Community Board 14 Brooklyn

Community Board 14 Brooklyn

Neighborhoods in CB 14

Flatbush
You're surrounded by well-kept lawns and genteel, sprawling Victorian mansions with
spacious porches, decorative turrets, bay windows and stained glass. The streets have
names like Buckingham, Argyle, Marlborough and Albemarle. If you expect the London fog to come rolling in, forget it. Welcome to the Prospect Park South Historic District, one of three -- count 'em, three -- such designated historic areas in the remarkable neighborhood of Flatbush.
Flatbush is one of those neighborhoods that fulfills every stereotype about Brooklyn. It's
where Hollywood legends come from, not move to. Alumni of Flatbush's most famous high school, Erasmus Hall, wax nostalgic about smoking in the hallways and necking at the Loew's Kings.
The name given to Flatbush by the early Dutch settlers was "Vlacke Bos" (the wooded
plain) doesn't exactly conjure up images of heaven but people who live here know better. It is a neighborhood defined by its diversity -- not only in its ethnicity and socioeconomic levels, but in its housing stock, cuisine and houses of worship. Along Flatbush Avenue and Church Avenue, restaurants serve kosher pizza, falafel, chop suey, kebabs and West Indian jerk chicken. On Friday afternoons, in the mosque on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue H, hundreds gather for prayers. Down the street, Orthodox Jews hurry to finish their shopping before Sabbath begins.

Midwood

A gracious, residential neighborhood with stately homes and roughly 18,000 trees, Midwood is a study in contrasts and a model of peaceful co-existence. On any given day Indians, Pakistanis, Hispanics, Haitians, Jamaicans, Orthodox Jews,
Italians and the newest wave of immigrants, Russians, can all be seen bustling up and down the commercial districts of Avenue M, Avenue J and Coney Island Avenue -- which, as you would expect, boast culinary fare ranging from Domino's Pizza to falafel to goat roti to kosher sushi. In observance of the Jewish Sabbath, many shops are closed on Saturdays. The local Chase branch has an ATM machine in Russian.
On the threshhold of decline a quarter century ago, Midwood's revitalization in the 1980s proves a satisfying chapter in its long and proud history. The Dutch founded the township of Midwout in 1652; in 1898 the borough and township became part
of New York City.

Ocean Parkway