Get to know Crown Heights

Before its present-day status as an enclave for everyone, Crown Heights’ origins peg it as a retreat for wealthy Manhattanites building second homes. Buoyed by its subway transit — contrasting much of the rest of Brooklyn, which only had elevated trains — Crown Heights would gradually become even more residential and, eventually, a premier NYC neighborhood. It would claim the world’s first parkway, Eastern Parkway, designed by metropolitan greenspace kings Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. In addition to ferrying folks from Grand Army Plaza, past Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum, and all the way to Bushwick, Eastern Parkway plays annual host to the jubilant West Indian Day Parade — a Crown Heights tradition since 1964. The Dodgers couldn’t hack it, but a sense of pride comes with residing in Crown Heights — that no matter where you come from, you can find a home there.

Much like the area exists as a place for everybody, there is something for all palettes and dietary restrictions when it comes to Crown Heights dining. Longtime fixtures and newer arrivals alike thrive and add flavor to the neighborhood. Whether it’s Caribbean baked goods, kosher barbecue, or eateries offering charming fusions of multiple influences, you can chart a transcontinental culinary adventure without going east of Nostrand Avenue. For drinks, there are numerous options to raise your glass to. Basically, if it’s the kind of place that serves drinks, you’re likely to find it somewhere along the way in Crown Heights — tiki bars, beer halls, cocktail bars, spots with DJs and dance floors, lounges to enjoy a relatively quiet night, and so on. Worry not if there’s something you cannot find in the immediate area; surrounding ones like Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens have you more than covered.