Only this past year have I gone to Brooklyn more times in one week than I have ever gone in my entire suburban life. Before my friend Kirsten moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn, I had been to the borough only twice. The first time I visited her two-story brownstone on Decatur Street shared by four individuals was on a bitter January night. I was shaky about being in the neighborhood despite her and my sister’s company; the dimly lit Wilson Avenue and the scattered voices that seemed to have no visible origins were unsettling.
However, in the daytime, the dark curtain of intimidation was gone. Bushwick is one of the largest immigrant neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the largest in North Brooklyn (Lobo and Salvo 36). It showed prominently the next day I walked the streets of Bushwick: a Hispanic woman pushed a stroller while holding the hands of her two young girls on their walk to school; two dark-skinned men unloaded a truck of fresh fruits and vegetables for a Caribbean deli owner; a young Caucasian woman in business-casual attire made her way towards the L train during the early morning rush.
Wilson Avenue station
When Kirsten told her parents that she was moving to Bushwick, they were both alarmed. To suburban parents and outsiders, Bushwick has a bad reputation from the crime and poverty level, and such things are often associated with ethnicity. The neighborhood takes the approximate shape of a rectangle that runs northwest to southeast. According to City-Data, the percentage of the population who are ethnically white alone for a given block does not surpass 30% anywhere in the neighborhood, with the largest percentages in the northwest corner by Williamsburg. Additionally, a solid quarter of the Bushwick population is limited in English (City-Data).
Indeed, as of 2014, a striking one-third of the residents live under the poverty level (City-Data). The highest median household income in the neighborhood is $51,000 while the majority of residents make only around $20,000 annually, and the unemployment rate can climb up to 16 percent in certain areas, mostly towards the eastern end of Bushwick (City-Data). This may be correlated with the fact that about 50 percent of the residents had not finished high school (City-Data). In terms of crime, however, the infamous murders, rapes, and robberies have dropped from 25-50 percent in the last fifteen years (NYPD CompStat).
Although Bushwick is in the top 20 neighborhoods of foreign-born immigrants, with the largest increase in foreigners from 2000 to 2010 (Lobo and Salvo 25), there are a number of young American newcomers. The median age of residents as of 2014 leans toward the late 20’s and early 30’s, suggesting a newer crowd of single residents with new jobs, as well as a now wider range in age among the residents. While there are single newcomers, still 57 percent of residents live in familial households (City-Data). Most renters pay $500-$800 per month to live in Bushwick, a considerably low price for urban living—perfect for college graduates who are beginning their careers and for low-income families alike (City-Data). Like Kirsten, the new career-ready alumni tend to work in Manhattan but can’t afford a place there. For those whose lives are for the most part contained in Brooklyn, service, construction, and sales and office jobs comprise more than half of the job market (City-Data).
More than a third of these residences were built before the 1940’s (City-Data), which enables lower rent prices. The antiquity also gives the neighborhood potential that can be easily taken advantage of by renovating and creating an appealing vintage feel. The affordable rent brought the initial attention to Bushwick, which in turn has enabled it to gentrify noticeably, giving Kirsten’s parents some comfort in letting their 22-year old live on her own.
Decatur Street real estate
Intrigued by this mixture of traditional poor and incoming rich; of immigrants and lifetime Americans; of dilapidated brownstones next to neat ones; I figured I should personally investigate Bushwick’s cultural medley, particularly around Kirsten’s block. Brooklyn in its entirety is already extremely diverse considering no one ethnicity comprises more than 14 percent of the foreign-born population (Lobo and Salvo 34), and Bushwick is the perfect embodiment of that diversity.
On a warm spring Saturday, I took the M from Manhattan to Bushwick’s Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues stop. From the M train stop down Wyckoff to Decatur, about 10-12 blocks, the surroundings varied widely: bustling main intersections with Laundromats and large supermarkets, from locally-owned ethnic food places to up-and-coming little cafes and dine-ins.
hipster arising out of dilapidation
Towards the end of Wyckoff Avenue, near the cemeteries, vacant lots and closed storefronts covered in graffiti and ivy watched over empty sidewalks, desolation hanging heavy in the clouds above. A right onto Decatur Street gave way to residential buildings, brownstones new and old. The older ones were grounded with decorated porches, flags hanging in the windows, Hispanic music from inside drifting into the streets, and neighbors conversing with each other from their front doors. The newer ones grabbed my attention with their steep stoops, but they were unadorned, neither with flags nor their residents.
empty lots
graffiti and ivy
As I rounded the corner onto Wilson Avenue, a particular sign caught my eye: “Empire Chinese & Mexican Restaurant.” Because I had never seen both Chinese take-out and Mexican cuisine in one restaurant, I went inside. The people working were all Asian, without a Latino in sight. The menu, rather than serving a fusion, was separated: one side was a typical Mexican menu; the flip side was a typical Chinese take-out menu. A Hispanic mechanic came in to pick up egg fried rice; an African-American lady came in to order fried chicken wings with pork fried rice.
Disappointed by the separation of food by ethnicity, I took the risk of speaking to the cashier in the Fukienese dialect—considering the stereotype that Fukienese own take out restaurants. We bonded over the family Chinese food business and I couldn’t help but ask her the pressing question: why sell both Chinese and Mexican? She revealed that it was the previous owners’ choice, not theirs, but gave the expected answer that widening the selection allowed more opportunities to make profits. With Bushwick’s being one of the top three neighborhoods in which Mexican immigrants choose to settle (Lobo and Salvo 71), the addition is not a bad idea.
A little boy emerged from the back riding a tricycle, reflective of my own childhood at my parents’ restaurant in Nyack. Compelled by the fact that I had passed about ten other Chinese restaurants on my trek, I asked if the inclusion of Mexican dishes was effective. It turns out the business right next door is also a Chinese-owned restaurant that served take-out and Mexican—even more competition for Empire.
two Chinese and Mexican food places side by side
Out of convenience and because they work 13 hours each day, the Empire family lives right upstairs above the restaurant, leaving little time for them to be anywhere else other than the restaurant. Although Chinese restaurants are as common as bodegas in Bushwick, there weren’t nearly as many Asians roaming the streets of Bushwick as there were other ethnicities. Surrounded by Hispanics and Caribbean islanders, Chinese immigrants are the fourth largest group in the neighborhood, comprising 4 percent of total immigrants (Lobo and Salvo 36). I thanked them for my Chinese black bean taco and continued along Wilson Avenue.
I passed about five more Chinese restaurants before I even passed one pizzeria, Jimmy’s pizzeria. Jimmy wasn’t there, but the owners who were there spoke Spanish and were most likely Hispanic—not surprising, since according to The Newest New Yorkers, most of Bushwick’s immigrants are Dominican, Mexican, and Ecuadorian, along with others from Latin America and the Caribbean (36).
The eight customers that came in were Hispanic as well and seemed to be regulars, considering the exchange of friendly banter. I asked a family of three who were dining in what they recommended. Because it is the only pizzeria for blocks, people come just for a plain slice since they can’t get one anywhere else. As I paid for my fish sandwich, I told the cashier they must be lucky to be the only pizza place. He jovially agreed, confirming that the family business has been open for about 40 years and is still going strong.
serving fried chicken and DONUTS
I reluctantly passed on the Bushwick pizza experience, but only because I was saving my appetite for somewhere else: New Texas Fried Chicken #2. I’ve been eyeing this fried chicken place since I first visited Bushwick; its neon signs shouted fried chicken, salad, seafood, breakfast, ice cream, and donuts! I remember during that first drive to Bushwick, the streets were lined with fried chicken and donut restaurants. Naturally, I had to see what all the rage was. Excited and hoping for some pre-donut hype, I asked a young Caucasian couple ahead of me as I neared the restaurant, “Excuse me, do you guys live around here? Are the donuts good?” Unfortunately they could only tell me that the chicken was indeed good, but nothing about the donuts; I had to explore them for myself.
According to the cashier, this particular restaurant was associated with only one other fried chicken place not far from this one, hence the “#2.” Like the Chinese restaurants serving Mexican dishes, immigrants must have noticed the success of the first fried chicken and donut fast food restaurant and started their own, creating this neighborhood trend of selling fried chicken, donuts, salad, seafood, ice cream, and breakfast conveniently all in one place.
my fried chicken
The cashier was indifferent to how long this restaurant has been open, but luckily for me, an outgoing Caribbean woman entered with her father and her child and raved, “I don’t even recognize this place! We didn’t have this ten years ago!” Apparently, ten years ago when she lived here, this restaurant did not exist, and the vibe of the neighborhood was completely different. While I didn’t have the opportunity to ask her if the change was positive or negative in her opinion, I got my first-hand confirmation that Bushwick was a dynamic neighborhood. I took my fried chicken, fried shrimp, and cream donut and finally headed for Kirsten’s.
menus from two of the three local restaurants I visited
black bean Chinese taco, fish sandwich, fried chicken, fried shrimp, cream donut
It wasn’t the first time I’ve walked around Bushwick on my own, and I can safely admit that it is not something I would have been comfortable doing earlier in the year. My change in attitude towards the neighborhood precisely mirrors the history of Bushwick—once dangerous and feared, now improving and sought after. A look into Bushwick defies the common frightening image that Kirsten’s parents had of the neighborhood.
I purposefully avoided the more northwestern section of the neighborhood, because as one residence in a New York Times article puts it, “a staleness set in as the neighborhood gentrified” (Mooney). The less developed area offers fresher perspectives and frequent surprises—although riskier, it’s a risk worth exploring.
Works Cited
“Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.” City-Data. Urban Mapping, Inc., 2015.
Web. 4 May 2015.
Lobo, Arun Peter, and Joseph J. Salvo. The Newest New Yorkers. 2013 ed. New York:
Department of City Planning, 2013. Web.
Mooney, Jake. “The Vanguard Alights.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 16
July 2011. Web. 02 May 2015.
“Police Department City of New York: 83rd Precinct.” NYPD CompStat 22.18 (2015).
Web.
