Bath Beach, Brooklyn

Last updated

Bath Beach
Neighborhood of Brooklyn
Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line).jpg
The Bay Parkway subway station in Bath Beach
Etymology: The Bath spa in Bath, Somerset
Bath Beach, Brooklyn
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°36′07″N74°00′11″W / 40.602°N 74.003°W / 40.602; -74.003
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
StateFlag of New York.svg  New York
City New York City
Borough Brooklyn
Community District Brooklyn 11 [1]
Population
 (2020) [2]
 • Total33,070
Ethnicity
[3]
 • Asian41.0
 • White40.0
 • Hispanic14.2
 • Black1.3
 • Other0.6
ZIP Code
11214, 11228
Area codes 718, 347, 929, and 917

Bath Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beach Park and Golf Course to the northwest across 14th Avenue; and Gravesend to the east across Stillwell Avenue. [4]

Contents

History

Bay 34th Street Bath Beach2.jpg
Bay 34th Street

Bath Beach held one of Brooklyn's earliest African-American settlements. Freed slaves were given a parcel of land to settle in the mid-nineteenth century. The church that was once located in the heart of that community, Mount Zion Baptist, left the neighborhood and relocated to Bedford-Stuyvesant. [5] [6]

The term "Bath Beach" once described the beach resort specifically as part of the community of Bath, New York. Bath and Bath Beach are now more or less synonymous. The population of Bath Beach received a boost at the end of 1863 when steam dummy railroad service connected the community to the City of Brooklyn horsecar system terminal at 25th Street and 5th Avenue in Sunset Park. Bath Beach, named for the English spa, Bath, Somerset, was developed as a recreational seaside retreat for affluent families. [5] It was part of the original Brooklyn town of New Utrecht. Although Coney Island was nearby, Bath Beach also had its own amusement park.

Despite its name, the neighborhood no longer has an actual beach. [7] The beach was paved over during the mid-twentieth century to create the Shore Parkway. On the northwestern half, a promenade was constructed to allow residents access to a sea wall. The southwestern half, filled in with land excavated from the construction of the Shore (Belt) Parkway in the early 1940s, extended Bensonhurst Park, [8] between 21st Avenue and Bay Parkway from Cropsey Avenue with ballfields and, later, the Ceasar's Bay shopping center.

Demographics

Bath Beach is primarily a working-class community of semi-attached houses and small apartment houses. Bath Beach is a mixed ethnic community as more recent Chinese, Central American, Middle Eastern, and former Soviet immigrants primarily from Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan mix with the declining Italian-American population. The neighborhood contains a variety of small mom-and-pop businesses intermixed with chain stores, most of which are located at the Ceasar's Bay Shopping Center at the terminus of Bay Parkway, as well as on 86th Street.

Based on data from the 2020 United States Census, the population of Bath Beach was 33,070. Covering an area of 480.37 acres (194.40 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 62.3 inhabitants per acre (39,900/sq mi; 15,400/km2). [2]

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 41% (13,543) Asian American, 40% (13,227) White, 1.3% (443) African American 0.6% (187) from other races, and 2.9% (975) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.2% (4,695) of the population. [3]

In the 20th Centrury Bath Beach has had a long history of being predominantly populated by Italian Americans just like other surrounding areas like Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Gravesend who previously had a large population of Italian Americans. However, since the 1990s, large influx of Asian or American-Asian residents, mainly of Chinese heritage have been moving into these neighborhoods and in the 2020 census data according to the New York City Department of City Planning, both the white population and Asian population in Bath Beach were between 10,000 to 19,999 indicating that the neighborhood approximately are almost equally white and Asian populated, though a CNN article about the US racial populations shows in further detail that the white population is just slightly higher than the Asian population in Bath Beach. However, as of 2020, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst showed the Asian populations surpassing the white populations for the first time in history. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Street grid

PS 163, the Bath Beach School PS 163 Bath Beach 17th Av Rutherford Pl jeh.jpg
PS 163, the Bath Beach School

Streets of the neighborhood have a unique nomenclature. Four two-way thoroughfares traverse the neighborhood, running southeast/northwest, parallel to Shore Parkway: these are Cropsey Avenue, Bath Avenue, Benson Avenue, and 86th Street. Another, Harway Avenue, runs from Stillwell only as far as 24th Avenue. The one-way northeast/southwest cross-streets are numbered, with the word "Bay" attached (to distinguish them from other numbering systems elsewhere in the borough), from Bay 7th Street in the northwest through Bay 54th Street in the southeast. Every third "Bay" numbered street is replaced with a two-way numbered avenue, from 14th Avenue in the northwest to 28th Avenue in the southeast (except for what would be 22nd Avenue, which is called Bay Parkway). These avenues (as well as 86th Street) are part of the larger grid of avenues and streets encompassing other neighborhoods to the north and west, in the former Towns of Gravesend, New Utrecht, and Brooklyn. Belt Parkway runs on the shorefront north of Bay Parkway and is close to the shorefront south of Bay Parkway.

Parks

Parks in Bath Beach include Bensonhurst Park located at the intersection of Cropsey Ave. and Bay Parkway, the Shore Parkway bike path/promenade west of the Belt Parkway, Bath Playground, Calvert Vaux Park, Scarangella Playground, and Anthony Catanzaro Square.

Transportation

Bath Beach is served by the D service of the New York City Subway system, along the BMT West End Line. Stations along the line serving the community are 18th Avenue, 20th Avenue, Bay Parkway, 25th Avenue, and Bay 50th Street. [14] MTA Regional Bus Operations routes serving Bath Beach include the B1 , B3 , B6 , B8 , B64 , B82 and B82 SBS [15] in addition to the X28 and X38. [15] express routes.

Library

The Brooklyn Public Library's Ulmer Park branch is located at 2602 Bath Avenue near 26th Avenue. It was founded as a subdivision of another library in 1951 before becoming a full-fledged circulation branch in 1956. The current building was opened in 1963 and was renovated in 2016. [16]

During the 1970s, Bath Beach's commercial strip along 86th Street was used for scenes in the 1971 feature film The French Connection , in the opening credits to the popular television series Welcome Back, Kotter , and most famously in the opening scene of the 1977 feature film Saturday Night Fever . Tony Manero, the lead character (played by John Travolta), walks along the sidewalk, admires shoes in a storefront window, buys two (stacked) slices of pizza through a pizzeria window-counter at Lenny's Pizza, and ends up at the hardware store where he works (based on a real hardware store on Fifth Avenue in nearby Bay Ridge). The strip was used again in 2016 for the filming of Red Hot Chili Peppers - Go Robot music video. The film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum features the main character on horseback along 86th Street. [17]

Notable people

Notable current and former residents of Bath Beach include:

Related Research Articles

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

Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and 14th Avenues, 65th Street, and the Belt Parkway on the west, east, north, and south, respectively.

<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">Belt Parkway</span> Highway in New York

The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of controlled-access parkways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as the Belt System: the Shore Parkway, the Southern Parkway, and the Laurelton Parkway. The three parkways in the Belt Parkway are a combined 25.29 miles (40.70 km) in length. The Cross Island Parkway makes up the fourth parkway in the system, but is signed separately.

Brooklyn Community Board 11 is New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bath Beach, Gravesend, Mapleton, and Bensonhurst. It is delimited by Bay 8th Street and 14th Avenue on the west, 61st Street on the north, McDonald Avenue on the east, as well as by Avenue U and Gravesend Bay on the south.

Brooklyn Community Board 13 is a New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Gravesend, and Seagate. It is delimited by Gravesend Bay on the west, 26th Avenue, 86th Street, Avenue Y on the north, Coney Island Avenue and Corbin Place on the east, as well as by Lower New York Bay on the south.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay Parkway (Brooklyn)</span> Avenue in Brooklyn, New York

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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.

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Bensonhurst Park is a park in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York City. The park stretches from the north border at Cropsey Avenue to the south border at Lower New York Bay. The park has a playground on the north-east side, a field in the middle of the playground and several basketball courts on the west side. There is also a bathroom in the northwest side of the park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvert Vaux Park</span> Public park in Brooklyn, New York

Calvert Vaux Park is an 85.53-acre (34.61 ha) public park in Gravesend, Brooklyn, in New York City. Created in 1934, it is composed of several disconnected sections along the Belt Parkway between Bay 44th and Bay 49th Streets. The peninsula upon which the park is located faces southwest into Gravesend Bay, immediately north of the Coney Island Creek. The park was expanded in the 1960s by waste from the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and was renamed after architect Calvert Vaux in 1998. It is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as NYC Parks.

References

  1. ↑ "NYC Planning | Community Profiles". communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning . Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  2. 1 2 https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?compareTo=BK1102 Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2020], Population Division - New York City Department of City Planning, November 2021. Accessed January 22, 2024.
  3. 1 2 , Population Division - New York City Department of City Planning, November,2021.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Joyce (May 30, 1999). "If You're Thinking of Living In /Bath Beach, Brooklyn; Once a Bayfront Resort, Now Residential". New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Jackson, Kenneth T.; and John B. Manbeck. The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn. New York: Citizens Committee for New York City, 1998. ISBN   0300103107
  6. ↑ "Real Estate Scene Bath Beach Appeal Swelling Waterfront Neighborhood’s Up And Coming", New York Daily News , June 15, 2000. Accessed February 16, 2024. "But it also was home to one of Brooklyn's earliest settlements of free blacks, dating to a land grant to freed slaves in the mid-1800s. The church they formed, Mount Zion Baptist, has since moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant."
  7. ↑ Hughes, C.J. (September 9, 2007). "A Little Land With a Lot of Sand". The New York Times . Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ Bensonhurst Park Cropsey Avenue, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed February 16, 2024.
  9. ↑ "New York City Market Analysis - Brooklyn Profiles". 1943 – via DocumentCloud.
  10. ↑ Carellini, Jenna (November 21, 2019). "Italian Americans in Bensonhurst and Surrounding Areas". ArcGIS StoryMaps.
  11. ↑ Keefe, John; Wolfe, Daniel; Hernandez, Sergio (August 12, 2021). "Map: Race and ethnicity across the US". CNN .
  12. ↑ Gebeloff, Robert; Lu, Denise; Jordan, Miriam (August 21, 2021). "Inside the Diverse and Growing Asian Population in the U.S." The New York Times.
  13. ↑ "Key Population & Housing Characteristics; 2020 Census Results for New York City" (PDF). New York City Department of City Planning. August 2021. pp. 21, 25, 29, 33. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  15. 1 2 "Brooklyn Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. October 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Ulmer Park Library". Brooklyn Public Library. August 22, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  17. ↑ Geberer, Raanan (July 17, 2018). "Keanu Reeves rides through Bensonhurst on horseback". Brooklyn Eagle. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  18. ↑ "'Hereafter Musical' takes a joyful look at the afterlife", Brooklyn Daily Eagle , October 23, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2024. "Favale, a Bath Beach native who is a graduate of Saint Finbar School, William Grady High School and Brooklyn College, is the vice president of CBS and is the head of late night programming for the network."
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