By Nicole Caldwell(Note: These segments were written for a wonderful new, hyper-local Web site called My Little O.)
History of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill
The land on which Brooklyn’s Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods sit was created more than 12,000 years ago by dirt and rock washed south by icebergs during the last ice age. Since that time, the area has withstood war, disease, and racial tension; all the while leading the way in diversifying New York City’s neighborhoods, urban park development, and the arts.
Vanderbilt Avenue is the dividing line between Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (east and west, respectively). The neighborhoods fall south of Wallabout Bay, north of Prospect Heights; west of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and east of Brooklyn Heights. Walt Whitman, Mos Def, The Notorious B.I.G., and Rosie Perez—among others!—have called Fort Greene and Clinton Hill home.
(Read the rest of this history here)
Playing in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill
Museums, parks, community gardens, and neighborhood events make Fort Greene and Clinton Hill great destinations for daylong adventures, and help explain the influx of families choosing in recent years to make their homes in these historic neighborhoods.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) alone offers movies, plays, recitals, and concerts almost every night of the week. This neighborhood fixture, America's oldest continuously operating performing arts center since 1861, also has an in-house restaurant and bar. The Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery on Willoughby Avenue at Grand Street has rotating art exhibits. The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) on Hanson Place offers exhibitions, public programs, community outreach initiatives, and educational interactive tours. Then there’s UrbanGlass, the first artist-access glass center in the United States and now the largest. The space educates 900 students from around the world per year, and offers tours, classes, and studio space.
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Eating in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
Behind their sleepy residential exteriors, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill boast one of the widest assortments of food you can find anywhere in New York City. From South African to Indian to Italian or French , this brownstone-flecked area presents a selection rivaling most Manhattan neighborhoods. And the best part is that you can find any genre of food to fit any budget.
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