My first time visiting the NYC Transit Museum was more than 5 years ago, as I led a class of 2nd & 3rd graders on their summer field trip. The exhibits on display haven’t changed much besides position placements. The museum itself is actually located in the decommissioned Court Street subway station in Downtown Brooklyn. My favorite exhibits throughout the whole museum is the fare collections and the antique older models of subways and rail cars. The interior designs, cushioned seats, and different types of subways such as at the “Money Train” were eye openers on how the designs and ad placements have evolved over time.
Our next stop was a short walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Being born and raised in Brooklyn, this was NEVER the type of atmosphere you will expect in this neighborhood. Brooklyn Bridge Park is a public space filled with parks, waterfront beach, recreational areas for BBQs & sports, and many “artisan” restaurants. Stretching for 1.3 miles from Brooklyn Heights Promenade to DUMBO, it reinvented itself into what it is today; a major tourist attraction and tons of international investments into the neighborhood. Before Brooklyn Bridge Park is what it is today, it used to be an empty and out of commission piers, from Brooklyn Piers 1-6. Driving from Brooklyn into the city, you will ALWAYS pass by this view of emptiness and desolation on the BQE. In recent days, you will find roof top bars, wedding photos being taken, and pop up pool parties in this area, a complete drastic change from what it was before.
The last and final stop on this long walking trip was a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. Personally, I have rode my bike over the Brooklyn Bridge countless times before Citi Bike was even a thing! It is also another major tourist attraction, as you see tourists stopping by at every rest stop along the bridge to take gorgeous pictures of the city skyline in the background, as well as a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty. Since our visit to the Museum of the City of New York, and the viewing of “Timescapes”, I have came to admired what the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed for. The Brooklyn Bridge was build to connect the workforce from where they slept(Brooklyn), to where they have to go to work everyday (Downtown Manhattan).
In my personal views, this visit was both a cultural landscape and an architectural landscape. It is cultural as it connects the old (abandoned piers & the Brooklyn Bridge) with the new. Why waste such a nice waterfront location when you can develop it into the booming neighborhood it is now!? The development of this area reminds me in a very similar way on how industry city (Located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn) is “up-and-coming”. I believe the whole Brooklyn Bridge Park serves the interests of the public as it opened many public spaces to the surrounding communities. It also serves the interest of a few elite group. A prime example would be the Brooklyn Nets basketball team. Before the development of Brooklyn Bridge Park and Barclay Center, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn was considered the lower class. It was dirty, packed, and full of little mom and pop shops. But ever since the city focused their development into the neighborhood, tons of money have been ushered in. The previous majority stake holder of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team have moved into Brooklyn Bridge Park and constructed a training facility for its team members at a condominium right by the soccer field in pier 5. He was also a frequent customer of Fornino, a roof top pizza parlor/bar located at pier 6. This help bolstered the new neighborhood into a much more expensive investment than it already was planned to be.
