On our Google Glass scavenger hunt in New York City yesterday, author Moses Gates of Hidden Cities took us on a stop to Barack Obama’s Park Slope brownstone, where he lived in the mid-1980s with a girlfriend on the top floor. The brownstone, located at 640 Second Street is just steps from Prospect Park West and was owned at the time by a colleague of Obama’s girlfriend who taught at the Brooklyn Friends School. The townhouse was mentioned in the biography Barack Obama: The Story by David Maraniss.
Today, as it did in the 80s during Obama’s tenure, the brownstone blends in with the rest of the street. As reported in The New York Times in 2012, when the apartment was revealed in Maraniss’ book, the current tenants as well as neighbors were hearing of Obama’s occupancy for the first time.
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy (HarperOne, forthcoming) Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
