Since we can’t travel much these days, I’m re-posting some prior blogs. This is from a great visit to New York City last year.
BROOKLYN – “The view down here is nice, but I’m going to show a place almost nobody knows about.”
Sheli Baez is escorting my wife and I around Brooklyn on a New York Times Journeys visit; a program based on the newspaper’s popular “36 Hours In” travel section stories, where readers are given a guide for the perfect day and-a-half in great destinations around the world. The New York Times Journeys are run by Urban Adventures, which is part of Intrepid Travel.
There are 12 New York Times Journeys city tours now, including New York, Paris, Bangkok, Delhi and Toronto, where guides will take guests out to enjoy the hip West Queen West area of town. They’re adding four more cities soon, including Los Angeles and Sydney. Six more should come on stream by the end of the year, which would stretch the offerings to 22 in cities across the globe.
A panoramic view of the East River, Manhattan and Brooklyn from the fifth floor of the Empire Stores building in Brooklyn. JIM BYERS PHOTO
We wander into the Empire Stores building on the bustling, Brooklyn waterfront. This part of town was mostly used for warehouses back in the day, but is now perhaps the trendiest part of one of the world’s great cities; with stunning loft apartments, great restaurants and cafes and shops that are so hip it hurts.
Baez takes us around a corner to an elevator and pushes the button for the fifth floor. We walk out and find just three or four other people in a rooftop garden area that offers an absolutely tremendous view of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Brooklyn waterfront, The Manhattan Bridge, the East River, and Lower Manhattan.
We pose for photos and breathe it all in before heading back downstairs, where we check out achingly trendy stores offering colourful bags and men’s clothes.
Our tour of Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) district had begun at 9 a.m. at Pier 11 in lower Manhattan, where we boarded a quick ferry for the trip to Brooklyn. Baez tells us the city is trying to ease traffic and subway congestion by offering more ferries for commuters. It’s deserted on a Saturday morning in January but I can imagine the crowds on a weekday.
Posing for a photo at a popular spot in DUMBO. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Baez tells us that ferries between Manhattan and Brooklyn began running in 1642, likely as tiny rowboats.
We’re no sooner off the boat in Brooklyn when Sheli points out the first of many “I had no idea” attractions. Perched in the water, just a few steps from the ferry boat, is something called “Barge Music.” Baez explains it was an old coffee barge that is now fixed up inside and host chamber music concerts. How cool is that?
She also points out large storage towers for midwestern grain that started coming this way once Erie Canal was built to link NY to the Midwest. The Eagle Warehouse was once home to the Eagle newspaper, where Walt Whitman worked for a time (one of his works was Crossing Brookylyn Ferry, actually). The building now houses trendy condos, while other buildings are home to booming tech companies and start-ups.
Baez takes us past the old-time carousel on the waterfront (it’s from the 1920’s and has been gloriously restored) and past St. Ann’s Warehouse, a glorious old piece of brick architecture that’s now one of the city’s most inventive live theatre spots.
Our first stop is Smile To Go, a popular New York spot for pastries, cookies and other goodies and the second of three locations in the city. We chat with the owner about the joys and challenges of operating in a historic building and enjoy some absolutely tremendous treats; citrus glazed olive oil cake, scones that are light and fluffy inside but crispy and perfect on the outside, and sinful, sensational chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt. Oh, lord, they’re some kind of amazing.
Tasty Treats at Smile To Go, Brooklyn. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Smile To Go shares their space with a branch of Shinola, a Detroit-based company that makes fine leather goods and can be found in equally hip building and neighbourhoods across North America.
From there we make our way to Empire Stores, which Baez says was originally was used for coffee and molasses storage. She tells some stories about warring Brooklyn families competing in the business and tells a great tale of how works had died completing the Brooklyn Bridge. Many folks felt it was unsafe after several people were killed in an accident, so P.T. Barnum was hired to show things were okay on the bridge. The master carnival owner had 21 elephants and 17 camels cross the bridge one day to show it could take the strain. (Among the elephants was the famous Jumbo, who later died in an accident in St. Thomas, Ontario, where there’s a huge statue in his honour).
A photo shoot outside Powerhouse Arena, next to the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Baez also shows us a wonderful bookstore called Powerhouse Arena, where I get distracted by a model outside who’s holding canisters of purple and pink smoke for a photo shoot.
Back outside we learn more about the wars between Brooklyn families who were in the coffee and sugar business and take snaps of the beautiful, industrial buildings all around us. We also stop in at Brooklyn Roasting Company, where we sip hot, strong coffee and watch young Brooklynites playing with their babies or dogs. Or, sometimes, both.
One of the treats you might get on the DUMBO tour, if someone is around and willing to chat, is a brief visit with a local artist. For our tour, Baez takes us up several flights of stairs (the building’s landlord was apparently disputing elevator rights with the tenants on the day we visited) to a truly stunning loft where artist Steven West has an old lithograph machine (it weighs 1,600 pounds, so good thing the elevator sometimes works) and perfectly displayed versions of his work.
West, who hails from Michigan, explains how he does his work and shows us photos he takes with his phone, close-ups of city ephemera (a section of fence; a bit of rubble) that he feels strongly about or make a statement to him.
Brooklyn artist Steven West in his loft apartment. JIM BYERS PHOTO
West tells us he’s worked with the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat; heady company, indeed.
“Andy wasn’t difficult at all,” he tells us. “He’d just walk up and say hi. I’d ask how he was and he’d say, ‘I’m doing fine, thanks for asking.’”
West also has mixed with such renowned artists as Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns.
He’s a passionate artist and a very enjoyable fellow to chat with. But I can’t guarantee he’ll be available on any tours your take.
Our last stop on the New York Times Journeys tour is another sleek, former industrial building. This one is home to Randolph Beer, a wonderful spot where you pay a set amount and pour your own beer from a series of taps on the wall. They have something like two dozen styles on tap, all made in-house, with a wide variety that allows you to sample a little bit at a time and find what you like.
Sheli Baez of New York City Urban Adventures. JIM BYERS PHOTO
I had a lovely Gun Hill IPA and a bit of a Captain Lawrence Stout, along with sharing a generous cast-iron skillet filled with gooey macaroni and cheese mixed with bacon.
DETAILS: The New York Times Journey through DUMBO takes three hours and costs $99 USD. The price includes an English-speaking guide, pastry, coffee, a sandwich or something similar for lunch, a $10 beer ticket at Randolph Beer and your ferry ticket.
DISCLOSURE: My wife’s and my New York Times Journey tickets were paid for by Urban Adventures and Intrepid Travel. They did not see my story or approve of it before publication.
