Rocco Parascandola, in the Daily News, tells the story of how, ninety years ago tomorrow, Patrolman Walter DeCastillia, assigned to what is still our local 84th Precinct, was gunned down and killed in a crime for which no one was brought to justice. Patrolman DeCastilia was guarding a cash payroll transfer at a business on York Street in […]
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Brooklyn Heights: Den of Spies?
It’s fairly well known that Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, the Soviet spy who was caught, convicted, and later exchanged for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, lived in the Heights, specifically at 252 Fulton Street, near Clark Street, a building later demolished to make way for the Cadman Plaza apartment towers. The story is told here by […]
“Overlooked No More”: Elizabeth Gloucester
Elizabeth Gloucester made her name in Brooklyn Heights in the 19th century, and last week, her name became much better known, thanks to the “Overlooked” series in The New York Times. “Overlooked” is a series that redresses oversights of the past, acknowledging the lives of people who, for reasons of race, class, sex, or ethnicity, were […]
Battle of Brooklyn Events: August 17 – August 27
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle features the full line-up and schedule for this year’s Battle of Brooklyn events. The festivities start this weekend and will continue until August 27th, which is the 243rd anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, “the first major engagement of the Revolutionary War to take place after the U.S. declared its independence in 1776.” […]
Did Robert Moses “Head Fake” Brooklyn Heights?
The received wisdom is that Robert Moses was determined to route the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through Brooklyn Heights, following the route of Hicks Street, staying roughly on the course it had taken through Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, but that heroic resistance by Heights residents convinced him to try the innovative plan (where have we heard […]
It’s Pride Month: Here’s What’s Happening
June is Pride Month. The Brooklyn Historical Society has an ongoing exhibition at their 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) headquarters, On the Queer Waterfront: The Factories, Freaks, Sailors & Sex Workers of Brooklyn which will be on display through Sunday, August 4. Other events in the Borough are listed on the Brooklyn Pride website. […]
Brooklyn Historical Society Celebrates Black History Month
February is Black History Month, and the Brooklyn Historical Society will celebrate with a series of events illuminating aspects of Black history, both local and national. The series will begin early, this Wednesday evening, January 30 from 6:30 to 8:00, with a discussion of a vicious crime in 1946 against a Black decorated war veteran […]
Coming This Week at Brooklyn Historical Society
This coming Tuessday evening, October 16, from 6:30 to 8:00 the Brooklyn Historical Society will present social historian and York University (U.K.) professor emeritus James Walvin, author of Sugar: The World Corrupted: From Slavery to Obesity. in which he uncovers the fraught history of one of our most prevalent ingredients: sugar. From its role in […]
In “BJs and Bullet Holes” Ron Maldonado Shows Us the Old, Sleazy Side of Brooklyn Heights
Video producer, writer, and erstwhile BHB contributor Heather Quinlan has shared with us her latest production, “BJs and Bullet Holes” (video after the jump), in which Ron Maldonado takes us on a tour of the Heights as it was as recently as the mid 1980s. His tour hits on some places I knew shortly after […]
Credit Where Credit is Due-Emily Warren Roebling Recognized With Street Naming
The clouds parted and the sun shone brightly on Tuesday afternoon as if to say “FINALLY” as the stretch of Columbia Heights near Orange Street was proudly dedicated to Emily Warren Roebling, the woman credited-only in modern history-with the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the New York Times’ Overlooked Obituary, Emily was born in 1843 in Cold Spring, NY the second […]
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