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Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Overview
Sunset Park is a neighborhood
Neighborhoods of New York City
The Neighborhoods in New York City are located within "The Five Boroughs" of New York City.-Boroughs:New York City is split up into five boroughs, which are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.-Community areas:...

 in the western section of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights
Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Greenwood Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that takes part of its name from the neighborhood proximity to the Green-Wood Cemetery...

 to the north, Borough Park
Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park , is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in the United States....

 to the east, Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...

 to the south, and Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...

 to the west. Sunset Park is served by the NYPD's 72nd Precinct.
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Encyclopedia
Sunset Park is a neighborhood
Neighborhoods of New York City
The Neighborhoods in New York City are located within "The Five Boroughs" of New York City.-Boroughs:New York City is split up into five boroughs, which are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.-Community areas:...

 in the western section of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights
Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Greenwood Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that takes part of its name from the neighborhood proximity to the Green-Wood Cemetery...

 to the north, Borough Park
Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park , is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in the United States....

 to the east, Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...

 to the south, and Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...

 to the west. Sunset Park is served by the NYPD's 72nd Precinct.

There is a namesake city park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 within the neighborhood, located between 41st and 44th Streets and 5th and 7th Avenues, which is the second highest point in Brooklyn (the highest being on the northeastern edge of Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...

). The "main drag
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...

" of the neighborhood is 5th Avenue. The area is also home to the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot.

Early years


In the heyday of the New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

's dominance of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...

 during the 19th Century, Sunset Park grew rapidly, largely as a result of Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

, Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...

, Finnish
Finnish American
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number about 700,000.-History:Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, that existed in mid-17th century....

 and Norwegian
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...

 immigrant
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...

 families moving to the area. The neighborhood grew up around the Bush Terminal
Bush Terminal
Bush Terminal now known as Industry City is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City...

 of Irving T. Bush
Irving T. Bush
Irving T. Bush was an American businessman. His father was the wealthy industrialist, oil refinery owner, and yachtsman Rufus T. Bush. As founder of the Bush Terminal Company, Irving T...

, a model industrial park
Industrial park
An industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development...

 completed in 1895 between 39th and 53d Streets, and continued to grow through World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when the Brooklyn Army Terminal
Brooklyn Army Terminal
The Brooklyn Army Terminal is large complex of piers, docks, warehouses, cranes, rail sidings and cargo loading equipment on between 58th and 63rd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. During World War II, the terminal was responsible for shipment of 85% of army equipment and personnel overseas;...

 between 53d and 66th Streets employed more than 10,000 civilians to ship 80% of all American supplies and troops.
Sunset Park's fortunes began to decline after the war and factors included the rise of truck-based freight shipping and ports in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, growth of suburban sprawl and white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...

, closing of the Army Terminal, and decreasing importance of heavy industry in the American northeast. Families who had lived in the community for decades began moving out, and their homes — largely modest but attractive rowhouses — lost value
Value (economics)
An economic value is the worth of a good or service as determined by the market.The economic value of a good or service has puzzled economists since the beginning of the discipline. First, economists tried to estimate the value of a good to an individual alone, and extend that definition to goods...

. The construction of the elevated Gowanus Expressway in 1941 effectively cut the neighborhood off from the harbor, which further wounded the area in a fashion often associated with the expressway's builder, power-broker
The Power Broker
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1974 biography of Robert Moses, "New York City's Master Builder", by Robert Caro...

 Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...

. Until the early 1980s, Sunset Park's main population was made up of Norwegian Americans, who began leaving the neighborhood during the white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...

 years of the 1970s and 1980s.

Rebirth "Brooklyn's Little Latin America"


Sunset Park's second age began with a wave of immigration from Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 as well as other Latin American countries. By 1990, Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

s comprised 50% of Sunset Park's population, rehabilitating property values and developing a thriving community. There is an abundance of Hispanic restaurants and businesses along 5th Avenue.

People from Gujarat, India, have also been settling in and around Sunset Park since 1974. They are mostly Christian
Christianity in India
Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to...

 and go to three of the area's churches, at 45th Street and 7th Avenue, 56th Street and 4th Avenue, and 52nd Street and 8th Avenue. These churches have a mainly Indian congregation and festive parties in the church halls.

Brooklyn Chinatown/Emerging Fuzhou Town


Since the 1980s, Brooklyn Chinatown, located along 8th Avenue from 42nd to 68th Street, has attracted many Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 immigrants. Eighth Avenue is lined with Chinese businesses, including grocery stores, restaurants
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...

, Buddhist temples, video stores, bakeries
Chinese bakery
Chinese bakery products consists of pastries, cakes, snacks, and desserts of largely Chinese origin, though some are derived from Western baked goods. Some of the most common Chinese bakery products include mooncakes, sun cakes, egg tarts, and wife cakes....

, and community organizations
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...

, and even Hong Kong Supermarket
Hong Kong Supermarket
Hong Kong Supermarket is a growing supermarket chain in the Los Angeles region of Southern California. It operates mainly in the newer suburban overseas Chinese communities, particularly in the Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York City areas....

.

Like the traditional Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

 in Manhattan, Brooklyn's Chinatown was originally settled by Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...

 immigrants. In recent years, however, to the discontent of many of the Cantonese, an influx of Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....

 immigrants has been supplanting the Cantonese at a significantly faster rate than in Manhattan's Chinatown. The Cantonese presence is definitively giving way to an emerging Fuzhou community, though many Cantonese still come from other parts of Brooklyn and elsewhere.
By 2009 many Mandarin-speaking people had moved to Sunset Park.

Demographics


The 2000 Census http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=11220&_cityTown=11220&_state=&_zip=11220&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010 for Sunset Park, Brooklyn approximates that there were 120,441 people living in the neighborhood; 50.5% were male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...

 and 49.5% female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...

. The median
Median
In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to...

 age was 30.8; 17.8% of residents were child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

ren, 73.2% were adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

s (18 years and over), and 9% were senior citizens (65 or over).

There were 29,723 total housing units, of which 95.8% were occupied, and 75.1% were rented
Housing tenure
Housing tenure refers to the financial arrangements under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent forms are tenancy, in which rent is paid to a landlord, and owner occupancy. Mixed forms of tenure are also possible....

 and 24.9% were owned; The median property value was $235,400. The median household income
Household income
Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamps, and investment gains.Average household income can...

 in 1999 US dollars was $30,152, and the median family income
Family income
Family income is generally considered a primary measure of a nation's financial prosperity.In the United States, political parties perennially disagree over which economic policies are more likely to increase family income. The party in power often takes the credit for any significant changes in...

 was $31,247; The per capita
Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...

 income was $13,141; 27.9% of individuals, and 26% of families were living below the poverty line. 93.9% of residents were of one race, while 6.1% were multiracial
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...

; Roughly 42.6% of residents were Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 or Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...

, 36.2% were white (Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

 or Arab
Arab American
An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World...

), 29% were Asian
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...

 (mostly Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...

), 3.2% were black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

/African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, and 24.7% were "some other race".

Recent history


Sunset Park was hit by the 2007 Brooklyn tornado
2007 Brooklyn tornado
The 2007 Brooklyn tornado was the strongest tornado on record to strike in New York City. It formed in the early morning hours of August 8, 2007, skipping along an approximately 9 mile long path, from Staten Island across the The Narrows to Brooklyn. The worst damage was in and around Sunset Park...

 on August 8. Significant damage was reported to homes on 58th Street between 7th and 5th Avenues and 67th to 66th Streets between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Transportation


Sunset Park is extensively served by road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

, rail
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

, and ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 service. The neighborhood has access to three limited-access highways; the Gowanus/Interstate 278
Interstate 278
Interstate 278 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York, United States. The road runs from U.S. Route 1/9 in Linden, New Jersey to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York City borough of the Bronx...

 and Prospect/NY-27
New York State Route 27
New York State Route 27 is an east–west long state highway extending from Interstate 278 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, New York, United States...

 expressways as well as the Belt Parkway
Belt Parkway
The Belt System is a series of connected limited-access highways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The system comprises four officially separate parkways; however, three of the four are signed as the Belt Parkway...

.

Five NYCTA bus lines serve Sunset Park: B9, B11, B35, B63, and B70.

Three subway lines run through Sunset Park. The BMT Fourth Avenue Line
BMT Fourth Avenue Line
The Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the BMT division of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. Fourth Avenue never had a streetcar line or elevated railway due to the provisions of the assessment charged to neighboring property owners when the street...

  has stations at Prospect Avenue
Prospect Avenue (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
Prospect Avenue is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn of the New York City Subway. Located at Prospect Avenue and Fourth Avenue near the border of Sunset Park and Park Slope, it is served by the R train at all times except late nights, when the D and N assume local service...

, 25th Street
25th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
25th Street is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 25th Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, it is served by the R train at all times except late nights, when the D and N trains assume local service along Fourth...

, 36th Street
36th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
36th Street is an express station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at 36th Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn....

, 45th Street
45th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
45th Street is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at 45th Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It is served by the R train at all times except late nights northbound and the N train late nights only.This underground station, opened on...

, 53rd Street
53rd Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
53rd Street is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at 53rd Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, it is served by the R train at all times except late nights northbound and the N train late nights only.This underground station, opened on...

 and 59th Street
59th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
59th Street is an express station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at 59th Street and Fourth Avenue, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, it is served by the N and R trains at all times....

. The BMT West End Line
BMT West End Line
The BMT West End Line is a line of the New York City Subway, serving the Brooklyn, communities of Borough Park, New Utrecht, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Coney Island. The D train operates on the line at all times, providing service to Manhattan and the Bronx via the IND Sixth Avenue Line...

  has a station at Ninth Avenue
Ninth Avenue (BMT West End Line)
Ninth Avenue is a bi-level express station on the BMT West End Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and 39th Street in Brooklyn. Each level has three tracks and two island platforms. The upper level serves the BMT West End Line while the lower level formerly...

. The BMT Sea Beach Line
BMT Sea Beach Line
The BMT Sea Beach Line is a rapid transit line of the BMT division of the New York City Subway, connecting the BMT Fourth Avenue Line subway at 59th Street via a four-track wide open cut to Coney Island in Brooklyn...

  has a station at Eighth Avenue
Eighth Avenue (BMT Sea Beach Line)
Eighth Avenue is a local station on the BMT Sea Beach Line of the New York City Subway, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 62nd Street. It is served by the N train at all times....

.

Freight trains run along the embedded tracks along 5th and 2nd Avenues and on the old Long Island Rail Road
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...

 Bay Ridge Branch
Bay Ridge Branch
The Bay Ridge Branch is a rail line owned by the Long Island Rail Road and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway in the U.S. State of New York...

 rails that are adjacent to the BMT Sea Beach Line
BMT Sea Beach Line
The BMT Sea Beach Line is a rapid transit line of the BMT division of the New York City Subway, connecting the BMT Fourth Avenue Line subway at 59th Street via a four-track wide open cut to Coney Island in Brooklyn...

.

NY Waterway
NY Waterway
NY Waterway, or New York Waterway, is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley...

 service is available at the Brooklyn Army Terminal
Brooklyn Army Terminal
The Brooklyn Army Terminal is large complex of piers, docks, warehouses, cranes, rail sidings and cargo loading equipment on between 58th and 63rd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. During World War II, the terminal was responsible for shipment of 85% of army equipment and personnel overseas;...

 to the Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

 Ferry Pier, East 34th Street
34th Street (Manhattan)
34th Street is a major cross-town street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, connecting the Lincoln Tunnel and Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Like many of New York City's major crosstown streets, it has its own bus routes and four subway stops serving the trains at Eighth Avenue, the trains at...

 Pier, Sandy Hook Bay Marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....

, or Riis Landing
Roxbury, Queens
Roxbury is a community on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is just west of the Marine Parkway Bridge and adjoins Fort Tilden...

 on summer Fridays. Ferry service was created in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks when the Gowanus Expressway and New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

 were at capacity. It was free from October 2001 until April 2003, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...

 announced that it could not subsidize
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...

 the service anymore. Today, it is operated by the Red Hook
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is also the location where the transatlantic liner, the , docks in New York City.- History :...

, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

-based New York Water Taxi
New York Water Taxi
New York Water Taxi is a water taxi service based in Red Hook, Brooklyn offering commuter and sightseeing service mainly to points along the East River and Hudson River...

 company on its Rockaway/Sandy Hook route. The Water Taxi service from the Brooklyn Army Terminal was part of the crucial contingency plan
Contingency plan
A contingency plan is a plan devised for an exceptional risk which is impractical or impossible to avoid. Contingency plans are often devised by governments or businesses who want to be prepared for events which, while highly unlikely, may have catastrophic effects. For example, suppose many...

 during the 2005 New York City transit strike
2005 New York City transit strike
The 2005 New York City transit strike was a strike in New York City called by the Transport Workers Union Local 100 . Negotiations for a new contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke down over retirement, pension, and wage increases. The strike began at 3:00 a.m. EST on...

.

Much of the traffic between Brooklyn Chinatown and Manhattan Chinatown is handled by privately held minibus known in English colloquially as "Chinese vans." They travel down 8th Avenue from 43rd Street to the 61st Street ramp to the Gowanus Expressway/I-278 bound for Manhattan and Queens.

See also


  • Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
    Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Brooklyn, New York)
    The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an architectural landmark in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is located on 5th Avenue between 59th and 60th streets in the Sunset Park neighborhood and occupies about half the square block extending back to 6th Avenue, with the rectory and...

  • List of Brooklyn neighborhoods
  • Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT)
    Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT)
    Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow is a nonprofit located in Brooklyn, New York. OBT's mission is to educate, train, and support those who are at risk, helping them to acquire the personal and professional skills they need to achieve rewarding employment, self-sufficiency, and productive futures...

  • Little Fuzhou(小福州) on East Broadway
    East Broadway (Manhattan)
    East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Broadway begins at Chatham Square and runs eastward under the Manhattan Bridge, continues past Seward Park and the eastern end of Canal Street, and ends...

  • Chinatown, Manhattan
    Chinatown, Manhattan
    Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...

  • Chinatowns in Canada and the United States
  • Chinatown, Flushing
    Chinatown, Flushing
    Chinatown, Flushing, or Flushing Chinatown , in the Flushing area of the borough of Queens in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...



External links