Brooklyn Day 3: September 28, 2025

Sunday, September 28, 2025. Brooklyn

We began the day by moving from the Even Hotel (which should rightly be called the “Un-Even Hotel”) and moved to the ACE around the corner; that had always been the plan. The rates at the Ace for the first two nights were incredibly high so we decided to stay at the Even and then move to the Ace, where we are now comfortably settled.

Once at the Ace, we began the day-long “tour of Brooklyn” with me as the guide–exposing the geography of my childhood. But first it was brunch in Fort Greene at Ms Ada’s where we shared three wonderful dishes: muhamara with homemade pita; shakshuka; and an Israeli salad… and then some chocolate babka. And then we were off!

After brunch (which took us a little out of our route) we headed to Boro Park (Borough Park, although we always spelled it “boro”) where I spent my childhood until I was about 17 or 18–living first at 1337 40th Street (in a very small one-bedroom apartment–maybe 500 sq ft? with my mother, father, and brother) and then when I was 9 we moved two blocks to 1526 40th Street. My entire 17 years were spent in that two-block strip. My grandfather had a small mens clothing store on 13th Avenue–the commercial hot spot of Boro Park, literally around the corner from th1337 house…and later my aunt and uncle had a small children’s clothing store also on 13th Avenue. At the corner of 40th Street and 13th Avenue there was a very tiny pickle store and the owner of that pickle store owned the 4-plex where our family rented a first floor apartment.

We walked the neighborhood a bit. When I was growing up, Boro Park was pretty much a lower-middle class neighborhood of Jewish and Italian working people–mostly skilled labor or working in retail, and a few white collar workers (including my father). We were a pretty homogeneous group and the only real difference between the Jews and the Italians was that we went to public school and most of the Italians went to Catholic schools. We celebrated their holidays and they celebrated ours. We were secular Jews…culturally very affiliated, but not practicing.

The neighborhood is now 100% Hasidic Jews—complete with fur hats and long coats and women with wigs and young girls in long dresses. The four-plex we lived in is now a duplex because the Hasidic families are very large and need room for all those kids. We walked between the houses and strolled a bit on 13th Avenue to see the commercial area. It was quite busy, but felt very much like many cities I have visited in developing countries—indeed much like Cairo or Tunis. All in all, like a foreign country.

We then took a very meandering route to see my high school–a four-story building with an adjacent game field, looking very much like a prison. We had about 3,500/4,000 students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. From there we headed out to Bensonhurst and Coney Island. We stopped to see the apartment building where Adrienne’s grandmother lived along the way.

Then after whizzing around Coney Island trying to find parking, we finally made our way to the Boardwalk, and had a snack at Tatiana–a Russian restaurant on the boardwalk near the Brighton Beach part of Coney Island, serving mostly Russian and Ukrainian food. We shared an order of “varenki”–a dumpling stuffed with “pot cheese” (a sweet dry cottage cheese) and served with fresh poached cherries. I had the a glass of “kvass” a non-alcoholic fermented drink that is made from rye bread. It’s sweet and sour and a little fizzy. The restaurant was packed with a very very diverse group of diners including several tables of Muslim women.

By then it was close to 6 and we needed to really hustle to get back to the hotel and out for dinner. We ate at Vinegar Hill House, close to DUMBO–a place I have long wanted to try..and now I finally did. We had a great mussels starter (cooked in a very light tomato broth with spices) and then had a tasty rigatoni with lamb ragu, and then halibut with curried squash, poached apricots, sweet peppers and pistachios. Very yummy, and we just had to finish with a chocolate dessert. I’m going to roll out of Brooklyn!

And then it was back to the Ace to finally check in… and that’s a wrap for Day Three Brooklyn. Not as much walking today, but we did manage to put in about 3-1/2 miles (8,200 steps). Tomorrow is another day.