Homecrest, Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. It borders Kings Highway
Kings Highway (Brooklyn)
Kings Highway is a broad avenue that passes mostly through areas in the southern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The west end is at Bay Parkway and 78th Street. East of Ocean Avenue the street becomes mostly residential, tending generally east, then northeast, then north through...
to the north, Avenue X to the south, Coney Island Avenue
Coney Island Avenue
Coney Island Avenue is a roadway in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that runs north-south for a distance of roughly five miles, almost parallel to Ocean Parkway. It begins at Brighton Beach Avenue in Coney Island and goes north to Park Circle at the southwest corner of Prospect Park, where...
to the west, and Ocean Avenue to the east. Homecrest uses the ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
, 11229. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15
Brooklyn Community Board 15
Brooklyn Community Board 15 is a local governmental body in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that encompasses the neighborhoods of Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Kings Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Kings Highway, East Gravesend, Madison, Homecrest, and Plum Beach...
. Homecrest is served by the NYPD's 61st Precinct.
Demography
The community has traditionally been home to a large Italian population and has also experienced an influx of people from Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and other former Eastern-bloc nations.
Chinatown, Homecrest/Sheepshead Bay (唐人街, 羊头湾)
From the turn of the century Avenue UAvenue U
Avenue U is a street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue and ends at Bergen Avenue...
(Ocean Pkwy. to Ocean Ave.) became New York City's newest Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
, as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
-run food markets, bakeries, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and general electronics dealers. It is in a way a 2nd extension of Manhattan's Chinatown since the Q
Q (New York City Subway service)
The Q Broadway Express is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored yellow on the route sign, on station signs and the official subway map, as it represents a service provided on the BMT Broadway Line through Manhattan....
trains are directly connected from Canal Street in Manhattan's Chinatown to Brooklyn's Avenue U Chinatown. It is the second Chinatown of Brooklyn after the older and larger Sunset Park Chinatown
Chinatown, Brooklyn
Chinatown, Brooklyn, or Brooklyn Chinatown , in the Sunset Park area of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
. Congestion and increasing property values in Brooklyn's first established Chinatown in Sunset Park has sent the Chinese population into this portion of Brooklyn, creating a second Chinatown of Brooklyn and in a way it is an extension of Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown. This Chinatown overlaps between the Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay sections.
This Chinatown, which occupies less than 10 blocks and emerged during the late 1990s is the smallest satellite Chinese community in New York City and still in an early developing stage. Its 2011 size resembles that of Manhattan Chinatown from the late 1800s to early 1900s when it was expanding from its original 10 block section of Doyer, Mott, and Pell Streets. Chinese residents calls this Avenue U in Chinese translation as U大道 and the Chinese translation for Sheepshead Bay is 羊头湾. Just around the Avenue U Chinatown, Homecrest Community Services is available to serve the Chinese Community. A smaller satellite office of Homecrest Community Services is also available in Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
's developing Chinatown Just a little bit outside of this little Chinese enclave, on Avenue U there is a Chinese supermarket named New York Mart. The East West Bank
East West Bank
East West Bank is a Chinese American bank in the state of California in the United States. It has 119 branch locations in northern and southern California, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Washington, two overseas branches in Hong Kong, one each in Shanghai and Shantou and representative...
so far is the only Chinese bank on Avenue U as a result serving as the main Chinese financial resource business for this tiny Chinatown.
Housing
In recent years many condominiums have sprung up. Many of the private residential two-story homes within the community have been renovated into mini-mansions, some estimated at a half-million to a million dollars in estimated value. Just South Of Avenue 'V' you will find many one-story bungalow type homes, as well as rows of one-story brick homes with community backyards and driveways.Education
Local Schools include St. Edmunds Preparatory Academy Roman Catholic, Nefesh Academy For Girls YeshivaYeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
, and Prospect Park Girls Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
which serve the student youth of the local Jewish Community. There is Windmill Montessori School. There are a number of Public Schools such as P.S. 255 Barbara Reing School (formerly William E. Kelly until 1994), P.S. 153 Homecrest and J.H.S. 234 W. Arthur Cunningham. Touro College
Touro College
Touro College is a sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education, in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by Dr. Bernard Lander, the College was established primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American community...
Graduate School Of Education and Psychology is located on Coney Island just South of Kings Highway (above Walgreen Drugs). Touro College
Touro College
Touro College is a sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education, in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by Dr. Bernard Lander, the College was established primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American community...
also has other campuses (such as "Computer") nearby along Kings Highway. A 'Stanley Kaplan' is located at E. 16th. and Kings Highway.
Transportation
The Community is serviced by the B and Q trains of the BMT Brighton LineBMT Brighton Line
The BMT Brighton Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train. The Q is joined by the B express train on weekdays...
, with stations located at Kings Highway
Kings Highway (BMT Brighton Line)
Kings Highway is an express station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway. Served by the Q train at all times and by the B on weekdays, it is located at Kings Highway between East 15th and East 16th Streets on the border of Midwood and Sheepshead Bay neighborhoods of Brooklyn.This...
, Avenue U
Avenue U (BMT Brighton Line)
Avenue U 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 Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. It is served by the Q train at all times....
and Neck Road
Neck Road (BMT Brighton Line)
Neck Road is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway. Served by the Q train at all times, it is located at Gravesend Neck Road between East 15th and East 16th Streets in Homecrest, Brooklyn....
. The B82, B49, B7, B68, B3, and other NYC Transit Bus routes service the area.
Emergency Health Services
Homecrest Health Center (NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) is located at 1601 Avenue S, at E. 16th St. It is a Public Health Facility. Coney Island HospitalConey Island Hospital
Coney Island Hospital is a public hospital located in Brooklyn, New York City. It is owned by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.-History:...
, NY Prysbeterian Community, and Beth Israel King Highway Div. serve the community. Many private outpatient medical facilities have also emerged.
Religious Groups
There is an ever growing population of members of the Jewish faith in the community, served by quite a few OrthodoxOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
and Sephardic synagogues. St. Edmunds Roman Catholic Parish serves the community, as does The First Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church Of Sheepshead Bay, The Homecrest Presbyterian Church, and other congregations of various denomination serve the growing Asian population. There is also a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall nearby.
Shopping
Kings Highway (To The South) Is One Of The Three Main Retail Shopping Districts. Second Is Coney Island Avenue, and the third is Avenue U. Lester's Clothing shops, Avenue 'U' at Coney Island Avenue, has been a long-time staple On Avenue U.Parks
William E. Kelly Memorial Park is a NYC P&R Park located along Avenue 'S', E. 14th.-15th. St.'s. It is a large community park featuring Tennis Courts, and a Kids Playground. Basketball and Handball Courts. Tennis Lessons are available from semi-pro instructors on-site (there may be a Fee).Kelly Playground is another NYC Parks & Recreation Playground which offers both basketball and handball courts, and it is located at East 16th. Street and Ave. 'S'. Students from the adjacent Public Schools, as well as local Yeshiva Schools, often utilize the playground when school is in session. Back in the 1960s through 1970s the playground featured a popular roller hockey rink.
Mellett Playground is a NYC Parks & Recreation Playground located along Avenue 'V, E. 13th.-14th. St.'s. It is A smaller community park featuring basketball hoops, a handball court as well as a kids playground area. Back in the 1970s, it was a late-night hangout for rowdy local youth. The attendant's park house was destroyed by fire set by vandals. A vocal group of community residents organized and formed the 'Mellett Park Civic Association'. Banded together they fought bureaucratic red tape to have the old fire ravaged parkhouse refurbished, as well as the rest of the playground. In the mornings many Asian members of the community use the park to practice Tai-Chi.
In film
- A Bronx TaleA Bronx TaleA Bronx Tale is a 1993 American crime drama film set in The Bronx during the turbulent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, and follows a young Italian-American teenager as his path in life is guided by two father figures, played by De Niro and Chazz Palminteri...
(1993), Starring Robert De Niro and Chazz Palminteri- Majority of The Street scenes filmed along Neck Road By The BMT Neck Road Subway Station, along Avenue's 'V' and 'W.' Film cars, props, lighting, the classic transit bus De Niro drove, and other gear were stored in Mellett Park during the filming. - Scenes from the film 'Brooklyn's Finest', starring Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, and Ellen Barkin, were recently filmed in the area of East 13th.-15th. St.'s, Kings Highway to Avenue 'R,' especially a Rented Residence On East 15th. Street.
External links
- William E. Kelly Memorial Park, New York City Department of Parks and RecreationNew York City Department of Parks and RecreationThe City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation is the department of government of the City of New York responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's...