The History of Brooklyn Heights and the Promenade

“A Highway is Crumbling. New York Can’t Agree on How to Fix It.” That was a headline in the New York Times back in November about the highly problematic section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway located beneath the Brooklyn Promenade , the romantic walkway that offers sumptuous views of lower Manhattan. Everybody loves the Promenade. Nobody loves the BQE, especially in its present state. So how did we get here? You have to go all the way back to the origins of the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights for the answers. A stroll through Brooklyn Heights presents you with a unique collection of 19th-century homes — all preserved thanks to the efforts of community activists in the 20th century. Each street sign traces back to an original landholder from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. When Robert Moses began planning his Brooklyn Queens Expressway in the 1940s, he planned a route that would sever Brooklyn Heights and obliterate many of its most spectacular homes. It would take a devoted community and some very clever ideas to re-route that highway and cover it with something extraordinary — a Promenade, allowing all New Yorkers to enjoy views of New York Harbor. To tell the whole story, we’ve put together two previous Bowery Boys episodes into one epic, newly remastered, newly re-edited show, which recounts the glorious history of Brooklyn Heights. This episode was edited and remasterd by Kieran Gannon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You can listen to The History of Brooklyn Heights and the Promenade online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The History of Brooklyn Heights and the Promenade is an episode from The Bowery Boys: New York City History by Tom Meyers.

This episode is 01:41:58 long.

This episode was published on Jan 16, 2026.

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