Brooklyn Apartment
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Bedford-Stuyvesant was originally two separate towns: Bedford was a modest Dutch village established in 1663, and Stuyvesant was an upscale community built in the 1890s. You can see evidence of that in the landmarked area known as Stuyvesant Heights, today a middle-class African-American community with gorgeous Romanesque Revival brownstones. Bed-Stuy was one of the few places in the city where blacks could buy property. Weeksville, an historic settlement of free African-Americans, was founded in 1838. The village was named after James Weeks, a black man who purchased the land. Four small farmhouses, dating from 1840 to 1883, are all that remain of what was once a vibrant and self-sufficient community. During the draft riots of 1863, the community served as a refuge for hundreds of African-Americans who fled Manhattan. By the end of the 1800s, Bed-Stuy was a peaceful home for blacks, Irish, German, Scottish, Dutch and Jewish immigrants. The construction of the subway into Brooklyn in 1920s encouraged many more African-Americans to move into the area, hoping for a better life. (Duke Ellington's Take the A Train is about this migration from Harlem.) In the 1940s, as more working class families moved into the neighborhood, the affluent white population left, depriving Bed-Stuy of a sorely needed tax basis. This was the start of the area's decline, and the area suffered the usual problems of neglect: underfunded schools, poorly maintained housing, and few governmental services. Today Bed-Stuy is on the rebound because its cheap housing is attracting new settlers. The dramatic revitalization of the Stuy is evident in the drop in crime. In the seven major categories listed by the NYPD there was a 61 percent decrease from 1993 to 2001.

Bushwick is one of Brooklyn's oldest communities. Dutch settlers chartered the area as a town in 1660. Under the charter, the area was named "Boswijck," which means "Town in the Woods." Hessian mercenaries settled in Bushwick following the 1776 Battle of Long Island, and began a long tradition of German influence in the neighborhood. Bushwick boomed in the late 1800s when German immigrants opened large breweries in the area, and the brewers were able to build large, imposing mansions built in the Beaux Arts style of the day. Subsequent waves of immigration from Russia, Italy, Ireland and Poland added to the melting pot that is New York. By 1950, Bushwick was one of Brooklyn's largest Italian-American neighborhoods. Later, large groups of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans moved into the area as Italian-Americans left the community for other parts of the area. After the breweries closed due to business consolidation starting in the 1950s and continuing into the 1970s, Bushwick began a slow decline. That decline hit bottom in a rush in the July 1977 blackout when almost 20 percent of its housing stock was burned by rioting residents. By 1980, Bushwick was a shell of the community it once was. Today, due in large part to the efforts of the city, state and federal government, as well as private and non-profit organizations, Bushwick is rebuilding.

New York's largest West Indian community can be found in Crown Heights. (In fact, Brooklyn has the largest Afro-Caribbean population outside the Caribbean itself, surpassing a million people, a great many of them Haitian.) There is a pocket of Hassidim in Crown Heights as well, which has created some tension; neighbors have come together to heal their wounds in the past decade, and the community is much more friendly as a result. Don't miss the annual West Indian Day Parade on Labor Day - it's a lot of fun with great food and great music.