Guide book explores hidden Brooklyn gems

Brooklyn BookBeat

February 1, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Courtesy of Michelle Young

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Imagine experiencing your Brooklyn neighborhood with the same curiosity and attention that you feel while traveling elsewhere. That feeling is what Michelle Young and Augustin Pasquet’s book “Secret Brooklyn: An Unusual Guide” inspires in its readers.

“Secret Brooklyn” is a guidebook that includes the most unusual hidden treasures in Brooklyn, revealed only to residents and travelers who are ready to explore. The book is an indispensable guide for those who think they already know Brooklyn or would like to discover its hidden places. The sights that it highlights are special and off the beaten path, taking readers far from crowds and usual clichés.

There are countless opportunities for discovery in the book — from an urban safari for wild green parrots in Flatbush, a tree in Borough Park covered with the pacifiers of neighborhood children, the oldest building in New York City, a gorgeous mosque inside a movie theater in Sunset Park, and the oldest subway tunnel in the world. “Secret Brooklyn” draws attention to the multitude of details found in places we may pass by every day without noticing. It is an invitation for residents to look more closely at the urban landscape.

Young and Pasquet both live in Crown Heights. Young is the founder of Untapped Cities, a web magazine about urban discovery and exploration. She is a graduate of Harvard College in the history of art and architecture and holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she is an adjunct professor. She is the author of “New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants.” She has traveled to more than 40 countries and is always looking for the next adventure.

Pasquet hails from Paris, and has lived in Nigeria, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Brooklyn, where he currently resides. He is a graduate of ESSCA Business School in France with a major in marketing and worked for seven years in sales and brand marketing for L’Oreal in both Paris and New York City. He is the co-author of Secret Brooklyn: An Unusual Guide, a book unearthing 125 of the borough’s most surprising places. Augustin’s photography has been published in Travel & Leisure, Brooklyn Magazine, Time Out New York, as well as in the books New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. He has been a guest speaker on television, radio shows and conferences speaking about about topics ranging from the secrets of Grand Central Terminal to the remnants of NYC’s Cold War era nuclear shelters.

Autographed copies of the book are available at https://untappedcities.com/store/.