Prospect Heights: Brownstones, Museums and Great Food

Prospect Heights is a small Brooklyn neighborhood where traditional brownstones, abandoned factories, and sleek luxury buildings sit side by side, all along tree-lined streets.

It actually looks a lot like neighboring Park Slope, just south of Flatbush Avenue, and you'll almost certainly walk through both when you visit Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, or the Brooklyn Museum, three Brooklyn attractions you shouldn't miss.

Architecture in Prospect Heights

In this neighborhood, the old and the new coexist, though not always harmoniously. There have been well-known clashes between residents and development projects, some designed by architects as prominent as Frank Gehry, that aim to turn the old neighborhood into luxury condos.

If you want to see that tension, so typically New York, head to the south end of Prospect Heights, along Eastern Parkway between Grand Army Plaza and Washington Avenue.

Now, if you're the type who enjoys this kind of urban renewal, take a look at the luxury residential complex, glass everywhere, designed by architect Richard Meier in 2008 at 1 Grand Army Plaza.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Another spot to see in Prospect Heights is the century-old Brooklyn Botanic Garden, especially wonderful in spring thanks to its cherry blossom grove. It's part of the green expanse of Prospect Park, Brooklyn's Central Park.

Right next to the Botanic Garden stands the Brooklyn Museum, housed in a magnificent building. It's the second largest museum in New York and one of the oldest. I recommend it.

Celebrities in Prospect Heights

Like everywhere in New York, Prospect Heights has its share of famous residents:

• This is home to the controversial rapper Foxy Brown, who took her stage name from the 1974 blaxploitation film of the same name starring Pam Grier (the actress Quentin Tarantino immortalized in his 1997 Jackie Brown).
• Comedian Joan Rivers lived here too. Remember her? Fashion Police and dozens of plastic surgeries.
• It's also home to Matt Bomer, the ex-con Neil Caffrey from White Collar (a series shot at the Silvercup Studios in Queens) and, more recently, Doom Patrol and The Sinner.

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Address

Prospect Heights is bounded by Flatbush Avenue to the west and Washington Avenue to the east, Atlantic Avenue to the north and Eastern Parkway to the south

How to get there

Subway B, Q. Prospect Park station