Caton Ave, Windsor Terrace

Prospect Park is bordered by four relatively diverse neighborhoods, and the south side of the park - where Caton Ave is - probably isn't the best of of them, but it's not TOO bad. Prospect Park is gorgeous on the north side of the street, but the apartment buildings that line the other side of the street aren't all as beautiful as you would expect. The neighborhood isn't a rich one, and the brick buildings here remind one of middle class government housing buildings. They aren't, of course, but the point is that these apartment buildings are terribly ugly from the outside, and sort of take away from the glorious greenery of the park.

This area of the park is full of playing fields and basketball courts that have been thriving all summer, and Caton Ave is relatively close to the huge lake in Prospect Park. This street is pretty residential, but there is tons of pedestrian traffic in the area. The surrounding neighborhood offers some good Caribbean joints, but there isn't a lot of awesome nightlife and there certainly aren't any good shopping outlets on this street.

When I think of Caton Avenue, I think of what Brooklyn, New York is to most people who "think" about what Brooklyn is like, but who have never lived or visited there (if that makes sense). It is a very busy street with lots of hustle and bustle, lots of traffic, lots of noise, a lot of activity all of the time, horns blowing, sirens squealing. Never a dull moment. Parts of Caton Avenue have nice homes and other parts of Caton Avenue have large apartment buildings. In the summertime, you see a lot of people sitting out in front of their buildings in lawn chairs, because most of the buildings are not air conditioned and its cooler in the street. This is the street where you have kids playing ball while they're trying to keep out of the way of traffic ... and this is the street where the ice cream truck comes down playing those obnoxious tunes. Living here is very cosmopolitan - anything goes. Tolerance is practiced as there is a lot of diversity along Caton Avenue. Part of Caton Avenue passes along "the Parade Grounds" which is on one side of Prospect Park. So there really is a bit of everything here, including lots of small shops and restaurants. This is Brooklyn!