Brooklyn/Greenwood and New Utrecht

Greenwood and New Utrecht is a part of Brooklyn, New York City that encompasses the neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Borough Park, Kensington, Parkville, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Bath Beach.

Understand

• Sunset Park is often called New York City's little Puerto Rico and Brooklyn's Chinatown and is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in New York City. Located just less than 20 minutes away from Downtown Brooklyn, Sunset Park is a place for all families to come and shop, and locals can be seen running errands in the heart of the neighborhood along 5th Avenue between 60th and 44th Streets. Its hilly terrain gives magnificent views of Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, Staten Island, Jersey City and the nearby Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Besides the Hispanic part of the neighborhood filled with families of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican and other backgrounds, the Chinese also put Sunset Park on the map with its countless Chinese restaurants found on 8th Avenue between 60th and 40th Streets.
• Borough Park contains the biggest Chasidic Jewish community in the city. You will see lots of kosher foods on sale, and shops that are closed every Friday night and Saturday but open on Sunday, due to religious rules. If these things are unfamiliar to you, a trip to Borough Park may be worthwhile.
• Kensington is located south of Prospect Park. It is the most diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn and is one of the most diverse in the United States. It currently is one of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Many new trendy restaurants and boutiques have opened, making this neighborhood a hotspot. It is served by the F and G trains at Church Avenue, and the Q train at Beverly Road and Cortelyou Road.
• Bay Ridge has traditionally been a residential Irish-Italian-Norwegian neighborhood, but recently has seen an influx of Arab, Asian and Russian families as well. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects to here from Staten Island, and Fort Hamilton, a United States Army Base, is here as well. There is a great variety of good values in food to be had in this neighborhood, especially on 3rd Avenue. The neighborhood is also one of the top bar areas in the non-downtown area of Brooklyn.
• Bensonhurst used to be Italian as far as the eye could see, but it now contains Albanian, Pakistani, Korean, Chinese, Mexican, and many Eastern European immigrants as well. Nonetheless, it is still the center of Brooklyn's Italian community and is one of the best-known Italian-American neighborhoods in the United States. The train runs above ground and it is a lively place with an Old New York feel. Many of the best "unknown" restaurants in Brooklyn (known locally but often ignored by the Manhattan-based establishment) can be found in Bensonhurst. Get there by taking the D train to 18th or 20th Avenues or Bay Parkway.

Get in

By subway

For Green-Wood Cemetery itself, the best trains to take are either the D to 9th Avenue or the F to Fort Hamilton Parkway.

The D serves the center of the district, including Borough Park and Bensonhurst before continuing to Coney Island, while the N serves Dyker Heights after splitting off from the R in Sunset Park. The R terminates in Bay Ridge.

By bus

The X27/X37 and X28/X38 express buses also serve this area.

By car

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge takes you to Bay Ridge from Staten Island.

See

Monument to the victims of the Brooklyn Theater fire of December 5, 1876 in Green-Wood Cemetery

• 🌍 Green-Wood Cemetery, main entrance at 500 25th St (along 5th Ave; Subway:  R  train to 25th St), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 8AM-5PM daily. Free. 
• Owl's Head Park. The park is good for a walk, and you can follow the path toward the water which takes you to the pier and a bunch of park stuff along the water towards the verazano bridge. Those are all really refreshing walks. Free. 
• 🌍 Harbor Defense Museum, 230 Sheridan Loop (on Fort Hamilton; Subway:  R  train to 95th St, then walk along 4th Ave to 101st St, then turn left and walk one block to the fort entrance. The MP at the guardhouse will direct you to the museum), ☎ [phone]. M-F 10AM-4PM, Sa 10AM-2PM. A collection of military artifacts relating to the defense of America's harbors located inside still-working Fort Hamilton. Since the museum is located within an active US Army post, foreign visitors are not permitted. All visitors must have an ID. Free. 
• 🌍 Christmas Lights at Dyker Heights. About 10 blocks, centered around the "Candy Cane House" on 84th and 12th. During the holiday season the locals bring up the most spectacular decorations-- do a Flickr or Google image search yourself and see! There's the house with the giant snowman, the house with the giant nutcrackers, the house with Winnie and Shrek, and the Toyland house with the animatronic reindeer. Go on a Friday or Saturday night, between 7 and 10. It'll put the Christmas spirit in you. 

Do

Buy

• Fei Long Market, 6301 8th Ave (at 63rd St; Subway:  N  to 8th Ave), ☎ [phone]. An absolutely massive shop selling all manner of Chinese ingredients, including a very good produce section. Can be extremely crowded, though, so go in the off hours. 
• 🌍 Permanent Records, 159 20th St, 1B (between 3rd and 4th Aves; Subway:  R  to Prospect Ave), ☎ [phone]. 11AM-7PM daily. A record store (recently exiled from Greenpoint) located inside a nondescript office building (a coworking space called BrooklynWorks at 159). New and used selection. 

Eat

Row houses as far as the eye can see on 72nd St. in Bay Ridge

• 8th Avenue (or Third Chinatown) ( N  train to 8th Ave-62nd St). Stretching from 50th Street to 62nd Street, the avenue holds its own against Canal Street and Flushing. Fancy gourmet restaurants to alleyway noodle shops, Malaysian to Vietnamese and fare from every Chinese province, the neighborhood has it all. The area is particularly known as a nexus for immigrants from Fujian province. 

Bay Ridge

The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are 3rd Ave, 5th Ave and 86th Street. Whether you're looking for shops, cafes, restaurants or nightlife you can probably find it on one of those streets.

• Gino's Restaurant. Popular local Italian restaurant with great pasta. 
• Nicky and Rocky's. Pizza place with good slices. 
• Grandma's. Pizza place with good slices and pretty good cheap pasta, and garlic knots are delicious for a dollar there. 
• Hazar. A good kabob place. 
• Kathy's. Good dumplings. 
• Burger Bistro. Gourmet burgers, a little pricey though. 
• Bay Thai. Rich Thai food. 
• Taj Mahal. A really good Indian place. 
• The Brooklyn Market. This is the place to get groceries; it's a grocery store with organic and otherwise fancy foods. 

Bensonhurst

• Il Colosseo, 7704 18th Ave, ☎ [phone]. Daily: 12PM-11PM. Old-school Italian-American food. Made with fresh, quality ingredients, and delicious. Antipasti:$8-14.50; salads: $6-8.50; pasta: $10-17; risotti: $12-16.50; meat: $18.50-24; chicken: $13-15; seafood: $18.50-24; wood-burning brick-oven pizza: $7-15; desserts: $4-10. 
• Villabate Alba, 7001 18th Ave, ☎ [phone]. Monday - Saturday : 7AM-9PM; Sunday : 7AM-8PM; holiday hours : 7AM-6PM. Wonderfully delicious Italian pastries - particularly Sicilian ones - and helpful, unaffected service. No place to sit, so get some items to go. Very inexpensive, too: A couple of pastries will cost you about $5.50. 

Drink

Looking west across Parkville Avenue at St. Rose of Lima Church

Sleep

• Best Western Gregory Hotel Brooklyn, 8315 4th Ave (at 84th St in Bay Ridge), ☎ [phone]. 
• Park House Hotel Brooklyn, 1206 48th St, ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Best Western Plus Arena Hotel, 1324 Atlantic Avenue, ☎ [phone]. 100% non-smoking. (updated Jul 2015)

Connect

Kensington Branch, Brooklyn Public Library

• Brooklyn Public Library (Bay Ridge branch), 7223 Ridge Blvd (at 73rd St; Subway:  R  train to Bay Ridge Ave), ☎ [phone]. M 10AM-6PM, Tu 1PM-8PM, W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Borough Park branch), 1265 43rd St (at 13th Ave; Subway:  D  to Fort Hamilton Pkwy), ☎ [phone]. M 1PM-8PM, Tu-W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-6PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM, Su 1PM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Dyker branch), 8202 13th Ave (at 82nd St; Subway:  D  train to 18th Ave, transfer to B1 bus to 13th Ave and 82nd St), ☎ [phone]. M 10AM-6PM, Tu 1PM-8PM, W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Fort Hamilton branch), 9424 4th Ave (at 95th St; Subway:  R  train to 95th St-Bay Ridge), ☎ [phone]. Closed for renovation. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Kensington branch), 410 Ditmas Ave (between E 4th and E 5th Sts; Subway:  F  train to Ditmas Ave), ☎ [phone]. M 10AM-6PM, Tu 1PM-8PM, W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Mapleton branch), 1702 60th St (at 17th Ave; Subway:  D  train to 62nd St or  N  train to 18th Ave), ☎ [phone]. M 1PM-8PM, Tu-W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-6PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (McKinley Park branch), 6802 Fort Hamilton Pkwy (at 68th St; Subway:  N  train to Fort Hamilton Pkwy), ☎ [phone]. M-Tu 10AM-6PM, W-Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM, Su 1PM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (New Utrecht branch), 1743 86th St (at Bay 17th St; Subway:  D  train to 18th Ave), ☎ [phone]. M 10AM-6PM, Tu 1PM-8PM, W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Ryder branch), 5902 23rd Ave (at 59th St; Subway:  F  train to Avenue N), ☎ [phone]. M 10AM-6PM, Tu 1PM-8PM, W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 
• Brooklyn Public Library (Sunset Park branch), 5108 4th Ave (at 51st St; Subway:  R  train to 53rd St or  N  train to 59th St), ☎ [phone]. M 1PM-8PM, Tu-W 10AM-6PM, Th 1PM-8PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM. 

Go next

Routes through Greenwood and New Utrecht

Midtown Manhattan ← Downtown Brooklyn ←	N  S	→ Coney Island
Downtown Brooklyn ← Prospect Park ←	N  S	→ Coney Island
Downtown Brooklyn ← Prospect Park ←	N  S	→ END
Queens ← Downtown Brooklyn ←	N  W	→ Staten Island → Elizabeth