Walkin' In Brooklyn

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 fl...

Another trip to Sterling Street on the 2 train but this time, I went west toward the park and skirted the previous streets getting down to Midwood Street, which doesn't run through or even near Midwood. You can tell how early it is by my shadow. There was a colorful fence that I passed. Down to Midwood Street where I passed the back ends of the three Courts from the previous walk. The north ends were open. The south ends had walls with gates. I guess to discourage people from just walking through. Rutland Road had some nice tree-lined blocks. And the houses were nice to look at as I got closer to the park. Another dead end street, Chester Court, runs into the B/Q tracks separating the neighborhood from Prospect Park. There were some nicer houses on this street than the other street from the last trip. No murals. That brings me to Fenimore street and then Hawthorne, which had a dead end of its own near a ...

This was my first venture into Prospect Lefferts Garden, which many folks on reddit suggested going to. I figured that I could zigzag between the 2/5 and the B/Q trains. (The 2 and 3 are easy to switch to at Atlantic Ave and involve the fewest stairs.) I think I strayed a little into East Flatbush because I wasn't sure where the boundaries are. You can see that the buildings change a bit the farther you get from the park. I started off on Sterling Street at Nostrand Ave (where the 2 train stops) and immediately came to the Lefferts Playground, which is also Marc and Jason's Playground. A couple blocks down Sterling ends but there are a couple of short north-south blocks, Balfour Place and Lamont Court. This brings me to Lefferts Ave, which gives the neighborhood it's name. (Actually, the Lefferts Homestead does that, but it sounded cool.) There was a sign on a lamppost explaining the history of the area. And, of course, there were a lo...