DeSales / MacDougal / Hull / Somers / Truxton

I'm almost finished with Bed-Stuy as I make my way to Broadway Junction. I'm saying Eastern Parkway for warmer weather and more daylight (after work) because I'd like to see if I can walk it in one shot.

The last four roads that I had to zig-zag were MacDougal, Hull, Somers, and Truxton. They's at such an acute angle that I walked quite a bit down Fulton street to get from one road to the next. All together, it was only about 15 blocks, not counting Fulton, DeSales, and Sackman Street. The map shows a side street between DeSales and Eastern Parkway, but it's a road through a parking lot and not a proper street. There are sidewalks are each end and no street name.

First off, walking to the Dead End with Holy Cross Cemetery beyond it covered in snow. Then about face for the two blocks to Broadway.

I don't know why I looked up at Broadway but I noticed an overhead track coming to an end which seemed odd because it was facing Manhattan. If anything, this should be near the beginning of the line, not the end of the line.

I took the photo so I'd remember to check when I got home. A birds-eye view shows that there is a switch moving trains to the mainline before the end. This fourth track (the Broadway line only had one express track, unlike, say, the B, D, and F lines which have two) comes from the train yard at Broadway Junction.

MacDougal Street was the longest of the four blocks. The first of two standouts of this street were the massive public school building -- makes you wonder how many children used to be in this neighborhood (can people even afford a lot of kids any more?). The second was the triangle at the end with a scuplture that I'd taken a picture of before when I walked most of the length of Fulton Street.

Hull Street starts with a triangular park and a no-name street, which is just to facilitate left turns. It's not actually a street -- it's a single intersection with a park in the center of it. The hardware store on the corner (not pictured) must be interesting to work at or shop in given how skinny the building is at its tip.

Walking down the block, I passed this one building with its entire front yard (growing up in Park Slope/Gowanus, we called it the "aerie") is enclosed with "Food For You" ... except that it's private. Great to have a local business, but I'm wondering if permits have been filed for this. wink.	Another community garden, which every neighborhood needs. I hope these survive. I've seen so many of these in the past couple of trips on unused lots that I wonder how long before a developer claims them. I can't speak to how good this area is, but Broadway Junction has three major train routes, including the A train which gets you to Manhattan in six stops.

Other to Somers Street. I liked the mural.

And another community garden -- this was the largest one in the area, taking up a chunk of Fulton Street.

Truxton Street starts with another triangle. The street itself is cut off by Eastern Parkway, which has a divider that prevents through traffic. Eastbound traffic must turn onto Eastern Parkway, and the only way onto the final block is from the parkway.

As it was, I may have illegally crossed the street without walking to the crosswalk over at Fulton Street.


	Another tiny triangle created to facilitate traffic.

Sackman Street is a single block that runs between Eastern Parkway and Truxton. It appears that it used to go all the way to Fulton (one more block) that that was paved over to be part of the park. The park is nice. I almost stopped to film a video there, but it was just too cold to sit for too long, so I kept moving.

Final turn on Van Sinderen Avenue where I could follow Duke Ellington's advice and Take the A Train.

And that's it for this walk. Most of the streets of Bushwick are done -- something I couldn't have imagined a couple years ago -- but I still have the avenues to do.

As the weather warms up, and the days get longer, I'll start filling in that gap in the heart of the map.

Alternatively, if I follow the L line, that will bring me into Brownsville, which I can get home from, or Canarsie, from which I can't. Canarsie, realistically, is somewhere that I'd have to drive to in the summer. There are a lot of mass transit deserts in Brooklyn where you need to take two buses or one hourlong bus ride, which is a little much for this hobby of mine.

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