Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in northern Brooklyn, New York City. It is connected to the East Village and Lower East Side in Manhattan by the Williamsburg Bridge, over the East River, as well as the L and J/M/Z subway lines. Williamsburg is home to many ethnic groups, a thriving art community, and, increasingly, commuters to Manhattan.

The area originally called Williamsburg is today referred to as "South Williamsburg" and occupied mainly by the Yiddish-speaking Satmar Hassidim, who continue to wear the traditional dress of their ancestors of Eastern and Central Europe and adhere closely to Jewish religious law. North of traditional Williamsburg is an area known as the "South Side," occupied by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. To the north of that is an area known as the "North Side," traditionally Polish and Italian, but now host to an increasing numbers of hipsters: artists and those who wish to associate with artists. East Williamsburg is home to many industrial spaces and forms the largely black and Hispanic area between Williamsburg and Bushwick. Williamsburg, South Side, North Side, Greenpoint and East Williamsburg all form Brooklyn Community Board 1. The hippy center of Williamsburg radiates from the strip of Bedford Avenue near the Bedford Avenue Station on the L train, the first stop from Manhattan. The neighborhood's art scene inspired the book The Williamsburg Guide to Dating by Robert Lanham, which initially appeared on Williamsburg's culture website, FreeWilliamsburg.com.

History

Independent Williamsburgh

In 1638, the Dutch West India Company first purchased the area's land from the local Native Americans. In 1661, the company chartered the Town of Boswijck, including land that would later become Williamsburg. After the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the town's name was anglified to Bushwick. In 1802, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull acquired 13 acres (53,000 m²) near what would become Metropolitan Avenue, then North 2nd Street. He had Colonel Jonathan Williams, a U.S. Engineer, survey the property, and named it Williamsburgh (with an h at the end) in his honor.

Williamsburgh was incorporated as the Village of Williamsburgh within the Town of Bushwick in 1827. In two years it had a fire company, a post office and a population of over 1,000. The deep drafts along the East River encouraged industrialists, many from Germany, to build shipyards around Williamsburgh. Raw material was shipped in, and finished products were sent out of many factories straight to the docks. Several sugar barons built processing refineries. Now all are gone except the now-defunct Domino Sugar (formerly Havemeyer & Elder). Shipbuilding was also an important industry here. The great ironclad warship USS Monitor was built in neighboring Greenpoint. And there were several breweries as well as a variety of other industries.

Reflecting its increasing urbanization, Williamsburgh separated from Bushwick as the Town of Wiliamsburgh in 1840. It became the City of Williamsburgh in 1852, which was organized into three wards. The old First Ward roughly coincides with the South Side and the Second Ward with the North Side, with the modern boundary at Grand Avenue. The Third Ward was to the east of these, beginning to approach modern Eastern Williamsburg.

In Brooklyn's Eastern District

In 1855, the City of Williamsburgh, along with the adjoining Town of Bushwick, were annexed into the City of Brooklyn as the so-called Eastern District. The First Ward of Williamsburgh became Brooklyn's 13th Ward, the Second Ward Brooklyn's 14th Ward, and the Third Ward Brooklyn's 15th and 16th Wards.

In modern times the conception of Williamsburg (which lost its h with the Brooklyn merger) has expanded to cover areas not historically a part of the City of Williamsburgh. Much of what has later come to be understood as the heart of Williamsburg, the area south of Division Avenue in the west and Broadway in the east, was actually originally the Wallabout section of the City of Brooklyn. Also, much of what is today called East Williamsburg was originally organized as Brooklyn's 18th Ward from the Bushwick annexation, exclusive of the 27th and 28th Wards encompassing what is today called Bushwick, which were split off in 1892.

During its period as part of Brooklyn's Eastern District, the area achieved remarkable industrial, cultural, and economic growth, and local businesses thrived. Wealthy New Yorkers such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and railroad magnate Jim Fisk built shore-side mansions. Charles Pratt and his family founded the Pratt Institute, the great school of art & architecture, and the Astral Oil Works, which later became part of Standard Oil. Corning Glass Works was founded here before moving upstate to Corning, New York. Chemist Charles Pfizer founded Pfizer Pharmaceutical in Williamsburgh, and the company still maintains its headquarters in the neighborhood. Brooklyn's Broadway street, ending in the ferry to Manhattan, became the area's lifeline. At one point in the 19th century Williamsburg possessed 10% of the wealth of the United States and was the engine of American growth.

The Kings County Savings Institution was charted on April 10, 1860. It carried in business in a building called Washington Hall until, it purchased the lot on the corner of Bedford Avenue and erected its permanent home, the Kings County Savings Bank building. This was the bank used by the wealthiest men in America. It remains to this day probably the most historically important landmark in Williamsburg, representing a time of conspicuous wealth and the industrial and financial strength of the American phenomenon.

Crossing Boroughs

In 1898 Brooklyn itself became one of five boroughs within the City of Greater New York, and its Williamsburg neighborhood was opened to closer connections with the rest of the new city.

Just five years later, the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 marked the real turning point in the area’s history. The community was then opened up to thousands of upwardly mobile immigrants and second-generation Americans fleeing the overcrowded slum tenements of Manhattan's Lower East Side. Williamsburg itself soon became the most densely populated neighborhood in the United States.

After World War II, the economy sagged. Refugees from war-torn Europe began to stream into Brooklyn, including the Hasidim whose populations had been devastated in the Holocaust. The area south of Division Avenue is home to a large population of adherents to the Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism. Hispanics from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic also began to settle in Williamsburg. But with the decline of industry and the increase of population and poverty, crime and illegal drugs, Williamsburg became a cauldron of pent-up energies. Those who were able to move out did, and the area became known for its crime and other social ills.

Since the 1990s a flood of artists out of areas such as SoHo began to move into Williamsburg for cheap rent and convenient transportation, one subway stop from Manhattan. The community was small at first, but by 1996 Williamsburg had accumulated an artist population of about 3,000.

Yuko Nii founded the nonprofit Williamsburg Art & Historical Center (WAH Center) in late 1996 based upon what she calls her "Bridge Concept". She also wanted to preserve the WAH Centers building the Kings County Savings Bank building which is on the National Register of Historic Places and the 7th building in New York City to be made a landmark.

Environmental Hazards

Radiac Research Corporation, a radioactive and hazardous waste storage plant operates on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Radiac has a permit from the state's Department of Labor to store radioactive medical waste, including uranium and plutonium. Led by a local group, Neighbors Against Garbage, the plant's opponents believe that a truck bomb, for example, could cause a fire or explosion that could spew radioactive contaminants over parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. That would not be hard to do, they say, because Radiac's buildings either abut Kent Avenue or are separated from the street by a parking lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. City Councilman David Yassky, whose district includes the area, said the 35-year-old facility was no longer appropriate at its current site now that the city is a potential terrorist target. "A fire in the chemical part could easily spread," he said, "and we could easily face a dirty-bomb situation."

In 1984 through 1985 a local block association WABBA (Williamsburg Around the Bridge Association) legally challenged the EPA to enforce a standing regulation that would have required the Radiac facility to maintain a buffer zone between the facility and the street. As Radiac operates in a very small footprint this would effectively put them out of the hazardous waste storage business. The rationale beind this strategy was that lack of space forced Radiac to load and unload drums containing toxic and explosive waste in and around moving traffic. The challenge failed however.

Music Scene

In recent years, Williamsburg has become a rival to Manhattan as a home for live music and new bands. Venues like Warsaw, Pete's Candy Store, Northsix, Kingsland Tavern, Union Pool Bar, Galapagos, Asterisk Art Project, free103point9, Tommy's Tavern, the Glasshouse, the Woodser, and the Local (aka Rock Star Bar aka Ship's Mast aka Rocky's aka the Mermaid Bar) are host to some of NYC's newest talents.

Jazz has begun to find a foothold in Williamsburg as well, with classic jazz full time at restaurant venues like Zebulon and Moto, and - on the more avant / noise side - at tiny spots like the Lucky Cat, B.P.M., Monkeytown, and Eat Records.

There is also an active Jazz scene among the immigrant Polish community in nearby Greenpoint, centered around the large dance-club lounges such as Europa and Exit. Similarly, a Latin Jazz community continues amongst the Caribbean community in East Williamsburg, centered around the many social clubs in the neighborhood.

Many roving parties have become cultural institutions of themselves for the performing arts in Williamsburg, including Mighty Robot, Twisted Ones, Todd P's parties, Dot Dash, and Rubulad.

Record stores in the Williamsburg / Greenpoint area include Academy LPs, Earwax, Eat Records, Soundfix, the record store at Beacon's Closet, Passout Records, the Thing, and the record store at the Reel Life Video Annex.

Musicians' stores in Williamsburg include Main Drag Music, Mikey's Hookup, and the MTC Drum Shop.

Williamsburg and its scene has produced alternative and avant rock bands such as They Might Be Giants, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio (who featured an image of the Williamsburg Bridge approach on the inside of their debut EP, "Young Liars"), White Magic, Interpol, Japanther, The Hypermodernity Club, Oneida, Liars, Awesome Color,Men's Tennis, Cheeseburger, The Jewish,Diamond Nights, Sightings, Langhorne Slim, Vic Thrill, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Ghost Exits, Matt & Kim, Will Hawkins, The Rapture, Pixeltan, Enon, Young People, Ex Models, Rogers Sisters, Double Leopards, Aa (aka Big A little a), Gang Gang Dance, SnapPusher, Les Savy Fav, BARR, Black Dice, Out Hud, !!! (aka "Chk Chk Chk"), and Animal Collective.

In the late twentieth century a number of unlicensed performance, theater and music venues operated in abandoned industrial buildings. Keep Refrigerated, The Lizard's Tail, Quiet Life and others attracted a mix of artists, musicians and urban underground for late night dance and performance events, which were occassionally interupted and the venues temporarily closed by the fire department.

The neighborhood also has the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of electroclash, a genre fostered by self-styled New York celebrity Larry Tee and his Berliniamsburg parties (he even trademarked "electroclash," the word). For two years - starting the week before September 11, 2001 - Tee's internationally popular Saturday parties at Club Luxx (now Trash) introduced lo-fi electronic performers like W.I.T., A.R.E. Weapons, Fisherspooner, Avenue D, Misty Martinez and Stalker7. By the summer of 2003, the fad dried up and Larry Tee's Williamsburg music nights were discontinued.

Rents

Low rents were a major reason why artists first started settling in the area, but that situation has drastically changed. Average rents in Williamsburg can now range from approximately $1000 for a studio apartment, $1,300-1,600 for a one-bedroom, and $1,500 -1,900 for a two-bedroom. In many buildings, the rents have more than doubled in the past few years alone. The North Side (above Grand Street, which separates the North Side from the South Side, is somewhat more expensive, due to its proximity to the L and G train lines. More recent gentrification, however, has prompted an increase in rent prices below Grand Street as well. Higher rents - and now the imminent spectre of waterfront rezoning and high-rise construction - have driven many priced-out bohemians to find new creative communities further afield in areas like the so-called East Williamsburg Industrial Park, Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Long Island City, Clinton Hill and even Red Hook.

Feast of St. Paulinus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel

A significant component of the Italian community on the North Side were immigrants from the city of Nola near Naples. Residents of Nola every summer celebrate the "Festa del Giglio" (feast of lillies) in honor of St. Paulinus of Nola, who was bishop of Nola in the Fifth Century. The immigrants brought the traditions of the feast with them. For two weeks every summer, the streets surrounding Our Lady of Mount Carmel church, located on Havemeyer and North 8th Streets, is dedicated to a celebration of Italian culture. The highlights of the feast are the "Giglio Sundays" when a 100 foot tall statute, complete with band and a singer, is carried around the streets in honor of Paulinus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Despite the fact that many of the descendants of the early Italian immigrants have moved away, many return each summer for the feast.

Rezoning of 2005

On May 11 2005 the New York City Council passed a large-scale rezoning of the North Side and Greenpoint waterfront. Now, most of the neighborhood will be zoned for high density residential uses and mixed use with a set-aside (but no earmarked funding) for the creation of open waterfront park space, as well as strict building guidelines calling for developers to create a continuous two-mile-long string of waterfront esplanades (with access to be controlled by property owners). Local elected officials touted the rezoning as an economically beneficial way to address the decline of manufacturing along the North Brooklyn waterfront, which had resulted in a number of vacant and derelict warehouses in Williamsburg.

The majority of the land is being rezoned to permit "mixed use", a zoning designation that will permit dozens of free market highrises with commercial retail on ground level. In theory, these free market developments will sit next to low-rise affordable housing and a 28-acre waterfront park. The plan also calls for the developments to include continuous riverfront promenades - though these will be maintained by, and their access controlled by, the private developments adjacent to them. The plan also "preserves" about 20 blocks off the waterfront near Bushwick Inlet to remain zoned for light manufacturing uses.

The rezoning is a new dramatic shift of scale in what has been a continuing process of gentrification in the area over the past fifteen years. The neighborhoods were once characterized by active manufacturing and other light industry interspersed with smaller residential buildings, but are now dominated by over a hundred residentially converted loft buildings and new residential buildings. The rezoning is projected to result in the creation of about 10,000 new - mostly high end - condominiums and apartments in about 10 years.

Critics of the rezoning have contended that the rezoning will irrecoverably distort the existing community's character ("Manhattanization") and force out existing residents, and that the plan lacks adequate provisions for public transportation or public safety infrastructure to accommodate the expected new residents. Other detractors cite that the plan is vulnerable to any downturn in the luxury market and could leave the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfronts with vast swaths of cleared vacant lots if investors do not see expected returns on their initial contruction projects - reducing historic existing warehouses and factories to permanently rubble filled lots with no new construction.

Officials championing the rezoning cite its supposed economic benefits, the new private waterfront promenades, and its Inclusionary Housing component - which offers developers large tax breaks in exchange for promises to rent about 1/3 of the newly created housing units at "affordable" rates (which amount to upper-middle class pricing). Critics counter that similarly modest set-asides for "affordable" housing have gone unfulfilled in previous large-scale developments, such as Battery Park City.

As of May 2006, multiple lawsuits were pending in relation to a 1,100 megawatt power plant previously proposed for the same site set aside by the City for the new waterfront park. Another lawsuit has been brought by industrial property owners who allege they will be forced out by the rezoning. Williamsburg is a neighborhood visibly in transition.

Grassroots Development

Recently, efforts have been made to keep open, or re-open, firehouses slated for closure in Williamsburg. In addition, a movement to convert Bedford Avenue into a pedestrian viaduct has been proposed by some residents. ^*

External links

Brooklyn neighborhoods | Orthodox Jewish communities | Satmar Hasidism | Polish-Americans

Williamsburg (Brooklyn) | װיליאַמסבורג, ברוקלין

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