Share This Article
Join veteran Brooklyn tour guide (and City Limits contributor) Norman Oder, along with neighborhood activist Maria Roca, on a wide-ranging tour of the Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Once a Scandinavian stronghold, Sunset Park is now home to a diverse Latino population and the anchor of New York City’s largest Chinese community, as well as a perpetual “next” neighborhood in real estate lore. Both working-class and gentrifying, Sunset Park faces tensions over growth, equity, and environmental justice. Its progress and challenges will emerge as we walk on residential and commercial streets, past churches, civic buildings, and notable murals, and into the busy namesake park, with its great views and WPA-era pool.
The tour will last 2-2.5 hours. Please be prepared for some brisk walking.
2 Comments
Tony Giordano
Sunset Park was never a part of Bay Ridge. The name of Bay Ridge was applied to the former Yellow Hook area of the Town of New Utrecht to help realtors avoid the connection to Yellow Fever – the scourge of the time. Sunset Park was at the time known as Ward 8 and was part of the City of Brooklyn. It is ridiculous to think that the real estate interests in a town could apply their name to a portion of the City of Brooklyn. Sadly, many Sunset Parkers wished they lived in the richer Bay Ridge and enjoyed using the name on their own. But the folks in the real Bay Ridge at best would call Sunset – Lower Bay Ridge (which is funny considering Sunset is north of Bay Ridge and should be called “upper” bay ridge.
normanoder
Tony, thanks for your comment–apologies for not noticing earlier: you’re right, most of Sunset Park is part of the old South Brooklyn (within the city of Brooklyn), and a fraction is below it, part of New Utrecht. But there is a blurring: the Bay Ridge Post Office is within the Sunset Park border: https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/what-are-the-borders-of-bay-ridge/