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November 19, 2007
Brooklyn as a Tourist Destination
The headlines more or less say it all: “And Maybe a Side Trip to Manhattan?” and “Fugheddaboud What You Think You Know About Brooklyn.” That’s right, media outlets are once again pitching Brooklyn as a tourist destination and alternative to Manhattan. Two travel articles published this weekend in the Wall Street Journal and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review offer sample itineraries for short stays in Brooklyn. The Tribune-Review’s one-day rundown covers standard guidebook fare for a 24-hour visit (walk over Brooklyn Bridge-eat at Grimaldi’s-visit Prospect Park-go to the zoo or Botanic Gardens or Brooklyn Museum-stroll around Park Slope), while the Journal’s three-day itinerary suggests slightly more off-kilter activities, like taking a canoe trip on the Gowanus Canal and catching a show at the Lyceum. Hey, with all the hotels getting built, we're certainly gonna need all the tourists we can get.
And Maybe a Side Trip to Manhattan? [Wall Street Journal]
Fugheddaboud What You Think You Know About B'klyn [Tribune-Review]
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Comments
Kayak up the gowanus? what, in a hazmat suit?
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 9:52 AM
I moved to Bklyn from midtown to flee the tourists. I don't want them following me here. Sigh.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 9:57 AM
Me thinks you move to Bklyn because you couldn't afford Manhattan. ;)
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:30 AM
Yeah, that's a dream vacation--canoe the Gowanus, do a walking tour of the brownfields in Greepoint, then maybe drinks at that lap-dance bar by the Navy Yard. Who needs Paris?
Posted by: Rehab at November 19, 2007 10:39 AM
Brooklyn is ok except for the guidos.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:40 AM
10:40: That's offensive.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:45 AM
good article.
i've noticed A TON of tourists in park slope this year.
met a couple from amsterdam the other night at union hall. they said they've been hearing a lot about brooklyn...mainly from lonely planet and other friends who have come to the states.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:59 AM
actually its hilarious
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:00 AM
"Take a short cab ride (or a 30-minute walk) to Tom's Restaurant in Prospect Heights"
There are no cabs in Brooklyn, except the ones parked at the depot next to Hotel Le Doom.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:11 AM
10:30: Manhattan is a mall with no charm & I pay more here than I did there. Nice try, though. I'd return that crystal ball of yours, I think its broken.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:12 AM
agreed. i pay more to live in park slope then i did while living on the upper west side.
and if you gave me a million bucks today, i wouldn't move back to manhattan.
people who assume everyone MUST prefer manhattan over brooklyn are ignorant.
ignore them.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:21 AM
11:12 - for similar accommodations? - if so - your an idiot; Mall or not Manhattan is still significantly more expensive than Brooklyn.
These articles are nothing but good for Brooklyn and anyone who doesnt recognize that is simply a selfish NIMBY.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:23 AM
grammar, spelling and typos - the last refuge of the intellectually defeated.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:34 AM
I think it's quite clear that you, 11:23 are the one defeated. Your comments are moronic. at best.
To suggest that every apartment in Manhattan is more expensive than in Brooklyn or to criticize someone for preferring Brooklyn over Manhattan shows how completely idiotic you really are.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:38 AM
Actually, there are other places you can hail cabs. Like along Clinton Street in Cobble Hill. etc. I'm sure there are others. But anyway, I have seen tourists around in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens/Brooklyn Heights. Usually looking at the architecture or eating on Smith. I can't quite see Two Toms catering to them anytime soon. Maybe Ferdinando's or Monte's.
Posted by: Carol Gardens at November 19, 2007 11:46 AM
along clinton street in cobble hill - check.
"etc" - er, no, I don't think so.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:49 AM
I don't think they are thinking of Two Toms. I think its Toms Restaurant on Washington--which is definitely a Brooklyn scene, even if the food is not that great, plus its right down the street from the Brooklyn Museum. I see tourists walking up and down Eastern Parkway to the museum all the time.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:01 PM
They explicitly mentioned Two Toms in the article, and then segued to Tom's.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:08 PM
RE: WSJ article... Unless location plans have changed for the Aloft hotel and Sheraton, since when was Duffield st in DUMBO? It's actually closer to Fort Greene.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:40 PM
there have been several articles in both mens and womens national fashion magazines this year about shopping in williamsburg. i wish i would have saved them. i moved here last year and really had no idea about some of the shops here. the buying is very very good. obviously several creative buyers have been able to be entrepreneurs here. lots of lines that you don't see other places (and not just great clothes - excellent furniture and salon/bath products too).
i am hoping that williamsburg unique retail will thrive as the neighborhood grows and not get pushed out any time soon.
i am seeing lots of tourists in the area as well.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:42 PM
First off, the articles aren't about Brooklyn. They are about a tiny little piece of it.
Second of all, this quote about Park Slope is one of the more deluded things I've ever read: "This (neighborhood) really gives you more of a flavor of how people in the city, how people in Brooklyn really live." Park Slope is how people in Brooklyn really live? I think not. Park Slope is to Brooklyn as New York City is to America.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:47 PM
i get cabs all the time on 4th ave and flatbush.
also park slope to brooklyn as nyc to america makes no sense.
BAY RIDGE YO!!
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:54 PM
I dont know 12:47 whats so deluded about that comment. I mean sure if you are talking about a single family Brownstone across from the Park I agree not very typical; but as a urban community within NYC - what is so 'different' about Park Slope then the rest of residential Brooklyn - from a tourist perspective?
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:54 PM
i don't understand your point, 12:47?
park slope is one of the more beautiful parts of brooklyn and it is also the most historic.
are you suggesting people from europe come to the states to vacation in brownsville?
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 12:55 PM
Carol Gardens is correct. There are plenty of cabs riding north on Clinton St every day, including weekends. There's a cab depot/garage somewhere in Red Hook or near the Battery Tunnel, and the cabbies all drive north via Clinton towards the bridges. It's the easiest place to hail a cab in all of CG and CH.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:01 PM
those who do not realize how diverse park slope is, don't really have their eyes open.
i would say it is one of the more diverse neighborhoods in brooklyn.
no, it's not 80% black, but that is not diverse to me.
and i get cabs quite regularly on 7th avenue or flatbush.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:02 PM
12:47 here. Exactly my point 12:55, Park Slope is one of the most beautiful and most gentrified areas of Brooklyn, and therefore is not typical of how Brooklynites live. As for 12:54's question, Park Slope is indeed "so different" from 95% of Brooklyn. Whenever we cross the Park we are amazed at how white and wealthy it is.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:33 PM
Tourists in Park Slope? Sheesh!
And, yes, I also pay more to live in PS than I did in Manhattan--but now have three times the space.
Any tourists surviving the Gowanus canoe trip should be sent on to the East New York open house tour.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:38 PM
i just don't agree with you at all 12:47/1:33.
park slope was built back in the day for wealthy-ish people from manhattan. besides for the 30 years where it fell on hard times, it's always been a nice neighborhood, for the most part so how is that not typical of brooklyn?
brooklyn is made up of many many nice neighborhoods...some are plenty white...carroll gardens, brooklyn heights, bay ridge, brighton beach...the list goes on.
sounds to me like you have a bone to pick with park slope but your analogy doesn't really make sense to me.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:42 PM
Your analogy makes no sense. This article was about tourists. Tourists go to the nicer areas in general. But they are still a part of the fabric of society just as much as poorer neighborhoods.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 1:46 PM
The borough of guidos. So sad, so true, so lame....
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 2:12 PM
I think every poster on here would agree that you are the sad and lame one, 2:12.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 2:17 PM
@2:17. No, 2:12pm has it right. It's not as bad as Staten Island but come on, get your head out of the sand and look around. The statement is pretty much right on.
I think every poster on here would agree that you are the sad and lame one, 2:17. Now, go along and collect your welfare check and give your landlord a hard time because you're on rent control. Oh, and don't forget to go to your monthly nazi meetings.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 2:37 PM
If it's a borough of guidos, its also a borough of jews. If it's so sad, stop eating Italian food, stop wearing our clothes, and stop visiting our country.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 3:37 PM
2:37 needs to be kicked to the Curbed.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 3:52 PM
brooklyn is the borough of the world.
anyone who doesn't appreciate that, doesn't deserve to live here.
go live in birmingham, alabama for a while and see what you think.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 4:04 PM
i love brooklyn too. would never go back to manhattan. it's lost its soul really.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 4:58 PM
Park Slope is NOT diverse. It's gentrified as fuck! Oh yea, and direct the rude tourists to Brownsville and maybe they will enjoy themselves.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 5:02 PM
"are you suggesting people from europe come to the states to vacation in brownsville?"
LOL!
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 6:16 PM
5:02 - Does poverty = diversity?
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 7:21 PM
The threads on this blog become more disturbing all the time. I don't know why anyone would want to vacation in a borough of hateful people like this.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:33 PM
I grew up in Sheepshead Bay. THAT is Brooklyn. Aromas and cultures mixed and no one cared where you began or where you were headed. You were there and that's all that mattered. You belonged.
I did Park Slope in the 80s and it was already well on the way to becoming utterly unaffordable and kitschy-chic.
But still.
It's home.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 10:53 PM
brooklyn is great and i catch a yellow taxi in carroll gardens all the time. By the way carroll gardens/cobble hill is the best location of all of them.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:04 PM
"I don't know why anyone would want to vacation in a borough of hateful people like this."
An what love-filled vacation destination do you suggest? Candyland is booked through 2011.
Posted by: guest at November 19, 2007 11:54 PM
seriously 10:33, a few troll posters, displaying either their "wit" or moronitude, and you throw up your hands and declare Brooklyn a "borough of hateful people." time to take reality lessons and apply some skin thickener.
Posted by: guest at November 20, 2007 9:24 AM
"The threads on this blog become more disturbing all the time."
Why do you return?
Posted by: guest at November 20, 2007 2:09 PM
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