Home of the bahn-mi craze, the remains of Basquiat, and the highest and second-highest points in Brooklyn, Sunset Park is a neighborhood with a lot going on. Initially, Sunset Park might strike one as a little industrial-looking with its bus depots, warehouses, and semis that noisily barrel down the 3rd and 4th Avenues, but it's also a neighborhood that boasts some marvelous green space. The eponymous park affords one of the most breathtaking views in New York. Also home to an Olympic-sized public pool, Sunset Park manages to attract most of Brooklyn during the summer months. The hill in the center of the park is the perfect place to look down on it all while picnicking, catch a fireworks show or work off the cellulite. The nearby Tim Burton-esque Green-Wood Cemetery is home to the highest point in Brooklyn, not to mention some notable New York celebrities such as Boss Tweed and Leonard Bernstein. A day trip here meandering through its many paths should make your list of things to do in New York - - some of the crypts are works of art in themselves; on occasion the staff will open them for tours.
Like most neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Sunset Park has been attracting younger Manhattan transplants in search of more than just a cheap dim sum brunch and practically free margarita pitchers. That is: cheap rent. However, the neighborhood remains staunchly an immigrant one, though a few new establishments catering to a trendier set have come to roost.
Originally settled by Irish and Dutch immigrants, Sunset Park has since become one of the most diverse neighborhoods in New York, being comprised of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Chinese, Malaysian, Korean, and Vietnamese. The two largest populations, however, are Chinese and Mexican. On one side of the park there’s Fifth Avenue, known as "Little Latin America," which is one of the largest Mexican-American neighborhoods in New York. Latin American restaurants, bodegas and bakeries line the avenue. In warmer months, older men in the community set up backgammon tables in front of their favorite delis. South and slightly east the park, there's Eighth Avenue, "Brooklyn's Chinatown," with Buddhist temples, Asian markets and dim sum spots galore. A smaller pocket of Vietnamese-Americans also call Sunset Park home, and the Vietnamese restaurant offerings in this part of Brooklyn are among the best in New York. Chinese New Year is celebrated here with verve, replete with parades, confetti and dragons. Though you'll find the respective main drags of "Brooklyn's Chinatown" and "Little Latin America" across the neighborhood from one another, everything in between is a melting pot. Just the way we like it.
North of all this multicultural goodness is a very narrow strip of housing and businesses sandwiched in between the river and the cemetery (named Green-wood Heights), and north of that is a small portion of what is slowing being considered part of the "South Slope." There are a few good bars, restaurants, and shops opening up on Fifth and Sixth Avenues between the Prospect Expressway and the cemetery; definitely a little area to watch in the coming years.
Nightlife
Melody Lanes draws even the most reluctant non-Sunset-Parker out this way. Irish Haven, a basic pub where scenes from Scorcese's The Departed were filmed, has become equally popular. Check out sound gallery Diapason for avant-garde sound installations and performances. In the South Slope, hit either Korzo, Toby's, or Quarter.
Restaurants
Food is Sunset Park's specialty. Bahn-mi doesn't get much better than Ba Xuyen, 8th Avenue Seafood is one of the only worthwhile dim sum spots where you won't encounter brunch lines (Pacificana is one where you will, but it's worth the wait). For sloppy late-night hangover prevention, you can’t beat Tacos Matamoros.
Shopping
Shopping in Sunset Park is more practical (Rossman's Fruit and Vegetables, Costco , Reef Aquarium, East Coast Beer, Hong Kong Supermarket) than sexy, but bizarre magic-and-potion shop Botanica 7 Potencias will definitely make you think (rightly) that there is more to Sunset Park than meets the (inner) eye.
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This Neighborhood Featured in...
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Slummer in the City 2005
By
Cathleen Cueto
The Summer of 2005 was a one for the NFT books; hot, humid, swarming with insects, overcome with emotions and a ceaseless sense of hopeless anomie. Cathleen Cueto remembers that fateful summer. Voila, her slumming activities.
Read More...
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On Our Radar:
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted By:
Rob Tallia
Photo:
Rob Tallia
Pacificana
I don't do Dim Sum very often, as I have absolutely no ability to stop gorging myself on food once it's on the table and available to eat (my meetings with Oprah on this issue have mainly ended in disaster). This problem was even more exacerbated at Pacificana, which has the best Dim Sum I've had, although there are several places in Chinatown ( Triple 8, Mandarin Court, Golden Unicorn) that are very, very, good. By far my favorite experience of the day was the utter mob scene in the stairwell right outside the restaurant doors, where a woman with a microphone screams table numbers in both Chinese and English. This must be seen to be believed. As for the food itself, a lot of unusual Dim Sum choices, including the pork with jellyfish (pictured), the bacon-wrapped shrimp, and, of course, a lot of completely unidentifiable objects. Worth the trip to Sunset Park, absolutely.
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Posted By:
Ilona Virostek
Photo:
Ilona Virostek
Don Paco Lopez Panaderia
Savoy Bakery has the location: directly across from the 45th Street "R" station. It also has the look: nostalgic signage and décor, with lots of pink and chrome, and shiny brightly lit curved glass cases for the goodies. A Sunset Park landmark that many locals see at least twice a day, coming and going from the subway, it is THE place to grab a coffee or bubble tea (it's a Korean bakery) on the way to work.
But Don Paco Lopez Panaderia, down the street, beats the mierda out of Savoy when it comes to a true bakery experience. It wins the aroma contest: the smell of freshly-baked bread haunts you from half a block away, whereas the Savoy doesn't have any scent at all, even from inside. It wins the taste contest, with a dizzying number of variations on warm, sweet, buttery, colorful breadstuffs, whereas the Savoy has a smaller selection, all cold, wrapped in plastic, and none of it very mouth-watering (there are better Asian bakeries on 8th Ave). And it wins the price contest: both places are cheap, but Don Paco is under-a-dollar-per-item cheap.
Ask for whatever's just come out of the oven if you really want to die and go to heaven.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Posted By:
Ilona Virostek
Photo:
Ilona Virostek
Green-Wood Cemetery
Cemeteries are not for everyone. Well, technically, I guess they are. But there is a prejudice among the living, a widespread opinion that a walk in a park is healthier and more pleasant than a walk in a graveyard. And so, the magnificent, pastoral, parakeet-inhabited Green-Wood Cemetery remains quite empty of visitors.
For those in the know, who may be found strolling up and down Green-Wood's rolling hills, under her flowering trees and around her lagoons, the thought of all those suckers claiming their four square feet of lawn at nearby Prospect Park seems laughable.
Green-Wood is a Victorian garden cemetery, with a maze of lanes and paths cutting over and around and through the beautifully-maintained natural landscape. You could get lost here, which could be a good or bad thing (solitude and the feeling of discovery: Good Thing; the catacombs at dusk: Bad Thing). Start out by wandering freely, stopping to contemplate ornate monuments or sit on the grass and enjoy the peace and quiet. When you're ready, the detailed map of the cemetery in NFT's Brooklyn guide can lead you back to the main entrance and city life as you know it.
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Monday, April 27, 2009
Posted By:
Ilona Virostek
Photo:
Ilona Virostek
Botanica 7 Potencias
A tiny, secret gift shop with magic spells, charms, and potions for every need. Lucky floor wash? Got it, in a dozen flavors. Magic soap and bath salts? Of course! Good fortune perfume? Totes. Candles for every saint, wish, or ailment? Ya. Incense in Frankincense, Patchouli, Amber, the Virgin Mary, or "Power of 7 Men?" Yes, plus about 30 others. Rosaries? In every color! Jewelry? You got it. My favorites are the amulets, which run the gamut between kitsch and seriously witchy. One standout is a "protection" amulet that includes, among other things, a plastic lollipop and a tiny human foot, with an explanatory illustration of two African children with glowy eyes frolicking in some sort of voodoo Candyland. 7 Potencias also carries a wide array of magic powders, for attraction, repulsion, envy, and court dates, just to name a few. Needless to say, this equals a bargain-priced, tongue-in-cheek goldmine for hipsters in search of gifts. But I defy you not to start believing, just a little, before you leave the store, not to wonder if there really is something behind it all when the sweet old lady at the counter hands you your change and wishes you "good luck."
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Posted By:
Ilona Virostek
Photo:
Ilona Virostek
Hong Kong Supermarket
A curious non-Asian could spend hours at Hong Kong Supermarket, ogling mysterious foodstuffs, reading enigmatic translations on colorful packaging, and dreaming up ways to use exotic ingredients. But don't daydream too hard: your big American ass is likely blocking several Chinese people from passing you in the narrow, crowded aisle, and you're about to get shoved.
Hong Kong Supermarket is the real deal: a bustling operation that anchors Brooklyn's Chinatown. You'll find any Asian ingredient you need here, but if you have a shopping list, make sure you know what the ingredients you're searching for look like. Everything in the store is translated into English, but "dried fungus" doesn't tell you whether the mushrooms in the bag are shiitake or porcini.
Your outsider status may be most felt in the baked goods area, a cramped endcap towards the front of the store, where you'll be in somebody's way no matter where you stand as you choose between lotus seed, red bean, pork, and scallion buns. You can practically hear the regulars thinking "Buns--as if she needs any." But hold your ground, choose boldly, and your taste buds will be rewarded.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Posted By:
Jennifer Keeney Sendrow
Photo:
Scott Sendrow
Sunset Park’s parallel communities of Asian and Latin immigrants, lining 8th Avenue and 5th Avenue respectively, offer no shortage of fantastic eats. But sometimes one can’t be bothered to go into a restaurant. Maybe you’re in a hurry. Or you’re not wearing a shirt or shoes, and you’re afraid that sign about “no service” is for real. Enter the street cart.
There are many carts along 5th Avenue selling empanadas, fruit, ices, and tacos. They all seem pretty good. We like the ladies at 48th Street best for their friendly smiles, sassy outfits, and well-edited offerings. For your first course, you’ve got fresh mango and coconut, sliced and served with your choice of condiments. (Choose lime juice and chili powder, no sense messing with a classic.) Then select a main course from a short lineup of fried dough products, the best of the bunch being a juicy beef empanada. Round out the meal with something to drink from their plastic barrels, usually a choice of an agua fresca, horchata, or limeade. Take your food to the park for a picnic, or do as the locals do and window-shop along the Avenue whilst you munch.
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Saturday, February 25, 2006
Posted By:
Jane Pirone
Photo:
none
Ah, the calm, relaxing effects of organized noise. Slip your shoes off and take a nap on one of the pillows in this extremely cool sound space. On Saturdays until the end of this month, Kabir Carter is performing his piece “Shared Frequencies.” This is NOT for beginners.
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