Wedged in between the
BQE, the
Gowanus Canal,
Cobble Hill and
Red Hook lies Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, NY. I find this
neighborhood charming, but then again - I live here, so I'm a little
biased.
The first thing one should know about Carroll Gardens is that it's Italian. In the family way. It's also very Catholic, surprise - surprise. Moonstruck was filmed here, Al Capone got married in the church on my block, and the neighborhood is named after Charles Carroll - the only guy with a rosary to sign of the Declaration of Independence.
Most of the houses in Carroll Gardens are of the row house design and all the blocks incorporate garden space between the rows. The further north you are in the neighborhood the more elaborate this space tends to be - and anything above second street tends to have gardens both behind the house, and in front. A great deal of the front gardens have been converted into small shrines to patron saints...
I keep meaning to buy one of those places and add a little bit of southern charm - Carroll Gardens could use a Bathtub Jesus.