The St. Felix Street entrace of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, ca. 1931.

At the turn of the 20th century, Downtown Brooklyn had a theater district to rival Manhattan’s. In the space of a few blocks near the Flatbush Avenue Extension, a collection of grand multi-use ballrooms and smaller vaudeville stages proliferated. Just a few decades later, most had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but in many cases, the buildings themselves survive. Here’s a look at a thriving entertainment district of days gone by — and the contemporary adaptive reuse projects reinvigorating its legacy.

In this excerpt from the Brooklyn Historical Society's audio tour, host Nelson George and historian Francis Morrone discuss the communities and architecture of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn — including interviews with longtime neighborhood residents.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, from St. Felix Street, ca. 1931. Founded in 1861 in Brooklyn Heights as the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s original building was destroyed in a 1903 fire. The present building was designed by Herts & Tallant and opened in the fall of 1908 with a Metropolitan Opera performance of Faust.

In December 2018, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat down with NPR’s Nina Totenberg for an exclusive interview presented by the Museum of the City of New York. During this sold-out discussion, Justice Ginsburg spoke about her love of opera, her New York City roots, and why, after years in Washington, she still considered herself a Brooklynite. Take a virtual look at RBG's NYC, through places she remembered fondly and those she would have frequented in her youth.

Charles Solomon was a 20th century Jewish, socialist New York City politician and judge. Born in 1889 on Manhattan’s East Side to Russian-born, Yiddish-speaking parents, Solomon was a resident of Brooklyn for most of his life. He made frequent speeches in Lower Manhattan. He can be seen here in 1932 at Wall and Broad Streets.