Walkin' In Brooklyn

I haven't updated this blog in quite a while. Partly it was because I was taking a lot of pictures on my phone and they're a pain to transfer. And partly because there are other blogs doing the same thing that are probably more entertaining or have more information. For any newcomers, I'm a walker. My father had me and my borther walking all of this city from an early age. I take a lot of walks, particularly in the summer (I'm a teacher), and I got tired of walking the same curcuit about my neighborhood, so started branching out. In May 2019, I started tracking where I was walking. Then the pandemic hit, and I found myself with a lot more time to walk. I'm still walking. On Monday, January 30, 2023, I walked a section of Ave O that I hadn't walked already. Then I walked a bit up Kings Highway until I reached Ave N. At that intersection, there's a small triangle of land, created along with E31 Street. I have thought about the idea of doc...

It's been some time since I've been in Canarsie. I haven't been assigned to any schools in the area, but I have driven along Rockaway Parkway, which can be extremely frustrating. Yesterday, I had to give someone a lift to Canarsie High School to get a vaccination. Since parking was easy to find, and I had at least a half hour to wait, I decided to take a short walk around the neighborhood. My pics of the high school didn't come out due to a combination of new phone, bright sun, polarized glasses, and user error, heavy on that last one. The school takes up two full city blocks, from Avenue J to K, and from E 95 Street to Rockaway Parkway (which would be E 97 Street). The first stop of note was a sign on a tree for Truckleman's Lane , which looking left and right on either side of the parkway, I did not see. I saw what looked like driveways or backyards. A Google search tells me that the lane does in fact exist and curves, so I wouldn't have seen the other...

(I'm back after some time off. See note at the bottom of the page.) A year ago, I heard about Shirley Chisholm State Park . So I drove out there to take a look, and walk the trails. Not all of them were open yet, but what was was worth the trip. Pictured:  Shirley Chisholm  painted on the side of a building when you first enter the park. For those who are unaware, she was the first black U.S. Congresswomen, and a representative from Brooklyn, first elected in 1968. Ironically, a year later, thanks to unforeseen circumstances, combined with job placements, it remains the only part of eastern Brooklyn I've had the chance to walk in the past year. (Before that, I been assigned to a couple of locations in East New York. I've walked a good part of Pennsylvania Avenue, from Linden Blvd to the A train, and the area around Spring Creek, from the mall to the New Lots Avenue station.) The first thing I noticed was on the exit to the Belt -- suddenly you could m...

Kings Highway runs about 6 miles from Bensonhurst , through Flathland s, East Flatbush and ending in Brownsville just before making connections with either Empire Blvd or Eastern Parkway . It originally extended farther down into Bay Ridge. In fact, there's a park named Milestone Park  on 18th Avenue , with a replica of the original milestone marker that used to stand there. Not far from its current endpoint, a few blocks from McDonald Ave , I came across a short dead-end block labeled Kings Place . I'm trying something new. I sketched my own map so I wouldn't have to use one from either Google or Apple.  The West streets count down north of Kings Highway, but below it, they temporarily stop at West 3rd . Kings Place isn't parallel to the West streets. Instead, it runs parallel to neighboring Van Sicklen St and Lake St , as well as McDonald Ave, which bends at this point. (North of Kings Highway, McDonald is parallel to the West streets and the East streets on the ...

Later in the day, after I'd gone to the  Brooklyn Army Terminal , someone online asked me if I went to  Bush Terminal Park . To which I responded, "What?" Apparently, I had walked past another entrance to the Brooklyn waterfront and hadn't noticed it. In retrospect, mind you, I actually did notice an entrance. I just didn't think it was a public entrance to a public park. Let me start by saying that this first picture was one of the last ones I took. This entrance is not visible from First Avenue . It's off the beaten path. Since I was coming from the higher-numbered streets, I saw this, which I assume is the "back entrance", first. I have driven into this parking lot many times (there was a store there I used to go to, but I'm not legally allowed to talk about anymore). I never saw this sign and never knew that there was a road open to the public here.  Interestingly, Google Maps shows the 50th Street continues below 1st Avenue and then...

Spotted on Cropsey Ave . Not every takes the time to tile their trees so nicely. taken on May 26, 2020

One day last week, I was up early enough that I had time to go for a walk before work when it was still cooler outside, and when there'd be fewer people about. I hadn't planned on the trip being over six miles long, but that's how it turned out. In the past, I've walked Bay Parkway , 20th Avenue and 18th Avenue all the way to McDonald Ave . The goal this time was to take 19th Avenue to its end, cut through the Shop-Rite parking lot, stroll down McDonald Ave, and pick up 17th Avenue for the walk home. I had a couple of detours along the way. Plus, I have difficulty reading my phone outside between its dimness and my polarized glasses. I went a little out of my way in trying to find 17th Ave, which doesn't cut all the way through. Some highlights from the trip, as mentioned in the blog title: New Utrecht Ave is a street that runs diagonally across the grid from 9th Avenue and 39th Street down to 86th Street between 18th and 19th Avenues . N...