04 April 15

Exploring an Authentic Neighborhood
A Day in Greenpoint

I always have so many places on my “to-go-see” list. On this beautiful sunny day, I hooked up with my sweet friend Sandra who showed me around her part of the city. Greenpoint is north of Williamsburg and I’m told it will be the new hip place to live. Maybe this is where you should invest your money if you have a lot of it!

From Williamsburg it’s about a ten minute walk. If you’re not guided, you’ll probably think you you’re heading in the wrong direction; this part of the city still has the very industrial and authentic feeling of old New York, but some brave people have started their business here.

Walking around, our plan was to get Sandra’s toddler Leo to sleep — which you can see didn’t really succeed — maybe because posing in front of the camera was too much fun.

We had lunch in Williamsburg at Mogador and then decided to have coffee and a treat in Greenpoint at Ovenly. I don’t know how they manage to make everything so delicious but their baked goods are amazing — in fact, Eater rated their chocolate chip cookie the best pastry in the whole city. A lot of their baked goods are vegan and gluten-free as well. If you want to try making the magic at home, you can buy their book.

Close to Ovenly on Greenpoint Avenue you find the Transmitter Park. From this spot you get a fabulous view of the city. You can also commute back to Manhattan with the East River Ferry here.

Franklin Street is becoming the new trendy street in Greenpoint. The shop Home of the Brave opened recently and has beautiful and simple design. I really think the people behind this store are the brave ones as this part of the city is still very quiet, and further down the street they also have a clothing store called Wolves Within.

On our way to Ovenly, we passed an old funny shop Pops with work wear – I couldn’t help taking pictures of this store where you apparently can find cheap Red Wing shoes, long johns and Carhartt (not the trendy styles though).