A City Within the City

Friday 10/27, Run #73: East New York

Distance: 9.38 miles
Time: 1:10
Pace: 7:28
Temp: 42
Dewpoint: 29
Weather: sunny

click on image for interactive map


Unique Miles Today: 7.65
Total Unique Miles: 575.65
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 33.04

For the complete route, click here

Notes: Since the forecast is calling for heavy rain tomorrow, I decided to run this morning instead. But I'll save finishing up Brighton Beach (my original plan for tomorrow) for next weekend, and so, for no particular reason other than to run more streets in the third of the borough south of my arbitrarily-drawn line (the goal is to complete this area by the end of next month), I took the L train out to East New York. For the most part, today's run was pretty much devoted to Spring Creek Towers, the enormous, mostly self-contained public housing project formerly known as Starrett City. First rented in 1975, the complex comprises 46 apartment buildings (some as tall as 20 stories), as well as chain stores and restaurants, schools, and even its own power plant. It's down near the Gateway Center Mall I visited a week or two ago, in an area just south of East New York that used to be a landfill, I think (for a Voice article from last year about Starrett City, click here). Obviously, I've never been inside any of the apartments or anything, but the buildings and grounds are well-kept, nicely-landscaped, and almost entirely grafitti-free. Nice wide sidewalks didn't hurt, either. So while I can't vouch for what kind of place it is to live in, it's a pretty nice place to run, especially on a bright, chilly fall morning.

Anyway, after an off day tomorrow I'm heading down to Sea Gate on Sunday, hopefully, and will try to complete the entire gated neighborhood with one run (it shouldn't be too bad -- althought there are a lot of dead-end streets, it looks like I can cover all the roads in about eight miles or so). Until then, here are today's pictures:


Some of the apartment towers


On Freeport Loop


Memorial on a wall off of Croton Loop


Entrance to one of the buildings at the southern end


At the corner of Alabama Avenue and Linden Boulevard