3. Truman Capote: 70 Willow Street between Orange and Pineapple Streets

Truman Cpote wrote his renowned works In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the basement of this yellow brick Brooklyn Heights townhouse, between the borough’s fruit-named streets, Orange and Pineapple. The house was built in 1839, and Capote lived in the neighborhood from the 1955 to 1965, even telling a reporter “It’s the only place to live in New York.” Capote’s tenant was Broadway stage and set designer Oliver Smith.

Brooklyn Magazine explains that at the time Brooklyn was in decay, far from fashionable and in the middle of urban revival. Capote often wrote about the state of Brooklyn at the time; his short story “A House in the Heights,” which he also wrote at this house, has the line “I live in Brooklyn. By choice.” According to the article, he wrote fondly of the diverse neighborhoods and personalities that lived there as well as the fortune of living near Manhattan.

In 2012, the home sold for $12 million, making it the most expensive family home sold in Brooklyn.