New York Brooklyn

When we think of New York City, we often picture Manhattan Island. Manhattan is one of the five "boroughs" that comprise New York City. Each borough is unique in style, culture and history.

The five boroughs consist of Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn. When visiting New York City, there is much to do in each of the five boroughs. While Manhattan may be the most cultural of the five boroughs, the other boroughs have much to offer visitors.

Next to Manhattan, Brooklyn is the borough with the largest population. 2.5 million people call Brooklyn, which was its own city until 1898, home. Both Coney Island and Brighton Beach, two of the most famous East coast sea resorts, are located in Brooklyn.

The architecture of the neighborhoods in Brooklyn vary from working class neighborhoods to upscale communities consisting of tree-lined streets with brownstone buildings. The upscale communities such as Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights are located between the Brooklyn Bridge and Prospect Park, one of the large parks in the borough.

Points of interest in Brooklyn include the Brooklyn Bridge, which was constructed from 1870 to 1883 and is one of the world's oldest suspension bridges. It originally was used to transport streetcars and later, elevated trains, but now only carries automobiles.

Other attractions include the New York Transit Museum, located in the old Court Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights. The museum, which opened in 1976, exhibits old subway cars, models, signs and other memorabilia. The Court Street subway station, which opened in 1936, is no longer used for transportation purposes.

The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens opened in 1910 and still attracts thousands of visitors each year. Exhibits include a cherry tree esplanade, a bonsai tree collection, a Japanese hill, a water lily pond and a children's garden.

The Green-Wood Cemetery was established in 1838 and is the final resting place for many famous New Yorkers, including Leonard Bernstein, Edward R. Murrow, F.A.O. Schwartz, and Margaret Sanger.

Brooklyn also boasts of Junior's Restaurant, home of what is often called the "world's best cheesecake." Harry Rosen opened Junior's in 1950 and today, the company is still family owned. Although Junior's has several restaurants located throughout New York, the original Junior's is located in Brooklyn. Although famous for its traditional cheesecake, Junior's also offers a wide variety of cheesecakes such as pumpkin, devil's food and cherry crumb, desserts including Key Lime Pie and Rugelach and a menu of food. Junior's Restaurant embodies the spirit of Brooklyn in the 1950s when American teenagers were discovering rock and roll and the Brooklyn Dodgers, often called "the Bums' were still playing at Ebbets Field.

Brooklyn neighborhoods embody a variety of cultures, each one unique. The borough is rich in diversity and has been the inspiration for many books, such as Betty Smith's, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," poetry, such as Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," and films such as Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," and the 1977 disco hit starring John Travolta, "Saturday Night Fever."

The borough of Brooklyn is both charming and historic. When visiting New York, do not forget to cross the bridge and visit Brooklyn.

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