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Gowanus

7

Gowanus:

A Canal Runs Through It

Above: Brooklyn’s new residential towers and the Union Street bridge over the Gowanus Canal are part of the northern view from the historic Carroll Street Bridge

BOUNDARIES: Degraw St., 5th Ave., 9th St., Smith St.

DISTANCE: 3.1 miles

SUBWAY: F or G to Smith–9th St.

Superfund, what Superfund? In 2010 the EPA smacked the Gowanus Canal, once the nation’s busiest commercial canal, with that designation signifying optimal toxicity. You might have expected it to dissuade construction of fancy apartments on its shores or an influx of commercial enterprises to the area, but instead, more and more people kept coming to Gowanus, the neighborhood around the canal. Some came here to live, new residents relocating from pricier brownstone neighborhoods nearby or drawn to the emerging arts community; others were just visitors who’d heard about that great new clam bar or Korean barbecue or alternative arts space or archery center or some other quirky establishment that had opened to much buzz. By the time the Superfund cleanup was set to begin in 2017, Gowanus had been dubbed the hottest neighborhood in Brooklyn. Its gritty character has not disappeared entirely, however, in part because it still has an active industrial sector.

Walk Description

You disembark at the highest elevated-train station in the world. The Culver viaduct was built 90 feet high to clear tall-masted ship traffic on the Gowanus Canal. Down on the street, you see a mix of residential and commercial, old and new typical of Gowanus . . . although some people will tell you you’re actually in Red Hook or Carroll Gardens. You may also recognize this spot from a scene between Robert De Niro and Lorraine Bracco in GoodFellas.

Walk east on 9th Street, going under the viaduct and over the canal. Enter the Gowanus Industrial Arts Complex on your left, where old factories and warehouses are occupied by designers, craftspeople, and small manufacturers. You may be able to visit some—just follow the signs. Or simply enjoy the, er, scenic lookout. You can watch the train you were just on coming around a bend.

The 1.8-mile Gowanus Canal was created in the 1840s when a natural creek was extended for mercantile access to the bay, and cargo transporters relied on it for about a century. At the same time, it was collecting toxins from local foundries, gas plants, paint manufacturers, and the like. After the Gowanus Expressway (visible to your left) rendered the canal obsolete, it was left to fester for decades. So that’s how we got to Superfund status—although the city and state had already undertaken a cleanup that was flushing the canal regularly with freshwater and had made it more or less tolerable fragrance-wise.

Return to 9th Street and continue in the same direction, passing other studios, showrooms, and stores.

Turn left on 2nd Avenue.

Make a right on 7th Street. This may seem like a remote, desolate location, but it doesn’t keep indie-rock fans from flocking here for concerts at The Bell House. Music’s not all that goes on in this former printing plant; it also hosts podcast tapings, comedy shows, dance parties, quiz nights, readings, and other events. On this same block, the rehabbed building at #168 holds art, design, and music studios.

Turn right on 3rd Avenue. Some of the creativity coming out of Gowanus is edible—such as Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie makers par excellence, on your left as you reach 8th Street.

Go left at 9th Street. The American Legion hall on the left is a converted church that was fashioned out of a pair of rowhouses. It was a meaningful location for the veterans group: what’s now the 9th and 3rd intersection was the original burial ground for casualties of the Maryland 400 regiment, who played a strategic role in the Battle of Brooklyn.

At 4th Avenue, dramatic buildings stand at three of the four corners. Above the convenience store on the left, look up at the brickwork and additional (weathered) embellishment on the top floors—also see the lovely sculpting beneath the lower windows on the avenue side. Massive St. Aquinas church is in fine condition for its 130-plus years. Good Shepherd’s building opposite it dates to 1876, when it was constructed for a Democratic clubhouse. A row of charming bay-windowed houses is also on that side of 9th Street, but the building you really want to watch for is on the left, current home of Slope Music school. This photogenic 1856 Second Empire villa features iron-crested end pavilions and a cupola. The family that built it lived here only five years; later it would serve as the offices of Higgins Ink, whose 8th Street brick factory you can see behind the house.

Turn left on 5th Avenue, a commercial street of Park Slope (whether the Slope–Gowanus border is 4th or 5th Avenue is a matter of debate) that was predominantly Latino and working-class into the 2000s. Evidence of that may still exist, but it’s getting crowded out by higher-end new shops and eateries. Some of them sell unique merchandise. Where else, for instance, can you buy X-ray glasses, canned antimatter, and a secret-identity kit besides the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., on your left between 6th and 5th Streets? All sales benefit a youth writing program.

The middle school on the next block is named for the commander of the Maryland 400, General William Alexander, aka Lord Stirling. Past that, enter Washington Park and proceed to the Old Stone House, a 1930s replica of the Dutch farmhouse that had been constructed about a hundred feet to the east in 1699. It was at that house in the middle of the night on August 27, 1776, that a volunteer regiment of 400 Marylanders engaged a much larger force of British and Hessian soldiers in a battle—a tactical maneuver to allow the Continental Army to evacuate Brooklyn. The diversion succeeded, but nearly 300 of the Maryland men were killed. A small Battle of Brooklyn museum is inside the Old Stone House. As if that’s not enough history, these grounds would become the first home field, from 1883 to 1891, of the baseball team eventually known as the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Today, in addition to celebrating its Revolutionary, sports, and agricultural heritage, the Old Stone House presents musical and theater performances, crafts and fitness classes, children’s activities, and other cultural and social events.

Exit the park on 3rd Street and go left. As you near 3rd Avenue, the Old American Can Factory is on your left. This complex of six adjoining buildings constructed between 1865 and 1901 is yet another home for artists and creative businesses. These tenants are “curated”—interviewed and specially selected by the landlord. How about the artistry outside? The corner building especially is striking, with diamond-shaped windows facing 3rd Avenue.

Go to the right on 3rd Avenue but only as far as the whitish wall on your right. This is a remnant of the outfield wall of the second Washington Park, built for the Dodgers in 1898 by their new owner, Charles Ebbets, who’d started working for the club as a ticket taker. The Dodgers played at this park until they moved to Ebbets Field in 1913.