Walking down the street of this bookstore, you would never be able to tell that this area was once a heavily-Arab and Muslim dominated neighborhood. What used to be a street where you could find shawarma shops or a clothing store that sells abayas, is now a street packed with various furniture stores, bars, delis, and pizza shops. The Arabs of this area have been primarily relocated to the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn because of increased commercial and commuter activity in the neighborhood. Because of the boom in business, smaller ethnic stores have been put out of business and wealthier residents have moved in to the area. Despite the change in the community brought about by gentrification, the bookstore still stays alive and remains a symbol of the community of old.

The initial immigration of Arabs to New York City took place from the late 19^th century to early 20^th century. This initial influx brought in mostly Christian Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. These early Arab immigrants started to move together to Washington Street and started what has come to be known as Little Syria (“History”). Most Syrians that moved here were either manufacturers of textile, bankers, or peddlers (Suleiman, 1999). There was a fluctuation in the arrival of such Arab immigrants until 1965 because of the creation of quotas.

A second influx of Arab immigrants was brought about by the advent of new immigration laws (“History”). These immigrants were generally educated professionals such as doctors and engineers. These wealthier immigrants as well as the older immigrants that grew wealthy moved out of crowded Manhattan and moved Little Syria to the neighborhood of our bookstore (Suleiman, 1999). The residents of former “Little Syria” were also forced to relocate because of construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in 1940.

The rise of the Arab population in this neighborhood, led to the creation of more religious centers and Arab owned businesses. The second wave of Arab immigrants also brought in more Muslim immigrants to the neighborhood and this in turn created more mosques in the neighborhood, and New York City as a whole, as there was now a massive rise in the Muslim population in America (“Arab American”). This influx in Muslim Arabs would explain the need for the creation of this bookstore in the neighborhood as it would supply mosques as well as anyone who wanted to learn more about this growing religion. According to the New York Arab American Community, there is an estimated 160,000 Arab Americans in just New York City, and there is believed to be more than 3.5 million Arab Americans in the whole U.S (“Arab American”).