Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Heights branch of the Cobble Hill bookstore, opened on Montague in 2022 in a wide storefront with a children's section at the back. Staff shelf-talkers are handwritten and the front table turns over weekly. It runs author events most weeks, so check the calendar before you plan to browse quietly.

Every day, 10am to 6pm

A third of a mile of walkway cantilevered over the BQE, with benches facing the harbor and the lower Manhattan skyline. The traffic runs underneath you and you mostly stop hearing it. Entrances are at the west ends of Montague, Remsen, Pierrepont, Clark and Pineapple Streets. Orange Street also leads in, and it costs nothing at any hour.

Open 24 hours, with occasional closures for permitted events

The old Brooklyn Historical Society building on Pierrepont, now run by Brooklyn Public Library, with terracotta ornament outside and a panelled reading floor upstairs. The ground-floor galleries are free and you can see them without an appointment. It sits one building away from St. Ann & the Holy Trinity.

Wed to Sun, noon to 5pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday

A corner diner at Clark and Henry with a counter, vinyl booths and a laminated menu that runs from eggs to a hot open turkey sandwich. Service is quick and nobody minds if you order coffee and a bowl of soup at three in the afternoon. The 8am open and the 8pm close make it one of the few places on this side of Brooklyn Heights that covers a matinee and an early door on the same day.

Mon to Sat, 8am to 8pm. Sun, 8am to 3pm

A small bakery two doors east of Sahadi's that has been baking pita and Levantine pastry on Atlantic Avenue since the 1930s. The case holds spinach and meat pies. Baklava and kanafeh sit beside them, and the bread comes out warm in stacks. You order at the counter, pay cash or card, and leave with more than you meant to buy.

Mon to Sat, 7am to 7pm. Sun, 8am to 7pm

A narrow slice counter on Henry Street with a case of plain and Sicilian and a couple of stools against the wall. It has been on this block since the 1970s and the operation has not been redesigned since. Bring cash and the slice is reheated properly rather than waved at the oven.

Tue to Sat, 11am to 9pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

A dim pub on Henry Street with a long bar, a tin ceiling and a beer list that runs to a couple of dozen taps. There is a burger and a plate of wings if you want them, and the back has a few booths. It has been on this block for nearly thirty years and nothing about it is trying to be anything.

Mon to Wed, 3pm to 12:30am. Thu, 3pm to 2am. Fri, 3pm to 4am. Sat, 1pm to 4am. Sun, 1pm to 2am

A long deli on Montague with a sandwich counter down one side, prepared food in the case and a bakery section by the register. You order at the counter and eat at one of the small tables or take it five blocks west to the Promenade. It opens at 7am and stays open to 9pm on weekdays, which is wider than almost anything else on the street.

Mon to Fri, 7am to 9pm. Sat and Sun, 7am to 8pm

A longshoremen's bar at the foot of Atlantic Avenue that has been run by the same family for over seventy years, from the days when it opened at 8:30am for dockworkers coming off the overnight shift. The walls are covered in ship photographs, life rings and union plaques. Karaoke runs Thursday through Saturday and it is loud and completely unserious.

Mon to Wed, 4pm to midnight. Thu and Fri, 4pm to 2am. Sat, noon to 2am. Sun, 2pm to midnight

Wade Sahadi moved the family shop to Atlantic Avenue in 1948 and the counter system has barely changed since. You take a ticket for olives and cheese. Prepared food is at the same counter, with the bulk bins of nuts, dried fruit, spices and coffee run the length of the store. There is a saj counter making flatbread to order at the back. It is the anchor of the Atlantic Avenue Middle Eastern strip and the reason the rest of it is still there.

Every day, 10am to 7pm

A plain storefront on the south side of Atlantic with lamb haneeth, fahsa in a stone bowl and rounds of bread brought to the table without being ordered. Portions are large and the bill is small. The dining area is bright and functional and you walk in off the street at almost any hour it is open.

Mon to Thu, 10am to 11pm. Fri, 2pm to 11pm. Sat and Sun, 10am to 11pm