New York is an ever changing place with many places throughout the city tending to overlap with two different New York’s. So I went around the surrounding area of City Tech to find one of these Overlapping New York’s, I finally did at Brooklyn Heights. First off I exited the Namm building and turning left down on Jay Street towards Tillary Street. From there I made a left on Tillary until I got to Clinton Street you know that you’re going the right way because on your left is a small park dedicated to all the Korean war veterans. I continued to follow Clinton Street until I hit Pierrepont Street. When i arrived at Pierrepont Street I followed it noticing all of the nice buildings and how many of them differ from each other and how much they differ from the buildings I’m used to in Times Square, until I finally arrived at Brooklyn Heights.
The overlapping New York in that area is that you can see the huge differences between the small building in Brooklyn Heights and the huge towering buildings of Manhattan. You can see the difference between them in that all the residential buildings in Brooklyn Heights are made of brick while the huge buildings of Manhattan are made of steel. Also from the side of Brooklyn Heights some people may have different views of both Manhattan and Brooklyn. For example some people from the side of Brooklyn Heights may see Manhattan as the place where they work while others like myself see Manhattan as home. On the other hand people on the side of Manhattan looking at Brooklyn will either see Brooklyn as home or either as a foreign place to those who may have never been too Brooklyn. While I was there I also saw a photograph of the old New York skyline with the twin towers tied to the fence. I thought that it offered a bit of insight into someone else’s New York. For example someone who might have lived in Brooklyn heights before 9/11will remember the skyline before the twin towers fell and therefore make that a part of their own New York while those that came after 9/11 only know what the skyline might look like without the twin towers or with the Freedom tower in the skyline. The best example of this that I can think of is in Colson Whitehead’s novel City Limits. In it Whitehead says “I still call it the Pan Am building, not out of affectation, but because that’s what it is.” This clearly shows that different people can have their own version of New York. Like I said those that had lived before 9/11 will always see the freedom tower as the place where the twin towers stood and those who lived after will see it as the new freedom tower. Another point that helps is when Whitehead says: “For that new transplant from Des Moines who is starting her first week of work at a Park avenue South insurance firm, that titan squatting over Grand Central is the Met life Building, and for her it always will be.” This quote further drives home the point the different New York’s between different people. Regardless those are three different New York’s that may belong to anyone that lives in Brooklyn Heights.
Also in view at Brooklyn heights is the Brooklyn Bridge to everyone it represents a connection between both Manhattan and Brooklyn. This bridge is used to bridge two different people, even though they are the people in both Brooklyn and Manhattan are still all New Yorkers they are all entirely different people. So in that sense it is not only a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn but it is also a bridge between different New York’s
In the photo I took captures the juxtaposition between the small quaint buildings in Brooklyn heights compared to the huge towering buildings in Manhattan. You can easily see the differences between the buildings size and design. It also captures the differences between the different skylines of the different New York’s and how some people may have grown up with one thing while others grew up with another. These are all ways people may see New York through their eyes. That will never be the end either, as more new people come into this world at different times they too will experience completely different New York’s compared to the New York we have experienced in our life.
