Today I take you to the heart of it all, though what is technically Downtown Brooklyn is such a small area that you can confuse it with the neighboring area as you can see from the map below:
You can quickly switch from one area of high rises and commercial activity to an area of residential streets with brownstones. The dichotomy is astounding in the sense if you drove there parking in the commercial areas you would have to pay metered parking and in the residential areas it's free if you can find a spot but have to be careful it is not on the day or hour when they do street cleanings.
Alright!! let's take a look at what’s out there.
The Williamsburgh Bank Tower was the tallest building in Brooklyn between 1929 and 2009. In 2006, the building was redeveloped and renovated into luxury condos. The four-sided clock tower is among the tallest in the world, only outflanked by the Allen Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, WI and the Mecca Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia
Adjacent to it you can see the Atlantic Ave subway kiosk . It was once a hotdog stand with garish neon signage but now it's isolated in a traffic island with no entrances at all and serves no practical purpose.
Another spectacle around there is the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it is in fact America’s oldest performing arts center.
Behind it lies the Ashland Tower, sigh another luxury residential building
As you start entering the Boerum Hill neighborhood first thing you come across is the Baptist temple, it is among the first baptist churches in Brooklyn
From across the street of Atlantic terminal you could see large smoke stack abutting some property but had a hard time finding any historical links about it.
The only thing I could gather is that it was within the premises which used to be Public School 15 and is now Khalil Gibran International Academy yes no other than the Khalil Gibran author of “the Prophet” and whom a memorial stands at Copley Square in Boston. It was the first public school of its kind that would teach English and Arabic and financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The association with Khalil Gibran was only due to him being a pacifist Christian poet and to dispel any notions that the school harbored any radical Islamist ideology. Despite that, a lot of drama erupted around the individual nominated to be the first principal of that school: Debbie Almontaser, activist of Yemeni descent. They had alleged that she was affiliated with an organization called AWAAM (Arab Women Active in the Media and the Arts), which had printed T-shirts bearing the logo “Intifada NYC”. The term carries negative connotations and is tied to the Arab-Israeli struggle yet it is more purpoted to convey a shaking off of sorts for young arab women to express themselves freely in a new culture and environment.
While your in that area do check out the mural dedicated to the late Kobe Bryant right across from Barclays Center
Another landmark in the area is Borough Hall, it served as city hall for Brooklyn until it got annexed to NYC.
Closeby is the Court Chambers Building used now as an office and residential building
If you have a chance do check out the Manhattan Skyline from the Brooklyn Heights promenade, a pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the BQE.
One thing not to miss while around there is the Kaleidoscopic Water Tower by Tom Fruin. It is composed of recycled materials and the third of its kind in addition to one in DUMBO and one in Greenpoint.
