September Book of the Month
“I Live in Brooklyn” Written &
Illustrated by Mari Takabayashi
Core Virtue: Devotion
Brooklyn
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This article is about the New York City borough, or Kings County, New York. For other
uses, see Brooklyn (disambiguation).
Brooklyn
— Borough of New York City —
Kings County
View of Brooklyn Heights from South Street Seaport.
Location of Brooklyn shown in yellow.
Coordinates: 40°37′29″N 73°57′8″W
Country
United States
State
New York
County
Kings
City
New York City
1634
Settled
Government
- Borough president Marty Markowitz
Area
96.90 sq mi (251 km²)
- Total
70.61 sq mi (182.9 km²)
- Land
26.29 sq mi (68.1 km²)
- Water
Population
2,465,326
- Total
34,916.6/sq mi (13,481.4/km²)
- Density
Website: Official Website of the Brooklyn Borough
President
Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New
York City. Located on western Long Island and an independent distinct city until its
consolidation into New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous
borough, with 2.5 million residents.[1] If the borough were still an independent city, it
would be the fourth-largest city in the United States (and the combined population of the
remaining four boroughs would still make New York the most populous city in the
United States). Brooklyn is coterminous with Kings County, which is the most populous
county in New York State, and the second most densely populated county in the United
States (after New York County, which is the borough of Manhattan).[2]
Though a part of New York City, Brooklyn maintains a distinct culture, independent art
scene, and unique architectural heritage. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are Ethnic
enclaves where a particular ethnic group and culture predominate.
Contents
[hide]




1 History of Brooklyn
2 Geography
o 2.1 Neighborhoods
o 2.2 Adjacent counties
o 2.3 National protected area
3 Government
4 Economy








5 Demographics
6 Culture
o 6.1 Media
o 6.2 Tourism
o 6.3 Sports
7 Transportation
8 Education
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
[edit] History of Brooklyn
Main article: History of Brooklyn
The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle the area on the western edge of Long Island,
which was then largely inhabited by the Native American people, the Lenape (often
erroneously referred to by the place-name of "Canarsee" in contemporary colonial
documents). The first Dutch settlement was Midwout (Midwood) which was established
in 1634.[3] The Dutch also purchased land in the 1630s from the Mohawks around present
day Gowanus, Red Hook, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Bushwick.[3] The Village of
Breuckelen was authorized by the Dutch West India Company in 1646 and became the
first municipality in what is now New York State. At the time, Breuckelen was part of
New Netherland.
The Dutch lost Breuckelen in the British conquest of New Netherland in 1664. In 1683,
the British reorganized the Province of New York into 12 counties, each of which was
sub-divided into towns. Over time, the name evolved from Breuckelen, to Brockland, to
Brocklin, to Brookline, and eventually, Brooklyn.[3] Kings County was one of the original
12 counties, and Brooklyn was one of the original six towns within Kings County. The
county was named in honor of King Charles II of England.
In August and September 1776, the Battle of Long Island (also called the Battle of
Brooklyn) was fought in Kings County. It was the first major battle in the American
Revolutionary War following the Declaration of Independence, and the largest battle of
the entire conflict. While General George Washington's defeat on the battlefield cast
early doubts on his abilities, keeping the Continental Army intact with a brilliant
overnight tactical retreat across the East River is seen by historians as one of his greatest
triumphs.[4] The Continental Army withdrew from New York City across the East River
at the southern tip of Manhattan. Shortly afterard, and for the remainder of the conflict, it
became the British political and military base of operations in North America. This
encouraged the departure of Patriots and their sympathizers while attracting loyalist
refugees fleeing the other colonies - swelling the population of the surrounding area,
including Brooklyn. Correspondingly the region became the focus of General
Washington's intelligence activities (see Intelligence in the American Revolutionary
War). The British also began to hold Patriot prisoners of war in rotting hulks anchored in
Wallabout Bay off the Brooklyn shore. More American soldiers and sailors died there of
neglect in abyssimal conditions than in all of the battles of the Revolutionary War
combined.
The first half of the 19th century saw urban areas grow along the economically strategic
East River waterfront, across from New York City. Brooklyn's population expanded more
than threefold between 1800 and 1820, and doubled again in the 1820's and in the 1830's.
The county had two cities: the City of Brooklyn and the City of Williamsburgh. Brooklyn
annexed Williamsburgh in 1854, which lost its final "h." With the addition of these two
new areas, Brooklyn went from being a sunstantial sized community of 36,236 to an
imposing 96,838. It took until 1896 for Brooklyn to annex all other parts of Kings
County.
The building of rail links such as the Brighton Beach Line in 1878 heralded explosive
growth, and in the space of a decade the City of Brooklyn annexed the Town of New Lots
in 1886, the Town of Flatbush, the Town of Gravesend, and the Town of New Utrecht in
1894, and the Town of Flatlands in 1896.
Brooklyn had reached its natural municipal boundaries at the ends of Kings County. In
1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, and transportation to Manhattan was no
longer by water only. The question became whether Brooklyn was prepared to engage in
the still-grander process of consolidation then developing throughout the region. In 1894,
Brooklyn residents voted by a slight majority to join with Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens
and Richmond (later Staten Island) as the five boroughs to form modern New York City,
effective in 1898. Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties.
[edit] Geography
See also: Geography and environment of New York City
Satellite image showing Brooklyn, center. Manhattan is visible upper left. Staten Island is
seen lower left, linked by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
Brooklyn is located on the westernmost point of Long Island and shares its only land
boundary with Queens to the northeast. The westernmost section of this boundary is
defined by Newtown Creek, which flows into the East River.
Brooklyn's waterfront faces different bodies of water. Northern Brooklyn's coast is
defined by the East River, while middle Brooklyn adjoins Upper New York Bay. This
area of the waterfront features the Red Hook peninsula and the Erie Basin. Buttermilk
Channel separates this part of the waterfront from Governors Island. Southwest is
Gowanus Bay, connected to the Gowanus Canal. At its south westernmost section,
Brooklyn is separated from Staten Island by the Narrows, where Upper and Lower New
York Bay meet.
Brooklyn's southern coast includes the barrier island on which stretch Coney Island,
Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay. The southeastern coast lies
on island-dotted Jamaica Bay.
The highest point in Brooklyn is the area around Prospect Park and Green-Wood
Cemetery, rising approximately 200 feet (60 m) above sea level. There is also a minor
elevation in Downtown Brooklyn known as Brooklyn Heights.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the County has a total area of 251.0 km²
(96.9 sq mi). 182.9 km² (70.6 sq mi) of it is land and 68.1 km² (26.3 sq mi) of it is water.
27.13% of the total area is water.
[edit] Neighborhoods
See also: List of Brooklyn, New York neighborhoods
A typical Park Slope block.
Brooklyn is sometimes referred to as the borough of neighborhoods for its many welldefined neighborhoods, many of which developed from distinct towns and villages that
date back to its founding in the Dutch colonial era in the early 1600s.
Today, Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York
City, after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan.[5] It has many commercial towers
and a rapidly increasing number of residential buildings.
The northwestern neighborhoods between the Brooklyn Bridge and Prospect Park,
including Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill,
Vinegar Hill, DUMBO (an acronym for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass"),
Fort Greene, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Red Hook, are characterized
by many nineteenth century brick townhouses and brownstones. These neighborhoods
include some of the most gentrified and affluent neighborhoods in Brooklyn, along with
ample subway lines, cultural institutions, and high-end restaurants.
The Saitta House, Dyker Heights.
Farther north, along the East River lie Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Traditionally
working class communities with a vibrant cultural mix, many artists and hipsters have
moved into the area since the late 1990s. Further changing the area, the city completed an
extensive rezoning of the Brooklyn waterfront in 2005 which will allow for many new
residential condominiums. Williamsburg, like Boro Park, is home to a very large UltraOrthodox Jewish community. As prices have risen, redevelopment has moved eastward
away from the waterfront into Bushwick along the L subway line. This is more than
likely due to the Hipster (contemporary subculture) exodus along the L subway line.
Central and southern Brooklyn contains many more architecturally and culturally distinct
neighborhoods, some of which grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th century as
upwardly-mobile immigrants moved out of tenement buildings in Manhattan
neighborhoods like the Lower East Side. Borough Park is largely Ultra-Orthodox Jewish;
Bedford-Stuyvesant is the largest black neighborhood in the country; Bensonhurst is an
Italian American neighborhood, as is neighboring Dyker Heights and many other
neighborhoods in Brooklyn. However, there are also many Chinese and Russian families
residing in Bensonhurst. Flatbush, East Flatbush and Fort Greene are home to a large
number of middle-class black professionals. Brighton Beach is home to many Russian Americans. Since 1990, Brooklyn has seen a rise in new immigration to neighborhoods
like Sunset Park, home to flourishing Mexican and Chinese American communities.
[edit] Adjacent counties




Hudson County - west
Richmond County - southwest
New York County - north
Queens County - east
[edit] National protected area
Government
Main article: Government of New York City
Brooklyn Borough Hall.
Since consolidation with New York City in 1898, Brooklyn has been governed by the
New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor-council system. The
centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional
institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and
welfare services.
The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance
centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative
role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was
responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In
1989, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate
unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no
greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous
borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to
the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.[6]
Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the
mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations.
Brooklyn's Borough President is Marty Markowitz, elected as a Democrat in 2001 and reelected in 2005. Craig Eaton is the Chairman of the Kings County Republicans in
Brooklyn.
Presidential election results
Year
Republican
Democrat
2004 24.3% 167,149 74.9% 514,973
2000 15.7% 96,605 80.6% 497,468
1996 15.1% 81,406 80.1% 432,232
1992 22.9% 133,344 70.7% 411,183
1988 32.6% 230,064 66.3% 368,518
1984 38.3% 285,477 61.3% 328,379
1980 38.4% 200,306 55.4% 288,893
1976 31.1% 190,728 68.3% 419,382
1972 49.0% 373,903 50.8% 387,768
1968 32.0% 247,936 63.1% 489,174
1964 25.0% 229,291 74.8% 684,839
1960 33.5% 327,497 66.2% 646,582
1956 45.2% 460,456 54.7% 557,655
The Democratic Party holds the majority of public offices. 69.7% of registered voters in
Brooklyn are Democrats. Party platforms center on affordable housing, education and
economic development. The most controversial political issue is over the proposed
Brooklyn Nets Arena, a large development project. Pockets of Republican influence exist
in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.
Each of the city's five counties (coterminous with each borough) has its own criminal
court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by
popular vote. Charles J. Hynes, a Democrat, has been the District Attorney of Kings
County since 1989. Brooklyn has 16 City Council members, the largest number of any of
the five boroughs. Brooklyn has 18 of the city's 59 community districts, each served by
an unpaid Community Board with advisory powers under the city's Uniform Land Use
Review Procedure. Each board has a paid district manager who acts as an interlocutor
with city agencies. .
Brooklyn has not voted for a Republican in a national presidential election in the last 50
years. In the 2004 presidential election Democrat John Kerry received 74.9% of the vote
in Brooklyn and Republican George W. Bush received 24.3%.
Brooklyn is split between six congressional districts, two of which are entirely within the
borough.

Democrat Ed Towns represents 10th Congressional district, which covers Fort
Greene, Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York, and Canarsie.

Democrat Yvette Clarke represents the 11th Congressional District encompassing
Park Slope, Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush and Prospect Heights. It was
created by the 1965 Voting Rights Act with the intention of increasing AfricanAmerican representation in the United States Congress. In 1968 the district
elected Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to hold a seat in the
Congress and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. The
district's population of 654,361 is 57% black, 24% white, and 12% Latino.[7].

Democrat Nydia Velazquez represents the 12th district, which encapsulates
Bushwick, Williamsburg, Red Hook, and Sunset Park, as well as Manhattan's
Lower East Side and parts of western Queens.

Democrat Anthony Weiner of Queens is the representative of the 9th district,
which includes Bergen Beach, Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Kensington,
Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Mill Basin and Sheepshead Bay in
southeast Brooklyn, as well as portions of south-central Queens.[8]

The West Side (Manhattan)-based 8th District is represented by Democrat Jerry
Nadler and takes in portions of south Brooklyn including Coney Island, Seagate,
Brighton Beach, Boro Park and parts of Bath Beach. It also includes the piers in
Red Hook and Sunset Park.

The Staten Island-based 13th district, represented by Republican Vito Fossella,
includes some of the more conservative areas of the borough, including most of
Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst and all of Gravesend and Dyker Heights.
Brooklyn's official motto is Een Draght Mackt Maght. Written in the (old) Dutch
language, it is inspired by the motto of the United Dutch Provinces and translated as In
Unity There is Strength. The motto is displayed on the borough seal and flag, which also
feature a young robed woman bearing fasces, a traditional emblem of republicanism.[9]
Brooklyn's official colors are blue and gold.[10]
Party affiliation of Brooklyn registered voters
Party
2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Democratic 69.7 69.2 70.0 70.1 70.6 70.3 70.7 70.8 70.8 71.0
Republican 10.1 10.1 10.1 10.1 10.2 10.5 10.9 11.1 11.3 11.5
No affiliation 16.5 16.9 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.5 15.9 15.5 15.4 15.2
Other
3.7
3.9
3.8
3.6
2.9
2.8
2.5
2.8
2.3
2.3
[edit] Economy
See also: Economy of New York City
Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest business district in New York City.
Brooklyn's job market is driven by three main factors: the performance of the
national/city economy, population flows, and the borough's position as a convenient back
office for New York's businesses.[11]
Forty-four percent of Brooklyn's employed population, or 410,000 people, work in the
borough; more than half of the borough's residents work outside its boundaries. As a
result, economic conditions in Manhattan are important to the borough's jobseekers.
Strong international immigration to Brooklyn generates jobs in services, retailing and
construction.[11]
In recent years Brooklyn has benefited from a steady influx of financial back office
operations from Manhattan, the rapid growth of a high-tech/entertainment economy in
DUMBO, and strong growth in support services such as accounting, personal supply
agencies and computer services firms.[11]
Jobs in the borough have traditionally been concentrated in manufacturing, but since
1975, Brooklyn has shifted from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based
economy. In 2004, 215,000 Brooklyn residents worked in the services sector, while
27,500 worked in manufacturing. Although manufacturing has declined, a substantial
base has remained in apparel and niche manufacturing concerns such as furniture,
fabricated metals, and food products.[12] The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has a
manufacturing plant in Brooklyn that employs 990 workers. First established as a
shipbuilding facility in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed 70,000 people at is peak
during World War II and was then the largest employer in the borough. The Missouri, the
ship on which the Japanese formally surrendered, was built there, as was the iron-sided
Civil War vessel the Monitor, and the Maine, whose sinking off Havana led to the start of
the Spanish-American War. The Navy Yard is now a hub for industrial design firms, food
processing businesses, and artisans, along with a growing film and television production
industry. About 230 private-sector firms providing 4,000 jobs are at the Yard.
Construction and services are the fastest growing sectors.[13] Most employers in Brooklyn
are small businesses. In 2000, 91% of the approximately 38,704 business establishments
in Brooklyn had fewer than 20 employees.[14]
The unemployment rate in Brooklyn in March 2006 was 5.9%.
[edit] Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Brooklyn
Brooklyn Compared
2000
Census
Total
population
Population
density
Median
household
income
(1999)
Per capita
income
Bachelor's
degree or
higher
Foreign
born
Brooklyn
NY City
NY State
2,465,326
8,008,278
18,976,457
34,920/sq mi 26,403/sq mi 402/sq mi
$32,135
$38,293
$43,393
$16,775
$22,402
$23,389
22%
27%
24%
38%
36%
20%
White
Black
Hispanic
(any race)
Asian
41%
36%
45%
27%
67%
16%
20%
27%
15%
8%
10%
6%
Brooklyn has been New York City's most populous borough since the mid-1920s. (Key:
Each borough's historical population in millions. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan,
Queens, Staten Island)
According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there are 2,486,235 people (up from
2.3 million in 1990), 880,727 households, and 583,922 families residing in
Brooklyn.[15][16] The population density was 34,920/square mile (13,480/km²). There were
930,866 housing units at an average density of 13,180/square mile (5,090/km²).
In 2000, 41.20% of Brooklyn residents were white; 36.44% were black; 7.54% were
Asian; 0.41% were Native American; 0.06% Pacific Islander; 10.05% were of other
races; and 4.27% were from two or more races. People of Hispanic or Latino origin, who
may be of any race, comprised 19.79% of the population. 18.00% of the population
reported speaking Spanish at home, 5.95% Russian, 4.19% French or a French-based
creole, 3.92% Chinese, 3.10% Yiddish, 2.10% Italian, 1.42% Polish, 1.13% Hebrew,
1.09% Punjabi and 0.68% Urdu.[17]
Of the 880,727 households in Brooklyn, 38.6% were married couples living together,
22.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families.
33.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households 27.8% are made
up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.41.
In Brooklyn the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 10.3% from
18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age
or older. The median age was 33 years. Brooklyn has more women, with 88.4 males for
every 100 females.
The median income for households in Brooklyn was $32,135, and the median income for
a family was $36,188. Males had a median income of $34,317, which was higher than
females, whose median income was $30,516. The per capita income was $16,775. About
22% of families and 25.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34%
of those under age 18 and 21.5% of those age 65 or over.
Brooklyn has long been a magnet for immigrants, and has become New York City's most
populous borough.[citation needed] It has often been regarded as the borough where each
ethnic group contains their own neighborhood cultural identity. In other words each
neighborhood is dominated by a single ethnic group where they are able to maintain their
dominant culture there. However with gentrification on the rise, many of Brooklyn's
neighborhoods are now becoming increasingly diverse with an influx of immigrants
integrating its neighborhoods. It presently has substantial populations from many
countries, including Poland, Italy, China, Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad, Guyana, Grenada,
Barbados, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Russia. The borough also attracts people
previously residing in the United States. Of these, most come from Chicago, San
Francisco, Washington DC/Baltimore, Boston, and Seattle.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
[edit] Culture
See also: Culture of New York City
The Brooklyn Museum is one of New York's premier art museums.
The The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at Grand Army Plaza.
Brooklyn has played a major role in American letters. Walt Whitman wrote of the
Brooklyn waterfront in his classic poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. Harlem Renaissance
playwright Eulalie Spence taught at Eastern District High School in Brooklyn from 19271938, a time during which she wrote her critically acclaimed plays Fool's Errand, and
Her. In 1930, poet Hart Crane published the epic poem The Bridge, where the Brooklyn
Bridge is both the poem’s central symbol and its poetic starting point. Betty Smith's 1943
book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the 1945 film based on it, are among the bestknown early works about life in Brooklyn. William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice is set
in Flatbush, just off Prospect Park, during the summer of 1947. Arthur Miller's 1955 play
A View From the Bridge is set in Brooklyn. Paule Marshall's 1959 novel, Brown Girl,
Brownstones, about Barbadian immigrants during the Depression and World War II is
also set in Flatbush Brooklyn. More recently, Brooklyn-born author Jonathan Lethem has
written several books about growing up in the borough, including Motherless Brooklyn
and The Fortress of Solitude. The neighborhood of Park Slope is home to many
contemporary writers, including Jonathan Safran Foer, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Franzen,
Rick Moody, Jennifer Egan, Kathryn Harrison, Paul Auster, Franco Ambriz, Nicole
Krauss, Colson Whitehead, Darin Strauss, Siri Hustvedt and Suketu Mehta, among
others. So many writers live in the area that Brooklyn-based band One Ring Zero
released an album with lyrics written mainly by Brooklyn-based writers. The Discovery
Kids show Time Warp Trio is also set in Brooklyn.
The borough has had a part in theater and film as well. Lynn Nottage's play Crumbs from
the Table of Joy is set in post-World War II Brooklyn and deals with the hopes and
frustrations of an African American family recently arrived from Florida. The John
Travolta movie Saturday Night Fever was set in Bay Ridge, an Italian neighborhood in
south Brooklyn. Neil Simon's 1983 play "Brighton Beach Memoirs" is set in 1937
Brooklyn. In the late 1980s Brooklyn achieved a new cultural prominence with the films
of Spike Lee, whose She's Gotta Have It and Do The Right Thing were shot in Brooklyn
neighborhoods. In 2001/02, the German filmmaker Christoph Weinert shot a
documentary With Allah in Brooklyn [25]. The 2005 film The Squid and the Whale, by
Noah Baumbach, the son of novelist Jonathan Baumbach and Village Voice film critic
Georgia Brown, examined the family life of the Park Slope intelligentsia.
The Brooklyn Museum, opened in 1897, is among the world's premier art institutions
with a permanent collection that includes more than 1.5 million objects, from ancient
Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art. It is the nation's second largest public art
museum. The Brooklyn Children's Museum, the world's first museum dedicated to
children, opened in December 1899. The only such New York State institution accredited
by the American Association of Museums, it is one of the few globally to have a
permanent collection - 30,000+ cultural objects and natural history specimens. The
museum's latest expansion, a Rafael Vinoly-designed, high performance green structure,
opens in September 2008. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), a complex including
the 2,109-seat Howard Gilman Opera House, the 874-seat Harvey Lichtenstein Theater,
and the art house BAM Rose Cinemas are notable venues. BAM is recognized
internationally as a progressive cultural center well known for The Next Wave Festival,
which began in 1983. Artists who have presented their works there include Philip Glass,
Peter Brook, Laurie Anderson, Lee Breuer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Steve Reich, Robert
Wilson, Ingmar Bergman, The Whirling Dervishes and the Kirov Opera directed and
conducted by Valery Gergiev among others. Bargemusic and St. Ann's Warehouse, two
other venerated performance venues, are on the other side of Downtown Brooklyn in the
DUMBO arts district. Founded in 1863, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) is a
museum, library, and educational center dedicated to preserving and encouraging the
study of Brooklyn's rich 400-year past, while reflecting upon the future of the culturally
rich borough. BHS houses a treasure trove of materials relating to the founding of the
U.S. and the history of Brooklyn and its people. The BRIC Rotunda Gallery, founded in
1981, is the oldest not-for-profit gallery dedicated to presenting contemporary art work
by artists who are from, live, or work in the borough. The Gallery, located in Brooklyn
Heights, presents contemporary art of all media, public events and an innovative arts
education program. The Gallery's aim is to increase the visibility and accessibility of
contemporary art while bridging the gap between the art world and global culture in
Brooklyn and the world beyond. BRIC Rotunda Gallery is the visual arts program of
BRIC Arts|Media|Bklyn, a multi-disciplinary arts and media non-profit, dedicated to
presenting visual, performing and media arts programs that are reflective of Brooklyn's
diverse communities and to supporting the creative process.
Brooklyn contains the most of every group from every culture, ethnic, and racial
background. The majority of the people of African descent is of Caribbean origin. Much
of Brooklyn's distinct culture can be reflected on the cultures that these immigrants bring
with them. A portion of Utica Avenue was historically named Malcolm X Boulevard
because of his achievements as both a nationalist, and a separatist. To this day Malcolm
X remains the most important figure to many of the people in that community.
Brooklyn is home to one of the most vibrant Jewish communities outside of Israel - one
reason for the 2007 signed partnership[26] with Leopoldstadt, a district of Vienna, Austria
(a main Jewish centre of Central Europe for centuries, and despite the Holocaust even
today). Some estimates have the Jewish population in Brooklyn at as high as threequarters of a million, with many living in Borough Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush,
Gravesend, Crown Heights, and other sections of Brooklyn. Much of the Jewish
community, most notably the Hasidic and Hareidi Jews, are fluent in Yiddish and often
use it as their first language. Moreover, many Orthodox Jews have very large families, so
the Jewish community is experiencing tremendous growth.
Wikinews has related news:
2007 Brooklyn Book Festival showcases borough's continued literary tradition
Variously called the "City of Trees," "City of Homes," or the "City of Churches" in the
19th century, Brooklyn is now often styled the "Borough of Homes and Churches".
As a promotional gesture by the current borough administration, distinctive traffic signs
are posted along major traffic arteries at Brooklyn’s border crossings. They incorporate
colorful expressions associated with Brooklyn, including: "Fugheddaboudit," "Oy vey!,"
and "How Sweet It Is." One sign identifies the borough as: "Home to Everyone From
Everywhere!"
Brooklyn and Red Hook feature in Arthur Miller's play "A View From The Bridge"
which is a tragedy set in 1940-50s New York about an Italian American Family.
[edit] Media
See also: Media of New York City
Brooklyn has several local newspapers: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Bay Currents
(Oceanfront Brooklyn), Brooklyn View, the Brooklyn Paper and Courier-Life
Publications. Courier-Life Publications, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation,
is considered to be Brooklyn's largest chain of newspapers. The Brooklyn Rail is a glossy
monthly magazine emphasizing arts and literary criticism and winner of the Utne
Independent Press Award in 2002 and 2003 for Best Local/Regional Coverage. Brooklyn
is also served by the major New York dailies, including The New York Times, The New
York Daily News, and The New York Post. The borough is home to the arts and politics
monthly, "Brooklyn Rail" and the arts and cultural quarterly, "Cabinet (magazine)".
HelloBrooklyn.com is Brooklyn's largest portal with more than 10,000 links.[27]
Brooklyn has a thriving ethnic press. Major ethnic publications include the BrooklynQueens Catholic paper The Tablet, Hamodia an orthodox Jewish daily, as well as several
Haitian newspapers including The Haitian Times, Haiti Observateur, and Haiti Progress.
Many nationally-distributed ethnic newspapers are based out of offices in Brooklyn. Over
60 ethnic groups, writing in 42 languages, publish some 300 non-English language
magazines and newspapers in New York City.
Brooklyn's accent is often portrayed as 'typical New York' in American television and
film. The City of New York also has an official television station, run by the NYC Media
Group, which features programming based in Brooklyn. Therefore Brooklyn has access
and control over much of the media throughout New York City, from News stations to
cable television programming stations like Noggin, or The-n. There is also Brooklyn
Community Access Television, the borough's public access channel. BCAT, the Media
program of BRIC, shares the former Strand Theater - adjoining BAM's Harvey Theater with the non-profit artists collective atelier/exhibition center, Urban Glass. The facility's
upcoming expansion will include a new 250-seat, year round home for BRIC's annual
"Celebrate Brooklyn" performances.
[edit] Tourism
See also: Tourism in New York City
The rose garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Southern Brooklyn was once the premier resort destination for New York City. Coney
Island developed as a playground for the rich in the early 1900s, when wealthy New
Yorkers would bet on horses at the Gravesend or Sheepshead Bay Race Track and dined
at high-class restaurants and seaside hotels. No trip to Sheepshead Bay would be
complete without a stop at the docks and then dinner at Lundy's Restaurant. The
introduction of the subway made Coney Island a vacation destination for the masses, and
it evolved into one of America's first amusement grounds. The Cyclone rollercoaster,
built in 1927, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1920 Wonder Wheel and
other rides are still operational at Astroland. Coney Island went into decline in the 1970s,
but is undergoing a renaissance. The annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade is a hipster
costume-and-float parade which honored David Byrne, pre-punk music guru, as the head
merman in 1998. Coney Island also hosts the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Green-Wood Cemetery, founded by the social reformer Henry Evelyn Pierrepoint in
1838, is both one of the most significant cemeteries in the United States and an expansive
green space encompassing 478 acres (1.9 km²) of rolling hills and dales, several ponds,
and a baroque chapel. Still in use, the cemetery is the burial ground of some of the most
famous New Yorkers, including Albert Anastasia (1903-1957), mobster, "Lord High
Executioner" for "Murder Inc."; Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), artist; Leonard
Bernstein (1918-1990), composer; Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), New Orleansborn pianist and composer; Laura Jean Libbey (1862-1924), best-selling "dime-store"
novelist; Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), inventor of the telegraph; Edward R. Murrow
(1908-1965), journalist; Martha Bulloch Roosevelt (1834-1884), mother of U.S.
President Theodore Roosevelt; Margaret Sanger (1879-1966), birth control advocate;
F.A.O. Schwarz (1836-1911), toy store founder; William M. "Boss" Tweed (1823-1878),
notorious boss of the New York political machine and actor Frank Morgan ( 1890-1949 )
best known for his portrayal of the title character in the film The Wizard of Oz.
The New York Transit Museum is a museum which displays historical artifacts of the
New York City Subway and bus systems; it is located in the unused Court Street subway
station in Brooklyn Heights.The 52 acre (210,000 m²) Brooklyn Botanic Garden includes
a cherry tree esplanade, a one acre (4,000 m²) rose garden, a Japanese hill and pond
garden, a fragrance garden for the blind, a water lily pond esplanade, several
conservatories, a rock garden, a native flora garden, a bonsai tree collection, and
children's gardens and discovery exhibits.
[edit] Sports
Main article: Sports in Brooklyn
KeySpan Park at Coney Island
Brooklyn has a storied sports history. It has been home to many famous sports figures
such as Michael Jordan, Bobby Fischer, Vince Lombardi, Joe Paterno, Mike Tyson, Joe
Pepitone, Joe Torre, Larry Brown, Vitas Gerulaitis, Herbie Kronowitz, Paul Lo Duca,
John Franco, Stephon Marbury, John Halama, and Rico Petrocelli. Parks throughout the
borough such as Prospect Park, Marine Park, and the community sports complex at Floyd
Bennett Field provide residents an opportunity to practice and hone their sports skills and
talents.
Brooklyn's most famous team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, (nicknamed "The Bums") played at
Ebbets Field and was named for "trolley dodgers," a reference to the many streetcar lines
that once criss-crossed the borough.[28] The Dodgers most historic achievement came in
1947 when Jackie Robinson took the field in a Dodgers uniform, becoming the first
African American player in Major League Baseball in the modern era. In 1955, the
Dodgers, perennial National League pennant winners, won the first and only World
Series for Brooklyn against their rival New York Yankees. The event was marked by
mass euphoria and celebrations all over Brooklyn. Just two years later, the Dodgers
moved to Los Angeles, causing a widespread sense of betrayal. Walter O'Malley, the
team's owner at the time, is still vilified by many Brooklynites for his decision, even by
those too young to remember the Dodgers as Brooklyn's ball club. Several more recent
attempts to return the Dodgers to their historic home have not borne fruit as of yet.
After a 43-year hiatus, however, professional baseball returned to the borough in 2001 in
the form of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league team in the New York-Penn League
that plays in Keyspan Park in Coney Island. They are the short-season Single-A level
affiliate of the New York Mets.
Developer Bruce Ratner announced in 2004 that he had purchased the New Jersey Nets
basketball team. He hopes to move the Nets to a proposed 20,000-seat Barclays Center as
part of a controversial housing and office development.
Minor league soccer arrived in Brooklyn when the Brooklyn Knights relocated from their
previous home in Queens to a the new Aviator Field complex, which includes a 2,000seat soccer-specific stadium. The team plays in the USL Premier Development League, at
the fourth level of US soccer.
The Eastern Professional Hockey League included a team called the Brooklyn Aces into
its inaugural 2008 season membership. The team will play at Aviator Sports and
Recreation.
One of the most popular skateboard spots, called the Brooklyn Banks, is actually located
in Manhattan under the Brooklyn Bridge. Many skaters have included the banks in
skateboard videos. There is also a skateboard company based out of Brooklyn called
5boro. It is co-owned by Mark Nardelli and Steve Rodriguez.
[edit] Transportation
See also: Transportation in New York City
A Brooklyn-bound train on BMT Canarsie Line (L)
MTA New York City Bus #582 on the B9 in Sunset Park.
Brooklyn is well served by public transit. Because 18 New York City Subway lines,
including the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, traverse the borough, it is not surprising that
92.8% of Brooklyn residents traveling to Manhattan use the subway. Major stations
include, Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street, Broadway Junction, DeKalb Avenue, Jay StreetBorough Hall, and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue.[29]
The public bus network covers the entire borough. There is daily express bus service into
Manhattan. New York's famous yellow cabs also provide transportation in Brooklyn,
although they are less numerous in Brooklyn than in Manhattan. There are three
commuter rail stations in Brooklyn: East New York station, Nostrand Avenue station, and
Atlantic Terminal, the terminus of the Atlantic Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The
Terminal is a major intermodal transit hub for New York City, with 10 connecting
subway lines.
The grand majority of limited-access expressways and parkways are located in the
western and southern sections of Brooklyn. These include, the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway, the Gowanus Expressway, which is part of the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway, the Prospect Expressway, New York State Route 27, the Belt Parkway, and
the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Major thoroughfares include, Atlantic Avenue, 4th
Avenue, 86th Street, Kings Highway, Bay Parkway, Ocean Parkway, Eastern Parkway,
Linden Boulevard, McGuiness Boulevard, Flatbush Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and
Bedford Avenue.
Much of Brooklyn has only named streets, but Park Slope and western sections south of
there have numbered streets running approximately east/west, and numbered avenues
going approximately north/south. East of Dahill Avenue, lettered avenues run east/west,
and numbered streets have the prefix "East". Numbered streets prefixed by "North",
"South", "West", "Bay", "Brighton" or "Flatlands" exist in other areas.
Brooklyn is connected to Manhattan by three bridges, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and
Williamsburg bridges; a vehicular tunnel, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel; and several
subway tunnels. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge links Brooklyn with the more suburban
borough of Staten Island. Though much of its border is on land, Brooklyn shares several
water crossings with Queens, including the Kosciuszko Bridge (part of the BrooklynQueens Expressway), the Pulaski Bridge, and the JJ Byrne Memorial Bridge, all of which
carry traffic over Newtown Creek, and the Marine Parkway Bridge connecting Brooklyn
to the Rockaway Peninsula.
Historically Brooklyn's waterfront was a major shipping port, especially at the Brooklyn
Army Terminal in Sunset Park. Most container ship cargo operations have shifted to the
New Jersey side of New York Harbor, while the city has recently built a new cruise ship
terminal in Red Hook that is to become a focal point for New York's growing cruise
industry. The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest ocean liner, was designed specifically to
fit under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the United
States. The Queen Mary 2 makes regular ports of call at the Red Hook terminal on her
transatlantic runs from Southampton, England. New York Water Taxi offers commuter
services from Brooklyn's west shore to points in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, Long
Island City and Breezy Point in Rockaway, Queens, as well as tours and charters. A
Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, originally proposed in 1920s as a core project for the then new
Port Authority of New York is again being studied and discussed as a way to ease freight
movements across a large swath of the metropolitan area.
[edit] Education
See also: Education in New York City
Higgins Hall at the Pratt Institute.
Education in Brooklyn is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions.
Public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of
Education, the largest public school system in the United States. Private schools range
from the elite Berkeley Carroll School to religious schools run by Roman Catholic
Diocese of Brooklyn and Jewish organizations. The Satmar Jewish community of
Brooklyn operates its own network of schools, which is the fourth largest school system
in New York state.[30]
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, and was the
first public co-ed liberal arts college in New York City. The College ranked in the top 10
nationally for the second consecutive year in Princeton Review’s 2006 guidebook,
America’s Best Value Colleges. Many of its students are first and second generation
immigrants. Emblematic of its students’ potential is Eugene Shenderov, the son of
Russian immigrants who received a 2005 Rhodes Scholarship before graduating from the
College's B.A.-M.D. program in June 2005. The Brooklyn College campus serves as
home to the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts complex and its four theaters,
including the George Gershwin.
Founded in 1970, Medgar Evers College is a senior college of the City University of New
York, with a mission to develop and maintain high quality, professional, career-oriented
undergraduate degree programs in the context of a liberal arts education. The College
offers programs both at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels, as well as Adult
and Continuing Education classes for Central Brooklyn residents, corporations,
government agencies, and community organizations. Medgar Evers College is a few
blocks east of Prospect Park in Crown Heights.
Brooklyn Law School was founded in 1901 and is notable for its diverse student body.
Women and African Americans were enrolled in 1909. According to the Leiter Report, a
compendium of law school rankings published by Brian Leiter, Brooklyn Law School
places 31st nationally for quality of students.[31]
Kingsborough Community College is a junior college in the City University of New York
system, located in Manhattan Beach. It was recently named one of the top ten community
colleges in the United States by the New York Times.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, originally founded as the Long Island College
Hospital in 1860, is the oldest hospital-based medical school in the United States. The
Medical Center comprises the College of Medicine, College of Health Related
Professions, College of Nursing, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and the School of
Graduate Studies, where Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Robert F. Furchgott is a member of the
faculty. Half of the Medical Center's students are minorities or immigrants. The College
of Medicine has the highest percentage of minority students of any medical school in
New York State.
Polytechnic University (New York), the United States' second oldest private
technological university, founded in 1854, has its main campus in Downtown's
MetroTech Center, a commercial, civic and educational redevelopment project of which
it was a key sponsor. Its proposed merger into the much larger and wealthier NYU, which
would render it that institution's school of engineering and technology, is subject to the
approval of the New York State Board of Regents. A decision is expected on or about
June 24, 2008. Poly's MetroTech neighbor, CUNY's New York City College of
Technology (City Tech), is the largest public college of technology in New York State
and a national model for technological education.
Long Island University is a private university in Downtown Brooklyn with 6,417
undergraduate students. In Clinton Hill, the Pratt Institute is one of the leading art schools
in the United States and offers programs in art, architecture, fashion design, design,
creative writing, library science, and other area disciplines.
Brooklyn is home to smaller liberal arts institutions such as Saint Francis College in
Brooklyn Heights, Saint Joseph's College, New York in Clinton Hill and Boricua College
in Williamsburg.
As an independent system, separate from the New York and Queens libraries, the
Brooklyn Public Library[32] offers thousands of public programs, millions of books, and
use of more than 850 free Internet-accessible computers. It also has books and periodicals
in all the major languages spoken in Brooklyn, including Chinese, Russian, Spanish,
Hebrew, and Haitian Kreyol, as well as French, Yiddish, Hindi, Bengali, Polish, Italian,
and Arabic. The Central Library is a landmarked building facing Grand Army Plaza and
is undergoing extensive renovations and an underground expansion. There are 58 library
branches, placing one within a half mile of each Brooklyn resident. In addition to
specialized Business Library in Brooklyn Heights, the Library is preparing to construct
its new Visual & Performing Arts Library (VPA) in the BAM Cultural District, which
will focus on the link between new and emerging arts and technology and house
traditional and digital collections. It will provide access and training to arts applications
and technologies not widely available to the public. The collections will include the
subjects of art, theater, dance, music, film, photography and architecture. A special
archive will house the records and history of Brooklyn's arts communities.
[edit] See also
New York Portal

List of people from Brooklyn
[edit] References
1. ^ Kings County, New York, United States Census Bureau, December 30, 2006
2. ^ "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000", United States Census Bureau,
accessed May 11, 2007.
3. ^ a b c Ellis, Edward Robb (1966). The Epic of New York City. Old Town Books, p. 53.
4. ^ McCullagh, David. 1776. Simon & Schuster. May 24, 2005. [ISBN 978-0743226714]
5. ^ http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/local/winter03/billionsforbrooklyn.html Billions for
Brooklyn—No Questions Asked: The Borough’s New Power Brokers by David Vine
Winter 2003], accessed October 10, 2007
6. ^ Cornell Law School Supreme Court Collection: Board of Estimate of City of New
York v. Morris, accessed June 12, 2006
7. ^ "'Black seat' threatened by Yassky’s congressional run, big money support." 1 June
2006.[1]
8. ^ Anthony Weiner neighborhoods, accessed April 15, 2007.
9. ^ The webpage cannot be found, accessed October 10, 2007
10. ^ Borough of Brooklyn.blue and gold.
11. ^ a b c New York State Department of Labor Brooklyn Report, April 2006. [2]
12. ^ New York City Economic Development Corporation, Brooklyn Borough Update
March 2004.[3]
13. ^ New York State Dept of Labor [4]
14. ^ U.S. Census Bureau, 2001 County Business Patterns. [5]
15. ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
16. ^ U.S. Census Bureau, "Residential Population and Components of Change New York
State and Counties, April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005." Retrieved on 2006-08-04.[6]
17. ^ MLA Data Center - Kings County, New York Retrieved 4 November 2006.
18. ^ "African Americans", Encyclopedia of Chicago Accessed 1 Mar 2008
19. ^ Gibson, Campbell (June 1998). Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban
Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990. U.S. Bureau of the Census - Population
Division, accessed 1 Mar 2008
20. ^ San Francisco Hopes to Reverse Black Flight
21. ^ Census Shows More Black Residents Are Leaving New York and Other Cities
22. ^ State & County QuickFacts: California. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 11,
2007.
23. ^ Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation. Comprehensive Economic
Development Strategy Report,
2002.http://www.bedc.org/statistics/domestic_migration.htm
24. ^ Muhammad, Nisa Islam. "D.C. ‘exodus’ sparks district renewal efforts for Whites",
The Final Call, June 21, 2007. Accessed June 25, 2007.
25. ^ German Original Titel: Mit Allah in Brooklyn
26. ^ Partnership with Leopoldstadt (Vienna, Austria): scroll down to New York City, then
proceed to Brooklyn on the list of sister cities in New York.
27. ^ Brooklyn Events at a Glance, accessed October 10, 2007
28. ^ Ebbets Field, Accessed October 10, 2007
29. ^ Convissor, DanielDOT Sees More Highways As Brooklyn's Road to Clean Air, AutoFree Press, January/February 1992. Retrieved 4 November 2006.
30. ^ Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum Is Dead at 91, Accessed October 10, 2007
31. ^ Leiter's Law School Rankings
32. ^ http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org
[edit] Further reading


Mary Spicuzza. "A Tree Dies in Brooklyn (Alas, It's a Fig)" [7] The New York
Times.
Lynn Harris. "Park Slope: Where Is the Love?" [8] The New York Times.
[edit] External links
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Brooklyn.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Brooklyn, New York City
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Official site of the Brooklyn Borough President
Brooklyn Tourism
Brooklyn news & information
Brooklyn Repertory Opera
Brooklyn travel guide from Wikitravel
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Brooklyn is at coordinates 40°37′29″N 73°57′08″W40.624637, 73.952236Coordinates: 40°37′29″N 73°57′08″W40.624637, -73.952236
Brooklyn Neighborhood Names Google Maps mashup
Brooklyn Daily Eagle - Brooklyn timeline
Best Street Brooklyn