My dentist’s office is in Brooklyn Heights—after a visit, I go for a stroll — I’ve gotten to know the neighbourhood.

If you walk toward the river along Montague Street, turn right on Hicks, left on Pierrepont and then right on Willow, you will find three federal row houses from around 1820, some of the best preserved in the city. Some highlights: 155 Willow Street is where Arthur Miller lived with Marilyn Monroe at the time he wrote “The Crucible”. Truman Capote lived in the house at 70 Willow Street (where he wrote In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) which was owned at that time by my teacher at NYU, Oliver Smith. Oliver was one of the founders of American Ballet Theater.

A block west is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, (pictured) offering one of the finest city views in the world.

Coming back along Montague, almost any restaurant or coffee shop will satisfy, so pick the most beautiful, relax and enjoy the ambience.

There is so much history that for me it is most noticeable as ‘charm’, both in the architecture and in the people who appreciate it.

Noticeable too is the wealth of this neighborhood evidenced by the number of banks on Montague — seven on the first block alone.

In the building that stood on the corner of Montague and Court, Jackie Robinson signed the contract that stunned the world, in the offices of the Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club. It is now one of those banks.