Boerum Hill is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east.[1] The western border is variously given as either Smith or Court Streets, and Warren or Wyckoff Streets as the southern edge.[2] Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue are the neighborhoods main commercial districts.[3] The Brooklyn High School of the Arts is located in the neighborhood on Dean Street and Third Avenue. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 2 and is served by the NYPDs 84th Precinct.[4] History[edit] Boerum Hill is named for the colonial farm of the Boerum family, which occupied most of the area during early Dutch settlement. Most of the housing consists of three-story row houses built between 1840 and 1870. The Boerum Hill Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in. In the early twentieth century, many of the buildings were run as boarding houses. Nearby was the union hall for ironworkers, who came to the city to work on bridges and skyscrapers.[6] The population today is upper-middle class and upper-class.[3] In the twentieth century, the north end of Smith Street was the center of New York Citys Mohawk community, who came mostly from Akwesasne and Kahnawake, Mohawk reserves in Quebec, Canada.[6] (Akewesasne extends across national boundaries into New York state.) Many of the Mohawk men were ironworkers. Their wives worked at a variety of jobs and created the community for their families. For 50 years, the Mohawk families called their neighborhood Little Caughnawaga, after the homeland of Kahnawake. Many families would travel back to Kahnawake in the summer.[7] The neighborhood has been featured in several contemporary creative works. It is the setting of Spike Lees movie, Clockers (1995), which was filmed in the Gowanus Houses. It is the setting for two of Jonathan Lethems novels: Motherless Brooklyn (1999), a crime mystery set on Bergen Street between Smith and Hoyt streets; and The Fortress of Solitude (2002), set primarily on one block in Boerum Hill (Dean Street between Nevins and Bond streets). [Nina and I used to live on Bergen and the Lethems were oi Dean] Name[edit] Despite the hill in the name, the neighborhood is flat, parts sit atop former marshes that bordered Gowanus Creek. In the 1950s, all the neighborhoods south of Atlantic Avenue and west of Prospect Park were known generically as South Brooklyn. Boerum Hill in particular was sometimes called North Gowanus. In the 1970s, when the neighborhoods gentrification began, the name Boerum Hill was coined, inspired by the name of the colonial farmers.[8][9] Micro Museum, 123 Smith St Boerum Hill is known for its independent boutiques, restaurants and rows of brownstones. Boerum Hill is home of many artists who own art galleries in the neighborhood, including the invisible dog exhibition. Boerum Hill is home to many young families, and biking is popular in the neighborhood and nearby Prospect Park. The abundant cultural offerings (including The Invisible Dog Art Center, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and BAM), the thriving Smith Street restaurant row and Atlantic Avenue Design district. Notable natives and residents Richard Brown Lethem,avant-garde artist, lived in a commune in pre-gentrified North Gowanus with his wife Judith, son Jonathan Lethem and two younger children. Jonathan Lethem, writer, lived here as a child[10] Heath Ledger, actor Michelle Williams, actress Sandra Oh, actress Keri Russell, actress Emily Mortimer, actress Ethan Hawke, actor Alessandro Nivola, actor Jean-Michel Basquiat, artist Alex Rice, actress JMvV: Actually most of the brick townhouses had four, not three stories, if you count the ground level sous-terrain as a floor, The steps (or stoop, from the Dutch word stoep) went of course up to the main entrance on the parlor floor, with its high ornate ceilings and full length French windows--with built in shutters Below the ground level floor (basement, or sous terrain) was a cellar (where we had installed our washer and dryer) which had some scary dark corners and nitches-- One time I found a bag of old 19th century silver objects, which included a lorgnet a hair brush, various spoons (one commorating the Chicago World Exposition)and other intriguing trivia from the past. I am convinced there were all kinds of ghosts hiding out in that cellar as well. All gentrifyers of course planted a tree in front of their houses, I verified on my last visit that these little trees have now become quite tall and sturdy--giving the area a much more leafy and mellow aspect.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 16:20:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015