Literary Brooklyn: A Real Life Tour of 10 Fictional Brooklyn Places
Sophie’s Choice, William Styron
When young, aspiring writer Stingo makes his way out to Brooklyn and into cheap housing (paving the way for generations of other aspiring Brooklyn writers), he finds himself at Yetta Zimmerman’s boarding house, a house, it should be further noted, that was perhaps “the most open-heartedly monochromatic structure in Brooklyn, if not all of New York.” And what color was it exactly? Pink. Unreservedly pink. Styron himself spent a couple of months living off Caton Avenue, which is where he found the inspiration to write this novel, but while we dutifully looked for his exact house, there exists no such lurid a dwelling in this part of Brooklyn anymore. However! We did find these two houses, which are both less vibrant of a pink than Yetta would have been comfortable with, but we find them to be fine substitutions and located just off the Church Avenue B/Q. Stingo lived a summer in a house like this after having received an inheritance of about $500. Yes, that’s right. With less than $500, he was able to quit his job and rent a room in a mansion in Ditmas Park. Times have really, really changed.