Samantha Brown's Places to Love

[ Horn blows ] -Brooklyn, New York.

It's one of the five boroughs of New York City, the largest city in the United States.

If it weren't for borough status, Brooklyn would be the fourth-largest city in America.

And while most people associate Manhattan as the main reason to visit the "Big Apple", for those looking for a more personal, unhurried, and soulful visit, Brooklyn is where it's at.

-It helps when you have "jerk" across your chest.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

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-Prospect Park is a locals park that provides Brooklynites a near-600 acre urban retreat into nature.

This park was finished in the late 1800s, and it was designed by the same masterminds as Manhattan's Central Park, so there are a lot of comparisons of the two.

Prospect Park is also where the locals go to get a taste of Brooklyn's top-notch food scene.

Welcome to Smorgasburg.

Smorgasburg is open every weekend from April to October.

It's the largest weekly open-air food market in America.

So the vendors that I see today, how did you choose them?

Is there an audition process?

-Yeah.

-So like "Chorus Line", God, I hope I get it -Sort of like "Chorus Line" mixed with "Shark Tank".

I'm Eric Demby and I'm a co-founder of Smorgasburg.

To me, it almost feels like you're going to a cool restaurant, but you're really eating in the kitchen where the chefs are working.

You're going and you're talking to the person whose stand it is.

That's not an experience you get anywhere else.

-So you wanted to bring something from your family's childhood, from Hong Kong to here.

-Yeah.

We also add what Americans really love, which is ice cream.

-Wow.

It's a good thing I'm not full.

[ Laughter ] What is this?

What's a raindrop cake?

-So this is a jelly dessert.

It originates from Asia.

It's made out of agar agar.

Gelatin's made out of animal products -- so this is alternative to that, for people who are vegetarians, vegans, aware.

The jelly cake itself is very bland and neutral, but it's also very refreshing.

And then you add syrups and flavorful toppings like condensed fruit, condensed milk, and different things that just give it the flavors.

-It's almost alive.

It's like a jellyfish you find in a beautiful tidal pool.

It's lovely.

Mmm.

Oh, my gosh.

That's beautiful.

I mean, that tastes good, but it's a beautiful moment.

This is wonderful.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Welcome to our stall.

-This is wonderful.

"Brooklyn bounty with a Karachi kick".

-That's right.

-Are you from Pakistan?

-I am.

-When did you come here?

-I moved to the States when I was 18 to attend the Culinary Institute of America.

-Wow.

-Yep.

-Okay.

You're a chef.

-I am, I am, yes.

-My goodness.

How did you develop these for Smorgasburg?

Did you figure out, "Okay, what do people want?"

-I missed Pakistani food so much over here that I knew there was a niche that wasn't being filled.

And I had to be able to present Pakistani food in a way that it was not daunting and not as scary sometimes as ethnic food can be, because of the spices, it's overwhelming, because of the smells, the way it looks.

And so, I really wanted to make it my mission to kind of take it to the next level, where people could look at it and be like, "Hey, I think I know what this is."

And then taste it and be blown away by the flavors.

-Oh, my God.

That is fantastic.

-You're not gonna get this anywhere else.

-So you graduate from one of the top culinary schools in the world, you could have gone anywhere in the world, you could have gone back to Pakistan, why Brooklyn?

-I really wanted to move to Brooklyn after I graduated culinary school when I moved down to the city.

But my mom sitting in Pakistan had a completely different view of it, right.

She's like, "There's no way you're moving to Brooklyn."

-[ Laughs ] -And I was like, "But, Mom."

Then she came to visit me and she fell in love with my neighborhood.

And now she's telling her friends, "Yeah, my daughter lives in Brooklyn."

Like, yes, it's an awesome thing now.

-[ Laughs ] There aren't many large areas in New York City that are out of bounds for visitors, but this is one of them -- the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Military ships were built and repaired here for over 150 years.

But it's now undergoing a complete reinvention as an innovative industrial complex, complete with a brand-new historical visitors center, Building 92.

Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"Brooklyn" is in the title, but this wasn't just important to Brooklyn, it wasn't just important to New York City, this was important to America, right?

How old is this space and what is it?

-The Brooklyn Navy Yard was founded in 1801.

-Wow!

-And for 165 years it served as one of America's really premier naval ship yards.

The first successful steam-powered warship in the U.S. Navy was built here -- the USS Fulton -- ironclad ships that became so famous during the Civil War to building the steel battleships of the late 19th and 20th century, including the USS Arizona, which of course was sunk at Pearl Harbor.

And then we also during World War II built the USS Missouri, which is where the Japanese actually signed the Instrument of Surrender, on the deck of that ship.

So we really built the two ships that form the bookends of American involvement in World War II here at the yard.

-What amazes me about being here with you today is just the access we have.

We are here in the middle of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and this was off-limits for hundreds of years to the public.

-The idea was really to raise awareness, not only about the amazing naval shipbuilding and ship repairing right here, but also to educate people about what's going on here today.

And there are over 330 different companies that are operating here and making things and designing things.

-They manufacture chocolate here, I know.

-That's right.

-They manufacture coffee already.

Is there anything else they manufacture that we can sort of partake in?

-Absolutely.

So, Kings County Distillery, which is the oldest distillery in New York City.

And you can also visit.

-So the funny thing about a whiskey distillery is you make something and 2-4, 7-12 years later you get to try it.

-How long have you been doing this?

-We've been around for only six years -- since 2010.

The oldest distillery in New York City.

-Whiskey distillery?

How is that even possible?

I would imagine that New York City, I mean, back in the heyday of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, would've had a lot of places like this.

-Distilling in urban places died with Prohibition.

But in rural parts of the country, they could just restart those places -- go take the boards off the windows and restart.

-Use the bathtub for something else than taking a bath.

-Yeah, right.

So the reason that when we drink whiskey it comes from rural Kentucky or rural Tennessee actually has a lot to do with urban land economics during Prohibition.

And so it's been fun to kind of resuscitate that.

As an urban distillery, one of the great advantages is that you're right next to all your customers.

So, in the world of cooperage, the bung goes in the bung hole.

[ Laughter ] -This is family television, Colin.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Whoo!

Nice!

All right!

-Success!

So, you can dip that in there.

-Okay.

-You're just gonna fill this glass.

This is a rye whiskey.

-All right.

-And it's a new whiskey to the world, but it's been sitting here for about six months already.

This is a 58% alcohol, so it's a little bit higher than the strength it'll actually be when it goes into the bottle.

You'll notice cinnamon, nutmeg, kind of that peppery rye spice.

-[ Exhales ] Wow.

What I notice is the alcohol.

-That too.

-It's a strong one.

-It's barrel-proof, so it ages at a higher proof than is usually consumed.

So once we take it out of the barrel, we'll add water just to make it more palatable.

-Okay, thank you.

[ Laughter ] Thanks for telling me that now.

-Right.

-I'm totally drunk, by the way.

One sip.

Is there something about being here at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that you love?

-To be at the navy yard and have this connection -- especially to American history -- helps to tell a story, and that's really part of whiskey culture.

Our hope is to connect that broader history and that local history to this crazy product, which is trying to bring distilling back to New York City.

-I am now walking through what's considered to be one of Brooklyn's most coveted addresses, the neighborhood of Cobble Hill, which is right next to Carroll Gardens, another gorgeous neighborhood where it's just one "man, I wish I owned that brownstone" after the next.

These neighborhoods are historic, they are handsome, but the reason why I brought you here is for what these two neighborhoods share.

Court Street.

I love this street.

Because it has this huge collection of shops and restaurants that range from of-the-moment cool to old-school Brooklyn.

There are fifth generation pastry shops, pizzerias from the 1950s, and New York's oldest butcher, opening in 1917.

A life less digitized seems to be the model here, where you can peruse comic books, walk in off the street and play one of 500 board games, as well as get an authentic Brooklyn drink served to you by a real jerk.

-Don't slouch.

-I'm Gia Giasullo, co-owner of Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain.

-I'm Peter Freeman.

I'm the head jerk at the Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain, and this is my sister.

-This is my brother.

-I'm with her.

[ Laughter ] -When we opened up the soda fountain, one of the goals, really, of our establishment, was bringing the egg cream back to the top of the menu.

-Mm-hmm.

-We looked around, and no kids in Brooklyn that we met even knew what an egg cream was.

That was our challenge.

And that was a little bit of the bedrock of the soda fountain opening, was that we were gonna bring the egg cream back to the conversation.

-So I'm here to learn how to make an egg cream.

-We're gonna make a Brooklyn egg cream.

-A Brooklyn egg cream?

-There's a little bit of a difference.

-What is the difference?

-A Manhattan egg cream is vanilla.

-Oh.

-A Brooklyn egg cream is chocolate.

-That's the better one!

-Well, good, cause you're in Brooklyn.

-All right.

So what do we need?

-We're gonna start with the right glass.

-Milk.

There's milk in there.

-Right?

-Two fingers.

-Two fingers of milk.

-Got it.

You have different fingers than me.

-Seltzer.

-Okay.

-The colder the seltzer, the better the egg cream.

-Pour.

-To about 3/4 of the way.

-Okay.

-Just so it comes right up to the top.

We're gonna put the Fox's U-Bet in.

-All right.

-They've been making syrup in Brooklyn since 1903.

-This is one finger?

-One finger, yeah.

Two fingers milk, one finger chocolate.

-One finger chocolate.

Oh, now what's that?

-So we stir it, but what we're doing is we're kinda rocking it back and forth.

-Right.

-We don't wanna beat up all those little bubbles.

They're teeny, they can't protect themselves.

-And that's a Brooklyn egg cream.

-Nice white head, chocolaty, but not too chocolaty.

This isn't chocolate milk.

This was just a little bit of milk and a lot of seltzer.

So, it's not chocolate milk.

-Oh, I see.

Oh, that is fantastic.

But you're giving more than the egg cream -- just saying the egg cream is really simplifying what you've accomplished here.

You've brought back a proud American tradition.

When you walk in, there's an immediate sense of falling in love with the space.

What you've done is you've created something that isn't overly nostalgic.

It's just kinda what people need now.

-The thing about the soda fountain is that it crosses all ages -- you can be 2 or you can be 82, and you can walk in here and feel like it's your place.

See, I just gave myself goose bumps, cause the thing about the soda fountain that's remarkable, on any given day there's grandparents with their kids, there are teenagers, and there are tweens that are coming on their own spending their own money for the first time.

That's what the soda fountain is for.

So is it about the egg cream?

No, it's not about the egg cream.

But the egg cream sort of represents the revival of the history.

-So it is about the egg cream.

-So it is about the egg cream.

[ Laughter ] -Bounded on three sides by some of Brooklyn's most beautiful neighborhoods lies an industrial flatland with few trees and one of the most polluted canals of water in the United States.

But in a city where everyone is looking to have cheaper rent and more space, Gowanus -- a neighborhood you might think twice about before entering -- is positioned to be Brooklyn's next big thing.

This is the type of neighborhood that I've really grown to have an affection for when I travel, because it's not obvious -- you have to wander around and really discover it for yourself.

But when you do, you'll notice, "Oh, that looks like a fun-looking shop" and "That's a great restaurant.

Oh, there's another one."

It's the exact opposite of a major tourism center.

It's something that is unique and local.

But back to that polluted canal.

-This is one of the most important industrial thoroughfares in the United States of America, and one of New York State's most historic waterways.

-Really?

-Really.

-This is historic?

-This is extremely historic.

-I'm Joseph Alexiou, and I'm the author of "Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal".

It is the site of one of the largest Revolutionary War battles in America's history.

-Is that the Battle of Brooklyn?

-Yes, you are right.

-So this is Brooklyn's Gettysburg?

-This is Brooklyn's Gettysburg.

-And what cities do you know where there's a natural body of water that goes almost two miles inland?

During the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, this was akin to having a huge airport in the middle of the city.

You could get on and off and go anywhere in the world.

You could bring goods in from anywhere in the world.

I mean, boats came in from Southeast Asia, South America, India, Europe.

This was the biggest port in the United States of America.

-That was the canal's good old days.

And now, for the bad news... -It is also an open sewer, where and which the toilets of Brooklyn flush approximately 400 million gallons of raw sewage every year.

-I've taken tours around this world, Joe, and I gotta tell you, I've never quite heard someone tell me about the history of a place like you just delivered it.

[ Laughter ] Wow.

You have an affection for this canal.

-I have a sick love for this canal.

I really do.

I mean, look, it's bubbling up right there.

-Don't wanna look.

Don't look down.

-It has so many mysteries and so many stories associated with it.

Where did it come from?

Why is it here?

Is it as polluted as people say it is?

How did it get that way?

It's endless.

-Mm-hmm.

One of those mysteries might be, "Is it worth a billion dollars to clean up a notoriously toxic canal?"

And even begin building luxury apartments overlooking it.

Joe has thought a lot about that.

-You know, the truth is I think one of the great things about New York is that we can see the beauty in some of the most hideous and ugly and dirty things.

We're even a little bit proud of that grit that's part of the character that makes New York "New York".

This canal is really representative of that -- in the best and worst of ways.

-So, Brooklyn owes a lot to the Gowanus Canal?

-Oh, absolutely.

Before there was ever a town called Brooklyn, there was a creek called Gowanus.

-Anyone brave enough to open a new business has to ask, "What can I bring that you can't get anywhere else?"

Well, here in Gowanus, one answer is inside this nondescript brick building.

[ Lively, indistinct conversation ] [ Music playing indistinctly in background ] Is this a hipster sport I'm playing right now?

-You know, when we first opened, we got a lot of flak for people saying, "Oh, it's gonna be this hipster, ironic joint" but I think we've come by it pretty honestly.

We really want people to learn how to play the game.

We love the game.

I am the 42nd-best female shuffleboard player in the world.

-What?!

-Really.

-So you compete?

-Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I was the last person picked for PE, and I am an internationally-ranked athlete.

So, how hipster is that?

Not so hipster.

I'm Ashley Albert, and I am the co-owner of the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club.

-So, I've never played shuffleboard before.

Maybe like on a cruise ship.

-It's very hard to be very bad at shuffleboard.

-Okay.

-It's very hard to be very good at shuffleboard.

It's pretty easy to be kinda in the middle.

It's like low-level skills.

-I like that.

That's right in my zone.

Okay, so this is a tang.

-The tang, right.

Down here we have the biscuits, what we call the discs.

-Yeah.

-The whole point is to land on the 7s, 8s, or 10s and not on the line.

If it's even the tiniest bit on the line, it does not count.

-Okay.

-Whatever's left standing at the end is the winner.

Oh, wait a minute.

-No?

-I have one more important point to tell you, which is that this entire area down here is called the "kitchen" and it's worth negative 10 points.

-Negative 10 points?

-So you wanna stay out of the kitchen.

-Okay, so I could actually lose points.

-You could lose points.

-Okay, so I'm gonna start here.

-Uh-huh.

And then step.

Yeah.

-[ Gasps ] Aah!

[ Laughs ] -Not bad.

Not bad.

-Well, well, well.

[ Cheers and applause ] So when you open the doors for the very first day... -Yeah.

-Who came through?

Who became your customer?

Were you worried, like, "Who's gonna come to Gowanus?"

-We were a little worried.

But we did a Kickstarter campaign.

-The community really supported you?

-Yeah, everybody in the neighborhoods around this neighborhood.

And they showed up and we had 1,000 young, cool people -- the kind of people that are paying attention to Kickstarter campaigns -- from the day we opened the club, which was incredible.

-That's the kind of can-do attitude that can completely overturn the perception of a neighborhood -- not only here in Gowanus, but in another section of Brooklyn, whose reputation precedes it.

-My name is Suzanne Spellen.

I'm a writer and architectural historian, and this is my Bed-Stuy.

Bedford-Stuyvesant is cultural, historical, beautiful, and totally misunderstood.

-I'm walking down a street right now that is quiet, that is leafy, that is scenic.

These aren't usually the words used to describe Bed-Stuy.

-True.

Most people used to say "Bed-Stuy" and they would think poor, crime-ridden, drugs, police.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's not the Bed-Stuy that I saw.

-Suzanne gives wonderful, architectural tours of her neighborhood and we're starting with a great example of a Brooklyn brownstone block.

These buildings date from the late 1800s and were built as upper-middle class, single-family homes.

So what we're looking at right now is the Brooklyn brownstone.

-Right.

The quintessential brownstone, which is actually a facade.

All of these houses are brick.

-Oh.

Okay.

So there isn't these big, brown stones?

-No, no.

These are thin slabs, maybe about six inches deep.

It was cheap, easy to get, and it was the building material of Brooklyn.

-Close to 150 years later, it's still the dream, to own a brownstone.

-Yes, it is.

[ Laughter ] Yeah, these are classic brownstone stoops.

-These aren't staircases.

These aren't the front steps.

This is a stoop.

-This is a stoop.

-And life is lived on the stoop.

-Exactly.

People sit on them, watch the world go by, eat their meals, chat with their neighbors, mothers watch their kids -- you can see the whole block.

-I feel like it's a precursor to social media.

It's like you talk about someone on one stoop and that would get passed down to the next stoop, and so on and so on.

It went viral in Bed-Stuy.

-Yeah, that is true.

So there's really a wonderful example of community.

-There was a time in Brooklyn's history where people didn't care about the old buildings, and they leveled a lot of Brooklyn.

-True.

-How did Bed-Stuy survive?

-Nobody wanted it.

This was where the black people lived.

And, so, poverty protects.

It protected the buildings from being altered too much.

It protected the neighborhoods and helped create this wonderful enclave that we have here.

So, here we are with one of my favorite buildings in all of Brooklyn, the magnificent Boys High School.

-That is gorgeous.

-This was a masterpiece, not only for the architects who designed it, but it was also a masterpiece for Brooklyn.

This was a big show-off building to show that Brooklyn had arrived as an independent city, independent of Manhattan, independent of anybody that had great architecture for public purposes.

-You know, what fascinates me about Bed-Stuy is that there are two main assets to this neighborhood -- the architecture and the people.

And they are totally intertwined.

They rely on one another.

-Definitely.

-And they are here because of each other.

-I think the neighborhood inspired the culture.

If you live in Bed-Stuy, you look out the window, and every block is a treasure, every window shows something new and different.

-Another reason why people are making their way to Bedford-Stuyvesant is inside an unmarked brownstone Macon Street.

It's primarily a bed and breakfast, but it's parlor is also the proud home of... [ Jazz music playing ] ...Brownstone Jazz.

The musicians range from neighborhood locals to international visitors who just want to play.

The music starts at 9: 00 every Friday and Saturday and lasts until -- appropriately -- around midnight.

-A traveler coming to Brooklyn is gonna find a huge array of diverse offerings.

-What's happening here is really about people creating, about making things, and about creating spaces that are individual to who they are.

-Brooklyn doesn't take itself too seriously -- or maybe it's got a bad reputation for taking itself too seriously.

But it takes not being seriously very seriously.

-Brooklyn is warmer than Manhattan.

Brooklyn is more friendly than Manhattan.

But Brooklyn is also where all of New York's attitude comes from.

I'm gonna get shot for this, aren't I?

[ Laughs ] -If you wanna see the real New York, it's really in... -Brooklyn!

-When we want to have more diverse experiences, but we want to connect with people and enjoy their effort and their creative spaces, that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why Brooklyn, New York is a place to love.

For more information about this and other episodes, extra scenes, or links to follow me on social media, log on to PlacestoLove.com.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" was made possible by... -"Away"... ...is the smell of fresh pine.

It's a place where giants still live.

"Away" is where the farther down the road you go, the closer you get to the ones you love.

Find your "away" -- GoRVing.com.

-Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

AmaWaterways River Cruises offers a way to see all this wonder in person.

You can discover more at AmaWaterways.com.