Utica Avenue (A, C)

The area right outside this station feels vast and barren, with a smattering of low-rise affordable housing. But, if you walk a few blocks north into Stuyvesant Heights, or south into Crown Heights, it gets cool.

Stuyvesant Heights via Malcom X Boulevard

Turn onto Malcom X heading north from the station, walk two blocks, and boom, you’ve reached the creatives’ territory. Starting with Milk & Pull (also featured on Seneca Avenue M), the scene transitions from homogenous-residential to artist-hip.

The cafe, bar, foodie, and social justice picks up steam from here.

Keeping on Malcom X, one block north of Milk & Pull is Bailey’s Cafe, which is a welcoming community space for, it feels like, anyone who needs it. It gives off safe, third-space vibes. (Note: It’s not a cafe. It’s named after a novel by Gloria Naylor).

Inside Bailey’s Cafe.

Next block up is Chez Oskar, a beautiful, plant-filled, cocktail and foodie destination, and Che, a cozy bar cafe.

Inside Chez Oskar

I’ll stop with my recommendations here, but you don’t have to. Walk along Malcom X for as long as your heart desires (eventually, you’ll reach Broadway and the Kosciuszko Street J).

Inside Che.

Crown Heights via Utica Ave

Turn onto Utica Ave heading south from the station, and you’ll find warehouses with immigrant-forward religious hubs peppered about. Once you hit Almah Cafe, a cute Israeli pastry and hang-out spot, the gentrification picks up, and grows stronger the more you continue south on Utica.

Inside Almah Cafe.

In general, this part of Crown Heights accessible from the station feels a little more un-gentrified than the relatively hip Stuy Heights vibe of Malcom X.

A green-painted Masjid is just around the corner on Utica.

Can you spot the station entrance?

The housing units right outside the station, in the no-man’s-land between Stuy Heights and Crown Heights.