Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Bedford and Metropolitan.

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick and the East River. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th Precinct. In the City Council the western and southern part of the neighborhood is represented by the 33rd District; and the eastern part of the neighborhood is represented by the 34th District.

Many ethnic groups have enclaves within Williamsburg, including Germans, Hasidic Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans. The neighborhood is also a magnet for young people moving to the city, and is an influential hub for indie rock and so-called "hipster" culture. Williamsburg is home to a thriving art community, which is largely associated with one of its main thoroughfares, Bedford Avenue. The sometimes-clashing definitions have been highlighted by a growing population and rapid development of housing and retail that is changing the look and feel of the neighborhood.

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Aerial view of Williamsburg, with the Williamsburg Bridge at left and Manhattan in the upper portion.

History

Early history

In 1638 the Dutch West India Company first purchased the area's land from the local Native Americans. In 1661, the company chartered the Town of Boswijck, including land that would later become Williamsburg. After the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the town's name was anglicized to Bushwick. During colonial times, villagers called the area "Bushwick Shore." This name lasted for about 140 years. Bushwick Shore was cut off from the other villages in Bushwick by Bushwick Creek to the north and by Cripplebush, a region of thick, boggy shrub land which extended from Wallabout Creek to Newtown Creek, to the south and east. Bushwick residents called Bushwick Shore "the Strand." Farmers and gardeners from the other Bushwick villages sent their goods to Bushwick Shore to be ferried across the East River to New York City for sale via a market at present day Grand Street. Bushwick Shore's favorable location close to New York City led to the creation of several farming developments. In 1802, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull acquired 13 acres (53,000 m²) near what would become Metropolitan Avenue, then North 2nd Street. He had Colonel Jonathan Williams, a U.S. Engineer, survey the property, and named it Williamsburgh (with an h at the end) in his honor. Originally a 13-acre (53,000 m²) development within Bushwick Shore, Williamsburgh rapidly expanded during the first half of the nineteenth century and eventually seceded from Bushwick and formed its own independent city.

Incorporation of Williamsburgh

Map of the Village of Williamsburgh (1827)

Map of the Village of Williamsburgh (1845)

Williamsburgh was incorporated as the Village of Williamsburgh within the Town of Bushwick in 1827. In two years it had a fire company, a post office and a population of over 1,000. The deep drafts along the East River encouraged industrialists, many from Germany, to build shipyards around Williamsburgh. Raw material was shipped in, and finished products were sent out of many factories straight to the docks. Several sugar barons built processing refineries. Now all are gone except the now-defunct Domino Sugar (formerly Havemeyer & Elder). Other important industries included shipbuilding and brewing.

On April 18, 1835, the Village of Williamsburgh annexed a portion of the Town of Bushwick. The Village then consisted of three districts. The first district was commonly called the "South Side"; the second district was called the "North Side", and the third district was called the "New Village". The names "North Side" and "South Side" remain in common usage today, but the name for the Third District has changed often. The New Village became populated by Germans and for a time was known by the sobriquet of "Dutchtown". In 1845 the population of Williamsburg was 11,500.

Reflecting its increasing urbanization, Williamsburgh separated from Bushwick as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840. It became the City of Williamsburgh in 1852, which was organized into three wards. The old First Ward roughly coincides with the South Side and the Second Ward with the North Side, with the modern boundary at Grand Street. The Third Ward was to the east of these, beginning to approach modern Eastern Williamsburg.

In the Eastern District of the City of Brooklyn

In 1855, the City of Williamsburgh, along with the adjoining Town of Bushwick, were annexed into the City of Brooklyn as the so-called Eastern District. The First Ward of Williamsburgh became Brooklyn's 13th Ward, the Second Ward Brooklyn's 14th Ward, and the Third Ward Brooklyn's 15th and 16th Wards..

During its period as part of Brooklyn's Eastern District, the area achieved remarkable industrial, cultural, and economic growth, and local businesses thrived. Wealthy New Yorkers such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and railroad magnate Jim Fisk built shore-side mansions. Charles Pratt and his family founded the Pratt Institute, the great school of art & architecture, and the Astral Oil Works, which later became part of Standard Oil. Corning Glass Works was founded here before moving upstate to Corning, New York. German immigrant, chemist Charles Pfizer founded Pfizer Pharmaceutical in Williamsburgh, and the company maintained an industrial plant in the neighborhood through 2007, although its headquarters were moved to Manhattan in the 1960s.. Brooklyn's Broadway, ending in the ferry to Manhattan, became the area's lifeline. At one point in the 19th century, Williamsburg possessed 10 percent of the wealth of the United States and was the engine of American growth. The area became a popular location for condiment and household product manufacturers. Factories for Domino Sugar, Esquire Shoe Polish , Dutch Mustard and many others were established in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many of the factory buildings have recently been converted to cultural or residential buildings.

The population was heavily German but many Jews from the Lower East side of Manhattan came to the area when the Williamsburgh Bridge was completed. Williamsburgh was a financial hub rivaling Wall Street for a time. The area around the Peter Luger Steak House, established in 1887, in the predominantly German neighborhood under the Williamsburg Bridge, was a major banking hub until the City of Brooklyn united with New York City. One of the early high schools in Brooklyn opened in 1894 on Grand Street: the Eastern District High School.

Part of New York City

The Williamsburg Bridge connects the Brooklyn neighborhood with Manhattan's Lower East Side

In 1898 Brooklyn itself became one of five boroughs within the City of Greater New York, and its Williamsburg neighborhood was opened to closer connections with the rest of the new city.

Just five years later, the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 marked the real turning point in the area's history. The community was then opened up to thousands of upwardly mobile immigrants and second-generation Americans fleeing the overcrowded slum tenements of Manhattan's Lower East Side. Williamsburg itself soon became the most densely populated neighborhood in New York City, which in turn was the most densely populated city in the United States. The novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn addresses a young girl growing up in the tenements of Williamsburg during this era.

Brooklyn Union Gas in the early 20th century consolidated its producer gas production to Williamsburg at 370 Vandervoort Avenue, closing the Gowanus Canal gasworks. In the late 1970s an energy crisis led the company to build a syngas factory. Late in the century, facilities were built to import liquefied natural gas from overseas. The intersection of Broadway, Flushing Avenue, and Graham Avenue was a cross-roads for many "inter-urbans", prior to World War I. The inter-urbans were light rail trolleys, and ran from Long Island to Williamsburg.

After World War II, the economy sagged. Refugees from war-torn Europe began to stream into Brooklyn, including the Hasidim whose populations had been devastated in the Holocaust. The area south of Division Avenue is home to a large population of adherents to the Satmar Hasidic sect. Hispanics from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic also began to settle in Williamsburg. But with the decline of industry and the increase of population and poverty, crime and illegal drugs, Williamsburg became a cauldron of pent-up energies. Those who were able to move out did, and the area became known for its crime and other social ills.

In 1971, police officer Frank Serpico was shot during a drug bust on February 3, 1971, at 10:42 p.m., during a stakeout at 778 Driggs Avenue. Serpico had been one of the driving forces in the creation of the Knapp Commission, which exposed widespread police corruption. His fellow officers failed to call for assistance, and he was rushed to Greenpoint Hospital only when an elderly neighbor called the police. The incident was later dramatized in the movie Serpico, starring Al Pacino in the title role.

Rezoning of 2005

One of the high-rise condominium buildings constructed as a result of the 2005 rezoning

On May 11, 2005, the New York City Council passed a large-scale rezoning of the North Side and Greenpoint waterfront. Much of the waterfront district was rezoned to accommodate high density residential uses and mixed use with a set-aside (but no earmarked funding) for the creation of open waterfront park space, as well as strict building guidelines calling for developers to create a continuous two-mile-long string of waterfront esplanades. Local elected officials touted the rezoning as an economically beneficial way to address the decline of manufacturing along the North Brooklyn waterfront, which had resulted in a number of vacant and derelict warehouses in Williamsburg.

The rezoning represented a dramatic shift of scale in the ongoing process of gentrification in the area since the early 1990s. The waterfront neighborhoods, once characterized by active manufacturing and other light industry interspersed with smaller residential buildings, were rezoned primarily for residential use. Alongside the construction of new residential buildings, many warehouses were converted into residential loft buildings. Among the first was the Smith-Gray Building, a turn-of-the-century structure recognizable by its blue cast-iron facade. The conversion of the former Gretsch music instrument factory garnered significant attention and controversy in the New York press primarily because it heralded the arrival in Williamsburg of Tribeca-style lofts and attracted, as residents and investors, a number of celebrities.

Officials championing the rezoning cited its supposed economic benefits, the new private waterfront promenades, and its inclusionary housing component - which offed developers large tax breaks in exchange for promises to rent about a third of the newly created housing units at "affordable" rates (which amount to upper-middle class pricing). Critics countered that similar set-asides for affordable housing have gone unfulfilled in previous large-scale developments, such as Battery Park City. The New York Times reported this proved to be the case in Williamsburg as well, as developers largely decided to forgo incentives to build affordable housing in inland areas.

Designated historical landmarks

Former Domino Sugar Refinery

A Williamsburg landmark, The Kings County Savings Institution was chartered on April 10, 1860. It conducted business in a building called Washington Hall until it purchased the lot on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Broadway and erected its permanent home, the Kings County Savings Bank building. It is on the National Register of Historic Places (1980) and was the seventh building to be landmarked in New York City in 1966. "The Kings County Savings Bank is an outstanding example of French Second Empire architecture, displaying a wealth of ornament and diverse architectural elements. A business building of imposing grandeur, the Kings County Savings Bank "represents a period of conspicuous display in which it was not considered vulgar, at least by the people in power, to boast openly of one's wealth. From its scale and general character there is nothing , on the outside, that would distinguish the Kings County Savings Bank from a millionaires mansion.

Continental Army Plaza

The Williamsburg Houses were designated a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on June 24, 2003. The 23.3-acre (94,000 m²) site was the first large-scale public housing in Brooklyn. The modern architecture buildings were designed by William Lescaze, whose PSFS Building in Philadelphia was the first successful International Style building in the U.S. The project, first proposed in 1934, was a collaborative between the U.S. Public Works Administration and the newly established New York City Housing Authority. More than 25,000 New Yorkers applied for 1,622 apartments and most units were occupied by 1938. The twenty 4-story buildings are angled 15 degrees to the street grid for optimal sunlight. The structures have tan brick and exposed concrete accented by blue tile and stainless steel. The buildings were restored in the 1990s by the Housing Authority, in consultation with the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

In 2007 the Domino Sugar Refinery Building was also designated a New York City Landmark.

Communities within Williamsburg

Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation, North Side

Graham Avenue in eastern Williamsburg

Pentecostal church

"South Williamsburg" refers to the area which today is occupied mainly by the Yiddish-speaking Hasidim (predominantly those of the Satmar sect) and a considerable Puerto Rican population. North of this area (with Broadway serving as a dividing line) is an area known as "the South Side," occupied by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. To the north of that is an area known as "the North Side," traditionally Polish and Italian. East Williamsburg is home to many industrial spaces and forms the largely Italian American, African American, and Hispanic area between Williamsburg and Bushwick. South Williamsburg, the South Side, the North Side, Greenpoint and East Williamsburg all form Brooklyn Community Board 1. Its proximity to Manhattan has made it popular with recently arrived residents who are often referred to under the blanket term "hipster". Bedford Avenue and its subway station, as the first stop in the neighborhood on the BMT Canarsie Line (L train), have become synonymous with this new wave of residents.

Feast of St. Paulinus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel

A significant component of the Italian community on the North Side were immigrants from the city of Nola near Naples. Residents of Nola every summer celebrate the "Festa dei Gigli" (feast of lilies) in honor of St. Paulinus of Nola, who was bishop of Nola in the fifth century. The immigrants brought the traditions of the feast with them. For two weeks every summer, the streets surrounding Our Lady of Mount Carmel church, located on Havemeyer and North 8th Streets, are dedicated to a celebration of Italian culture. The highlights of the feast are the "Giglio Sundays" when a 100-foot (30 m) tall statue, complete with band and a singer, is carried around the streets in honor of St. Paulinus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Clips of this awe-inspiring sight are often featured on NYC news broadcasts. A significant number of Italian -Americans still reside in the area, although the numbers have decreased over the years. Despite the fact that descendants of the early Italian immigrants have moved away, many return each summer for the feast. The Giglio was the subject of a documentary, Heaven Touches Brooklyn in July, narrated by actors John Turturro and Michael Badalucco.

Hasidic Williamsburg

Further information: Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

Williamsburg is inhabited by tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews, most belonging to the Satmar Hasidic court. Satmar is among the fastest-growing communities in the world, as its families have a very high number of children. According to the principal of the Satmar United Talmudical Academy and Beis Rochel Schools, the Satmar Rav Joel Teitelbaum, founded his day school in 1947 with seven boys, and girls' day school in 1947 with a dozen girls. Bolstered by the children of Holocaust survivors who settled in New York over the next decade, the Satmar Williamsburg school had 700 girls and 700 boys in their schools twelve years later in 1959. The school is composed almost exclusively of Satmar chassidim, with other chassidic groups in Williamsburg forming their own school networks. In 1974, there were 3,500 students (until age 18) in New York's Satmar institutions - an increase of two and a half times in fifteen years. In 1998, some 25,000 students were spread throughout various Satmar schools in the greater New York area (including Kiryas Joel, Monsey, and Williamsburg). To date there are over 60,000 Satmar hasidim living in Williamsburg as the community continues building apartments on the fringe of Williamsburg, and has reclaimed housing in areas once considered blighted real estate. The community has considerable political clout in New York.

The Satmar community of Williamsburg typically celebrates eight to ten sholom zochors (male births), and the same number of female births, each week. Each year the community celebrates between 300 and 400 weddings. Satmar hasidim study almost exclusively in Yiddish in their schools. Of the nearly 200,000 Satmar adherents worldwide, over 70,000 live in Williamsburg, over 30,000 live in Kiryas Joel, 20,000 in Borough Park, and another few thousand in Monsey.

Arts community

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Secret Project Robot, one of many Williamsburg industrial buildings converted into art studios and galleries.

The first artists moved to Williamsburg in the 1970s, drawn by the low rents, large spaces available and convenient transportation, one subway stop from Manhattan. This continued through the 1980s and increased significantly in the 1990s as earlier destinations such as SoHo and the East Village became gentrified. The community was small at first, but by 1996 Williamsburg had accumulated an artist population of about 3,000. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are served by a monthly galleries listings magazine, wagmag. Theater is also represented by indie theater spaces such as The Brick Theater and The Charlie Pineapple Theater.

Music scene

Williamsburg has become a notable home for live music and an incubator for new bands. Beginning in the late 1980s and through the late 1990s a number of unlicensed performance, theater and music venues operated in abandoned industrial buildings and other spaces in the streets surrounding the Bedford Avenue subway stop. The Bog, Keep Refrigerated, The Lizard's Tail, Quiet Life, Rubulad, Flux Factory, Mighty Robot, free103point9 and others attracted a mix of artists, musicians and urban underground for late night music, dance, and performance events, which were occasionally interrupted and the venues temporarily closed by the fire department. These events eventually diminished in number as the rents rose in the area and regulations were enforced. There are still a number of smaller, fleeting spaces today, including Todd P., Dot Dash , Twisted Ones , and Rubulad . Many legitimate commercial music venues opened in the neighborhood including Pete's Candy Store, Union Pool, Northsix (now Music Hall of Williamsburg), and Galapagos (now Public Assembly). Several Manhattan-based venues also opened locations, including Bowery Presents (who bought Northsix and transformed it to Music Hall of Williamsburg), Luna Lounge, Knitting Factory, and Cake Shop. In the summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008, events including concerts, movies, and dance performances were staged at the previously abandoned pool at McCarren Park in Greenpoint.

The neighborhood has also attracted a respectable funk, soul and worldbeat music scene spearheaded by labels such as Daptone and Truth & Soul Records - and fronted by acts such as the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Jazz and World Music has found a foothold, with classic jazz full time at restaurant venues like Zebulon and Moto, and - on the more avant / noise side - at spots like the Lucky Cat, B.P.M., Monkeytown, and Eat Records. A Latin Jazz community continues amongst the Caribbean community in Southside and East Williamsburg, centered around the many social clubs in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was also the birthplace of electroclash. Friday and Saturday parties at Club Luxx (now Trash) introduced electronic musicians like W.I.T., A.R.E. Weapons, Fischerspooner, and Scissor Sisters.

Rent issues

Low rents were a major reason why artists first started settling in the area, but that situation has drastically changed since the mid 1990s. Average rents in Williamsburg can range from approximately $1400 for a studio apartment, $1,600-2,400 for a one-bedroom, and $2,600-4,000 for a two-bedroom. In many buildings, the rents have more than doubled in the past few years alone. The North Side (above Grand Street, which separates the North Side from the South Side) is somewhat more expensive, due to its proximity to the L and G subway lines. More recent gentrification, however, has prompted an increase in rent prices below Grand Street as well. Higher rents have driven many priced-out bohemians and hipsters to find new creative communities further afield in areas like Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Red Hook.

New York City which includes all of Brooklyn has laws which regulate the rent of some designated apartments in the city. The regulations as a whole are referred to as Rent Stabilization Laws in New York. There are two forms of rent regulation administered by the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR): Rent control, which primarily applies to units occupied by the same family since 1971 or earlier, and Rent Stabilization, which covers thousands of New York City apartment buildings with 6 or more units.

Main article: Rent control in New York

Trains entering and leaving Marcy Avenue station.

Transportation

Williamsburg is served by 3 subway lines, the BMT Canarsie Line (L train) on the north, the BMT Jamaica Line (J, M, and Z​ trains) on the south, and the IND Crosstown Line (G train) on the east. The Williamsburg Bridge crosses the East River to the Lower East Side. Williamsburg is also served by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Several bus routes including the B24, B39, B44, B46, Q54, and B60 terminate at the Williamsburg Bridge/Washington Plaza. Other bus lines that run through the neighborhood are the B43, B48, Q59 and B61.

Sites of Environmental Concern in Williamsburg

El Puente, a local community development group, called Williamsburg "the most toxic place to live in America" in the documentary Toxic Brooklyn produced by Vice Magazine. Other rare cancer clusters in Willamsburg have been reported by the New York Post, CBS news and Geraldo at Large on Fox News.

Radiac Facility

Radiac Research Corporation, a radioactive and hazardous waste storage plant, operates on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. Radiac has a permit from the state's Department of Health (having assumed jurisdiction from the Department of Labor) to store radioactive medical waste, including uranium and plutonium. Led by a local group, Neighbors Against Garbage, the plant's opponents believe that a truck bomb, for example, could cause an explosion that could spew radioactive contaminants over parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. That would not be hard to do, they say, because Radiac's buildings either abut Kent Avenue or are separated from the street by a parking lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. City Councilman David Yassky, whose district includes the area, said the 35-year-old facility was no longer appropriate at its current site now that the city is a potential terrorist target. "A fire in the chemical part could easily spread," he said, "and we could easily face a dirty-bomb situation."

Radiac does have a troubling history of failing to adhere to safety regulations. An environmental impact study commissioned by the New York City Department of City Planning during the recent North Brooklyn rezoning process noted that the site "has a long list of RCRIS violations," referring to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Information System, a database operated by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the study, Radiac has been cited for violating both general standards of such a storage facility, as well as preparedness/prevention requirements. And in 2001 Radiac received a fire protection report and analysis they themselves had commissioned that found that, "the current water-based fire protection system at the facility is inadequate to control the fire origination from a 55-gallon container" of the highly flammable chemical heptane, which is stored at the building.

In 2005, faced with strong opposition from community groups, Radiac decided to withdraw an application to renew its permit as a hazardous waste storage facility (providing for long-term storage of hazardous, explosive and reactive chemicals adjacent to its radioactive waste facility). However, the facility remains in operation as a hazardous waste "transfer" facility, handling the same chemicals but keeping them for less time, and continues to store low level radioactive wastes.

Greenpoint/Williamsburg oil spill

Main article: Greenpoint oil spill

The Greenpoint oil spill is one of the largest oil spills in history. It is believed that the oil oozing from the ground at the Roebling Oil Field at N. 11th Street and Roebling in Williamsburg emanated from a ruptured tank nearby.

Notable natives

• Songwriter and performer Barry Manilow,
• Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls, his childhood friend Peter Criss of Kiss
• Novelist Henry Miller
• The View talk show host and comedian Joy Behar
• Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
• Al Capone was born in Williamsburg and lived there until 1919, when he fled to Chicago to escape two suspected murder charges.
• Superlative comic artist Will Eisner from whom the Eisner Award was named, was born and raised in Williamsburg when the neighborhood was primarily Jewish.
• Rapper Joell Ortiz

References in pop culture

• New Jersey rock band Armor For Sleep's third album Smile For Them featured the single "Williamsburg", which mocks the hipsters that call the neighborhood home.
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn takes place in Williamsburg in the 1910s.
• Williamsburg! The Musical debuted at the New York Fringe Festival in 2007. It was created by Nicola Barber, Will Brumley, Brooke Fox and Kurt Gellersted.
• Williamsburg, Brooklyn is where the character Luke Garroway (Lucian Graymark) lives in the books The Mortal Instruments
• German rock musician Marius Müller-Westernhagen titled his 2009 album Williamsburg.
• Latin Grammy winner Kany García filmed her music video for her song "Feliz" at Williamsburg.
• Season 8 of the espionage drama 24 features Williamsburg as the setting of a shootout with terrorists.
• In London native Greg Holden's song "You're Scaring Me [New York]," he asks "How will I ever get to Williamsburg if I don't know where to start?"
• The music video for Avril Lavigne's "My Happy Ending" was filmed in Williamsburg and in the now torn down movie theater, The Commodore.

See also

• List of Brooklyn, New York neighborhoods
• Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
• Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT)

External links

• FREEwilliamsburg: Williamsburg Blog and Culture Guide
• Williamsburg Health Study - NYC Dept. of Health Neighborhood Profile
• Official Overview of Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning, New York City Department of City Planning
• NYC Report on Greenpoint-Williamsburg Inclusionary Housing Program
• Visual-Archaeology: Documentary photography of the historic industrial buildings in Williamsburg, Brooklyn*
• The Breukelen: Williamsburg Restaurants, Bars, and Coffee locations with reviews