Places + Travels

Missing Brooklyn.

We left Brooklyn in 2004. I doubt we’ll ever live there again, but I do still miss it. A couple of weeks ago, I met up with Jenna and Sara (and associated friends and family members!) for dinner on the outskirts of my old neighborhood, and despite the huge amount of change that’s occurred in those parts in the past 6 years, I had some seriously pangs of nostalgia as I walked the length of Smith Street and rounded onto Atlantic Avenue.

So I dug out some old photos, just to remember. All were taken between 1996 and 2004.

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38 Comments

  • Reply belinda August 2, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    oh go on, make me jealous….where did you eat?

  • Reply Jenna @ sweetfineday August 2, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    omg, these photos are epic Anna! I have very few photos of this era and even less from before. I think this is why I take so many photos now, so when I’m an old lady I can look back when I’m on one of my epic nostalgic trips (like the one I am on now).

  • Reply puck August 2, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    I can’t wait for our honeymoon in NYC!

    And you are beautiful in that picture!

  • Reply ANNA August 2, 2010 at 7:12 pm

    i m missing brooklyn, too, somehow, although i d never been there…beautyful images.

  • Reply Jill August 2, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    Aw, Brooklyn misses you too! Love these photos, and perhaps you could reno a townhouse in this fine borough one day? 😀 😀

  • Reply Adam August 2, 2010 at 7:48 pm

    The photo of you (7th one down) is stunning! I want a framed one!

  • Reply Natalia August 2, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Love the shots- what camera are these from?

  • Reply Anna at D16 August 2, 2010 at 8:44 pm

    @belinda: We ate at Bedouin Tent on Atlantic (which I always thought was called PITA because of the big sign, haha). You know what’s funny? The photo that is pulling at my heart the hardest here is the one of Bleach House. That place was old-school awesome. 🙂

    @Jenna: I have a TON of photos from this time period. I kind of stopped taking pictures (aside from house pics, obviously) around the time that we moved. I should scan more…

    @Jill: If I ever win the lottery, buying a townhouse in Brooklyn will be my first purchase. 🙂 🙂

    @Adam: Only if it can be wall-mural size!!! 😉

    @Natalia: It’s a mix of film (scanned), a really crappy digital Pentax, and a slightly less crappy digital Nikon. I don’t remember the model numbers! There’s a lot of Photoshop happening here, too.

  • Reply belinda August 2, 2010 at 8:55 pm

    i love bedouin tent!. ah, i really do miss the old neighbourhood. so much.

  • Reply Karen Wise August 2, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    These are awesome photos. So rich is color, texture and meaning..

  • Reply Dan August 3, 2010 at 12:23 am

    Gorgeous photos! I love Brooklyn… I have a strong feeling I’ll move there at some point (and maybe never leave).

  • Reply Jeannette August 3, 2010 at 12:50 am

    i miss it too.

  • Reply LaboriousLiving August 3, 2010 at 3:09 am

    I Love love love these shots. And you look so beautiful!

  • Reply Monica August 3, 2010 at 4:30 am

    Oh, I love your photos! I use to live across from the Red Rail, right next to Uncle Louie Gs. We went back in May and so much has changed. It was really hard to get on the plane. A townhouse in Brooklyn would be fabulous. There was one that I always loved on the corner of Clinton and Kane but I wouldn’t really be that picky. Anyways, I would love to see more of your pictures from the old hood. Thanks for sharing.

  • Reply D.k. August 3, 2010 at 5:02 am

    http://www.cobblehilltowers.com/index.html – wow.

  • Reply Gaelle August 3, 2010 at 8:46 am

    These are great photographs!

  • Reply ItRainedonaFriday August 3, 2010 at 9:26 am

    We moved to Brooklyn a year ago and it’s quickly become the second greatest love affair of my life (after my husband, of course). I am *so* enamored with this borough. We live right around the block from Bedouin Tent…they’re fab!

  • Reply Barbara August 3, 2010 at 9:48 am

    it’s always a bittersweet feeling returning to that places we have loved so much. This photos are fantastic.

    have a lovely week

  • Reply kay* August 3, 2010 at 11:10 am

    there’s absolutely nothing like film!

  • Reply k August 3, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    How cool to see the photos from the hood back in the day!!

    Funny part is that is where I am moving to (more or less- will be just of Smith St too!) this weekend!

  • Reply Anna at D16 August 3, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    @Monica: I used to live a stone’s throw from Louie G’s on Henry Street (between Kane & Degraw). We were neighbors! 🙂

    @D.k.: I have always loved those buildings, but I imagine they’re very chopped up inside…

  • Reply heather August 3, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    That photo of you is gorgeous.
    Bedouin Tent is my favorite! We probably go there at least once a week. I don’t miss Brooklyn because I pass through it so often to go to other places. 🙂 At least you don’t live that far away and you can visit when you’re feeling homesick.
    Craving basbousa.

  • Reply Natasha August 3, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    Hi, my 4th cousin who is American (and I am from Europe, never been in USA yet and she is soooo lovely person at heart) and who I first met five years ago lives in Brooklyn and ever since that time I am obsesed with searching for interesting things and people from Brooklyn and some times I feel like one tiny little piece of me will always be around that place. Nice post Anna.

  • Reply D.k. August 3, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    I’ve ever thought you really loved them. They are so stylish in their old simplicity.

    However, you know, sometimes memories transforms reality and the truth is sitting on more distant stars.

  • Reply Monica August 3, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    How funny is that. We were neighbors by less than two blocks and we “meet” on your site once I am in Germany.

  • Reply Gali August 3, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    I love ‘hoods like that. Brooklyn has always been a great place to hang around in.

  • Reply Jill August 3, 2010 at 5:44 pm

    Lottery or not, there are still some good deals to be found on townhouses here, I promise! If you’re willing to go off the beaten path and reno a house that’s not in Cobble Hill or the Slope, it can be (relatively) affordable, especially if you’re a good DIYer! I just bought a single-family limestone in the south part of Crown Heights right near Prospect Park, and my mortgage is actually LESS than my rent is now (and both are under 2K!)!

    Either way, your blog has become pretty much my go-to resource for historical reno. So, like, if you ever get sick of your projects at D16… y’know. Brooklyn is waiting with open arms. 😀

  • Reply Anna at D16 August 3, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    @Jill: We’re pretty well-established and invested in Newburgh (I really do love our house, as well as the town!), but Brooklyn is indeed alluring. 😉 That said, even the cheapest townhouse in Bklyn is still going to be many more times the price or value of our house in Newburgh — it’s REALLY REALLY cheap up here. Like, outrageously so.

  • Reply Grumble Girl August 3, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    Those are some terrific pic, lady…

  • Reply Adam August 3, 2010 at 11:32 pm

    Wall-mural size is fine with me!!!

  • Reply nicolezh August 5, 2010 at 3:25 am

    Love your pics, they make me book a fligh right now…
    Your lipstick is also divine, is there a chance that you remember that colour?

  • Reply Anna at D16 August 5, 2010 at 5:53 am

    @nicolezh: That’s an easy question! It’s Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. That was pretty much all I wore through the early 2000s! 🙂 Unfortunately, either it changed or my skin’s chemistry changed, and it now reads as orange in me and I can’t wear it anymore.

  • Reply jbartlett August 5, 2010 at 8:39 pm

    i left brooklyn once to move to montreal where everything is beautiful. i made it 5 weeks and my heart ached for this city. i promptly returned home – another move seems so far off. brooklyn and i are involved in a very serious love affair. <3

  • Reply rh August 6, 2010 at 6:38 am

    I’m a native Brooklynite. Every so often I get tired of the city and move away. This time I moved to Beacon figuring it was close enough to get my NYC fix. I was gone for 7 years, but I came back. I always do.

    I hear that even if people only lived in Brooklyn for a few months, she stays in their hearts forever.

  • Reply lex August 10, 2010 at 8:48 pm

    wonderful photos! my god, even I can feel the nostalgic pains!

  • Reply jackie lnx August 11, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    great photos….it’s hard to believe that smith street was so crummy back in the day. i live down the street from the (former) bleach house … through the pains of renovating our townhouse i always tell my hubby i will never ever leave.

  • Reply Simone August 14, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    Great photos. I love the fourth one from the top.

  • Reply sandra August 18, 2010 at 2:43 am

    anna, these photos are amazing!!

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