A Look at the Sunset Park Neighborhood
Sunset Park is a growing, revitalizing community. It is bounded by 17th Street on the north, 65th Street on the south, 8th Avenue on the east and New York Bay on the west. During the last “Ice Age” a glacier moving from Canada, across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, pushed ahead of it a mountain of dirt which has become our 6th Avenue. The highest public points in Brooklyn are located within Sunset Park. Looking out over the harbor from our 24.5 acre park with the same name, gives a phenomenal view of the Statue of Liberty, the tallest buildings in 3 different boroughs and a magnificent sunset, hence the name of the community. During the summer, people from all over Brooklyn come to Sunset Park to enjoy the beautiful weather and to swim in its Olympic-sized pool.
Sunset Park is home to New York State’s largest federal historic register district containing over 3000 buildings – mostly row houses and brownstones. With its many blocks of row houses built between 1890 and 1910, the Sunset Park neighborhood has a very stable and desirable housing stock. A building costing $35,000 in the late 1970's sells now for nearly $1,000,000. In the 1990's, the United States Department of the Interior and New York State Historic Preservation Office listed 3,237 homes between 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue, from 38th to 64th Street on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, making this the largest historic district in the northeast United States. Walking along the streets of Sunset Park, we pass mostly owner-occupied houses, which have preserved their ornate architecture.
Sunset Park also has a 478-acre cemetery (entrance at 25th street). In 1996, Greenwood Cemetary was named a Historical Landmark. It is the final resting place for mayors, governors, inventors and many noted Americans – including DeWitt Clinton, Samuel Morse and Leonard Bernstein. The Greenwood Cemetery Historical Fund offers tours of this famous cemetery.
The population of Sunset Park has grown significantly over the past decade from 86,000 to more than 120,000. It’s first settlers were Native Americans, who called the area Gowanus. They were followed by wave after wave over the years of ethnic groups such as the Dutch, English, Irish, Germans Scandinavians, Poles, Italians, Scottish and Puerto Ricans. While the more recent inhabitants hail from Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Middle East, South America, Asia. Eigth Avenue in Sunset Park is often referred to as Brooklyn's Chinatown and is the third largest Chinatown in the New York City.
Getting to and from Sunset Park and travelling around within it couldn't be easier! Sunset Park has bus, subway, highway, and even ferry access. The neighborhood has six bus lines: B9 at 60th Street, B11 at 50th Street (Flatbush Avenue-bound) and 49th Street ( 1st Avenue-bound), B35 at 39th Street, B37 at 3rd Avenue, B63 at 5th Avenue, and the B70 at 8th Avenue. There are 4 Subway lines; R (local), N (express), D (express), and M (local). There is access to the Brooklyn-Queens expressway as well as the Belt Parkway. There is a ferry available at 58th St and 1st Ave at the Brooklyn Army Terminal which goes to the Wall Street Ferry in Manhattan.
While sightseeing in Sunset Park, make certain to visit our “Main Street”, 5th Avenue, for great food and terrific shopping bargains!