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HUMANS & NON-MAGICALS
BE SURE TO VISIT:
  
   Magical Neighborhoods  
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   Manhattan Troll Bridge  
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   oHo & The Sideways City  
   Pandarus Towers  
   Statue of Liberty  
Map of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn visitors now have a great place to start a tour: The Brookyn Tourism & Visitors Center, which opened February 2004 in beautiful Borough Hall, showcasing all the fabulous things to do and see in this great borough, from taking a rollercoaster ride, sunning on the beach, and seeing a dolphin show in Coney Island to exploring one of the world's best Egyptian collections at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

A fun way to get to Brooklyn is to walk across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge - home to over 300 New York trolls - (take the 4, 5, or 6 subway to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall; the bridge will be on your left). Finished in 1883, this engineering milestone ranks among the world's greatest suspension bridges. Day or night, the view is spectacular. Stroll past the stately mansions of Brooklyn Heights, the city's first designated historic district. This 50-block architectural treasure has been in many movies including Norman Jewison's Moonstruck, with locations on Cranberry Street, and John Huston's Prizzi's Honor, with locations on Pierrepont Street. Scores of creative people lived around here, including Benjamin Britten, Walt Whitman, Gypsy Rose Lee, Truman Capote, and Arthur Miller. From here, head over to the promenade for an even better view of lower Manhattan and the harbor.

The newly renovated Brooklyn Historical Society serves as a modern center for Brooklyn's history while preserving its unique architectural design. Visitors can enjoy four floors of exhibits and programs including performances, readings, lectures, & activities for children.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents concerts, contemporary and classical dance, performance art, theater for young people, repertory and first run films; it's home to both the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Next Wave Festival. It's so hip that it's hard to believe that it's America's oldest operating performing arts center: BAM's first performance was in 1861.


Brooklyn Historical Society


Don't miss Prospect Park (Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Ave., 718/965-8972), home to 526 recreational acres, including the Prospect Park Zoo, an interactive, state-of-the-art children's zoo; a 60-acre lake with pedal boating, electric boat tours, and ice skating; a Civil War memorial arch; Lefferts Homestead Children's Museum, where life on a 19th-century Brooklyn farm is explored; and a beautiful carousel dating from 1912.

Sunset Park's Green-Wood Cemetery (718/788-1101) is one of the world's most beautiful cemeteries. With a spectacular harbor view and 478 acres filled with thousands of trees, flowering shrubs and four lakes, Green-Wood is the eternal resting place of a who's who of famous folks including Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Morse, F.A.O. Schwarz, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Charles Tiffany, and "Boss" Tweed.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
, a 52-acre urban oasis, with specialty gardens, world-class plant collections, and one-of-a-kinds is an urban oasis, has more Japanese cherry trees than Washington, D.C., not to mention roses, lilacs, and azaleas.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art, one of the largest museums in the United States, showcases one of the world's greatest Egyptian collections. One of the premier art institutions in the world, its permanent collection includes more than one and a half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and represents almost every culture. It is housed in a 560,000 square foot, Beaux-Arts building and has its own subway stop (take the 1 or 2 to Eastern Parkway). It's one block from the Grand Army Plaza in a complex of 19th-century parks and gardens that also contains Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Wildlife Center.

Just beyond is Crown Heights, a neighborhood where one of New York's biggest communities of Hasidic Jews share space with a West Indian community whose Brooklyn West Indian Labor Day carnival, the West Indian American Parade, is one of New York's most exciting annual events and is the largest such event in the U.S. In 2001 approximately 4 million people from numerous countries participated in the parade.

Kids of all ages will love the Brooklyn Children's Museum, the world's first children's museum, and the New York Aquarium with 300 species and daily dolphin shows on the Coney Island boardwalk.

Coney Island has the wooden Cyclone roller coaster, the Wonder Wheel, fair games, Nathan's famous hot dogs, the annual Mermaid Parade in June, the summer Siren Festival, a beach and lively boardwalk.

Nearby Brighton Beach, the setting for Neil Simon's film Brighton Beach Memoirs, is nicknamed "Little Odessa" for its large Russian population. Pick up superb caviar and other Russian treats at food markets but don't fill up noshing: stay for a meal at the fabulous local restaurants, some with Las Vegas-style entertainment. Oh, and there's also a beach and a boardwalk.

Sheepshead Bay
(Emmons Ave., between Coney Island Ave. & Knapp St.; take the D or Q train to Sheesphead Bay) is the center of recreational fishing for New York City. Boats are moored at ten piers, ready to sail into the deep waters off shore for half- and whole-day excursions - no reservations necessary. Fishing boats go out in the morning from 6:30am to 9am and again at 1pm. Many boats leave again at 7pm for night fishing. Fishing gear is provided, and you keep what you catch. If you come up empty (unlikely), dine at one of the many local seafood restaurants.

Borough Park, Flatbush, and historic Williamsburg are predominately ethnic areas that combine ancient culture with the modern American dream. Timeline Touring offers insider tours to these diverse areas that enable the visitor to explore the unique culture and heritage that exists in 21st century New York. Transportation provided. Tours leave from the NYC visitor center.

Park Slope is a beautiful, mainly residential, neighborhood, in northeastern Brooklyn. It was known in its heyday (late 1800s) as the Gold Coast because of its mansions and row houses on Prospect Park. Commercial districts lie along 7th and 5th avenues, the latter where you'll find Aaron's, a designer fashions discounter.

More information on Brooklyn:
Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn Information & Culture, 718/855-7882 x29, meetme@brooklynx.org.
Brookyn Tourism & Visitors Center, 718/802-3846.

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