Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan neighborhood questions

[TSNYC]

1 When people referred to "Bensonhurst" were they referring to just that neighborhood alone or was that what people called that area of Brooklyn? Did it include Borough Park, Bath Beach and Gravesend or were they considered separate neighborhoods?" Oddo was called Johnny Bensonhurst after all.

Any input would be appreciated.

Bensonhurst is bordered by 5 neighborhoods Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, Gravesend, Mapleton and Borough Park. So in the past especially when all those neighborhoods were made up of Italians it would be easy to confuse certain parts of all those neighborhoods as being part of Bensonhurst. Plus people would rather say they’re from Bensonhurst as opposed to say Mapleton, especially if you’re Italian.

A bad comparison would be Biggie Smalls everyone who doesn’t know better would say he’s from Bed Stuy and he even said it himself but in truth he was from a neighborhood right next to Bed Stuy called Clinton Hill it just sounded better to say he was from Bed Stuy. This very same thing happens with Bensonhurst.

Do or Die Clinton Hill doesn't have the same ring to it...

People would say you got the Clinton Hill chill. But yeah, do or die wins.

[BensonhurstGuy]

Technically Bath Beach and Dyker Heights seperate from Bensonhurst. But It’s really kind a like one giant neighborhood. If I am outside my neighborhood we would just tell people it’s Bensonhurst. Bath beach is on one side of 86 street. Dyker is kinda 14 ave I guess. Gravesend is next to us. And it’s kinda the same neighborhood too. Ocean parkway would not really be gravesend tho. I would not call where Carlo lived gravesend. And no one calls it mapleton. I lived my early years there and 20 ave over there and everyone referred to as Bensonhurst. Mapleton is the post office. Maybe an old name. But never used. Boro park is past 60 St. And that’s a totally diff nabe. And some people do refer to red hook carrol street area as south brooklyn still.

[BensonhurstGuy]

“There are still old timers who call that area “South Brooklyn”. This is confusing to some as it is nowhere near the southern part of the boro of Brooklyn but it was the southern part of the original town of Brooklyn. The BQE is the divining line between what’s considered Red Hook and Carroll Gardens today, but the BQE was built in the 50s. Prior to that, I believe that Carroll Gardens was thought of as part of Red Hook, and neighborhood people probably carried on thinking of it like that after the expressway was built. “Carroll Gardens” as a separate neighborhood from Red Hook within the old South Brooklyn I think really only took off with gentrification from the 60s onwards.”


Yea i know some old timers that live more north on the side of the bqe trench By like rapleye St and they call their neighborhood red hook. I think prior to the bqe red hook went up higher.

[Angelo Santino]

The first boss lived in Bath Beach 2 blocks from where Profaci would live two decades later was Ignazio Lupo who owned a house there among other places. That Bensonhurst area seemed to originate as a relocation area for Italians leaving the city and the Red Hook area. Paying rent was a new concept for italians used to their employers covering living arrangements and so theys double up in cheap apartments, save up money and then purchase property is a different area. Those areas were the Bensonhurst area, bronx and Jersey.

Thanks for the input.

[johnny_scootch]

Bath beach was originally an Irish neighborhood. Saint Finbar was the first bishop of county cork and they named the local parish after him. It’s a beautiful church a couple of my cousins got married there.