Brooklyn

  


Brooklyn

In Brooklyn, all the cultures remain authentic.


Brooklyn Bridge!

Brooklyn Heights















View of the Manhattan Bridge from Washington Street.

DUMBO

DUMBO is a neighborhood that got its name because it is an acronym for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge". 

However they added the O at the end.

Funny and interesting tidbit of history about the neighborhood.

Back in the 80s, when struggling artists really liked the neighborhood and did not want speculators to invest in the neighborhood.

So they gave it a bad name like "DUMBO".

Because after all nobody would live in a neighborhood with the word "dumb" in it, right?

This, unfortunately, did not work for these artists and the neighborhood is now one of the hottest real estate markets in the city.







This is the iconic Washington and Water Street intersection, which has been featured in many films and TV shows.

Here's another pic.







A lovely couple with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

































Brooklyn Ferry



















Some pics of Prospect Heights, a gentrified area





Nobody wants Stephen Colbert in Brooklyn?

Talk about getting rid of the soul of the neighborhood.



























WIlliamsburg

Description here!



Williamsburg is an eclectic neighborhood--Jews, hipsters, artists, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans all live in this northern Brooklyn neighborhood.

Look at some pics of the housing in the wonderful and historic neighborhood.



To the left, is an interesting apartment building. 

To the right is a Puerto Rican flag struggling to flutter from a pole in front of a building.

Maybe there was bad wind that day?
















Bushwick this neighborhood is thoroughly Puerto Rican. But it is diverse.





 A group of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews 






















Posters celebrating mariachi events.


















           

Greenpoint


Manhattan Avenue= the main strip.


Stauder- Polish who live here are mostly fresh off the plane, recent arrivals 


 lot of unattractive Polish older women.


I don’t think there are many new waves of Polish immigrants here.


Polish delis 


Polish chocolates 


Canned goods 


Polish bookstore


Polish groceries 


Incovenient with the trains 


I saw more blacks here than in Bensonhurst


More Mexicans there.


I saw More recent Polish arrivals in Chicago 


Also, Polish people more spread out in Chicago.


Greenpoint is dirty.





Despite changes in population as the neighborhood turns “hip,” Polish is still spoken here.



Bakeries that sell poppy seed rolls.


Despite changes in population as the neighborhood turns “hip,” Polish is still spoken here.


A married black couple went to one of these nicest Polish restaurants 














I remember when I was twelve, I read a book on Polish Americans and they had this same pharmacy so I went and took a photo of it.















Kielbasa Sandwich.



































Blueberry Danish: $3.50.

Cafe riviera


Strawberry Danish $3


$1 Foamy and strong Coffee!


CBS Fm music type


It’s Lite FM tho.


I remember there was a Polish guy selling Polish newspapers there.


























Female friends walking along Nassau Street


Waitress who agreed for me to take a photo of her in Karczma great restaurant in Greenpoint.  Great food and friendly staff there. She was nice lovely lady. Bless her heart.
























Park Slope










Bedford Stuyvesant

The corner of Fulton and Nostrand Streets. I call this "the Four Corners" because this is the busiest commercial intersection in Bedford Stuyvesant.

Bed Stuy


I bought 3 notebooks for less than $4. 2008. But still cheap even then.


Bed Stuy’s a good place to shop










A mosque in Bed Stuy.  There is a sizable Muslim community, as here.

Much of the housing stock consists of brownstones in Bed Stuy. Below are some nice photos!





I don't know what building this is but this seemed liked the architectural style.


A walk along Fulton Street.



 Golden Krust 

Golden Krust is a famous chain Jamaican bakery in the NYC area.  I tried a candy made out of coconuts, I forget the name, it was really delicious. 





Murals 










Crown Heights
Crown Heights is home to one of the largest Afro Caribbean communities in the country. Taking a walk along Nostrand Avenue, you can see Jamaican, Trinidian, Guayanese, and other West Indian stores, bakeries, and restaurants, catering to a diverse community.

There are also some signs of settlement from upper middle class, as well. 


















A few photos of the Eastern Parkway.

Yeah I'm a photo nerd, here you go.






West Indian Day Parade




One of the things that Crown Heights is best known for is the West Indian Day Parade.  

The West Indian Day Parade is one of the most popular events in New York City. It runs every Labor Day Monday and thousands come to Eastern Parkway for this festive event where you will Haitian flags, listen to reggae music, and get a taste of Caribbean food on this special day.

The event draws West Indians, some draped in the flags of their country, Hispanics, and white hipsters alike.




Brownsville/ENY 


When I was on the 3 Train on the subway and as I was coming from East New York I took some videos of East New York and Brownsville, including the Tilden Houses. 








East NY





















Sunset Park






















Boro Park,  probably the most Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in the country, in terms of population and feeling.

25 percent of all Brooklynites are of Jewish descent, although not all of them are Orthodox.





























The bakeries are good, though.

Bensonhurst is kind of the suburbs, quasi- suburban? because it’s in Southern Brooklyn, near Staten Island.

Bensonhurst was the suburb of Manhattans little Italy, 

And

Staten Island is the suburb of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

I saw a group of young Italian men driving a car, one with spikey, gelled hair and a jersey on with no shirt underneath, peering out the window.  

Bensonhurst

Bensonhurst 


I would almost feel like I’m n an Italian village 


Still people speaking in Italian


Moreso in the 2000s


Young people families 


They brought their “old world” culture with them


Sassy Italian women 


Target fabco telco


Racist reputation but largely unearned


Working class,

Italian American culture.


Treated me with respect 


Didn’t feel racist 


Villabate Bakery 


I have a 100 hundred bill didn’t even to see if it was real 


Chinese guidos


Young CHInese women in sweatpants.


Sorrento - Bensonhurst 


$3 coffee 


Bensonhurst Catholic paraphernalia 



Guatemalan Pentecostal churches 


All these Guatemalan delis here.


Smells like Italian cooking/ food


Capuccino $5 Pelegrino $3 each


J Mart in Bensonhurst  awesome and clean 


Bensonhurst more working class than Dyker Heights, where you have bigger houses, especially in the southern part.


Southern Brooklyn Italians with Italians Chinese with Chinese Hispanics with Hispanics 


Z100 

Pop culture reference 

Chinese on 86th Avenue?

Around the 1950’s a lot of Italians from Manhattan’s Little Italy took the D train and moved to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn for a more suburban setting. Recent Italian immigrants would also move to Bensonhurst, joining them.

Why aren’t there many Italians in Bensonhurst? Many opted for a bigger house in the suburbs for less money. They mostly went to Staten Island but some went to Lomg Island, other parts of New York State, as well as New Jersey.

People Uzbeks Georgians too former USSR?

H Mart 

In the 1980's, Bensonhurst was 80% Itaalin. 

I like the blue collar feel

It’s a working class Italian neighborhood.

Maybe a section on how blue collar it is?

Years ago, Bensonhurst would make an Italian immigrants feel right at home.

Insular, old world enclave of theirs. 

Now it’s a mix of Little Italy/ Chinatown/ and Little Guatemala.

I saw Mexican/ Guatemalan looking kids speaking to each other in Spanish and one of them stop dressed and act in NYC gangsta culture.

I saw a group of a lot of Dominican guys there too.





Bensonhurst a multi ethnic neighborhood 


More diverse, but still an old school Italian neighborhood 


White Italian with blonde hair woman feeling comfortable in a Mexican owned pizzeria where they speak Spanish that plays mariachi music in the background




Every Brooklyn Italian bakery I’ve been to has gelato 


Bensonhurst is an immigrant neighborhood 


Italian immigrants, Chinese immigrants, Latin American immigrants 


I like how a nice Italian guy warned me I was making a mess as my gelato was dropping as my coffee spilled and I tried to fix that lol





Tomaso Italian restaurant in Bensonhurst 


Some fish markets, I don’t know if they are Italian, Chinese 


Bensonhurst 


32% Chinese 


11% Italian American


6% Russian


3% Ukrainian 


7% Mexican/ Guatemalan


I see Chinese restaurants but they don’t have duck, not the restaurants I’ve seen. I see Chinese bakeries but they don’t serve those black bean pastries I love so much.


So Bensonhurst’s Chinatown is not much of a draw. It’s more of a Chinatown for the locals. You’re better off going to Manhattan’s Chinatown. 


The pork legs at J Mart were awesome though.


On the 









x


I love this store! Telco is an inexpensive store found in the Tri State Area.

I bought great gloves and a hat for less than ten dollars here! It is really hard to find such a deal where I'm from in Central Jersey. 


An Italian flag in front of the Security Italian pride remains strong in Bensonhurst


Bensonhurst is a traditionally Italian neighborhood. 

On 18th Avenue, you could find salumerias (butchers), caffes, bakeries, and social clubs that cater to an Italian American population that has been for generations.



































Nice, well taken care of  houses



From my car a long time ago.



                                 




                                   





T.Z. Bros 6808  13th Avenue

Petros Reality- 8634 18th Avenue 















Reliable Bakery 8118 18th Avenue








Italian Records





Frank and Sal's Prime Meats 










I tried the butterflied chicken thighs seasoned at home.  It was delicious.

The meat here tastes better than what you would find in most places.


There was this pretty chubby sassy Italian worker there. Working with an attitude.

Bari Pork Store



Maybe crop?

I love the Italian pride demonstrated in this neighborhood!    


An Italain flag right in front o their store.

This is a great Italian butcher shop. I got a chicken pattie here and it was great. 
The chicken patties here aren't like the ones that you get in the supermarket that are stale and hard as a rock with ice, at times. 






The chicken pattie before and after it was made.

They are soft and spongy and have a great taste! When I was finished cooking it, this sandwich tasted better than any sandwich I have ever tried at any Italian deli around here. 



As I bit into this sandwich, I realized I was eating the best sandwich I have eaten.  

Better than Italian deli I have been to. I'll  tell you that much!

Tribuzio Meat Market 7714 18th Avenue


Never been heree but google reviews puts it almost 5 stars so it is worth visiting. Cleanest butcher in Broioklyn, one commenter
 wrote.




A big Italian guy speaking Italian there.













Neighborhood clubs


clubs





talai clubs would help Itaali immigrants get on their town two feet intshi coutnry giving them jobs.

Sorrento cafe 7716 18th Avenue 








New name but still Italian coffee shop.


Now it’s Caffe Bella since 2024.




Caffe Italia 6917 18th Avenue










Patisscerra Villabatte

Villabate is a godsend 




I guess this sign shows you there are still many Italian speakers in Bensonhurst area 



This is an excellent bakery.  

Their ricotta is imported from Palermo, Sicily.





Gelato 



Green pastries casetina Sicilian? 

Almond cookies/ biscotti?


Casata 


Casetina


Africano cake rolls Biscotti cookie with cream


St Joseph sfingi cake 


St Joseph 


Look like cannolis but not.






Villabate Alba


All these Italian bakeries have gelati 


Savarese and Villabate have casetinas


Savarese bakery had good coffee 


Idk about reliable, if they have casetinas, gelato, etc.


Almond paste green and pink paste low sugar 


Villabate alba hot coffee good I liked the large coffee with 3 sugars 


Iced coffee meh


Older Italian guys keeping with that real Italian culture-  talking about Frank Valli from Newark a


Cake 10/ 10


It felt spongy 

 

There are Italians who go to Villabate Alba 


Vanilla sponge with chocolate butter cream 



All 3025


22 just cake 


Gelatos are creamy 


The pistachio cake is better than the chocolate cake







Tony Pepperoni Pizzeria- 7502 18th Avenue 





Chicken and Margharita pizza?


Il Colosseo Ristorante 7704 18th Avenue 



An announcement for Valentine's Day where Italian American musicians would perform. 

This kind of reminds me of Latino neighborhoods, where restaurants would have announcements of Latine performers.




I tried a Chicken Paillard with potatoes and a salad as well as a cappuccino and it came to a total of less than twenty dollars.

The staff was friendly 


Villa Fiorita 7720 18th Avnnue 


      















The prototypical working class Italian American neighborhood.
this brings me back to the days when Italian Americans were mostly in working class neighborhoods like this before they ended up buying mansions in Northern Jersey and Long Island. Bensonhurst was once eighty percent Italian. 



a lot of em left but italian presence will always be in NYC.

tri state area is God speaking this to me?





Italian Pride

SICILIA!!!






















































Chinese









Chinese Americans like Ying Tan running for political office. 


There’s this Chinese diet sodas at Hong Kay Market on 18th Avenue




86th Street





Many Italians have left Bensonhurst, and many Chinese families are now calling this neighborhood home.

In public parks you might see older Italian men bocce as well as the Chinese playing chess.

H Mart is awesome and clean .




























                         






St. Dominick's Roman Catholic Church

the roof looks like it says "wow" near where the reef is.
I have never been to an Italian mass in Bensonhurst so I figured YOLO.

I arrived late to the English mass. 

I saw that the Italians there looked a lot like Puerto ricans.

i saw a family dark hair sicilian?

i saw an older Italian woman and a Latina middle aged mother warmly embracing each other

the priest was from Colombia and spoke Italian almost like Spanish

he made a good homily

dont be like some  Protestant sects who worry about the end times coming and are depressed  

don't be sad 

Gioia 

be happy joia rejoice in the Lord.

be honest your spiritual life starts with being honest

like spanish mass where priest talks he says 

ask gabriela this 

the priest in Italy I think is highly regarded

a father figure in Latin America

I saw an Italian American family 

A guy was coming to his family after serving as an altar server. His older brother saluted him even hugged him after coming back from being an altar server. He looked mentally deficient the younger brother. 

I just like the family unity in Italia

There was a guy next to me he looked like a Puerto Rican papi.

Old Italian couples like Latino old couples 

priest makes a joke and parishioners smirk and laugh similar to Spanish mass. even a mass full of strangers feels like family in this heavily Italian neighborhood. 


At jrf I saw a Latino couple maybe they were Italian sweet obedient guilt in Anglo eyes respectful 

restaurant il colosio

guy with spikey hair great inexpensive italian food 

You will see Italian Americans in Chinese fish markets just like you will see Chinese entering shops that almost exclusively sell Italian goods. That’s Just commerce not much intermingling!
bocce

I tried a Chicken Paillard with potatoes and a salad as well as a cappuccino and it came to a total of less than twenty dollars.

The staff was friendly 


Telco Department store like Bargain Man

Sunday

Italian Records video

THree are Chinese restaurants and groceirs on 18th Aenue. 

The Mafia is here.

It’s dirty here But here are some nice houses.











Dominick the Donkey z100 


I tried the Sicilian pizza at Tony Pepperoni! Amazing!








The Feast of Santa Rosalia 

    








Bensonhurst when Italy won the World Cu

Bensonhurst attracts diversity 

The La Bella Marketplace in Staten Island is bigger 

And feels more Italian 


Dyker heights feels like Staten Island


more middle class 


Feels like it was an Italian neighborhood north of la Bella but you see all these nice houses south of 80th street where the population is over half Italian.


Christmas decorations 


Big fancy houses not like Bensonhurst 






























Dyker Heights 



































The La Bella Marketplace in Staten Island is bigger 


And feels more Italian 


Guatemalan Pentecostal churches 


Smells like Italian cooking/ food


Capuccino $5 Pelegrino $3 each


J Mart in Bensonhurst  awesome and clean 


Bensonhurst more working class than dyker heights 


Dyker heights like Staten Island, more middle class 


Feels like it was an Italian neighborhood north of la Bella but you see all these nice houses south of 80th street where the population is over half Italian.


Christmas decorations 


Big fancy houses not like Bensonhurst 


Southern Brooklyn Italians with Italians Chinese with Chinese Hispanics with Hispanics 


Friend groups more mixed in midtown Manhattan and Astoria, Queens like middle class suburbs 


Bensonhurst “Lirtle Italy/ Chinatown/ Little Guatemala”

There are plenty of I think Orthodox Jews in the area too.

Gravesend 














Bay Ridge




Brighton Beach























Coney Island



























































 

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