In Bushwick, Crap Sales Are No Crapshoot
Welcome Molly, a student at Columbia Journalism, to the blog. She’ll be posting original stories she digs up on her new beat: Bushwick. They’ll be newsier than we’re used to here. — Jeremy
Outside her McKibbin Street loft in Bushwick last Saturday, Hester Sunshine was selling her life away.
“Buy my crap – I need to go to London,” the tall, tattooed brunette urged curious passers-by as they eyed piles of vintage clothing and 1980s nostalgia.
Sunshine, an aspiring accessories designer and business owner, departs for London in three weeks to begin fashion school, and in true entrepreneurial spirit, she set up shop on a trendy strip in Bushwick. “I want to leave with a single suitcase,” she explained, behind rhinestone-studded aviators. “And I have amazing stuff. Just because I’m sick of it doesn’t mean someone else won’t want it.”
Sunshine is correct. This up-and-coming neighborhood in northeast Brooklyn is attracting a post-college hipster crowd, possibly a spillover from nearby Williamsburg, but definitely the type to find Sunshine’s stuff funky, not junky. Edgy twenty-somethings gushed over the goods, which included a working Atari set, colorful roller skates, and a Bollywood-themed clock.
Most items cost just a few dollars, except for furniture, as Sunshine wanted to liquidate fast and close before dark. Her goal of $400 was, judging by the wad of cash tucked into her electric blue leggings, entirely probable – especially considering her unique way of up-charging. “That’s ten dollars because it’s ridiculously amazing,” she informed a teenage girl, referring to the Bollywood clock. A light-up Ballantine Ale sign was also a justifiable ten bucks, “because it works.”
Sunshine is not all business, though. She had charitable moments as well. When two young boys on bicycles discovered a messy mound of old video game controllers, she told them they could each have one if they untangled all the cords. Noting the heat, she also threw in two dollars “for bottled water.”
The boys got to work and in no time, Sunshine’s solo project turned into a community gathering of sorts. Items were placed on hold while buyers ran to get cash, people strolled back and forth between the street sale and a nearby coffee shop, and Sunshine connected with neighbors over her belongings, caring more about making people happy than making money. She gave away a free doll head to a joyful recipient: “I have a bunch of dismembered baby dolls and I really think this will fit,” the girl said.
It saddened Sunshine to see some things go, like a pair of fake denim ski pants, but the desire to get rid of her baggage (quite literally) and start over was much more important. “I had a really intense year at my loft,” she said. “I’m very ready to leave.”
Plus, after five years of living in Bushwick, she knows the neighborhood and enjoyed selling her things to similar people. “I’m happy to see everything go” to them, she declared. Pausing to tie a blue printed scarf around her perfectly messy hair, Sunshine, ever the fashionista, added that the woman who bought the ski pants “looked adorable in them, so it was okay. She looked hot, and that’s the whole point.”
September 6th, 2007 at 11:15 am
welcome to the blog. and thank you, it was nice reading.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Molly, that was great. It’s nice to read a Talk of the Town-style piece about Bushwick. Thanks for joining this blog, and please write more!
September 6th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Molly, great piece - I look forward to reading more from you!
September 6th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Aren’t the McKibbin Dorms in Williamsburg by virtue of being on the wrong side of Flushing?
September 6th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Interesting piece. Sounds like Sunshine is quite the character!
September 6th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Jon, we consider everything east of Bushwick Av and south of Johnson to be Bushwick, as do most other people.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Sorry to dissapoint but Jon is right, Flushing Ave is the border between Williamsburg and Bushwick always has been. East Williamsburg is the name of a real commuity it was not invented by the real estate interests and before that it was known ad Dutchtown and English Kills.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Hi Brooklyn Pete. I’m not so sure that Flushing has always been the border dividing Bushwick from Williamsburg. For example, if you cross Flushing at Bushwick avenue and go up as far as Grand street, you might still be in Bushwick. Funny thing is that the area where Bushwick ave and Humbolt street almost meet was the original center of Bushwick. I have an old sketch of that intersection from about the mid 1600s that shows an old church surrounded by a few houses. This is where Bushwick was born. Not far from Newton creek. But then again, borders do change often.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:15 am
If you went back 50 years ago and asked the residents of “East Williamsburg” where they lived - aspecially the ones living around Morgan Ave. - most would have answered Bushwick. This was the one community north of Flushing Ave. that maintained its Bushwick identity the longest. There are a few reasons for this. First, this mostly Catholic area was served by the now defunct St. Leonard’s Church, a clearly Bushwick establishment. Second, Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct included this area until the mid 1970’s. (I think it went up as far as Metropolitan Ave.) It should also be noted that this section of “Williamsburg” was never a part of the old City of Williamsburg and remained part of Bushwick Village until both Bushwick and Williamsburg were incorporated into Brooklyn in 1856.
The decision by the City to zone East Williamsburg for Manufacturing use in 1961 had a devestating effect upon what was then a gritty but pretty solid mixed-use community. Hundreds of housing units were lost during the following years, and many of the residents who left were the ones who considered themselves to be Bushwickites.
Also, Tony is absolutely correct that the original Bushwick settlement - Bushwick Green - was situated at the Metropolitan/Humboldt intersection - where Bushwick Ave. begins. This occurred in 1660. Initially, all of what is now Community Districts 1 and 4 were included in the Town of Bushwick. Williamsburg did not exist until the early 1800’s. What happened was that the people of Bushwick were mostly farmers who literally followed Bushwick Ave. in search of new farmland in the “New Lots”, i.e., the area we now call Bushwick. The far more dynamic and commercially oriented Williamsburg rapidly expanded and transformed “Old Bushwick” into its own community.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:26 am
John, thanks for that, I had always wondered if the area between Flushing and Johnson had once been more residential, since pockets of buildings that are clearly intended to be residential still exist.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
another awesome historically-contextual explanation from John D! i wonder which brooklyn neighborhood is the largest colloquially if not geographically. Bushwick is pretty damn huge.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Bed-Stuy is massive, too.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
yeah, but its gettin smaller all the time! “Clinton Hill” seems to keep moving east (realtors are saying the border is Nostrand now!)
September 7th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Like Bushwick, I think that once the name of the neighborhood is considered acceptable/cool, the borders will snap back. Not that they ever moved in the minds of the people who were there before. It’s all relative and rather subjective.
Which can be confusing!
September 7th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Clinton Hill extending to Nostrand? That’s SO last July. Guess you guys didn’t see the 888 Myrtle Avenue condos. According to the Corcoran website, Clinton Hill now extends to Tompkins Avenue. Bed-Stuy loses a few blocks every month. Take a look:
http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=993765
September 7th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
John: St.Leonards did not serve those residents, there was a church no also gone called Our Lady of Sorrows on Morgan Ave that served them. When Our Lady of Sorrows shut down it was merged into St.Leonards but then St.Leonards was not long after merged into St.Joseph. And lets not forget about Most Holy Trinity the “mother” church of the Eastern District.
Bed-Stuy is the joining of what were once two seperate communities Bedford Corners and Stuyvesant Heights. Bedford Corners ran from Flushing Ave south to Atlantic Ave and from Classn Ave to Throop Ave. Everything east of Throop and west of Broadway within the same North-South boundaries was Stuyvesant Heights in the 1940s the names became synanomous with the growing Black community in Brooklyn hence the joining. In terms of Bushwick in the 19th Century that may have been considered Bushwick township but for the 20th Century that was mainly a “border town” between the two nabes. To get even more technical Bushwick extends only as far as Central Ave, everything north/east of Central Ave was for many years called Ridgewood until the Queens portion had it’s zip code changed.
As for the heart of Bushwick south of Myrtle Ave there is no division between the neighborhood SoBu is just a term to bring in yuppies. What’s next is Wyckoff Ave going to become Ridge-Wick or East New York ENY or Brownsville will be called by it’s older name Ocean Hill maybe shortened to the OH like a very wealthy OC in California
Keep Bushwick whole from Flushing Ave to Broadway Junction fanning northeast of Broadway is one solid Bushwick.
P.S. New Lots is named after the town of Lott in Holland not from people looking for “New Lots” to build homes. My mom is a native of New Lots Ave all the way down in the bottom of East New York and the New Lots Reformed church is located there. Bushwick has it’s own on Bushwick Ave.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Pete, interesting comments. I never heard of Our Lady of Sorrows Church, so it must have met its demise pretty early. Where exactly was it located? I know a number of former residents of East Williamsburg, and they all worshippped at St. Leonards, which was a major force in this area; until the mid-1960’s, it even ran a High School for boys. When it closed, several students came over to Most Holy Trinity, where I was then a student.
Regarding Flushing Avenue as the dividing line between Williamsburg and Bushwick, bear in mind that, prior to the establishment of Community Districts in Brooklyn in the mid 1960’s, Flushing Ave. was never a dividing line at all. If anything, the 83rd Police Precinct which, as I prevoiusly noted, included all of “Williamsburg” east of Bushwick Ave, and south of Metropolitan Ave., probably determined communities more than anything else. While this definately changed after the Community Districts were created - and especially after the 1975 Charter amendments were enacted - it still had a significant and continuing effect.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:22 am
The Church was on Morgan Ave and Harrison Pl and shut down in 1946. My uncle grew up on Boerum St east of Bushwick Ave and always called it Southside?
September 8th, 2007 at 2:29 am
1939 map
September 8th, 2007 at 5:31 am
The fact that “East Williamsburg” was able to support its own church at least until 1946 - and let’s not also forget the still existing Our Lady of Pompeii on - I think - Seigel and White, which originally served the more recently arriving Sicilian population - indicates that this was once a far more residential community than I had previously imagined it to be. It also got me to recall a passage from “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. One of the Nolans’ many apartments was located on Bogart St. which, as far as I can remember, never contained any traditional residential buildings.
“New Lots” can - and has - been used to refer both specifically to the town Brooklyn Pete mentioned and generically to describe a previously unsettled portion of a town that is open for development. All of the six original Brooklyn towns had “New Lots”, in the latter sense, and referred to them accordingly.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Thanks for the interesting historical facts, Brooklyn Pete. I kinda wish that Bed-Stuy would break up into the separate neighborhoods again, because I live in the poorer Bedford Corners and it’s very different from the affluent Stuyvesant Heights.
September 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
All this technical political borders junk aside, the fact is, for the last several decades, people in parts of East Williamsburg did and do consider themselves to live in Bushwick.
“SoBu” is a joke on this site, it’s not a term to bring yuppies in. But it’s a gigantic neighborhood, and it is helpful to distinguish between North and South Bushwick when describing one’s neighborhood.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Doesn’t the zip code change from the 11206 (ie, most of Southeast Wburg) to something else across Flushing Ave?
Also wtf: the WaMu @ Graham(iirc) and Grand being “Bushwick financial center” and the one at Graham by the Flushing M is “Williamsburg”.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Zip codes mean nothing in Brooklyn. They were superimposed upon existing communities about 100 years ago. The fact that the 11206 code includes a portion of north Bed-Sty - the Marcy, Tompkins and Sumner projects to be specific - and a small piece of Bushwick - does not make them a part of Williamsburg. Neither does the 11221 zip code say anything about the Bed-Sty and Bushwick communities that it traverses. If you want to see where the communities meet, you must look elsewhere. (A very different situation exists in Queens, where the zones were imposed as the communities came into existence , and generally reflect actual community borders.)
September 11th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I moved from zip code 11208 (Cypress Hills) 2.5 miles, and now my zip code is 11207. Makes sense to me.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Martha, if you lived a couple of blocks to the west when you resided in Cypress Hills, you would have been situated in the same 11207 postal zone in which you are currently residing in Bushwick. This makes no sense. You will really agree with me when you have to go to the local post office to claim a returned package and have to go to East New York to do so.
Brooklyn Pete, I just read your previous comment re the shifting borders of Bushwick and Ridgewood. (Sorry for the delay in getting back.) The reasons for this were purely racial. As soon as Bushwick was determined to be the “minority” community, the good people of Ridgewood did everything they could to separate themselves from it. The popularly agreed upon boundary moved from as far south as Wilsom Ave, to the county border during the 60’s and 70’s. The final straw was the proposal - strongly supported by Congressional candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1978 (it go her elected!) - to separate the portions of two Bushwick postal zones - 11237 and 11227 - from Queens. In this way, Bushwick “officially” became Brooklyn and Ridgewood Queens.
Finally, Molly, I loved your article and feel really guilty for having been a party in taking the tread away from your piece. Hope to hear from you on other things very soon! Keep up the good work.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Brooklyn Pete, I stumbled across this page and was fascinated with the topic and responses, I was born and raised on Bushwick Ave and Flushing Ave. As a kid I grew up playing in the abandon Rheingold Brewery, those were great memories. I have been searching the web for old photos of the entire brewery complex. But with no luck. Being that your an expert on Brooklyn maybe you can direct me towards the coble stone road that leads to the Rheingold Brewery.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
“Zip codes mean nothing in Brooklyn. They were superimposed upon existing communities about 100 years ago.”
zip codes are only about 50 years old.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Vic, while the zip codes are only 50 or so years old, they literally replaced the far older postal zones. Thus, what is now zip code 11221 used to be Brooklyn zone 21.
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 am
Mr. Dereszewski,
I grew up on Jefferson Street between Knickerbocker and Irving in the 1950’s and 60’s. When it comes to bushwick I heard you guys really know your stuff. Maybe you can solve this one. Forty years ago a priest from St Leonard’s told me that when construction started on the church in 1872 there was a stream flowing down the hill on Jefferson Street from Wilson Ave to Knickerbocker Ave. Could this be true? Also, where can I find 19th century photos of bushwick and where can I learn the complete history of Jefferson Street?
Thank for your help
Tony R.