It was a nice day out, and there were so many children outside playing you would think cell phones…read moredidn't exist and we were back in the 90's, I appreciated seeing so many people make use of the park. Good spot for children, dogs or people who want to walk along trails.

On initial sight, it LOOKS like a park fulled with families of all sorts of ethnicities. After a…read morecloser look and logical thinking, I was looking at a park filled with Au pairs & nannys. None the less, it is a beautiful park covered in astroturf.

They have grown too quickly and the quality of the coaches has suffered particularly for the travel…read moreteams.

My son joined Brooklyn Basketball Academy (BBA) during the fall season last year, and he has made…read moreincredible progress during his time there improved, especially with dribbling, shooting, and strength training. Coach Gio and Kyle are always very helpful in ensuring the players practice their drills and understand the fundamentals of the sport while having fun and teaching them sportsmanship on an off the court. They offer travel games but also have in-house league games, so the kids learn offense and defense while working together as a team. BBA has also helped my son develop emotionally as a young man with the positive influence of his coaches. He was allowed to volunteer this summer and help coach the younger groups, which has only helped him love the game even more and understand the importance of mentorship. BBA not only has one of the nicest indoor basketball courts in Brooklyn, but it's also a great environment. They have built a community, not just an academy.

This started as a mission to find a Hash (expat international) group meetup somewhere in this vast…read morepark, but since we didn't connect it turned out to be a "walk in the park" and pure joy. Central Park may be in a more convenient location for tourists, but Prospect Park is a divine place to explore, with plenty of twists and turns, and what the heck is that? Lots to look at! The other thing I liked was that we found free on-street parking right across the street on Ocean Avenue. Amazingly we also found parking right by Central Park as well. (This trip was a superb driving one) Even hanging out in the van, having a cold one at the parking spot was a fun experience. There's even a cafe in the middle of the park that is super nice! Worth seeking out when visiting Brooklyn.

One of my favorite things about Brooklyn is Prospect Park. Even though it's large, as you can…read moreimagine it gets busy on the weekends. Lots of families, etc. Still, it can be an enjoyable time. I do prefer weekday visits myself. The walking/bike paths are a great way to see the park in its entirety. Plenty of green space for a picnic, playing frisbee, etc. Playground and splash pads as well. Of course, I can't forget the lake with all of the ducks splashing about. It's really a wonderful way to spend a day in Brooklyn, getting away from it all.

Today is such a beautiful day to spend outdoors. I decided to take my nephews out but I wasn't…read moreexactly sure where to go. All the parks around our way was really crowded so we decided to venture off and find one they would enjoy. They were able to get their own bball hoop to play around. You already know I had to show them my skills and yes I still have it. There are plenty of shady areas to relax while the kiddies run around or to even read a book. Surprisingly it wasn't even loud either.

Carroll Park is a small neighborhood park, good for a scooter ride or a climb on a jumble gym. A…read morelarge basketball court area faces Court Street. This is the best spot for a child's scooter ride. The area really needs more benches for adult seating. There are only a few in the very large area. The fenced back portion of the park consists of a courtyard with rest rooms. There are also two fenced play areas, one for smaller children, with jungle gyms and swings. One side of the park faces the neighborhood Carroll School. Could this technically be the front of the park? The park is fine for use in the neighborhood. But it would benefit from an update and sprucing up. New brighter colored playground equipment, a sand area and more benches would be a great start.

Covered and moderately shielded from the elements, well maintained, and offers perfect views of…read moreManhattan during sunset. Appreciate that the different sport courts are decently separated so balls and other flying projectiles don't disturb nearby games too often.

This is my 1st time down here at Pier 2. My sis and I came down here so she can rollerskate. It's…read moreso nice down by the water. At Pier 2 They have Pickel Ball, Rollerskating, Basketball, Handball/ Racketball and Fitness. It's a little chilly but cool.

I have been a member at the Prospect Park YMCA since 2021, and this has got to be the most poorly…read moremanaged YMCA I have ever been to. I stayed a member for so long because it's a convenient walk from my house, but I recently left here to join the Life Time and I couldn't be happier. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly from my experience. The good: The pool. You really cannot get this anywhere else in/around Park Slope. That said, it is often crowded, with 4+ swimmers per lane, and the swim lane etiquette is not the best. They have lanes divided by speed - low, low/medium, medium, and fast - but basically I've found there is one fast lane, and all of the rest are slow. It feels like the fast-lane users are either former Olympic / Masters level swimmers, so I have to be in this awful position where I'm getting passed all the time in the fast lane, yet people get angry with me for going too fast in the other lanes. That's just my experience though. The bad: The free weight room. Basically, everything is overcrowded, and the etiquette is horrible. The free weight room has ONE power rack, which is insane for such a large gym. This is compounded by the hoards of teenagers that camp at the gym during peak time, sometimes leading to long queues to use any of the equipment. And the etiquette is some of the worst I have seen. People leave weights lying around on the floor or haphazardly put plates back wherever they feel, leading to a ton of clutter and general chaos. There is usually an attendant in the free weight room, yet they do absolutely nothing. Generally, the staff sucks. They do not greet you and just generally seem disinterested except when they are talking amongst themselves. The ugly: The locker rooms are just horrendous. Everything is filthy with dust everywhere. The lockers are super outdated, busted and rusting all over. There are often cockroaches in the dry sauna. But the worst is the showers. I think that was the final straw for me. It genuinely feels like a prison shower in that half the shower curtains are missing, and I even saw a bunch of blood on one of them. The ceiling is covered in mold; they don't even bother to paint over it. I don't need much, but I at least expect a clean and pest-free locker room. The state of it is shameful honestly. There is also no towel service, which is insane for how much you pay. Meanwhile, Harbor Fitness has towels, and the membership there is $76/month. All of this would be fine out of a low-cost, no-frills gym, but the cost of the regular individual membership is $96 per month, which is just out of line. The value is practically non-existent. They will also try to scam you when you try to cancel, saying there is a 15-day notice period, despite that being against the law in NYS. Bottom line, do yourself a favor and don't join this gym.

Terrible the people in the front desk are so rude and unprofessional. Had problems scanning in…read morebecause they tried to say my image wasn't me when it was clearly me awful reception and front desk.

I decided to quit the Armory after a promising few months. I got tired of waiting to use equipment…read morein the weight room, of the teens who never wipe anything down and of the kids in the cardio room who are there to play. Sad to go, it's a beautiful space and the staff is friendly. BTW quitting is NOT easy. I tried numerous times by email while I was travelling for work and landed up paying for months I never used.

After nearly a year of emailing and notifying the gym staff and "complaint box" about, I finally…read morequit this place. The staff doesn't help clean the place up, people don't re-rack their weights, the free weights and kettlebells are impossible to use because they can only be accessed by the classes, there's a single bench press area, a single squat rack/deadlift platform, spin bikes are only available during classes, two benches, and as I mentioned, nearly no available kettlebells and free weights outside of classrooms. Teens take over the place, as do unsupervised children. Lifting on a wooden floor is dangerous. I personally had to put up a "broken do not use sign" on a broken peleton, because the staff didn't notice. There's one plyo box that you have to run around to find. NO showers...in a gym. The manager, Chris, does not address your concerns, even after contacting him personally.

Perhaps it's because we spend a lot of time at a friend's place down the street, but this has…read morebecome one of my favorite playgrounds in Brooklyn. For starters, it's just a wonderful use of what was dead space underneath the subway overpass. It can be a little noisy, but shade on a hot summer day is pretty clutch. Perhaps it's because my kids are still little, but we get a whole lot of use out of the southern side of the park with the swings, jungle gyms, and splashpad. As it's fairly new (5-6 years old or so?), these things are still state of the art and a lot of fun for the kiddos. We've also had plenty of luck hosting birthday parties there, as it's not nearly as mobbed as Carroll Park a few blocks north. I also look forward to when we can take more advantage of the basketball courts, turf field, and maybe even the skate park on the north side of the space. Really, just an excellent playground to have in the area.

It's new. It's clean. It's shaded…read more Lots to love about this newly completed (finally) playground(s). Divided by Nelson St you get a combination of little kids to big kids to adult fun options. The South side has excellent playground equipment that is generally protected from a lot of the direct elements (think rainy day play). Cross over to the North side and you have some turf area for small soccer or similar. Short gated directly next to that there is a 3' mini ramp, rail and box features for the skate rat in you (or your kid). A small "exercise " area divides the skate zone from the half court basketball net. All of the North has a jogging/biking/walking track around the enclosed park. Considering it was a slog to complete and it's proximity to my home I'm loving St. Mary's!

Interesting to learn more about the local parks in Brooklyn…read more Dean Playground is named after Silas Deane (1737-1789). Deane was a Yale college educated Revolutionary War statesman. In 1774, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress. Two years later in 1776, he was sent along with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee to France to secure support for the Revolutionary War. Nice to see this neighborhood park filled with residents playing basketball and pickleball. A cute playground in Brooklyn.

Nested between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Central Library, Mount Prospect Park is…read morethe second highest point in Brooklyn after Battle Hill inside the Green-Wood Cemetery. It fact, "It was used by the Continental Army in 1776 as a lookout point, which at that time offered strategic views of Manhattan, Brooklyn, New York harbor, a portion of New Jersey, Staten Island, and Long Island"[1]. Mount Prospect Park has something to offer for everyone: - If you have a dog, this is a dog-friendly park, with many dogs enjoying the large grassy area at the center. Keep in mind that the area is completely open. There are specific off-leash hours, and I found all dog owners who come to the park to be friendly and respectful. - If you like to run, there is a running route that goes all around the park, mainly shaded by wonderful tree, that covers 0.22 miles/0.36 km[2]. There are also some stairs that lead to the highest point in the park, that are also good for exercising. Another set of (steeper) stairs is near the second access point near the Brooklyn Public Library. - If you have young kids, there is a playground with two jungle gyms separated by a sprinklers area, plus an enclosed area with swings, and six concrete small tables with benches. There are a lot of mosquitoes, particularly tiger mosquitoes i.e. the ones that are active during the day, in the area near the benches around the fence. The main entrance by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has no stairs, and its gentle incline is perfect if you have a stroller or bike. - If you have older kids, I have seen soccer games and other team sports (baseball, freesbee, etc...) or training sessions take place in the lawn at the center of the park. Keep in mind that the area is not completely covered in grass, and it can get dusty. The park seems to be generally understaffed (hence 4 stars instead of 5). The trash cans are not emptied daily, and the hours at which sprinklers are on during the summer, or when restrooms are open, seem to be totally random. While I find the dog owners and runners very respectful, some of the people who have birthday parties or other celebrations here tend to leave a lot of trash behind. Which is a shame, as this park is generally quiet, much less busy than nearby Prospect Park, and generally a great place to just relax and unwind. ----------------------- [1] https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/mount-prospect-park/history [2] https://www.plotaroute.com/route/723847

Huge playground. Plenty of climbable options for your children. Lots of benches in the shade. Close…read moreproximity to the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Restrooms available (really dirty, though). Ice-cold water coming from the water fountain! Thumbs up!