Troy / Albany / Fenimore / Hawthorne / Kingston / Brooklyn

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Since Kings County Hospital blocks off a lot of north-south streets, I decided to just go up and down a few of them on the north side. I started from Utica and walked West not because I wanted the sun on my back or so I'd be closer to home but because the express train came first and there was a long wait for the local. So I went to Utica Ave.

One thing I noticed on this trip (and I'd seen it on the map before): many of the east-west streets have alleys behind them, for parking I assume, and some of them run for several blocks. It's not something that I'd consider doing though. Unlike others I've walked through to save time for a small distance, these tend to be narrow and there's more of a feel of "tresspassing" even though I see people walking through. That said, I don't know if the people I've seen live in these houses, and I don't know how welcome I'd be just passing through.

On Troy Ave, there was a solid wall with world flags lining the top. I took a couple of pictures until I got a good one. I had to check later to find that it was the old Boys and Girls High School Baseball Field. I don't know if that means that they have a new field. There aren't old and new high schools.

Once I hit Winthrop, I turned east again, one block to Albany. There are two "orphan" streets over here. Fenimore and Hawthorne each run for one block. But both streets pick up again two blocks to the east at Brooklyn Ave, on the other side of Wingate Park, where they run down to Flatbush Ave, a short block from Prospect Park.

Farther up Albany Ave, we come to Hamilton Metz Field, which has nothing to do with the NY Mets. It's named after Alexander Hamilton, and early 1900s legislator Herman A. Metz and his wife Laura A. Metz.

On the corner of Eastern Parkway and Kingston Ave is the Jewish Children's Museum, which would explain the large dreidel standing outside.

Kingston was unremarkable (compared to the other streets I'm walking) until I got to Lefferts Ave, which is also named Barbara Simmons Way. The intersection was named for her in 2017, a year after her death. Simmons was a community activist and a strong advocate for education.

The final leg of the trip was back up Brooklyn Ave. I took a picture of what appeared to be a bricked up alcove or window. The bricks match the rest of the house, so I wasn't sure what the purpose of it was. More curious is the fact that every house in that row had the same thing. And even more curious, when I went back to Google street view to get a better picture to show someone, these appear on the second story walls as well. I don't know what they are or what they were used for.

The final stop is, I believe, St. Marks Episcopal Church, but it's difficult to get Google Maps to confirm this. (It redirects me whenever I get close!)

The sun rising behind the church makes for a nice photo, but it makes it impossible to read any signs. Maybe that's a sign!

And that's it for this trip. Come back soon.

All of the above photos and videos, unless otherwise stated, were taken by Christopher J. Burke and are subject to copyright.

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