Two-hundred thirty-nine years ago yesterday, New York City was a battleground: nearly 40,000 Continental and British troops faced off in Brooklyn. Today, the Battle of Brooklyn is remembered as the largest battle (in terms of combatants) fought during the American Revolution. To learn more about the revered general and Founding Father, George Washington, who led the…

Did you know that some Brooklynites fought for both sides during the American Revolution? When revolutionary rhetoric adopted an anti-slavery tone, Kings County residents renounced the “Glorious Cause” and sided the British in hopes of preserving their forced labor system. This week New-York Historical’s Bernard and Irene Schwartz Fellow Chris Minty is our guest blogger. In his…

On May 24, 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic, and though now we know it as a beautiful landmark, New Yorkers of the time were a bit more wary. At the time it was the only bridge spanning the East River, connecting the separate cities of Brooklyn and New York, and many doubted that…

There are still a few good butcher shops left in this town, but unfortunately, sometimes you have to know where to look. That did not seem to be the case in 1910, when butcher shops could be found all over the city, and the butcher sections of supermarkets involved actual counters, not just sad, colorless…

  On August 17, 1893, Mae West was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the daughter of a prizefighter and a fashion model.  From an early age she was an entertainer, performing at her church and then making a name for herself in vaudeville, both as a performer and a playwright. Under the pen name “Jane Mast,”…

New York has long been a food capital, from the upscale kitchens of our finest restaurants to the bagels and sausages on the street corners. But as anyone who has walked around Brooklyn has figured out, the next chapter of New York’s food history has everything to do with the local, “artisanal” food scene that…

For this edition of our interviews with A Taste of New-York History vendors, we got a special treat! Shamus Jones of Brooklyn Brine invited us to tour their Brooklyn production facilities, where we watched pickles get born.  They start off with fresh cucumbers from Mr. Pickle, the “old guard Brooklyn pickle makers” who expanded to…

The Good Batch is focused on making not-too-sweet treats like cookies, bars, and classic Dutch stroopwafels. We spoke with Anna about learning to bake, her love for Brooklyn, and why she won’t compromise on making fresh products.

How did you guys first get started with chocolate? What was the market missing that you wanted to provide?
We started really just out of a curiosity for how things were made and there was chocolate, one of the most popular foods on earth and no one really knows how it’s made. And so it began!