Brooklyn's Sportsmen's Row

Book excerpt: Tales of scandals, social class, and a city block where big names in horse racing—among other prominent people—lived: “Well researched . . . a fascinating read.” —Brooklyn Daily Eagle In an era when horse racing reigned supreme and Brooklyn was at its very center, a remarkable collection of turf legends came to reside along one small stretch of northern Eighth Avenue in the exclusive neighborhood of Park Slope. Here, along Sportsmen’s Row, the lives of the sportsmen and those of their neighbors—men of prominence and distinction in theater, law, industry, and politics—came together in surprising and unexpected ways. Though the public saw a block dominated by the celebrities of the age, behind the closed doors of Sportsmen’s Row a more subtle narrative played itself out: of infidelity, gambling, excess and, regardless of fame, a world strictly ordered and preordained by social class. This history offers a compelling portrait of this colorful corner of Gilded Age Brooklyn. Includes photos