When visiting New York City, you may often think about touring places like Times Square, Broadway, or maybe even MSG, but what if we told you not all entertainment in the city needs to be paid for? New York is more than just Manhattan, and Brooklyn is a great example of this, as its massive rise in popularity can be felt all throughout the city’s downtown.
Downtown Brooklyn is now packed with a variety of commercial shopping and fantastic dining for every visitor to check out. Not to mention a wide selection of recreational and indoor activities to keep you entertained for hours.
Some of Downtown Brooklyn’s parks will also host events, parades, and even performances from artists for every traveler to come and enjoy. You may also find a couple of pop-up shops and street vendors for you to get a quick bite to eat or maybe even a souvenir.
What to do Downtown.
Speaking of performances, Downtown Brooklyn has quickly become a must visit largely thanks to its abundance of public entertainment options put on by the very people that live there. You’ll even find that some of its streets will be blocked off to encourage artists looking to get their art out into the world.
Some places like the Brooklyn’s Commons Park will feature rotating menus throughout the weeks to keep visitors coming back for more, Willoughby Plaza provide live music during lunchtime, and you can even grab a drink and paint at Albee Square during happy hour. Of course, this doesn’t even mention some of Downtown Brooklyn’s shopping centers like the Dekalb Market Hall and City Point, who all feature their own collection of shopping, dining, and entertainment.
Over the years, Downtown Brooklyn has looked to make a name for itself in New York’s booming economy, and now it finally has. Now the only thing left to figure out is where to start, and maybe how to get there. Luckily, New York City is not only filled with a variety of shopping and dining options, but also home to plenty of transportation options to choose from.
While you may initially lean towards using public transit like the MTA’s train or bus, these options are hardly reliable, not to mention completely unsafe. Buses are always delayed, and trains are a little more than dirty, but then what is the best way to get around New York? A limo or car service of course!
When taking a vacation to New York you may run across some of the city’s most well-known shopping and dining districts, but did you know that entertainment is scattered far beyond just the Manhattan Island. Places like Queens and Brooklyn are quickly making a name for themselves as New York’s sudden population boom has allowed for many of these boroughs to burst onto the scene.
Districts like Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg are at the forefront of this, as many new clubs, bars, and pubs are beginning to open up all throughout these neighborhoods.
You may even find a few public art pieces and free shows being put on by performers and artists looking to bring life to the streets of Brooklyn.
Park Slope is another fantastic location to tour, as its vast collection of cozy shopping is perfectly complimented with some of the city’s most exquisite dining destinations. Restaurants in the area serve fantastic food ranging anywhere from Mediterranean, Italian, Mexican, French, and even sushi.
Park Slope itself is also beautiful, boasting some of New York City’s best examples of brownstone architecture and how gorgeous its surrounding landscapes can be. A stroll down any residential street will reveal a multitude of unique brownstones, varying from Italianate, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and even Romanesque Revival. Many of these architectural styles have helped form the unique rowhouses lined throughout Park Slope’s residential streets.
Welcome to Downtown Brooklyn! one of the oldest cities in the United States and yet despite its history it’s a new city compared to the bustling Manhattan. As of 2010, Brooklyn houses over 2 million residents who all commute, live, and work in Downtown Brooklyn. The neighborhood is located Northwest of the Brooklyn Borough and has become New York City’s central tech hub over the years. Currently, Downtown Brooklyn contains 3 separate malls, its own arena, new high rise buildings, its own industrial zone along with plenty of schools to choose from and even has a couple of well known buildings in the area. This means that Downtown Brooklyn is currently filled with shops for visitors and even a stadium, this makes it an excellent choice for your next vacation! Two of its main buildings are the Williamsburgh Savings Bank and the MetroTech Center complex. One of the main reason that Brooklyn has began its ascension into the business side of New York is through how close Brooklyn is to Lower Manhattan. Downtown Brooklyn is one of the first neighborhoods you can go into right out of Manhattan, this has helped propel Brooklyn into the third largest central business district in New York City, this was later confirmed by a report done by the Regional Plan Association. The man who helped with Brooklyn’s new rise to dominance is Howard Golden, who believed that Downtown Brooklyn should work together with Manhattan because of its proximity.
Until about 1814, the Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights are would remain sparsely populated. This would come to change due to a man named Robert Fulton, Who also believed in what Howard Golden did, helped Brooklyn rise to what it is today. To start, Brooklyn was made into a suburban area at first, though it would eventually become a new commercial center in the city. During the 1850’s certain Brooklyn churches went against slavery, some would even act as a safehouse in order to help the Underground Railroad movement. The 19th century growth of the Port of New York caused shipping to influence the City of Brooklyn. This led to Brooklyn being initially used as the manufacturing district of New York City, it would become filled with different warehouses and factories. This was a direct influence of the construction of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge, and helped further Brooklyn’s rise in business. There was a complete revamp of the area following World War 2, this was done to widen its streets, add major housing projects and allowed the Brooklyn Bridge to be modernized. During the late 1960’s a plan was completed by the city that was made in order to help Brooklyn have more commercial and office spaces available. The City Planning Commission then stated, “Downtown Brooklyn’s economy is vital to the borough and important to the entire metropolitan region.”.
Ariel view of Downtown Brooklyn during the middle of the day.
after Robert Fulton transformed the neighborhood to a commercial hub, Brooklyn was no longer meant for residential living, at first, this meant that a massive rezoning of the Downtown Brooklyn area had to be done. However the rezoning took a very long time to come through and was only really done in 2004, despite this it has allowed for more denser residential areas to develop. The area has seen the arrival of new condominium towers, townhouses, and office conversions and has led to more than 30,000 new residents to move into Downtown Brooklyn. The city was also seeking to improve the connections between downtown and the neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Fort Greene. In March 2012 the area was going through heavy remodeling, 2 years later an affordable housing plan was put into place with over 400 new units put into place.
Downtown Brooklyn now features multiple well known shops, Most of which are located near the acclaimed Barclay’s Center. Which is smacked in the middle of Downtown Brooklyn. The area will also sometimes hosts pop up events for tourist visiting.
Downtown Brooklyn hosts holiday pop-up shops and diners, the most recent of which is being set up for the month of December. Whether that be the Borough Hall market that’ll last until the 26th, or Santa visiting until the 18, there’s something for every visit.
The Downtown Brooklyn area contains multiple municipal buildings, halls, and courthouses along with a handful of schools to choose from. The Borough Hall at times is used as a farmers market and contains fresh produce from farmers around the New York area. Downtown Brooklyn also has multiple options for shopping, dining, and drinking with almost 200 options in bars and restaurants. Multiple 7-eleven’s, Multiple pizza shops, a variety of coffee shops and bakeries, and a lot of different Asian cuisine and burger places to choose from. Downtown Brooklyn also has multiple apparel and beauty shops to choose from along with a few art exhibits to enjoy. Adidas, Banana Republic, Burlington, H&M, GAP, Macy’s, Nordstrom Rack, Target, and even Uniqlo making a visit more than worth it. Downtown Brooklyn is also home to a few malls and even art exhibits for anyone looking for some inspiration.
Downtown Brooklyn has recently been adding many statues honoring people. Most recent of which is a 9 foot sculpture of The Notorious B.I.G.! The artist molded both bronze and steel to create a mural that honors both African American sculpting styles and the hip-hop artist himself. The mural can be easily seen when taking a taxi into the city.
City Point is a mix of both residential and commercial use for the Downtown Brooklyn area and it was completed as recently as 2020. City Point contains multiple books stores, apparel shops, and restaurants to choose from along with its own movie theater and even weekly giveaways. The mall had technically been established in 2004 but it wasn’t until an influx of tourist visitingBrooklyn that paved way for the opening of the mall back in 2015. This helped the neighborhood build a stronger community thanks to the explosion of vibrant culture in the area. While City Point is Downtown Brooklyn’s newest mall it’s not its biggest, that title belongs to Atlantic Terminal Mall. Atlantic Terminal Mall is a combination of two shopping malls into one which is why there appears to be two entrances. Both Malls are connected via an enclosed bridge from a Target inside. In addition, Atlantic Terminal Mall is also an office building and part of the ticket office of the Long Island Rail Road. The Downtown Brooklyn area was also approved for another rezoning project which allowed for the revamp of the Fulton Mall. The area is a walkable transit mall that has been around since the 1980’s and redesigned for the commercial and residential influx. The Fulton Mall was revamped once again during the mid 2000’s and now holds Macy’s, H&M, Gap, GameStop, Foot Locker, and Finish Line. The Fulton area is also going through its own revamp with the construction of the 625 Fulton, which aims to create in additional 79 floor mixed-use skyscraper. In total the mall contains over 230 stores and even has its own dedicated bus lanes, at the center is a mall and an open space known as Albee Square.
Shopping and dining are not the only options available to the public for entertainment. The Downtown Brooklyn area is also home to the Barclays Center, a multi-purpose indoor arena. The arena is home of the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty basketball teams and also hosts concerts, conventions and other entertainment events. on occasion, the stadium will host graduations for its nearby universities and colleges. The Barclays Center was also a part of an over 4 billion dollar future business and residential complex. The arena was brought forward by Bruce Ratner, and despite it being stuck in development hell for almost a decade prior, the arena finally opened to public during September 2012. However if you’re looking for something more modest you can also visit the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). BAM is a performing arts venue, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performances. The venue was originally located in the Brooklyn Heights and its first performance was in the early 1860’s. The facility was burned down in the early 1900’s which led to the facility being moved to Fort Greene and from 1906 to 1908 a series of openings would occur for the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Some areas in the neighborhood seem to be empty, this is due to the city of Brooklyn rapidly expanding.
Downtown Brooklyn also hosts the New York Transit Museum, which displays historical artifacts of New York City; subway, buses, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan region. The museum is located within a subway station which was originally called Court Street and on July 4, 1976, the New York City Transit Exhibit was opened in the decommissioned underground station as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. Old subway cars as well as models and other exhibits are displayed in the museum, it had originally not been planned to be opened this long but so many people enjoyed the display that it remained. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had acquired the museum during the mid 1990’s which helped expand the museum’s display of trains. While it seems that Downtown Brooklyn went through a major remodeling that changed the landscape entirely, it still holds some of its old industrial roots.
In the Northeastern corner of the neighborhood there is an area called Bridge Plaza. Previously connected to Vinegar Hill, it is a now an isolated region of Brooklyn that is a mix of garages and auto shops with a few warehouses scattered around the area. This was the effect of both the construction of the BQE and the surrounding area only allowing industrial zoning. Bridge Plaza is known for having a notable home (167 Concord Street) which is famous for being the only “pretty” house in that area.
covering an area of 586 acres, Prospect Park is one of the biggest in Brooklyn and continues to show how beautiful nature can be even among the urban environment in Brooklyn. Prospect Park is surrounded by 5 different neighborhoods, it’s adjacent to the Brooklyn Museum and even contains its own botanical garden on top of also being right next to the Brooklyn Public Library. Needless to say Prospect Park holds more than its fair share of activities for its visitors to do!
One of the many small waterways scattered around Prospect Park
Prospect Park is an urban park that was established between 1867 – 1873 however the park itself was actually proposed 8 years prior in 1859 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Interestingly enough both Olmsted and Vaux where the same people who also helped design NYC most famous park, Central Park itself. Throughout the next decade and a half the park under went numerous redesigns and refurbishments in order to both modernize the park and clean it up. redesigns included the addition of the Prospect Park Zoo, a picnic house, a concert grove, The Boathouse, and even the Litchfield Villa. The Prospect Park also host constant outdoor Concerts and Parades during the summer. The new modernization of the park also added new facilities such as basketball courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, The Prospect Park Tennis Center, and even an ice skating ring for winter.
The Lafrak Center at Prospect Park during winter
Prospect Park has an area of 526 acres in central Brooklyn and consists of waterways, ravines, lakes, and watercourses. The waterways in Prospect Park are actually apart of a singular man made watercourse that leads throughout the park. The watercourse makes use of the preexisting ponds and the lowland out-wash plains in order to make a drainage around the waterway itself. The waterway is also lined with vegetation around the borders that absorb precipitation and help water flow. interestingly enough, two thirds of the lake evaporates annually, however the water is restored throughout the rainy season.
Prospect Park Lake
The Prospect Park Lake is artificial and covers about 60 acres of the park itself. The lake itself holds over 20 different species of fish and even several different islands inside the lake. visitors are also allowed to kayak and use pedal boats in the lake and sometimes even fish, however the lake does hold a catch and release policy. Prospect Park also has 146 acres of Ravines and a long meadow that goes down the western side of Prospect Park.
Prospect Park is also filled with landmarks and structures that scattered around the land. The entrance to Prospect Park is one of these major landmarks, two columns outside the entrance of Bartel-Pritchard Square. Grand Army Plaza also contains The Soldiers’ and The Sailors’ Arch, a large arch that is located on an oval in the middle of the park. The park also holds many monuments and statues, such as the Mozart Monument, a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, Dongan Oak monument, and many more scattered around the park.
Prospect Park may not be as big or as famous as Central Park but that does not mean that it does not have its own visual spectacles or entertainment opportunities. The natural landscapes in the park combined with the monuments and man made structures make it a sight to see for any visitors who wish to be blown away by the marvelous beauty of the park. Visitors who prefer to take a more active role when it comes to entertainment can attend any one of the parades and concerts held at the park or even bring friends to some of the soccer fields or basketball courts in order to stay on the active side. Overall Prospect Park is a perfect place for any visitor who wants to experience what Brooklyn has to offer, and luckily for you My Destiny Limo can take you there today!
