G to Classon

Architecture student Matthew Calayag visits a sculpture garden every day: his campus. Besides dorms and official buildings, the 25-acre gated grounds of Clinton Hill’s Pratt Institute are littered with Pop Art and avant-garde works like Phillip Grausman’s striking Victoria and Leucantha busts, Nöel Copeland’s twisty Seven of Hearts and a copy of Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE (with the slanted O).

For the art of pastry, Calayag walks to Choice Market for its selection of awesome treats, including dense chocolate-chip cookies, candied-ginger scones and cupcakes, plus freshly prepared bistro fare. “I can’t get enough of the très leches cake,” Calayag says. “It’s very rich—almost sinfully rich.”

Local artist Alan prefers the vegan alternatives at community coffeehouse Tillie’s, including an all-natural, animal-product–free version of the Chocodyle. With homemade chai, free Wi-Fi and a boho vibe, Starbucks this clearly ain’t. “Don’t ask for a tall or grande,” Chet warns, “lest thee be gently scolded.” dOn Sundays, the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School lot hosts the Brooklyn Flea. A fabulous vintage market on the surface, with some 200 vendors hawking locally crafted items, like Counter Evolution’s furniture, Brooklyn Junior’s children’s clothes, and intoxicating perfumes and colognes from D.S. & Durga and Celle Adore, this is a local hipster’s see-and-be-seen event of the week.

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