Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Gowanus, formerly known as South Brooklyn, is a Brooklyn neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. All of this is included in the boundaries of Brooklyn Community District 6. Wyckoff Street, Fourth Avenue, the Gowanus Expressway and Bond Street are all located within the limits of Gowanus in New York City.

In 1636, the Dutch established their first outpost in what is now Brooklyn at Gowanus Bay, named after the Canarsee Indian Gauwane. In the Gowanus meadowlands, the tide-driven gristmills of the early immigrants were powered by the ponds. Americans fought at Gowanus Heights (now Park Slope) to keep a watchful eye on the British ships as they made ashore in the Bay during the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War.

Converting a creek into a canal in the 1860s, the Gowanus neighborhood became a manufacturing and nautical center. An area was defined by its filthy canal, which was caused by the construction of a combined sewer system that discharged wastewater directly into an outlet at the canal’s head. Gowanus’ liveliness was impacted by the decline of shipping and manufacturing at the Red Hook port, as well as in the adjacent New York City areas. A number of NYCHA housing buildings were erected in the area in the late 1940s, in part to house returning WWII veterans.

The EPA designated the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site in 2010 and allocated $506 million for its cleanup after decades of industrial and sewage pollution. In 2022, the cleanup is expected to be completed.

This sector allows for low- to mid-level production. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, residential developers were delayed by industrial zoning and sewage overflow problems in canal water, but the New York City Department of City Planning has been reported to rezone. Concerns regarding sewage overflow have been expressed by several residents and community groups as a result of the rezoning.

The “community planning process” known as “Bridging Gowanus” involved the City Planning Department, neighborhood organizations, business owners and developers, as well as arts organizations and neighborhood residents, and it lasted from 2013 to 2016.

Hand of Glory Tattoo

Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY