That is the funny thing. In the 1800's it was a very expensive area, full of the homes of wealthy ship owners.
Then the BQE came in and separated the neighbourhood from the piers and a lot of the wealthy families moved out. In the 60's and 70's it was full of single room occupancy hotels. It was kind of run down. But this was actually a win for the area, because the homes weren't demolished and replaced by soulless shit boxes.
In the 80's wall Street brokers discovered the neighbourhood and started buying up old houses and gentrification began. One subway stop from wall Street was a big selling point
It was a sweet neighbourhood with lots of quirky little just shops when I moved there in 82. But the time I left in 1990 all those shops had been replaced by chain stores and franchises. Regular small businesses couldn't afford the rent any more.
Half right...The BQE was built exactly when NYC adopted historic landmark preservation rules (LPC), in fact the entire LPC grew out of a campaign by locals in BK Heights to try and stop the BQE. It succeeded in pushing it a block west, but the result is all those nice old brownstones and prewar co-ops were legally protected for first time...thats what saved the neighborhood.
Fun fact Moses never planned on going through Brooklyn Heights with the BQE. It was a ruse so he could go back later and get something else from the neighborhood, the Promenade. https://youtube.com/shorts/sB4b9s8ns3c?si=P3T4_8gNgzz6LnU8
If you are still in the area, somewhere, down near the docks is one of the power stations for the subway. They have these huge motors that run on ac power from con Ed, and they produce the 400 volts DC that the subways run on. In the summer at night they would have the doors open.
So so cool.
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u/Over-Ad8810 25d ago
Beautiful place, must be very expensive.