Neigborhoods

Flatbush

Flatbush is, in a word, enormous.

Within the Brooklyn neighborhood, which stretches from the southern end of Prospect Park to Brooklyn College and Avenue H, are several subsections (some say as many as 12).

But its geographical size isnt the only reason why Flatbush is huge. It also contains a wide range of cultural diversity, from the subdued Victorian Flatbush residential streets to the frenetic commercial corridors of Flatbush, Coney Island and Church avenues.

This is truly a neighborhood of contrasts. At the northern end of Flatbush Avenue goats heads and cows feet are sold from a small butcher shop. Passersby can have their hair braided in the latest African style. Over at the southern end, where Flatbush and Nostrand avenues intersect, are bigger businesses like Target and Applebees.

The diversity of Flatbush represents a range of cultures, such as Caribbean, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Central American, West Indian, Jewish and Asian. It is not unusual to see a Chasidic man standing next to a Muslim woman wearing a hijab while they wait for a bus on Coney Island Avenue.

Locals say the newest culture in the neighborhood is from the young professionals who work in communications and other forms of media that are flocking in.

In the 1650s, Flatbush (the anglicized name from the Dutch Vlaake Bos for flat woodland) was no more than woods, farmlands and a few scattered farmhouses.

In 1665, then-Gov. Peter Stuyvesant put forward a plan for a formal village with a church, a school, a courthouse and a tavern located where Church and Flatbush Avenue now intersect. Shortly after, farmhouses were built along the strip that is now Flatbush Avenue.

Two centuries later, with the construction of Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Bridge and transportation options, Flatbush went from a quiet rural community to a bustling urban center.

At the turn of the 20th century developers laid out a street grid with wide sidewalks lined with trees and roomy single-family houses -- the area now referred to as Victorian Flatbush. Todays Flatbush is equal parts commercial -- it has three business improvement districts -- and residential. Many people are moving to Flatbush when they are priced out of Manhattan or other Brooklyn neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Park Slope.

 

Source: AM NEWYORK