Biggie's Bed-Stuy

Bedford-Stuyvesant is beautiful and diverse and home to so many iconic artists (including the late, great Christopher George Lattore Wallace—aka: Biggie Smalls).  

The neighborhood lines have blurred over the years, but when it comes to Bed-Stuy + Biggie, we’ll start with George Westinghouse High School, a vocational school that’s been around since 1919.

In middle school, Biggie won several awards as an English student. After attending Bishop Loughlin Memorial School in Fort Greene, he transferred here, a school that at the time was best known for its lunchroom freestyle rap battles: Busta Rhymes, DMX, Jay Z and the Notorious B.I.G. were all students here at the same time.

887 Fulton Street is home to the “Country House Diner”. This was a favorite spot for Biggie and what inspired the famous lyric, “T-bone steak, cheese eggs & Welch’s grape” from his song “Big Poppa”.

At 226 St. James Place, you’ll find Biggie’s childhood home. He lived on the third floor in Apartment 3L. Directly across the street at 197 St. James Place is where they threw “Orient Temple parties” and Biggie honed his craft.

932A Fulton Street is “Respect for Life”, the barbershop that B.I.G frequented. Across the street at 991 Fulton, you’ll see Key Food (formerly Met Food Supermarket) where Biggie bagged groceries.

Sisters, at 900 Fulton Street, is a black-owned restaurant & cocktail bar that took over an old hardware store. Designed by the folks behind the Ace Hotels, it’s an exceptional spot to stop for food n’ bevvies. https://www.sistersbklyn.com/

The corner of Bedford and Quincy Street is the iconic 385-foot mural of the “King of NY” by Scott Zimmerman and Maoufal Alouai.

If you venture deeper into Stuyvesant Heights, you’ll find 107 Macon Street, a classic browstone from the 1880’s. At one time is was Sankofa Aban Bed and Breakfast where jazz was performed in its parlor, now it answers to “Brownstone Jazz” and on select days, you’ll find the band out front in full swing.

You can end your day in Bed-Stuy with a trip to the spot where Spike Lee shot “Do the Right Thing”. It’s a little hard to find all the locations, but the 30th Anniversary mural by Danielle Mastrion is sweet and located at 157 Stuyvesant Ave. 

And as Biggie said, “Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way.”