Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York's five boroughs. The gateway to Brooklyn from the Big Apple is the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and walking over it should be on everyone's NYC bucket lists. Though the journey shouldn't end when the bridge does. It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when Brooklyn was independent from New York City. Between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Brooklyn was one of the "Six Towns" of Kings County and the largest city in New York State until it was annexed by New York City in 1898. Now neighborhoods such as Bushwick and Flatbush, historical towns in former Kings County, make up the borough of Brooklyn. When you imagine stereotypical New York accents, you're likely thinking of a Brooklyn accent, referred by linguists as "Brooklynese." Brooklyn has developed a culture of its own. There are some 700 arts and cultural institutions here, and a myriad of poets that have come from Brooklyn. Betty Smith, author and fellow Brooklynite, is widely regarded as Brooklyn's chief poet since Whitman. Her novel, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", tells the tale of a girl growing up in impoverished Williamsburg and was an immediate success in 1943, selling 300,000 copies in just six weeks. It gave readers an insight into the Brooklyn way of life and serves as the literary conscience of this borough. Brooklynites take pride in their culture. The borough has an official motto that translates to, "In unity there is strength." It's a melting pot of Jewish, Russian, Chinese, and African Americans and now hipsters. Brooklyn went through a renaissance period in the twenty-first century. Artists-in-residence opted for trendy neighborhoods such as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and Williamsburg over Manhattan's SoHo. There are many reasons why Brooklyn has become the hipster destination of New York. And here at NY2C, we're prepared to show you why.