Smith Street: Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Downtown
To wander up Smith Street is to take a journey through a Brooklyn you can see changing before your eyes. On its southern end, in Red Hook, Smith Street is undergoing a rebirth from an industrial center to the newest residential frontier. On the northern end, it enters the historical core of Brooklyn, punctuated by the…
To wander up Smith Street is to take a journey through a Brooklyn you can see changing before your eyes. On its southern end, in Red Hook, Smith Street is undergoing a rebirth from an industrial center to the newest residential frontier. On the northern end, it enters the historical core of Brooklyn, punctuated by the architecturally notable Borough Hall and its neighboring courthouses. And in between, Smith Street boasts an eclectic mix of hip bars, restaurants and boutiques, along with remnants of the pre-gentrification, working class neighborhoods that would become what Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill are today.
Since the 1820s, Smith Street has been home to mixed-use buildings, with shops on the ground floor and living space above, while its cross streets were lined with row houses and brownstones.
Smith Street itself is named after Samuel Smith, a one-time mayor of Brooklyn who had his humble beginnings as a farmer and landowner. Farming is long gone, of course, and various other industries have come and gone, beginning with soaps, furniture, ceramics and glassware in the 1820s to 1840s. The street served the working class neighborhood for over a century, and the history of immigration along this artery closely reflects the story of New York City.
In this article, we’ll traverse all of Smith Street from Red Hook to Downtown Brooklyn.
Hamilton Avenue to 2nd Place (Red Hook/Gowanus)
This portion of Smith Street has been undergoing a quiet revival, as evidenced by the number of warehouses turned exhibition spaces, like the Gowanus Ballroom and Gowanus Loft. Nearby are the reclaimed and recycled furniture stores of 9th Street, a popular destination for nearby interior designers and afternoon browsers alike.
Emblematic of the budding revitalization of this are is the newly renovated Smith-9th Street subway station, which re-opened in April 2013 as a shiny, undulating structure contrasting sharply with its gritty surroundings. Inside, historical nautical maps of Gowanus and Red Hook are on every window. From the elevated platform, the highest of any subway station in the world, you can peer over the Gowanus Canal towards the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, or across the East River to the new World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.
There’s a lot of new construction in the area. Just around the corner, on Garnet Street, you can see the neighborhood changing before your eyes–a wooden clapboard house side by side with a modern apartment building.
Between 4th Place and 2nd Place, creative agencies and hip restaurants have started to move in. There’s Orange You Glad, a cheerily painted design studio with a big “Hello” sign greeting curious passers-by.
At 4th Street, HBH Gourmet Sandwiches cures their own meats, offering mouth-watering fare such as pork balls and sour squash reuben sandwiches with homemade potato chips and BBQ sauce. Also on this block is the Hudsons House Day School and a tattoo parlor.
Next Page: Carroll Gardens >
2nd Place to Union (Carroll Gardens)
The intersection of 2nd Place and Smith Street, at the southern entrance to the Carroll Street station, is where the commercial corridor of Carroll Gardens truly begins. Foodie favorite Momofuku Milk Bar is on the corner, ready to satisfy your cravings for crack pie and cereal milk–flavored ice cream. Across the street is The Transit Garden, an MTA-owned community garden next to a 1930s Art Moderne substation.
After 2nd Street, Smith Street has a secondary name: the Eileen C. Dugan Memorial Boulevard, named after the eight-term New York State assemblywoman who lived in Carroll Gardens her entire life. This is where Smith Street starts to feel truly lived in. The block between 2nd Street and Carroll Street is wonderfully representative of the overlapping histories present in the neighborhood.
The facades of many businesses on Smith Street still feature evidence of their past lives, such as Swallow at 361 Smith Street, with its quirky new entrance that doesn’t bother to hide the faded remnants of an old “Charming Gift Shop” sign. Inside, owner Ria Charisse has curated one-of-a-kind, handmade pieces ranging from jewelry to home decor items. And don’t forget to look up–original tin ceilings abound in the shops along Smith Street.
At the corner of Carroll and Smith is Nightingale 9, offering Vietnamese street food and classic dishes. The restaurant has an adjacent garden where it grows herbs in wooden troughs and old bathtubs. The interior is decorated with vintage chairs from Indonesia sourced from Find Home Furnishings on 9th Street.
Across the street is Public School 58, The Carroll School, home to Stagecoach Theater Arts, a part-time performing arts academy for kids age four to 18.
From Carroll to President you can find the quaint coffee shop Smith Canteen, the kids’ pottery studio The Painted Pot, and the boutique Atmosphere. Atmosphere has been in Carroll Gardens for 13 years, selling fine jewelry and furniture from the United States and Europe. With exposed brick and a clean white aesthetic, Atmosphere makes a distinctive contrast with the cozy clutter of Swallow. Also on this block is Seersucker, from the same crew as Smith Canteen, serving farm-to-table southern cuisine.
On the corner of Smith and President is the popular outdoor summer spot the Gowanus Yacht Club, with its picnic benches, cheap beer and grilled burgers and sausages. In the same stretch is the brand-new cocktail bar Bar San Miguel, boasting one of the most striking facades on all of Smith Street.
Kittery, specializing in “Coastal Cooking from Maine to the Gulf,” ends this section of Smith Street on the corner on Union Street. Look up at its roof and you’ll see a great example of the architectural details typical of turn-of-the-last-century Brooklyn.
Next Page: Boerum Hill >
Union Street to Atlantic Avenue (Boerum Hill)
Between Union Street and Baltic Street, you can feel a distinct increase in the density of businesses, with both sides of the street now lined with shops, bars and restaurants.
Between Union Street and Sacket Street, check out Persons of Interest, a men’s barbershop that has avoided that played-out Prohibition/Boardwalk Empire aesthetic in favor of a more ’70s retro style. In its former incarnation as Sal’s it was a neighborhood relic whose staff and clientele were the older Italian-Americans that defined Carroll Gardens. There’s also the superb restaurant, The Grocery, that’s been in the neighborhood for over a decade run by a husband and wife duo. Don’t miss the great backyard in the summer.
Rounding out the group of well-curated boutiques along Smith is By Brooklyn, which exclusively features food, clothing, and home decor made in the borough. Inside, you’ll find artisanal purveyors like Brooklyn Brine, Granola Lab, Mama O’s Homemade Kimchi, and Liddabit Sweets. Also look for La Casita Yarn Shop Cafe, where local knitting enthusiasts gather to “stitch ‘n’ bitch,” and the bench outside is usually wrapped in knitting or quilts.
The Grocery heralds the beginning of a restaurant and food row that stretches over the next few blocks. Look out for Dassara Brooklyn Ramen, with its funky decor and daring New York/Japanese fusion cuisine. (The ramen burger is a cult favorite.) Lovers of fine food wait patiently to get into Battersby, a tiny space which only takes reservations for its spectacular tasting menu. The chefs of Battersby rotate the menu a few times a week, and even make their own bread, an impressive accomplishment when the kitchen is about 10 feet from most of the diners.
Right next door is neighborhood institution Shelsky’s Smoked Fish, with over ten varieties of salmon alone, and with humorously named sandwiches such as the Fancy Pants and the Dr. Goldstein Special. If it’s too late for brunch food, you can stop by nearby Stinky Brooklyn for an amazing selection of cheeses, charcuterie, and other high-end goodies.
For drinks, there’s the tiki-themed Zombie Hut, which screens The Walking Dead on Sundays after the football game, and Bar Great Harry with its craft beers, indie rock, and pinball machines. BGH has 20 draft beers on rotation at any given time along with bottled beers. For cocktails, step into Clover Club, named after the original–a regular gathering of journalists at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia in the Gilded Age. Wine shop Smith & Vine has a colorful entrance, a friendly and knowledgable staff, and a section of New York State wines and liquors.
On Smith and Butler, the boutique Bird carries high end, urban brands like Band of Outsiders, Isabel Marant, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Rachel Comey.
As you cross Baltic Street, there are more supermarkets, drug stores and banks, but if you look closely you can find staples like Los Paisanos Meat Market, a neighborhood butcher that has been around for 58 years. Across the street is another neighborhood institution: the Musician’s General Store, with its collection of new and used musical instruments and its “Rock’Scool” lessons on how to play in a rock band.
And there are even more treasures to be found on the side streets. Culinary and design highlights on Bergen Street include Van Leeuwen ice cream, making its home in a converted garage; the spacious gastropub 61 Local, built in a former townhouse and garage; and Homage Brooklyn, a skate/snowboard/shoe shop.
On Dean Street, there’s the adorable One Girl Cookies, across from which are two wonderful wooden clapboard houses. And if you want to step right into a French bistro, try Bar Tabac on the corner of Dean Street.
For a fun and kitschy bar experience, there’s CAMP at 179 Smith Street with its log cabin interior design. You can play board games and Big Buck Hunter in front of a roaring fireplace and even make s’mores.
The mixed residential/commercial building at 169 Smith Street stands out as one of the tallest buildings on Smith Street. The four-floor building in green and white stone was built in 1931.
A final recommendation is the Micro Museum at 123 Smith Street, a nonprofit founded in 1986 that supports interdisciplinary art. One claim to fame is the “longest running kinetic sculpture in the Tri-State Area.” Saturdays during museum hours, a live webcam streams goings-on from the museum on its website.
Next Page: Downtown Brooklyn >
Beyond Atlantic Avenue (Downtown Brooklyn)
Brands like Brooklyn Industries and Free People, along with a handful of Asian restaurants, close out this section of Smith Street. As you pass Pacific and Atlantic Avenues, government buildings come into view such as the Brooklyn House of Detention–one of the jails hidden right among us in the urban fabric–Kings County Criminal Court, and New York City Civil Court. At Fulton Mall, Smith Street comes to an end as it merges with Jay Street and heads north into DUMBO.
Smith Street is very different than it was even 10 years ago, but it has managed to retain its sense of history. Its residents have balanced the forces of development and community interest without sacrificing lifestyle. We’ve covered a large expanse of Smith Street in this article, but hopefully this overview gives you an idea of the rich street life along this thoroughfare. Take time to get to know the different personalities of each portion of Smith Street and allow the people—its residents, passionate store owners, and homegrown restaurants—to show you why it’s an amazing place to live and visit.
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