Avenue U

Last updated
Avenue U
Av U shops jeh.jpg
Avenue U at East 15th Street, in the developing Avenue U Chinatown. The Brighton Line station is in the background.
Owner City of New York
Maintained by NYCDOT
Location Brooklyn, New York City
West end Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend
East endBergen Avenue at Bergen Beach
NorthAvenue T
SouthAvenue V

Avenue U is a commercial street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend and ends at Bergen Avenue in Bergen Beach, while serving the other Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gravesend, Homecrest, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, and Mill Basin along its route.

Contents

Little Hong Kong/Guangdong

Avenue U in Homecrest now supports southern Brooklyn's second Chinatown, [1] [2] [3] as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese food markets, bakeries, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and consumer electronics dealers between Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Avenue. [4] Since 2004, the Q train on the BMT Brighton Line goes to Canal Street in the Manhattan Chinatown to Brooklyn's Avenue U Chinatown directly. [3] A third Chinatown has subsequently emerged in southern Brooklyn, in Bensonhurst, served by the D train.

This Chinatown on Avenue U is actually a second extension of Manhattan's Chinatown, after the original Brooklyn Chinatown, which had developed in Sunset Park. Within a sixteen-year period, the Chinese population grew an estimated fourteenfold. [5] The increasing property values and congestion in Brooklyn's first established Chinatown on 8th Avenue in Sunset Park led to the still increasing Chinese population in Brooklyn pouring into the Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest sections, which in the late 1990s resulted in the establishment of a second Chinatown on Avenue U between the Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay sections. [6] [7]

The Avenue U Chinatown is now in expansion mode, despite originating initially from less than ten blocks, [8] [9] originally resembling Manhattan's Chinatown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when that Chinatown was still in the early stages of its development, and concentrated within a ten-block section of Mott, Doyers, and Pell Streets.

The Chinese residents call Avenue U in Chinese translation U大道 and call Sheepshead Bay (羊头湾). [10] [11] [12] Just outside this Chinese enclave, also on Avenue U, there is a Chinese supermarket named New York Mart. [13] The East West Bank currently serves as the largest Chinese financial institution for the Avenue U Chinatown. [14]

This newly emerging Chinese enclave and as well as in sections of Bensonhurst are primarily Cantonese populated and more of extensions of the Western Cantonese section of Manhattan's Chinatown or Little Hong Kong/Little Guangdong or Cantonese Town and although they all together have far surpassed Manhattan's Chinatown as being the largest Cantonese cultural centers of NYC, however this Avenue U Cantonese enclave alone is still the smallest Cantonese enclave of NYC while Bensonhurst alone is now home to the largest Cantonese cultural center of NYC. However, there are small numbers of Fuzhou and Mandarin speakers. There is also a small significant amount of Vietnamese Chinese residents integrated into the community as well. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Population and settlements

The Schenck-Crooke House, built 1675, as it stood on what is now the corner of Avenue U and East 63rd Street Schenk-Crooke House2.jpg
The Schenck-Crooke House, built 1675, as it stood on what is now the corner of Avenue U and East 63rd Street

Chinese immigrants have become the second largest foreign-born group in New York City behind the Dominican Republic. As of 2016, approximately 12 percent of New York City's population, or 380,000 people, were born in the Dominican Republic. In second place, approximately 11 percent of New York City's population, or 350,000 people, were born in China. China, however, had the largest source of immigrants within Brooklyn. Chinese immigrants made up approximately 14 percent of Brooklyn's population, totaling to about 129,000 people. Bensonhurst specifically contained about 78,000 of those immigrants, making Bensonhurst's total population 53 percent foreign-born. [19] The Avenue U Chinatown has the most pronounced and quickest growing Chinese population in all of New York City. [20] In the period of time from 1990-2000, the overall number of people living on Avenue U increased by 16-30 percent. [21] Brooklyn's population, as of 2010, is 2.553 million and this number is expected to increase by over 11 percent by 2040. [22]

Though Brooklyn's Avenue U has the largest Chinese population in all of New York City, the street itself is a filled evidence of other cultures. The Cantonese influence is visibly laced throughout the shops and restaurants on Avenue U. In addition, there are Italian, Mexican, Russian, Vietnamese, Uzbek, and more markets and restaurants scattered along the street. Culturally, Avenue U has hosted more than Chinese immigrants, moving from Jewish to Irish and Italian to Russian to Chinese and Mexican immigrants alike. With each wave of new immigrants, the old culture will find a new place within New York to settle. [20] [23]

Middle-class immigrants populate Gravesend, one section in which Avenue U is located. As of 2008, these immigrants pay upward of $600,000 to live close to their relatives. Jewish, Irish, and Italian families most of all populate the Sephardic community. At the same time, Chinese, Mexican, Russian, and Yugoslavian immigrants also live in Gravesend. [23]

Transportation

There are three New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn named Avenue U:

Bus service on Avenue U is provided by the following:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatown, Manhattan</span> Neighborhood in New York City

Manhattan's Chinatown is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Manhattan's Chinatown is also one of the oldest Chinese ethnic enclaves. The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravesend, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the southwestern edge of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. It is bounded by the Belt Parkway to the south, Bay Parkway to the west, Avenue P to the north, and Ocean Parkway to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bensonhurst, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd Avenue and on the southwest by 86th Street. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights to the northwest, Borough Park and Mapleton to the northeast, Bath Beach to the southwest, and Gravesend to the southeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Sheepshead Bay is abutted by the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Homecrest to the west; Midwood to the north; and Gerritsen Beach to the east.

Brooklyn Community Board 15 is a New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Homecrest, and Plum Beach. It is delimited by Corbin Place, Coney Island Avenue, Avenue Y, 86th street, Avenue U and McDonald Avenue, Avenue P and Kings Highway on the north, Nostrand avenue and Marine Park on the east, as well as by the Atlantic Ocean on the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mott Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Mott Street is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatown's unofficial "Main Street". Mott Street runs from Bleecker Street in the north to Chatham Square in the south. It is a one-way street with southbound-running vehicular traffic only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community boards of Brooklyn</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neck Road station</span> New York City Subway station in Brooklyn

The Neck Road station is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at Gravesend Neck Road between East 15th and East 16th Streets in Homecrest, Brooklyn. The station is served by the Q train at all times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avenue U station (BMT Brighton Line)</span> New York City Subway station in Brooklyn

The Avenue U station is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway, located at Avenue U between East 15th and East 16th Streets in Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The station is served by the Q train at all times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homecrest, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

Homecrest is a neighborhood situated in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, sometimes considered as part of Sheepshead Bay. It is bordered by Kings Highway to the north, Avenue X to the south, Coney Island Avenue to the west, and Ocean Avenue to the east.

The demographics of Brooklyn reveal a very diverse borough of New York City and a melting pot for many cultures, like the city itself. Since 2010, the population of Brooklyn was estimated by the Census Bureau to have increased 3.5% to 2,592,149 as of 2013, representing 30.8% of New York City's population, 33.5% of Long Island's population, and 13.2% of New York State's population. If the boroughs of New York City were separate cities, Brooklyn would be the third largest city in the United States after Los Angeles and Chicago.

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Two Bridges is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, nestled at the southern end of the Lower East Side and Chinatown on the East River waterfront, near the footings of Brooklyn Bridge and of Manhattan Bridge. The neighborhood has been considered to be a part of the Lower East Side for much of its history. Two Bridges has traditionally been an immigrant neighborhood, previously populated by immigrants from Europe, and more recently from Latin America and China. The Two Bridges Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in September 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Fuzhou</span> Neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City ethnic enclaves</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatowns in Brooklyn</span>

The first Brooklyn Chinatown, was originally established in the Sunset Park area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Because this Chinatown is rapidly evolving into an enclave predominantly of Fuzhou immigrants from Fujian Province in China, it is now increasingly common to refer to it as the Little Fuzhou or Fuzhou Town of the Western Hemisphere; as well as the largest Fuzhou enclave of New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatowns in the United States</span> Ethnic Chinese enclaves in the United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese people in the New York City metropolitan area</span> Ethnic group in the United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatowns in Queens</span> Neighborhoods in New York City

There are multiple Chinatowns in the borough of Queens in New York City. The original Queens Chinatown emerged in Flushing, initially as a satellite of the original Manhattan Chinatown, before evolving its own identity, surpassing in scale the original Manhattan Chinatown, and subsequently, in turn, spawning its own satellite Chinatowns in Elmhurst, Corona, and eastern Queens. As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York has accelerated, and its Flushing neighborhood has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration. As of 2024, a significant new wave of Chinese Uyghur Muslims is fleeing religious persecution in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Province and seeking religious freedom in New York, and concentrating in Queens.

Fuzhounese Americans, also known as Hokchew Americans or Fuzhou Americans or imprecisely Fujianese, are Chinese American people of Fuzhou descent, in particular from the Changle district. Many Chinese restaurant workers in the United States are from Fuzhou. There are also a number of undocumented Fuzhounese immigrants in the United States who are smuggled in by groups such as snakeheads.

References

  1. ↑ Kirk Semple (2013-06-08). "A guide to the new immigrant enclaves of New York City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  2. ↑ Ellen Freudenheim (1999). Brooklyn: A Soup-to-Nuts Guide to Sites, Neighborhoods, and Restaurants (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 103. ISBN   9780312204464 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  3. 1 2 Hauck-Lawson, Annie; Deutsch, Jonathan (2009). Gastropolis: Food and New York City. Arts and traditions of the table. New York: Columbia University. p. 136. ISBN   9780231136532 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  4. ↑ "MTA/New York City Transit Subway Map" (PDF). MTA. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  5. ↑ Sallie Han and Daniel Young (1997-02-07). "AVENUE U EVOLVES INTO MEIN ST., U.S.A." New York Daily News . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  6. ↑ Michael Cooper (1995-10-22). "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SHEEPSHEAD BAY; New Language, and a New Life, for Avenue U". The New York Times . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  7. ↑ Wendy Wan-Yin Tan (2008). Chinatowns of New York City. Then and Now. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. p. 10. ISBN   9780738555102 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  8. ↑ Min Zhou (1992). Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave. Conflicts in urban and regional development. Philadelphia: Temple University. p. 6. ISBN   9780877229346 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  9. ↑ Min Zhou (2005), "Ethnicity as social capital: community-based institutions and embedded networks of social relations", in Glenn C. Loury; Tariq Modood; Steven Michael Teles (eds.), Ethnicity, Social Mobility and Public Policy: Comparing the USA and UK, Cambridge / New York: Cambridge University, p. 142, ISBN   9780521823098 , retrieved 2013-02-11
  10. ↑ Nancy Foner (1987). New Immigrants in New York. Columbia University. p. 145. ISBN   9780231061308 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  11. ↑ Martin Dunford and Jack Holland (1998). The Rough Guide to New York City (6th ed.). Rough Guides. ISBN   9781858282961 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  12. ↑ Jan Lin (1998). Reconstructing Chinatown: Ethnic Enclave, Global Change. Globalization and community. University of Minnesota. p. 31. ISBN   9780816629046 . Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  13. ↑ "Local Love: New York Mart on Avenue U". Kensingtonkitchen.wordpress.com. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  14. ↑ "Branch Locations - Brooklyn". Eastwestbank.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  15. ↑ "Profile of New York City's Vietnamese Americans" (PDF). Asian American Federation Census Information Center. 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  16. ↑ "Community Health Needs & Resource Assessment: An Exploratory Study of Vietnamese in NYC" (PDF). NYU School of Medicine, Institute of Community Health and Research, Center for the Study of Asian American Health. September 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  17. ↑ "Profile of New York City's Chinese Americans" (PDF). Asian American Federation. 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  18. ↑ "NYC'S ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (API) IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS" (PDF). NY Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  19. ↑ Lobo, Arun (2013). "The Newest New Yorkers". NYC Planning. Population Division of the New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved Oct 8, 2016.
  20. 1 2 Robbins, Liz (Apr 15, 2015). "With an Influx of Newcomers, Little Chinatown's Dot a Changing Brooklyn". The New York Times. Retrieved Oct 8, 2016.
  21. ↑ New York City Government (2000). "Demographic Analysis" (PDF). nyc.gov. pp. 2–6. Retrieved Nov 10, 2016.
  22. ↑ Salvo, Joseph; Lobo, Arun Peter; Maurer, Erica (2010). "New York City Population Projections by Age/Sex & Borough,2010-2040" (PDF). nyc.gov. Retrieved Nov 10, 2016.
  23. 1 2 Mooney, Jake (Aug 8, 2016). "A Neighborhood Both Insular and Diverse". The New York Times. Retrieved Oct 8, 2016.
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