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NEW YORK
NO PLACE LIKE BED-STUY Brooklyn’s hipster neighbourhood grows up to offer unforgettable sights and sounds. Words and photos by Adrienne Jordan
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The neighbourhood has attracted an influx of artistic millennials and young couples, as well as many blackowned businesses that reflect the area's prominent African-American and West Indian heritage charm of the area well and enjoys working locally at luxury real estate firm, Halsted. “I love the architecture and the mix of cultures, including the hip-hop culture and jazz. I moved here for the people,” he states emphatically. He goes on to list influential celebrities from Bed-Stuy that give him a sense of place and history: MIA, Nora Jones, Laurence Fishburne and Chris Rock. The neighbourhood was designed to be strolled through, but you can begin by stretching out on a bench inside Fulton Park. On spring and summer days, chess matches are hugely popular, with old-timers (and young men brave enough to challenge them) crouched intently over boards in the intimate, tree-filled park that runs along Fulton Street and Stuyvesant Avenue. It’s a meeting point for passers-by to get on and off the A or C train or to stop to dance to the tunes of the outdoor DJs on the weekend, with special themes like Prince tributes or Motown oldies. On warm weekends, the community sometimes throws family nights, with free outdoor movies and old-fashioned popcorn booths. For those with a shopping habit that needs constant appeasing, a walk down Lewis Avenue reveals a plethora of retail options – and food stops – along the way. For example, HL – named for the corner ed-Stuy, Brooklyn, must be New York’s hottest neighbourhood on which it resides, Halsey/Lewis – is a vintage record shop opened with the coolest people. From the striking, 200-year-old by Martin Brower in February this year. Originally from the Prospect brownstones to several streets that have recently won Heights area of Brooklyn, Brower’s been a vintage record, clothing and “Greenest Block in Brooklyn”, the precinct has attracted book dealer since 1995, when he moved to the area. Along with music, an influx of artistic millennials and young couples, as you can also snag woven Mayan shirts, ballet slippers, vintage trunks or well as many black-owned businesses that reflect the even a well-loved bike from the store. area’s prominent African-American and West A newcomer on Lewis Ave, Khem’s Jerk Shop is Indian heritage. run by Khem from Jamaica and his partner Brods Bed-Stuy has emerged from the shadow from Antigua. A Bed-Stuy resident for decades, Khem Previous page, clockwise of earlier, hip Brooklyn counterparts – Williamsburg, wanted the intimate and colourful space to welcome from top left: Sincerely Clinton Hill and Greenpoint – with new art guests with West Indian hospitality and playful decor. Tommy, clothing store exhibitions, eateries, bars and fitness centres opening in “Smells so good in here,” says a customer as she walks and coffee shop. The the neighbourhood every month. It’s also a magnet for in. The smell of Caribbean food is distinct with the living room of Ban Leow’s renovated brownstone. films and TV shows and it’s common to see production fragrant aroma of fresh bread and jerk spices: the only A Ceci Cela pastry at trucks on a tree-lined block or film crews rearranging things missing are sand and the sound of crashing Georges-Andres. sets inside a restaurant. In fact, Bed-Stuy was the waves. The steamed salmon on a bed of kale, topped Above: A Purple Lightning stomping ground for classic movies like Spike Lee’s Do with tomatoes, red peppers and carrots, should be Hopkins Cocktail at the Right Thing and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. paired with the boozy punch with sorrel and ginger. Peaches Hothouse. The neighbourhood’s meticulously built brownstones A favourite neighbourhood meet-up, Georgesare some of the most beautiful and historic in Brooklyn. Andres is a quirky coffee shop that was opened by Constructed as grand homes for wealthy Dutch French mom Karine Petitnicolas, whose friends call jewellers in the 1800s, every one is unique. Details such as pathways for her SuperFrench. Antique couches, lamps, clothing and accessories carriages entering backyards, vestigial hooks for horses on the backs rotate in and out as a sort of vintage shop concept. Find a couch (or an of homes and mud rooms in which men cleaned themselves up before old sports chair), grab a coffee by La Colombe and nibble Ceci Cela entering the house have been preserved. Even the parlours are relics. pastries. Employee Hannah Nacht loves making cool and unusual In days gone by, ladies hosted guests in them and now they’re used as shapes such as sunflowers and flying whales in the coffee’s foam. It’s also commonplace living rooms. A sight to see on Decatur Street (between great for families, with a well-stocked kids’ corner. Karine owns a fitness Malcom X Boulevard and Lewis Avenue) are the rare, marble homes studio across the street. The name? SuperFrench, of course. that press up against one another in shiny formation, with crisp, slate While Georges-Andres is French-themed, the year-old Kafe mantels – the only three in Bed-Stuy. Louverture located on Halsey Street takes you on a trip to Haiti. It’s Ban Leow, a Malaysian resident of Bed-Stuy since 2007, knows the owned by long-time residents Joanne and Anthony Cunningham,
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specialities like spinach chicken Caesar and Super Mario. The shop also features rotating art exhibitions and plenty of room for ordering pies with friends. If you want to wind down after a day of trekking Bed-Stuy, a bottle of great vino can be found at Bed-Vyne Wine & Spirits. A few years ago the wine and spirits shop hosted the South African-owned House of Mandela wine brand launch for the US market, with Nelson Mandela’s daughter and granddaughter in attendance. If draft microbrews are more to your taste, Bed-Vyne Brew, which can be found next door, provides hard-to-find outdoor seating at the back. The deck is a summertime favourite and is decorated with wood reclaimed from upstate New York barns. The lifelong residents of Bed-Stuy are eager to share their memories of growing up in the area, running down the sidewalks and chatting to each other from their sturdy stoops. Barbara Sidbury, a resident for 83 years, says: “There’s no place like Bed-Stuy and it’s a great place to live whether young or old.” No wonder Jay Z and Biggie Smalls gave regular shout-outs to their hometown Bed-Stuy in the 1996 hit Brooklyn’s Finest. They never forgot their roots – their “hood” – and neither will you.
SAA flies to New York seven days a week from OR Tambo International Airport. Visit; www.flysaa.com who named the coffee shop after the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, and feature mostly Haitian artists, with sculptures, paintings and jewellery for sale. There are also poignant photos of elders and kids taken during Anthony’s trips to the island. If you have a tickle in your throat, be sure to order a lemon ginger cider – strong and potent – made with freshly-strained ginger. To catch a show, hop on a bus to the Herbert Von King Park. It’s one of Brooklyn’s oldest parks, with an expansive green space, playground, dog-run, and an amphitheatre – a hotspot for free summer concerts such as the annual Summerstage. Last year’s Summerstage concert sponsored by the well-loved New York promoter Everyday People, welcomed rising hip-hop artists Starchild, The New Romantic and Kamau. There was standing room only in the amphitheatre, which was packed with young hipsters. While Herbert Von King gets your heart pumping, the intimate Richard Beavers Gallery, located on Marcus Garvey Boulevard, inspires introspection. Featuring works by international artists, the collections depict street art, realism and inner-city themes favoured by owner and curator Richard Beavers. “I have passion and appreciation for art and wanted to share it with the community, especially to an under-served community,” says Beavers. “I am communicating through the art I choose to curate.” Some of the recent exhibits include Kristine Mays’ steel wire sculptures and Frank Morrison’s urban oil paintings. No trip to New York would be complete without some New York-style pizza. Opened in 2014 on Malcolm X Boulevard and Bainbridge Street, Daddy Green’s is pizza heaven with head-turning Above: Inside HL vintage shop. Right: A fried chicken dish at Peaches Hothouse.