May 17, 2008 / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown / Perspective / Heights Lowdown

Walk the walk in Downtown

By Sarah Portlock

The Brooklyn Paper

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As a history nerd, I take particular interest in knowing the stories behind the buildings around me.

Unlike Brooklyn, my former neighborhood in Manhattan was so crammed with historic markers that it’s a wonder anyone could get to his destination, what with the wealth of information at every turn.

But Downtown has long struggled to promote its history — unlike maps on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge footpath, ours are covered with stickers and gum. And there are no official signs pointing confused tourists towards the major sites.

But the tide may be turning, thanks to a new walking tour that can be downloaded into iPods and other digital music players. Created by the Metrotech Business Improvement District and the Fulton Mall Improvement Association and narrated by Brooklyn’s former borough historian, John Manbeck, the podcast is 25 minutes (longer, of course, if you stop the tape to enjoy the requisite slice of Junior’s cheesecake).

Sites include Red Hook Lane, a relic of the Battle of Brooklyn; the former 4,000-seat Loew’s Metropolitan movie palace (now the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Fulton Street); and the borough’s first firehouse on Jay Street.

I started at Borough Hall, learning about how a “small trading town” became the city’s most populous borough. Moving down Fulton Mall, it’s interesting to note the lack of any physical link to the Red Hook Lane’s illustrious history — unless you count the Bank of America on the corner.

Under Manbeck’s mellifluous command, the walk proceeds nicely. But the bad news is that the podcast is only available in English, which is hardly lingua franca for tourists.

So for now, it’s best savored by history nerds like me.

©2008 Community Newspaper Group