When I lived in Manhattan I didn’t really think much of Brooklyn. As an undergrad I didn’t know anyone who lived in Brooklyn — unless they were living with their parents, and in grad school a few friends started trickling out to WIlliamsburg and began calling themselves hipsters. They were hip and willing to deal with the one train commute for that privilege. Then I started working in Brooklyn Heights, and slowly other parts of Brooklyn grew on me. When it came time to look for an apartment Brooklyn was a natural choice.
What started off as a “good enough” alternative to Manhattan ended up overshadowing it in a matter of weeks. Indeed we often wondered what had taken us so long to move. In the last couple of months, I would say we’ve become familiar with Brooklyn and her neighborhoods, but by no means experts. So it’s still surprising to us when we meet fellow Brooklynites who are even less familiar than us, and even more surprising when they turn out to be close friends. This past weekend we were invited to a party which we were told on numerous occasions was in “Downtown Brooklyn”. “Great!” we gushed because virtually nothing in terms of night life happens around here. And the word spread to our friends a great underground speakeasy party was happening in Downtown Brooklyn. In the back of my head I was slightly suspicious, this friend lived in Williamsburg and had recently suggested a restaurant “near me” (Fort Greene / Downtown Brooklyn) which turned out to be in Park Slope. But it was a forgivable oversight, being a recent transplant to Brooklyn herself Park Slope could in her mind be conceivably “near me”.
The underground speakeasy party however, turned out to be on the border of Prospect Heights and Bed Stuy. Nowhere near Downtown Brooklyn. But it wasn’t just my friend who failed her geography lesson, her man called a car service and asked to be picked up on “Bergen and Classon in Downtown Brooklyn”, and he’s been a resident of this fine borough for years. Were Brooklyn residents really so neighborhood centric — more so than their Manhattan counterparts? I for example didn’t venture much to UWS even when I lived on the neighboring UES, but by no means would I confuse the UWS with something like Greenwich Village. Their friends were similarly geographically disinclined. My ears prickled hearing their critiques about the “Williamsburg hipsters” who don’t venture outside of Williamsburg and call places like Greenpoint remote — when in fact Greenpoint had “so many cool restaurants”. But seemingly this is where the fine restaurants in Brooklyn ends.
Once we had enough moonshine we ventured out to this new area of Downtown Brooklyn and decided to take the A/C at Franklin home. It was only a couple blocks away and while we might have to wait awhile for the subway we weren’t in any rush. The cast of characters we witnessed on the way home were not our usual downtown neighbors. I was frankly terrified. And not without cause — as it turned out half of our subway train was arrested.
Brooklyn — home to ~ 40% of all homicides / yr, and second only to the Bronx in terms of homicide per resident (interactive map), it’s prudent to know where you’re going before you get there. Even if the party is uniquely fun (and it really was) and is usually hosted in fun but safe neighborhoods. This tool helps.
The Queen Bee. She rules over the Flatbush Riviera. All of Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene is her domain. 
