Bushwick is one of NYC's oldest communities, and one of the first six towns that made up what is now Brooklyn. Founded in 1661 at the present intersection of Metropolitan Ave and Bushwick Ave, it was a sleepy Dutch farm until the 19th century. During NYC's industrial rise, it became a center for beer production, with a large German population, later joined by an Italian (sicilian) working class population.
This century, Bushwick has been more infamous than famous. After going through an almost complete demographic reversal (from white European to Black and Latino) and unfortunate confluence of racism, greed, and neglect doomed the area. Like the South Bronx, it suffered a huge amount of arson, taking down over 10% of the older housing stock in the area. It was during the Blackout of 1977 that Bushwick attained its nadir, when three days of rioting and looting left Broadway with dozens of burned out shops.
In the thirty years since, cooler heads and smarter planning have prevailed. Through the combined public (NYDCP, HPD, and NYCHA) and private (Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Eastern Brooklyn Congregations, NYC Husing Partnership) the neighbrohood has been given a new life.
As white young urbanites move in (driven frmo Williamsburg by rising rents) and the area gentrifies, the question is who and what will be left in a decade?
for more on Bushwick, see the upcoming exhibit at the Brooklyn historical Society, Up From Flames: Mapping the Recovery of Bushwick 1977-2007. www.upfromflames.com
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