Is Brooklyn Heights Cool?

By on August 6, 2019 4:28 pm in 11201, brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Environment, Health, Weather

Not “cool” in the sense of “hip”, though we may be a little of that (at least Montague Street gets name-checked in a Bob Dylan song), but in terms of ambient temperature. Right now, as I write this, that’s 81 degrees Fahrenheit; not quite as bad as it’s been lately. According to Curbed NY, citing a study by Localize.city, the Heights is one of the four coolest neighborhoods in the City. The others are Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights, and the Concourse in the South Bronx. What all have in common, according to the Curbed piece, is proximity to parks. It notes the Heights’ proximity to Brooklyn Bridge Park, but observes the park’s lack of mature trees. It doesn’t mention the phalanx of trees along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (photo, by C. Scales), which certainly have some effect, along with our many street trees and other abundant greenery.

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  • Jeffrey Smith

    Sure BH is cool…..
    Me and my friends live here…

  • CassieVonMontague

    The temperature and humidity down in the park and in DUMBO is noticeably swampier than it is up here. I think the wind coming in from the harbor makes a difference. Trees too.

  • Andrew Porter

    I think it’s cooler because it’s near the East River, and winds from the water flow through the area. I know in the winter, when it’s raining in Manhattan, often it’s a few degrees cooler here, and hence more likely to snow rather than rain.

    The amount of greenery, especially trees, is also a large factor. The many small structure roofs are also a factor: “tar beach” has been replaced by reflective roofing in recent decades.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    The Heights was never really “cool”, though it was much more so back in the day. Brooklyn as a whole has lost most of its “coolness” as the hipsters are just a rehash of previous pop culture. To be cool is to set the trend not follow it.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    “friends” LOL

  • Pierrepont

    I refuse to believe the Heights are cool. And I say that as someone who moved here in the year 2000. That is, in fact, part of the reason my wife and I moved here. Yes, more space. But more importantly, what our budget could buy on the UWS was nowhere near as nice as these leafy streets. (More like dumpster-view, if I am being honest.) Anyway, this is probably a garbage analysis, but why not? I will (grudgingly) take the compliment.

  • Jorale-man

    I immediately notice the cooler breezes coming up Joralemon Street when returning from a trip into Manhattan. In the winter though, those are frigid winds that force me to bury my face in my coat and run up the street to stay warm!

  • CHatter

    The Montague Street in Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” is in New Orleans. And it’s spelled “Montegut”.

  • Proto Plano

    Wholly unimpressed with how this conclusion was made.

    https://labs.localize.city/we-found-the-buildings-with-the-most-shade/

    Data scientists at Localize.city, a website that provides insights for every address in New York City, created an algorithm assessing the sunlight and shade at every building in the five boroughs. You can search any address, and Localize.city will describe the direct sunlight on every side of the building, throughout the year. The descriptions include the brightest hours of the day, along with how different floors are affected by shadows cast from surrounding buildings.

    To boot, I could not find any information on sunlight on a number of addresses I entered into their site.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Where are you getting your information? As far as I know; it has never been confirmed which Montague St Dylan was referring to.

  • CHatter

    From the song. He lived with them on Montegut St after moving to NOLA to work on a fishing boat. That’s where he ran into his ex wife in the strip club and the whole thing happened with the shoe tying and all that.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    My recollection of the song is that he leaves New Orleans before he gets to the verse about Montague Street.

  • CHatter

    Have a look at the lyrics

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    It doesn’t necessarily follow that the verse about his having “drifted down to New Orleans” and the next one about her “working in a topless place” both happen in the same city. Yes, there are topless places in New Orleans, but also in New York.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Then sod Bob “Dylan” Zimmerman! Scott Walker was explicit about Montague Terrace (In Blue), a superior composition anyway. Harrumph!

  • CHatter

    Well I suppose that’s true, but then again no mention in the song of the narrator being in New York, or Brooklyn, or of leaving New Orleans at all (until later, when the “bottom fell out”, and the narrator “keeps on keeping on”).

  • CHatter

    It’s sorta in the Bywater / Marigny area.

    On a separate but related note, what search engine do you use?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Google. Did you find a Montagut Street in New Orleans using a different search engine?

  • CHatter

    Montegut. Oui.

  • rubenkincaid

    The Heights has always been cool in its unique way, but it feels like the hottest summer since ’88 here.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Sorry to keep flogging this, but “basement down the stairs” rang a bell. A web search confirms that buildings in New Orleans don’t have basements because of the high water table. Some have “raised basements” that are at street level, not “down the stairs.”

  • CHatter

    Yes, fair point. Here’s an interesting string that suggests that neither of us is right (the bits about Lennon/Yoko living in Ringo’s basement portion of his flat on Montagu Square while recording Revolution seem compelling): https://www.songfacts.com/facts/bob-dylan/tangled-up-in-blue . Interesting Wiki article on that apt here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34_Montagu_Square,_Marylebone. It was the ground and lower-ground (i.e. basement) floors. Apparently Jimi Hendrix previously subletted from Ringo and wrote Wind Cries Mary in it, so seems a place steeped in musical importance that Dylan would be interested in.

    The more I read about this song, the more convinced I am that the song isn’t a linear story or about any one couple, but rather a collection of unrelated vignettes where the unifying theme is “failed first marriages”.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Interesting! I agree about the “vignette” characterization of the song.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    ^^^ I don’t buy the “Beatles or Hendrix” theory, doesn’t quite fit the rest of the verse and would be out of place with the theme of the rest of the song.
    I think the vignettes are either his personal or possibly of others, but yeah, that’s how I always interpreted the song. Reminiscing, while he’s layin’ in bed….

  • Gina Williams

    I’ve always wondered if he was referring to Montague St. in the Heights – wonder if anyone associated with this book about him knew because the Heights Montague St sign is on the cover: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=18502549195&cm_mmc=ggl-_-COM_Shopp_Rare-_-naa-_-naa&gclid=CjwKCAjw1rnqBRAAEiwAr29IIzaQffmOJRbBUDuYfYrAoHw_Yv0bLT2prHCKDy-HUro9zhLSN92dMBoCx0IQAvD_BwE

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    That’s enough evidence for me :)