New York City, New York story
Brooklyn by Choice
At 70 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights, there's a house built in 1839 that once held a very famous tenant. From 1955 to 1965, author Truman Capote rented the garden apartment her…
Read the story
At 70 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights, there's a house built in 1839 that once held a very famous tenant. From 1955 to 1965, author Truman Capote rented the garden apartment here. During those ten years, he finished two of his most acclaimed works: Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood.
Capote was so fond of the neighborhood that he wrote an essay called A House in the Heights, featuring the definitive line, I live in Brooklyn. By choice. As you look at this historic dwelling, imagine Capote in that basement apartment, crafting some of the 20th century's most enduring literature.
Updated June 2026