these are from earlier this week. sunset park, a neighborhood in south brooklyn, has around 125k people. about 25% are homeowners.
wiki sez: In the heyday of the New York Harbor's dominance of North American shipping during the 19th century, Sunset Park grew rapidly, largely as a result of Irish, Polish, and Norwegian immigrant families moving to the area. The neighborhood grew up around the Bush Terminal, a model industrial park completed in 1895, and continued to grow through World War II, when the Brooklyn Army Terminal 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. The rise of truck-based freight shipping and ports in New Jersey, the growth of suburban sprawl and white flight, the closing of the Army Terminal, and the decreasing importance of heavy industry in the American northeast, all became factors. Families who had lived in the community for decades began moving out, and the homes in the neighborhood — largely modest but attractive rowhouses — lost value. The construction of the 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 Robert Moses.
*** Note below how immigration saves the day! ***
Sunset Park's second age began with a wave of immigration from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, as well as other Latin American countries. By 1990, Hispanics comprised 50% of Sunset Park's population, rehabilitating property values and developing a thriving community. Many people in the eastern section are Christian Guadjurat Indians, Canton/Fuijian Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants. There is also a large Muslim Arabic/Middle Eastern prescence in the southern section and on into Bay Ridge.
* the main drag of the nabe is 5th avenue, but these pics are from around the park itself/7th avenue -- enjoy!
9th avenue/39th st subway station
hmm, why yes i think i can envision driving this truck in eliot spitzer's future
here we are at sunset park in sunset park -- because it's one of the highest points in brooklyn
looking here along the eastern section of the park
western views
here looking north at a sidestreet off the park
looking west you see the prominent dome of st. micheal's & nj beyond
the bush terminal by the waterfront
looking southwest here -- you can see the statue of liberty on the left
looking north you get 2-4-1 in the skylines deptartment -- jersey city & manhattan
(with a better camera lens than mine you might get in downtown brooklyn too on the right)
looking over the sw park corner
decent brownstone rowhouses line the southern section of the park, these are sw
on the same street -- this more humble style is se along the park
a school on the se corner
some more random humble row housing seen here while heading back east
as you get east of sunset park to 8th avenue i think this pic reflects
a big change coming up in the immigration pattern....
*** stay tuned for the follow-up in the next thread --> eastern sunset park is home of ny's newest chinatown ***
