the destination where pop culture + motherhood intersect
featuring MOM & INFLUENCER Debra Lewis-Boothman
The exhibit featured wonderful and one-of-a-kind memorabilia from the director’s personal collection, leaving many BMA attendees in awe.
Sho-Nuff, Spike wore this iconic Louis Vuitton suit at the opening gala of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
Spike Lee and his dad
The first African American woman to run for
the DEM party’s nomination for President
of the United States
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
Gordon Parks
Joe Louis
P R I N C E
SHO-NUFF
Ask any Brooklynite what’s the best thing about their borough and they’ll likely say, “EVERYTHING!”
We at crownheightsmom will have to agree. In fact, no matter the season something fun is always happening across the borough of Brooklyn.
Annual events from the Cherry Blossom Sakura Matsuri Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to the highly in demand monthly Target First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum of Art are the most talked about but on any given day there is always something happening here. In fact, when it comes to putting its culture on display Brooklyn hands down seems to be doing it best.
That’s why when we found out about the second annual Central Brooklyn Arts & Culture Weekend which took place June 10th and 11th along the famed Eastern Parkway we had to go. It was a fun weekend spent out with the kids and was celebrated with a movie night happening on Saturday and an outdoors street festival showcasing the best of the borough’s foods, arts, crafts, culture and contributors occurring on Sunday.
At the outdoor street festival on June 11 the festivities kicked off with Borough President, Eric Adams honoring two outstanding talents from Brooklyn — multi platinum MC and Hip-Hop artist, John “Fabolous” Jackson and the late, world renowned abstract artist and Neo-Expressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat, (whose family represented for him).
Both Fab and Basquiat(posthumously) were awarded with the “Keys to Brooklyn” and bestowed with individual stepping stones inscribed with their names and placed within the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s famed Celebrity Path. The two sons of Brooklyn are now counted along the celebrity walkway amongst 160 others famous Brooklynites past and present including poets, performers, artists, and athletes who lived or were born in the borough and all made outstanding contributions to the borough.
The outdoor street festival saw locals, families and visiting tourists coming out to rejoice in the arts, foods and culture along Eastern Parkway .
My 9-year old son had a blast checking out the vendors and the performances as well as tasting some of the delicious food options on sale. He definitely liked the roasted corn which he eagerly covered in butter and a hefty shaking of parmesan cheese. So delicious.
The high 80’s temperature definitely led to a beautiful day outdoors with attendees enjoying and basking in the music, dance and theatrical plays happening on the main stage set up at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch at Grand Army Plaza. The breeze and water spraying from the fountain made for a refreshing feel.
Those walking along the Eastern Parkway corridor beginning at Flatbush Avenue and heading towards Washington Avenue got to choose from an array of vendors offering food, drink as well as the purchase crafts and fashionable items from jewelry to kids clothing.
Lots of activities were available and included fun games, bouncy houses and arts and crafts for the kids, a dance party and theatrical performances courtesy of the Prospect Park Zoo, the Jewish Children’s Museum, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the New York Aquarium
The 2-day cultural arts inspired events were brought together and presented by Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L. Adams in partnership with One Brooklyn Fund, Inc., All in all it was fun for the entire family.
With smiles on our faces we left the festival eagerly looking forward to next year’s celebration .
If you also attended this event please share your thoughts about the weekend in our comments section below.
Brooklyn residents looking to spice up their menu servings on Superbowl Sunday, need look no more. Problem solved! King of Tandoor Indian restaurant is the answer to finding delicious, affordable bang-for-the-buck Indian cuisine in Brooklyn when you don’t want to take that trek to Manhattan’s Curry Row.
Nestled right in the heart of Brooklyn, King of Tandoor is a cozy spot offering up some of the best Indian food crownheightsmom has sampled . So if you are a curry lover like myself or you are having a hard time finding that curry-in-a-hurry spot that’s easy to get to, then pop over to the Prospect Lefferts Garden section of Brooklyn –just a hop-skip and jump from Prospect Park, along Flatbush Avenue and not far from –Crown Heights, Park Slope, Bed-Sty or Downtown Brooklyn. Not in the mood to come out, no worries, forego the walk, pull out the cell phone and dial them up for delivery.
The family owned 32-seat restaurant has been in the neighborhood just over eight years says Naz who greeted me as I entered to grab takeout on Friday night.
“Most of our revenue comes from deliveries,” he says as the phone rang-off-the-hook while offering me a cool delicious glass of mango juice as I waited on my order.
Located in what was once a predominately Caribbean-American neighborhood where the lively sound of soca and reggae music echoes through speakers of small business ranging from —barber shops, Jamaican bakeries, Korean fruit markets, African hair braiding salons, Dominican bodegas and international fashion shops –the neighborhood is experiencing a boom in new businesses as high-rise buildings go up every few months and gentrification prices out many of the moms-and-pops businesses that once lined the avenue. These changes though says Naz, “is bringing an influx of new families and we are welcoming it.”
The restaurant is looking to expand later this year . “Our kitchen isn’t that big but we have two persons on every station, ” Naz lets me know about keeping up with filling orders for seated customers, takeout and delivery . As customers come in and out of the A-graded restaurant Naz engages them in small talk and a smile.
“We know everyone that comes in or we at least get to know them,” he adds as another customer enters the restaurant after jumping out of one of the many Dollar Vans swooping down the avenue -the sounds of reggae music echoing from the speakers as the door slams shut. “If ever there is an issue that our customers have, they can talk to us, ” adds Naz . “We love the people in the neighborhood . They are are very friendly and we like that.”
Adorning the walls of the restaurant are traditional Indian pictures of palaces in Bombay while the tables are outfitted with red and white tabletop settings. “We are planning on making the restaurant bigger so we will be renovating soon, ” he says.
As the winter season gears up Naz says they are excited. “Winter is one of our best and busiest seasons for deliveries especially Fridays and Saturdays.” In fact when the snow blizzard hit New York City a week ago the restaurant closed just on Friday but by the next day they were open and filling orders around the clock . They experienced one of their busiest days of 2016 thus far . “We were very busy, ” says Naz, adding “the phone rang non-stop with orders and a lot of customers came in.”
For local residents dining and getting takeout King of Tandoor has become their own little piece of India, especially when they get to chow down on favorites like vegetable samosas and thandoori appetizers or curry specialities like Vindaloo Curry or Do-Piaz Curry with a choice of lamb, chicken, beef or keema cooked with onions and tomatoes in a spice flavored sauce. Washing it down one has the choice of a soft drink or a delicious mango drink.
For one customer who lives in the neighbor the restaurant is definitely King! Says Kate who lives nearby. “I have lived in this neighborhood for two years now and it is just amazing. It is the best Indian food I have found in Brooklyn thus far.” Kate insist that “next to Indian food from restaurants in London, King of Tandoor on Flatbush Ave takes a close second.”
So spice things up with a few servings from King of Tandoor as you celebrate 50 years of the big game on Superbowl Sunday . We certainly will!
Crownheightsmom give Brooklyn’s King of Tandoor restaurant opened daily noon -11pm 7 days a week a rating of 5 out of 5 Serving Spoons for delicious food and great customer service.
Disclousure : No monies were exchanged for this review.—CrownHeightsMom ordered her food, picked it up and paid for it. This review is a result of the food being so darn good! Loved it!
It was lots of skipping, jumping, frolicking and dancing with the Mark Lamb Dance company amongst real life butterflies and Spring flowers this past weekend if you were in Brooklyn and experienced the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s FROLIC festival and grand opening of its new Discovery Garden.
Talk about a whale of a good time! My kids and I have not had this much fun discovering, smelling, touching and cavorting through the many gardens within the Garden as we did on Saturday. What a thrill! Making this Frolic even more special was the numerous activities and events planned around the new Discovery Garden’s grand opening located just inside of the Flatbush Avenue entrance.
The new Discovery Garden is a child’s outdoor dream of discovery —-designed by the award-winning firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. It encourages children to touch, examine and explore nature through hands-on experiences. From toddler to adult one can investigate plants and animals to uncover their mysteries or learn about the Garden and plant wildlife at many of the fun hand-on exhibits while also exploring the meadow, marsh, or the woodlands habitats throughout the Gardens.
Activities across the Garden that kept the kids excited included crafting their own butterfly antennae, going on a wondrous sonic scavenger hunt with stops in Brazil, India, Indonesia, West Africa and Australia. We then pranced across the Cherry Esplanade and bumped into all sorts of out-of-this-world larger than life moths and dragonflies all members of a clutch of fantastical creatures courtesy of Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Theater Company who seamlessly cavorted amongst the Garden goers and through the bare cherry blossom trees and pathways. The excitement and looks of awe on people’s faces was addicting..
Go visit The Brooklyn Botanical Garden and check out the Discovery Garden. Hours: Tue- Fri :8am-6pm ; Sat and Sun: 10am-6pm ; Mondays: Closed
I was in my mid teens when Sakura Matsuri started at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Back then, the faces attending were mostly of Japanese origin and they came out in droves to celebrate the blooming cherry blossom flowers and rejoice in the planned Japanese cultural programs and activities.
In recent years, the two-day weekend festival has become more popular and has grown by leaps and bounds attracting people of all races, nationalities and cultures. The impact of its popularity is felt in the buildup of traffic as more and more people come to the borough and as attendees join lines snaking along Washington and Flatbush avenues .Many come dressed in their favorite anime costumes or opt to wearing traditional Japanese kimonos. The mostly open -air outdoors celebration gives those attending a taste of Japan with sword fighting displays, Taiko drumming exhibition, manga artists and much more.
Seeing such an assortments of Japanese culture, food and arts made for a breathtakingly beautiful afternoon spent amongst the cherry blossoms.
For many, myself included, attending the annual Sakura Matsuri festival signals, that Spring has finally sprung.
One of my very best friends, Asako, hails from Japan. I remember talking to her years ago about her country’s most cherished flower and her saying that in Japan they have Sakura Hanami parties throughout the country . Getting dressed up in cultural garb like a Kimono and attending Cherry blossom viewing she says is a serious thing there, where the blooming flowers are watched carefully and celebrated by all.
I am most proud that this festival occurs in my Crown Heights neighborhood with the BBG being a hop, skip and a jump from my doorsteps.My kids especially got a blast seeing all the beautiful flowers in bloom in an assortment of colors. Taking in the festival this past weekend was a joy from seeing the many families in attendance to seeing the festival goers decked out in traditional Kimonos and others in their favorite Japanese inspired costumes. The $25 admittance fee definitely was worth every penny .
Crownheightmom.com is definitely looking forward to next year’s festival.
“I’m going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali. I’m going back to Cali—LL CoolJ
Fed up with Winter 2015 crownheightsmom seriously considers relocating to a warmer homebase! YIKES, Say it ain’t so!
Like most New Yorkers presently I’ve had it with the repetitive snowfall after snowfall that’s hit NYC this winter season. Plus, though cushiony I have fallen on my bottom more times than I can count. Plus, I can no longer stand the deep freeze temps, the mile high mounds of hard ice lining the cross-walks and the muscle power I have exerted towards shoveling and cleaning snow off the car. It’s more times than I like .
I like snow cones in the summer . Slush in the wintertime, I can definitely do without because who knows what lies within those black cesspool-like puddles. I can also do without the slow moving traffic that turns a normally $12 cab ride into a $30 snail ride to nowhere.
Right about now, I want Ole’ Man Winter gone. So go vamoosh! goodbye! get outta here, beat it, see ya later and don’t come back.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the Wintertime. In fact my husband will tell you whenever it snows I am the first one with my hands up to go out the house to play in it or grab my Akita Hiro to head to Prospect Park.
.
The kids will let you know that I will grab their snowboards for them and off we go to have crazy fun but, this love has been tested. This winter season in NYC has been a long one with an endless and relentless beat down by mother nature.
There’s nothing more beautiful than looking out your window and seeing fresh snowflakes falling . Seeing a doe and her family playing in the snow- thats the beauty of nature .Living in the suburbs or in the countryside definitely allows you to appreciate the beauty of a freshly fallen snow.
For city folks the beauty of having it snow week after week wears thin. Not being able to get around as fast as one wants to, amounts to loss of incoming dollars .
In Brooklyn, particularly in my nabe of Crown Heights we have been weathering the snowstorms as they come and has dealt with the results of it—-un-shoveled sidewalks, no parking spaces, traffic congestion, pot holes in the streets and the unseen doggie poo and gosh knows what else mixed in with the snow alongside the sidewalks. Trust me, it has not been a pretty picture this winter.
So right now I am praying to the Sun Gods to come . Is it too much to ask for Springtime to arrive NOW and bring on the flowers, the butterflies and the bees.
.
FRIDAY’ S CUTE PIC OF THE DAY on crownheightsmom goes to Magnolia, the heart-stopping, cute-as-ever little 20-month old happy tyke who along with her BABY stopped me in my tracks on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon.
Meet MAGNOLIA . She literally brought the sun out today. In fact I think her cuteness is the reason the expected snow storm for Thursday went bye-bye!
I spotted the lil darling taking her baby out for a walk on Eastern Parkway. Along for the stroll was mum Natalie and dad Matthew. The 9-year Brooklyn residents have been residing in Crown Heights for the past three years. Before Magnolia came along the gorgeous couple were living in Do-or-die Bed-Sty!…
Brooklyn is fast becoming that borough young families are flocking to. Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Lefferts Gardens and Flatbush are the new favorite areas for new renters and buyers. Don’t get me wrong there is still interest in Fort Green, Bedford Stuyvesant, Ditmas Park, Sunset Park, Park Slope and Boroum Hill areas .
Why the Crown Heights draw ? It has Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Grand Army Plaza Library and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum all at ones doorstep.
Let’s not even begin to talk culture. Brooklyn is a gumbo pot of cultures. It is the epitome of what New York stands for. For young families moving to Crown Heights you can walk down the street and bump into someone from every caribbean island known to man, meet young hip fashionable Hasidics, or a Korean grocer selling the freshest fruits and vegetables this side of Chinatown, or even talk politics with the Yemen corner store owner . The cultures my friend in Brooklyn are infinite .
So as our little cutie pie Magnolia continues on her walk here’s to wishing her a wonderful year and hoping when she hits her 2 year mark on May 19 that she stays as sweet as ever for mummy and daddy .
Enjoy your walk little Magnolia and take in all that your wonderful neighborhood has to offer. Soak it up!
Mention the name Rockettes to any little girl and the reaction —– automatic excitement.! The annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, Santa, the Nutcracker and a Living Nativity ended just weeks ago . My family and I didn’t attend this year so finding out we could see them for free and in our local neighborhood was luck shining down on us.
The Rockettes were going to be the special guests at Dancewave’s Open House on Jan 10. The Brooklyn non-profit dance education organization was having an Open House and the Rockettes were going to be there.. It was like being given a belated Xmas gift with extras added in including free dance tips, autograph signing with the iconic precision dancer company members as well as information on Dancewave’s Spring semester class offerings . My daughter and I jumped at the offer.
(in stripped leg-warmers) kicks it up with the Rockettes
Donning our dance gear we headed off to Park Slope . When we arrived we met Dancewave’s Executive and Artistic Director, Diane Jacobowitz who was responsible for bringing out the Rockettes.
Between speaking with parents about her non profit’s class offerings for adults and children Jacobowitz pointed out a sentiment echoed by every family present. “Everybody from every neighborhood loves the Rockettes,” she says . That’s very true, thus why the event was such a draw for Brooklyn families. Not only residents of Brooklyn were in attendance also there were families as far as the Upper West Side.
Says Jacobowitz, “Here is an opportunity [to see them] in your local neighborhood. ” Indeed it was. The Rockettes were in BROOKLYNNN, baby!
The event was definitely an opportunity for that up-close-and-personal meet and greet. Checkout below for visuals of the fun day .Also do not forget that the Rockettes will be struttin’ and kicking it up this Spring when they present Spring Spectacular an ode and celebration of all things New York NewYork with hottie Derek Hough as a bonus dancer. Not bad at all.. Definitely not too shabby!
The dance lessons with the Rockettes begin. Lots of questions from this group of girls and they are all quick learners.
Learning how to execute the perfect Rockette high kick.
A Rockette is BORN! Tadaaaa!
The event was Fantastic! Dancewave has wonderful dance classes to choose from—ballet, hip-hop, modern, street jazz, creative movement , contemporary and more . My kids are interested in the hip- hop classes which we will audit on the 21 . I also love that Dancewave has adult classes. This makes it quite the place thats all about the family .
A Goodbye from the Rockettes who say, ” It was beautiful being here.” Adding, “Being around children is one of the most important things.”
.
the destination where pop culture + motherhood intersect 