15. Home of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat, the legendary graffiti artist, was born in 1960 in Park Slope to Gerard and Matilde Basquiat. His father was born in Haiti while his mother was born to Puerto Rican parents in Brooklyn. In 1966, he moved to East 35th street in East Flatbush, considered an extension of Little Caribbean, where Basquiat began studying and practicing art, attending the nearby Saint Ann’s School, and drawing his favorite cartoons. Basquiat and his friend Marc Prozzo created a children’s book at the age of just seven.
It was at the East Flatbush home that he recovered from an automobile accident in 1968, resulting in a broken arm and a spleen removal. His mother gave him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, which had a lasting impression on him and was reflected in his later anatomical drawings. After his parents separated, he moved to Boerum Hill with his father and two siblings before moving to Puerto Rico three years later.