I got all misty-eyed last week after we featured the Brooklyn home of the super fab, Ms. Solange Knowles. I mean Solange was killing it. But it was her love affair with my old stomping ground that just took me down memory lane. You see, it was Brooklyn that first embraced me, an 18-year-old girl fresh from the island of Jamaica, who was on a mission to find herself.
It was in Brooklyn where I first discovered poetry, and at Brooklyn College where I discovered my voice as a writer. It was in Brooklyn where I first fell deeply in love, and in Brooklyn where I first knew the meaning of pure, unfiltered heartbreak.
It was in Brooklyn too where I experienced my first taste of racism, but also in Brooklyn where I found some enduring friendships.
I have a thing for Brooklyn and it's hard-scrabble ways - it's bustling streets, it's jerk chicken stands, it's dollar vans, the Junction, Coney Island, Kings Plaza, Juniors Restaurant etc....
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| Some finely dressed men chillin in DUMBO |
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| Jerk chicken pan on Nostrand Avenue |
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| Williamsburg |
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| Young love in DUMBO |
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| Prospect Park |
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| Hmmm. Cute guy in Coney Island |
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| Brooklyn Public Library |
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| The Brooklyn Bridge |
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| Williamsburg |
There you have it.
A look back at the borough that changed my life.
What city changed your life and how?
These are amazing photos! All beautiful. I remember I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge walking with my then boyfriend took the photos in the middle of the Bridge with the city in the background....and guess what happened 2 weeks later? 9/11....I was lucky to get those photos with the twin towers...amazing. I love Dumbo too....best pizaa ever...at Grimaldi's :)
ReplyDeleteI love this, Albertina. I do not know Brooklyn except for what I see about it on tv. This is grass roots wonderful. I grew up in the suburbs of DC and live 30 mins. from there now, so I have really never left this area. I do love knowing all the ins and outs and back roads all over the map. Its great knowing where you grew up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this.
Nancy
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Hello Nicole and Debbie
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and your kind comments.
I am happy to have found you blog and have enjoyed reading this post on Brooklyn. Your images are spectacular. I am looking forward to going through your earlier posts.
I am your new follower. Have a glorious week
Helen xx
Lovely. What's a dollar van??? Anyway I was born raised and still live in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Though I have visited majority of our country's major cities , I've never lived anywhere else...
ReplyDeletelol. A dollar van, are robot taxis/vans who charged a $1 instead of the $1.50 you'd pay on the bus. A very, very illegal operation and yet they were everywhere and everyone took em! There were times when the cops would pull em over and everyone would have to get out and we'd simply hop into another van. Absolute mayhem, but it was the Brooklyn way.
DeleteWow that would be a sight to see lol
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