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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and during this membership drive or breaking it up with some fun each day in the form of a New York, New Jersey Geography Quiz, we'll go borough by borough and region by region with guests quiz leaders every day. Yesterday, we did Manhattan with Gale Brewer. Today, it's Brooklyn. If you think you know Brooklyn, call in and take a shot at it, 646-435-7280.

If you get two in a row right, we will give you a prize of one of those Brian Lehrer Show New York City skyline mugs. Who knows where things are in Brooklyn? You don't have to be from Brooklyn to enter, call up and play at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280. I am so delighted that our guest quiz leader is Jacqueline Woodson, the author of too many books to mention, there's Brown Girl Dreaming, of course, for national book award-winning memoir in verse from 2014 about growing up and her family's moved from South Carolina to Brooklyn.

There's her novel Another Brooklyn from 2016. Her latest book is Before the Ever After. She writes for young readers and adults in prose and in poetry. Many of her books are set in Brooklyn where she lives, at least part-time. Jaqueline so great of you to do this with us. Welcome back to WNYC.

Jacqueline Woodson: Thanks, Brian. So happy to be back.

Brian Lehrer: As calls are coming in, when you're writing a book set in Brooklyn, do you research the neighborhoods or other locations at all, even as you focus on what you already know from life experience or on the characters and their stories?

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes, I do go back and look at the neighborhoods. I walk the streets of it and try to figure where my characters would [unintelligible 00:01:58] where they eat and stuff like that. I rely a lot on memory, but I also go back and try to make sure my memory is accurate.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Let's have some fun and see if we can give away some mugs. David in Brooklyn is going to be our first player. Hi, David. You're on WNYC.

David: Hi, I'm ready to do Brooklyn. I blew it on the Manhattan-

Brian Lehrer: Oh, you're the [unintelligible 00:02:22] in Brooklyn, who-- David called on the Manhattan quiz yesterday. If I remember correctly, you got one right.

David: Real easy question. Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Then you couldn't--

David: I blew it on the which train goes north.

Brian Lehrer: More north, the A train or the 1, and it was the 1. All right, Jacqueline. What have you got for David from Brooklyn?

Jacqueline Woodson: I was yelling at you, "The number one, the number one." My first question-

David: Oh, my God.

Jacqueline Woodson: -for you is the Ailanthus tree or the tree of heaven is the favorite of the spot Atlantan fly, the new to this area, invasive species were supposed to squish on site, but it has a storied history in Brooklyn. What classic coming-of-age novel does the Ailanthus tree figure prominently?

David: I'm going to make a good guess, it's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Jacqueline Woodson: Exactly. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith from 1943 set in Williamsburg.

Brian Lehrer: A classic and maybe easy way to start because it's maybe the most famous Brooklyn title ever. Go ahead. Let's see if David can get that two in a row and win a mug.

Jacqueline Woodson: What Brooklyn neighborhood is known as Spike Lee's childhood neighborhood. It's also where his first--

David: Fort Greene.

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes, nice.

Brian Lehrer: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yes, David, you did it. We're going to send you a mug. Yes, second time was a charm. He knew it so fast, you didn't even get to finish the question.

Jacqueline Woodson: [chuckles] I know. His production studio's also there.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Definitely. Fort Greene guy, Spike Lee. I see though, from the notes around this question that he was born in Atlanta, and his family moved to Cobble Hill when he was four and then Fort Greene. There's the Spike Lee migration story. All right. Let's see who else wants to play? How about Ellen in Montclair? You're on WNYC. Hi, Ellen.

Ellen: Hey, how are you, Brian?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Thank you very much. Jacqueline, your question for Ellen.

Jacqueline Woodson: Hey, Ellen. What Brooklyn neighborhood was originally called Boswijck, and one of the founders was a Black man who had once been enslaved?

Ellen: Could you repeat the name of the neighborhood, please?

Jacqueline Woodson: Boswijck, of course, Dutch.

Brian Lehrer: Boswijck.

Ellen: I'm sorry, I can't--

Brian Lehrer: Boswijck. That was the Dutch, Boswijck. You know the answer? Sounds like that. Boswijck.

Ellen: Bushwick.

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes. Bushwick.

Ellen: It's Bushwick?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, it's Bushwick. Boswijck, I guess, became Bushwick. Do you know the history of that Jacqueline? I don't. Is it just how speech patterns developed over time, and it evolved from Boswijck to Bushwick because it was easier for English speakers to say or something like that?

Jacqueline Woodson: I don't know the history of that, but I do know it was named for the different trees that were in the area. The streets are Linden, Palmetto. I know that part of it, but I don't know how Boswijck became Bushwick. I should look that up because now I'm interested.

Brian Lehrer: All right, Ellen, one more for you, and you win a Brian Lehrer Show skyline mug. Go ahead, Jacqueline. This neighborhood was hardest hit by violence during the blackout of 1977. What's the name of the street that saw the most damage to stores and buildings?

Brian Lehrer: The street, Ellen, that saw the most damage in 1977.

Ellen: I remember that blackout. I do not know the name of the street. I'm going to just say Broadway.

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Jacqueline Woodson: It is Broadway, Broadway is right.

Ellen: Oh, really? Oh, my gosh.

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Which a lot of people who don't know the parts of Brooklyn that have Broadway don't even think of as something that's in Broadway. They think of it as a street that runs in Manhattan and the Bronx. There is a Broadway in Brooklyn, Broadway junction is a big subway stop. There's also a Broadway in Queens. There's even an LIRR stop in Queens that is Broadway. Broadway is just all over the place. Great, Ellen. Congratulations. Let's go next to Neil in Park Slope. Hi, Neil, you're on WNYC.

Neil: Hello, Brian. Hello, Mrs. Woodson.

Jacqueline Woodson: Hey, Neil. Glad to have you. There's a Macy's in Downtown Brooklyn, but the department store there went by another name for almost 100 years up until the 1990s. What was the name that most folks who grew up in Brooklyn remember?

Neil: Okay. When I moved to Brooklyn several decades ago before it was the cultural epicenter of America, it was still called Abraham & Straus.

Jacqueline Woodson: Exactly A&S, that's where we shopped.

Brian Lehrer: Very good. All right. Another one for Neil in Park Slope.

Jacqueline Woodson: Just when we think we can get no hotter, he arrives with a car, wielding a towel-covered block of ice ring by bottles of syrup. What are the icy treats called that he sells?

Neil: Oh, that's hedgerow, I think. He slice the ice with syrup, flavored syrup.

Jacqueline Woodson: Yes, exactly.

Brian Lehrer: Amazing.

Jacqueline Woodson: We're taking hedgerow because it's [unintelligible 00:08:12]

Brian Lehrer: Yes, we're going to say that he knows the product well enough, the way he described it and came close enough to the pronunciation of the word that, well, you heard the fanfare, we gave it to him. You want to say grape, Jacqueline?

Neil: Because Lin Miranda was selling them in the film On The Heights.

Brian Lehrer: On The Heights.

Jacqueline Woodson: In The Heights, yes. It's called Piragua and the person who sells them is called Peter Goettel. Piragua comes from canoe dugout boat, probably because of the way the block of ice as it gets shaved down, it starts looking like a dugout boat. Congrats neighbor. I live in Park Slope too, two for two.

Brian Lehrer: We're giving away a lot of mugs today. I think more already in this segment than all of yesterdays. Let's go to Paul in Ditmas Park. Hi, Paul. You're on WNYC.

Paul: Hi. Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: Jacqueline.

Jacqueline Woodson: Hey, Paul. Hi, can you hear me okay?

Paul: Yes, I can.

Jacqueline Woodson: Great. He's featured prominently on a memorial at the 9th street entrance of Prospect Park, and is also beloved in the musical Hamilton. Who is he?

Paul: Oh, I've seen that memorial thousands of times. Is it Hamilton?

Jacqueline Woodson: No, sorry.

Brian Lehrer: No, sorry, Paul. We're going to give one more person a shot at that. We'll go from Paul in Brooklyn to Vaughn in Brooklyn. Hi, Vaughn, did you hear that question?

Vaughn: Good morning. No, I missed a part of the question.

Brian Lehrer: All right. I'm going to repeat it for you. He's featured prominently on a memorial at the 9th Street entrance of Prospect Park and is featured in the musical Hamilton. Who is he?

Vaughn: I don't know [chuckles].

Brian Lehrer: All right, that was a stumper. Thanks for trying, Vaughn. You want to give it to them, Jacqueline?

Jacqueline: Yes, it's Lafayette. He's one of the characters portrayed by Daveed Diggs in the original cast and also there are at least two different streets named after him, one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn, Lafayette.

Brian Lehrer: We know in Lower Manhattan the subway stop, Broadway-Lafayette, and of course there's Lafayette Street down there. I guess just like Broadway, Lafayette occurs in more than one borough as a street, just as Daveed Diggs occurs as more than one character in Hamilton, right?

Jacqueline: Exactly.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we're doing our Brooklyn Geography Quiz with Jacqueline Woodson. All right, let's see if somebody from Atlanta can answer a Brooklyn Quiz question. Shawn in Atlanta, you're on WNYC. Hi, Shawn, did you come from Brooklyn- [crosstalk]

Shawn: Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: -previously?

Shawn: Yes, yes, definitely. Can you hear me? Hello?

Brian Lehrer: 22% of the people in Atlanta now did actually come from-- No, I'm kidding. Shawn, can you hear us?

Shawn: I can. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, we can hear you.

Jacqueline: Yes.

Shawn: I can hear you loud and clear. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Good, yes, we can hear you. Jacqueline, ask Shawn a question, and let's assume he can hear it.

Jacqueline: Okay. Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, Meg from Little Women, Walt Whitman, Tom Sawyer, and Hiawatha are five of the fifteen literary figures set in bronze at the entrance of what Brooklyn building?

Brian Lehrer: Did you get it, Shawn?

Shawn: Oh, I missed the last part, what Brooklyn landmark? Was that what you said?

Jacqueline: What Brooklyn building.

Brian Lehrer: What Brooklyn building.

Shawn: I'm going to have to go with the Brooklyn Public Library.

Jacqueline: Yes, nice.

Brian Lehrer: That's right, the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza. All right. One more and you will be our last The Brian Lehrer Show New York City skyline mug winner if you get it right. Jacqueline, what you got for him?

Shawn: Oh, boy, so much pressure.

Jacqueline: This MacArthur "genius grant" alum Brooklyn writer shares her birthday with Abraham Lincoln and Judy Blume.

Brian Lehrer: This MacArthur "genius grant" alum Brooklyn writer shares her birthday with Abraham Lincoln and Judy Blume. I'll give you one clue, you have very recently heard her voice.

Shawn: Oh, is it our host? Our question asker.

Jacqueline: Yes, but you have to say her name. [laughs]

Shawn: Oh, I should have been taken closer attention to-- Is it Amy?

Brian Lehrer: Oh, sorry, Shawn, you didn't--

Shawn: I'm making a clown out of myself.

Brian Lehrer: Not everybody knows everybody. You do not win the mug. Shawn, thank you very much for playing. We thank not Amy but Jacqueline Woodson who's been our quiz leader for today on the Brooklyn Geography Quiz, the author of Brown Girl Dreaming, her National Book Award-winning memoir in verse from 2014 about growing up and her family's move from South Carolina to Brooklyn, her novel Another Brooklyn from 2016, her latest book is Before The Ever After. Jacqueline, this was so much fun, so great of you to do this with us. We gave away a whole bunch of mugs.

Jacqueline: Yes, thanks, Brian. I'm looking forward to listening to next time. Take care.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Brian Lehrer on WNYC, much more to come. Paul Krugman will be our next guest.

 

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