The received wisdom is that Robert Moses was determined to route the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through Brooklyn Heights, following the route of Hicks Street, staying roughly on the course it had taken through Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, but that heroic resistance by Heights residents convinced him to try the innovative plan (where have we heard that lately?) of building a cantilevered highway on the side of the bluff below the Heights, with a Promenade on top.That’s all wrong, according to Thomas J. Campanella, in New York Magazine’s “Intelligencer”. Mr. Campanella, associate professor of city planning at Cornell University and historian-in-residence of the …
Lifetime Local Resident Reflects on Brooklyn Heights Life in New York Times Piece
Brooklyn Heights resident/author Elizabeth Gaffney writes about growing up here and living in the same townhouse her entire life. The piece is not only a marvelous account of her personal history, it also sheds light on the previous owners of her home and some “hidden” Heights history: NYT: When my parents first moved to the Heights, in 1966, the neighborhood had gotten rather down at the heels — meaning, it was affordable. There was a topless bar, the Club Wild Fyre, around the corner from the house, and several grand old hotels operating as single-room-occupancy residences. The apartment they were interested in was on the ground floor, and had a garden and nice moldings. Still, it …