Every morning I wake up here, it immediately enters my mind that “I am in Brooklyn”. That’s one of the things I love about this city, it is always exerting its presence in your mind. No matter what you are doing, there is always a part of your mind recalling this fact. Maybe it’s the pervasive noise of cars, and helicopters, and people on the street, or the smells; lattés here, pizza here, curry here. I think it’s the energy. You can’t make it here unless you are a “go getter”. This city is absolutely filled with energy, you can almost feel it in the air, and I would be the first to admit it is one of things that is so addicting about NY and especially Brooklyn.
The first thing I like to do when I hit the streets in the morning is head around the corner to the Brooklyn Bread Co. This small bakery/ coffee shop on street level is full of Italian American culture. Everyone in here has a name like Tony “Big Boy” Baldino or Christopher “Tootie” Mariano. You can’t buy this stuff! Everyone knows everyone. It’s like I walked on the set of Sopranos. And if you know how to interact, you are quickly synthesized into the neighborhood. It wasn’t but a couple months here before I had picked up a Brooklyn accent and the girl at Brooklyn Bread Co. knew my order to the “t”.
After my bacon and egg frittata and a stack of pancakes it’s time to hit the neighborhoods. This is one aspect which differentiates me from the locals. A lot of these people spend almost their entire life in a ten block area. Me? I wanna see what’s out there. From the Italian speaking streets of Carroll Gardens I head to Fort Greene, one of the many black neighborhoods in Brooklyn. You change neighborhoods so fast here, that if you don’t know what to watch for you will have passed through five different ethnic areas in a thirty minute walk without even having realized it.
Today, like many days, they are having a street festival in Fort Greene. The Caribbean steel drums radiate through the streets. I stop at a famous cup cake shop, where I wait what would be considered a ludicrous amount of time for my pastry. But trust me. You haven’t had these cupcakes.
I have to have my order exactly right before I get to the counter; otherwise, I will quickly evoke not only the wraith of the line behind me, but also the cashier. You are welcome to enjoy Brooklyn, and if your smart no one will bother you, but you absolutely cannot get in these people’s way, or waist their time. And that’s why I love them. You gotta respect their hustle….
By Will McMullen
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