back to see
- The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens are a gardener’s delight. I was more enthralled with the amazing education zone and human sized birdsnest. The Japanese garden was in full bloom, but the cherry orchard was unfortunately just kicking off. Major sections like the rose garden weren’t quite ready for primetime so I’ll have to return. This is the sort of place where a guided tour is recommended to maximize learning about the immense flora represented in the garden. (Ticketed: USD $15)
- The spectacular Prospect Park Boathouse is a beautiful waterfront wedding venue and education centre. It’s interior is lined with tile and stone and the facade is reflected in the adjacent pond. It was unfortunately locked the day we tried to get in.
- The Prospect Park Long Meadow is a tremendous gathering point on par with Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto. There are a lot more families, kids and dogs here, and the diversity is on par with a Scarborough park on a weekend, with families setting up BBQs and large picnics in the neverending strip of land that resembles a golf green. I’ve already returned for bocce games and to watch the blossoming cherry trees.
- The Brooklyn Public Library & the Brooklyn Museum will be tackled on future visits, but today we were committed to staying outside, even though it got cooler and more overcast as the day wore on. I’ll be back to these places in the future.
Food/Drink Highlights
- After some Yelp searching, Claire and I landed on a post-hike pint at a bar with a cozy gaden style patio behind Washington Commons. The bar atmosphere is forgettable, and the back patio tucked away between rowhouses is evidence of a longterm struggle against noise complaints, with a complicated network of noise absorbing barriers lining the walls and fences of the garden. Patio lights strung up everywhere might make the space appealing at night, but on this cloudy cold day it wasn’t very memorable.
- Lincoln Station was recommended for its sandwiches, but Claire and I arrived just in time to share a half rotisseries chicken served with some sides. Along with coffee, it was the perfect warm meal to follow nearly 6 hours of walking. The space is big and is filled with solopreneurs and families sharing meals, baked goods and coffee. There’s limited seating outside along a side street whose only redeeming quality is a massive mural on the adjacent building.
