New York People & Places

Every year, I give a mini-talk to my former grad school professor's class at Long Island University. After the second session yesterday, he introduced me to Rachel, an undergrad student of his from the Philippines.

We hit it off right away and spent the rest of the evening checking out the beautiful neighborhood of Clinton Hill and ended up having dinner at Umi Nom (Filipino-Thai Resto)

It's really amazing how we make connections with people. Discovering the lovely Clinton Hill neighborhood was also amazing. More things to love NYC - its places and people =).

As wiki describes Clinton Hill:
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is bordered on the east by Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the west by Fort Greene, on the north by Wallabout Bay and on the south by Prospect Heights. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 88th Precinct.[1]

By the 1840s, Clinton Hill had become a fashionable neighborhood for the wealthy of Brooklyn, who could commute to Manhattan by way of stagecoach to the Fulton Ferry in nearby Brooklyn Heights. By the 1880s and '90s, Clinton Avenue was lined with mansions of millionaires, many of which have survived to the present day. The most prominent of these are linked to Charles Pratt, who built a mansion for himself and one each as wedding presents for three of his four sons (pictured, right). These four mansions can be seen on Clinton Avenue between DeKalb and Willoughby. The Pratt Institute of Art, founded by Charles Pratt in 1887, is located a few blocks from his former home. Due in part to the presence of Pratt Institute the neighborhood boasts an increasing arts community, and many bohemians are flocking towards the yet-to-be gentrified industrial areas adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.