WHERE: 74 Street and 76 Street between Ridge Boulevard and Colonial Road, Brooklyn.
NEAREST SUBWAY: R (77 Street), R (86 Street, fully accessible)
Bay Ridge is aptly named: it is up a hill from the Narrows, the hill being the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Glacier. The moraine continues as the ridge line in Sunset Park, Park Slope, Crown Heights, Ocean Hill, and on into Queens.
Bay Ridge has a pair of parallel stair streets in a leafy area between Ridge Boulevard and Colonial Road. This is an area of mostly single-family homes, with apartment buildings farther east toward 3 Avenue. The adjacent streets (73 Street, Bay Ridge Parkway, 77 Street) run through as regular streets on the hill, so it is a delight that these two streets were each designed with cul-de-sacs connected by stairs.
I went down the 36 stairs on 74 Street (3 flights of 12) and up the 60 stairs on 76 Street (3 flights of 20). The handrail on the 76 Street stair was a little too low to grip comfortably, but there was a wrought-iron fence the whole way up that I held on to. The reward at the top of the 76 Street stairs was a pair of large houses flanking the cul-de-sac that must have outstanding views of New York Harbor, one from the upper story and the other from the broad porch.
Photographs in this post by Dom Gervasi, creator of Made in Brooklyn Tours.
Looking up the 74 Street stairs.
Looking up the 76 Street stairs.
At the top of the 76 Street stairs, mansion in background.
Looking down the 76 Street stairs.
Total vertical on the walk.