Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bound by the Bay Ridge Branch of the Long Island Rail Road and Sunset Park on the north, the 7th Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, the Belt Parkway and The Narrows on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on the south. While Fort Hamilton is officially a separate neighborhood, its is often considered part of Bay Ridge [1]. Bay Ridge is patrolled by the NYPD’s 68th Precinct. It is served by Engine 241, Engine 242, and Ladder 109 of the New York City Fire Department.
Bay Ridge is a largely middle class neighborhood. With its strong family presence, it is not uncommon to see third or fourth generation families living in the region. Bay Ridge has a sizable Irish, Italian, Arab and Greek population, but like other areas in South/Southwest Brooklyn, late in the 20th century it saw an influx of Polish and Russian immigrants, and lesser numbers of Chinese. In recent decades, a lot of Syrian/Lebanese Americans have moved to Bay Ridge. Most of the Arab population is Christian, there is also small Muslim and Jewish minority. Bay Ridge also has many international restaurants and bars, especially along 3rd and 5th Avenue, its main commercial strips. Many refer to the community as “Brooklyn’s Gold Coast.”
Bay Ridge also has a high elderly population. It has been called a NORC or a naturally-occurring retirement community because many of its families have grown up in the neighborhood while their children move away. In 2006, it was reported that 20% of the population of Bay Ridge is 60 or over. Local newspapers, include The Home Reporter-Sunset News, The Spectator, The Bay Ridge Paper, The Bay Ridge Courier and The Bay Ridge Eagle .
Fort Hamilton, an active military base near the Verrazano Bridge, houses one of the neighborhood’s few cultural attractions, The Harbor Defense Museum. Another popular neighborhood attraction is the 69th Street Pier, at Bay Ridge Ave. (aka 69th Street) and Shore Road. It features a sculpture that emits a beam of light as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks of September 11. This popular pier is a favorite to the local fishermen who fish there daily. Until the middle 20th century a ferry to Staten Island operated from this pier for a nickel fare. Very close to the pier is Owl’s Head Park. This park was once the home of Senator Murphy of the City of Brooklyn and it was also the Bliss Estate. It is a 27 acre walking park that has a state of the art skate park, children’s play ground and basketball courts. Most of all, the best view of the Narrows off the West Hill.
HISTORY
Bay Ridge was originally known as Yellow Hook for the hue of the yellowish soil observed by the original Dutch settlers. This name was changed in 1853 after yellow fever struck the area and residents realized what an ill fit it was given the circumstances. The new name was given due to the proximity of the neighborhood to New York Bay, excellent views of which were visible from the ridge that has now become Ridge Boulevard. These views attracted wealthy people, who built extravagant summer homes along Shore Road overlooking the water, many of which are still standing today and worth multiple-millions of dollars. Once the 4th Avenue Subway (now the R line) was extended in 1915, however, many Manhattan workers looking for quieter surroundings began to flow in, transforming the area into a middle-class neighborhood.
During the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, many Norwegian and Danish sailors emigrated to Brooklyn, many specifically to Bay Ridge. Lapskaus Boulevard was the nickname of 8th Avenue, located in an historically Norwegian working class neighborhood of Bay Ridge. Nordic heritage is still apparent in some sections of the neighborhood. For instance, there is an annual Norwegian Constitution Day Parade, also known as the Syttende Mai Parade, featuring hundreds of people in folk dress who parade along Fifth Avenue. The parade ends in Leif Ericson Park where “Miss Norway” is crowned near the statue of Leif Ericson. The statue was donated by Crown Prince Olav, Prince of Norway on behalf of the nation of Norway in 1939.
Construction of The Verrazano Bridge, which connects Bay Ridge to Staten Island, was completed in 1964. Though now a totemic structure beloved by many, it was bitterly opposed by residents upon the announcement of its construction, for it would require the demolition of many homes. In a rare loss for local activists, the challenges failed: the bridge was built and the homes destroyed. The area of the neighborhood around Ovington Avenue (aka 70th Street) was once known as “Ovington Village”; it was ultimately swallowed up as Bay Ridge. Also destroyed was Fort Lafayette, part of New York City’s defense system along with Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, replaced by the base of the bridge’s east tower.
The 2007 Brooklyn tornado hit this area, specifically 68th and 69th streets between 3rd and 4th avenues. Eleven houses had to be vacated after they suffered significant damage, and many of the trees on the two blocks toppled, landing on cars and stoops. The 4th Avenue Presbyterian Church had its very large stained glass window blown out. As the tornado lifted, it peeled the roof of a nearby Nissan dealership and deforested 40% of Leif Ericson Park. The tornado has been rated an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds between 111 and 135 MPH.
DEMOGRAPHICS
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 69,840 people living in Bay Ridge. The demographics were 78.2% White, 11.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 1.6% African American and 0.2% Native American. Of those, the top 5 ancestries were 16.6% Italian, 16.5% Irish, 10.8% Arab, 5.4% Chinese, and 5.4% Greek.
LANDMARKS
- Step Streets are streets that are composed entirely of steep steps. As a rule they were placed on hills that were too steep to build a road, yet in a rare concession to pedestrians, it was determined to allow them access to the streets denied to motor transportation”, at 74th and 76th Streets, recalling the Montmartre section of Paris.
- Owl’s Head Park (also known as Bliss Park), in the neighborhood’s northwest corner, was previously the private estate of the Bliss Family, the namesake for nearby Bliss Terrace. Before them, the property was owned by Henry C. Murphy, a United States Senator for whom the nearby Senator Street is named. Remnants of their estate were still visible into the 1970s when they were finally demolished, having fallen into considerable disrepair. The park has a dog run and the first concrete skatepark built in Brooklyn.
- 69th Street Pier at 69th St. just off Shore Road, is the community’s key seaside recreation spot. Sports fishermen travel across the Borough and from the outer Borough’s to fish the waters of “The Bay Ridge Anchorage”, and along the seawall promenade which runs south from the Pier to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and east along Gravesend Bay. Years prior to the construction of the bridge, commuter ferry service was operated between this Bay Ridge Pier and the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island.
- Farrell House which has been at 125 95th St. since the early twentieth century, is one of many old mansions in Bay Ridge, and is now an official landmark. An accompanying structure, thought to have been used as a barn, was unable to be saved and was demolished. Legend has it the house was turned so that its “widow’s walk”, a balcony that traditionally faces the sea so women left at home could watch for their husbands’ ships, would no longer face The Narrows.
