Review of "36 Hours in Brooklyn," from the New York Times

Photo by Norman Oder

You might be wondering what I think of the recent "36 Hours in Brooklyn" travel section feature, which the New York Times published June 6, or its two predecessors, published in 2011 and 2017.

The answer: they're all useful, but need to be seen as guidelines rather than prescriptions. In 2017, I critiqued that year's incarnation for unwise broad generalizations  but my biggest quibble concerned the pursuit of breadth over depth. If you followed the 2017 advice, you'd traipse through DUMBO and go to the Brooklyn Roasting Company but not the chocolate shop Jacques Torres, which is a neighborhood gem and does have coffee.

I recommended a more concentrated effort to get more out of your surroundings.

This year's version
The most recent feature is somewhat better, but still suffers from trying to do too much. The article scants the amount of time, effort, and money--public transit, bike, car service--it takes to get between neighborhoods and in some cases offers unwise sequences.

Let's take a closer look. "This itinerary skips the most touristy and overdeveloped areas, including Williamsburg and Dumbo, and requires no restaurant reservations or advance planning," writes Ingrid K. Williams.

OK, but one of the restaurants recommended, Untable in Carroll Gardens, is tiny and already very hard to get into. (I've only been for lunch.) Why not offer an alternative?

If you're new to Brooklyn, it's still worth visiting Williamsburg--not every part is touristy--especially if, as the article suggests, you should start your Saturday in Greenpoint. The neighborhoods are adjacent. I always recommend tackling Brooklyn neighborhoods in clusters. You could easily spend the whole day in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

Why just visit a bakery, a coffee shop, and Transmitter Park in Greenpoint? I lead walking tours of 2.5 hours--sometimes far longer--in Greenpoint, because there's so much more to see.

Logistics, logistics

Wait a sec, though: if you're doing this itinerary on a Saturday, as recommended, the G train--the only subway to Greenpoint--won't stop there from June 28 through Aug. 12. If your next stop is Fort Greene, as recommended, after Greenpoint, the G train won't be stopping there between Aug. 12 and Sept. 3.

Let's pretend the G train is working. Rather than take the recommended route--Greenpoint to Fort Greene to Clinton Hill to Bedford-Stuyvesant, before going to the Brooklyn Museum--someone attempting this unwise breakneck pace should rather get out first in Bed-Stuy, which is the closest to Greenpoint, then Clinton Hill, then Fort Greene.

Bed-Stuy's a huge neighborhood. The article suggests a first stop at the bookstore Word is Change, then the nearby boutique Byas & Leon. OK. Then "refuel a few blocks away at A&A Bake Doubles and Roti," which, unmentioned, is a 9-minute walk. Then it's a 13-minute walk (unmentioned) to BLK MKT Vintage, and an 8-minute walk to Black Star Vinyl. The final stop, Fan-Fan Doughnuts, is--unmentioned--a 27-minute walk! 

But there's so much more to see in Bed-Stuy. Fan Fan is relatively close to the Pratt Institute in Clinton Hill: a 12-minute walk. B Then there's far more to see in Clinton Hill--wide streets and mansions, before exploring eclectic Fort Greene.

Whether you take the Times's advice or mine, it's still a ridiculous plan. Carve out more time for the Brooklyn Museum, the adjacent Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the adjacent neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, and Flatbush.

Stick around the area for dinner instead of trying to get to Bushwick for dinner, which Google suggests is a 37-minute trip from the museum, at least if you catch the 3 train--which comes every 12 minutes--in a timely manner. Hey, the best way to Bushwick, on the L train, is from... Williamsburg.

The bottom line

Brooklyn needs more than 36 hours and bears repeat visits. If you only have a little time, think adjacencies.

​I just checked the reader comments on the article, and the second-most popular one--after a nice anecdote--stated, "Lots of great spots featured but this itinerary is a bit ridiculous and has you hopping around in all kinds of directions and doubling back and forth between general sections of BK."

Amen.

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