Crown Heights & Prospect Heights

The Crown Heights and Prospect Heights vibe, and the trains

Crown Heights is West Indian Brooklyn at its core: Jamaican, Trinidadian, Haitian, Grenadian and Bajan families, soca out of car windows, beef patties in wax paper, and Nostrand Ave running down the middle. It's also home to a large Lubavitch Hasidic community and, along Franklin Ave, a newer wave of bars and cafés. Prospect Heights, to the west, is brownstones, tree-lined blocks and Vanderbilt Ave restaurants.

The 2/3 and the 4/5 run under Eastern Parkway, with stops at Grand Army Plaza, Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn Museum), Franklin Ave and Nostrand Ave. The S, the Franklin Ave shuttle, is a tiny open-air train that connects the A/C to the B/Q at Prospect Park. The B/Q at Prospect Park drops you at the southeast corner of the park. Park Slope is right across Grand Army Plaza.

Caribbean food in Crown Heights: the munchies guide

Start with roti: curry goat, doubles and the kind of hot sauce that makes you sweat through your shirt. Roti shops turn over here, so go with the counter that has a line, come hungry and come ready to point at things. Baked, a curry roti wrapped in paper is a perfect object.

After that, Nostrand Ave is the stretch. Jamaican bakeries with beef patties, coco bread and hard dough bread. Roti shops. Jerk chicken from drum smokers on the corner, with the smoke drifting half a block. Trinidadian doubles stands with chickpeas, chutney and pepper. Haitian spots with griot and pikliz. Cheap, filling, and nothing like what you can get in Manhattan. For the full citywide list, see the NYC munchies guide.

Prospect Heights food and the Franklin Ave strip

Franklin Ave has the newer energy: pizza counters, ramen spots, taquerias, coffee shops and bars with sidewalk seating. Prospect Heights food along Vanderbilt Ave runs toward brunch, wine bars and nicer dinners. Bodegas everywhere handle the chopped cheese. For late-night thinking, see our late-night food guide; Nostrand and Franklin both have corners that stay lit.

Things to do in Crown Heights baked

The baked day here writes itself. Sesh at home, take the 2/3 to Eastern Parkway, spend a few hours in the museum and the garden, walk Eastern Parkway's tree-lined paths, then eat your way down Nostrand. It's a whole day out with zero stress and maybe one train ride.

Or just walk. Eastern Parkway is a grand old boulevard with benches and shade. The brownstone blocks of Prospect Heights are some of the prettiest in the city. Franklin Ave has record stores and bookshops worth a baked browse. For more like this, see things to do high in NYC.

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and BAM nearby

The Brooklyn Museum is huge, calm and underrated: Egyptian art, American paintings, period rooms and a big feminist art center. It never feels as packed as the Met, which means you can stand in front of something for ten minutes and nobody pushes you.

Right next door, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is the most beautiful place to be baked in the borough. The Japanese garden with its pond, the rose garden, the conservatory, and in spring, the cherry blossoms that turn the Esplanade into a pink tunnel. Go early on a weekday to beat crowds. A short ride away in Fort Greene, BAM Rose Cinemas shows indie and repertory films in a beautiful old building; see our guide to NYC movie theaters.

Grand Army Plaza and the east side of Prospect Park

Grand Army Plaza is the big arch at the top of the park, with fountains. Walk in and the east side of Prospect Park is quieter than the Park Slope side: shady paths, the lake, the zoo, wide lawns, and fewer strollers.

Parks and plazas are smoke-free, so sesh at home and arrive already floating. Lie on the grass, watch dogs. Our guide to where you can sesh spells it out, and the seasons guide tells you when cherry blossom time and fall foliage peak.

Crown Heights and Prospect Heights: the good and the annoying

The good

Some of the best food in Brooklyn. A museum, a garden and a park all in a row. Great trains, with the express 2/3 and 4/5 right there. Real community, real neighbors, real music on the street.

The annoying

Eastern Parkway on a big parade or event day is a wall of people. The 4/5 skips your stop if you live off a local station. Rents keep climbing and the old neighborhood feels it. And the jerk smoke from a drum smoker will follow you home in your hoodie, which honestly is not that annoying.