Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn. It runs a little over 10 miles from Greenpoint to Sheepshead Bay. The staff of The Brooklyn Ink is starting the Bedford Avenue Project to examine the stories of this diverse borough and to ultimately answer the question “Who is Brooklyn?” Check out the Ink‘s Becky Bratu for a short introduction to the project and check back here for more stories as they come in:
.
New Stories
WHEN THEY LIVED IN BROOKLYN
Over the past two weeks we have been running stories aimed at the question, “Who is Brooklyn?” Today, Wednesday, is the last day of the Bedford Avenue Project and although some features, such as the interactive map, will continue growing, we offer two final pieces written by the editors of the The Brooklyn Ink, Mike Hoyt and Michael Shapiro—who both, at one time, lived in Brooklyn and who both, eventually, chose to leave. Read their stories here.
.
THE HISTORY OF BEDFORD AVE
By Becky Bratu and Lillian Rizzo
To understand Brooklyn, you have to know its history, its neighborhoods, its people. And its Bedford Avenue.
The southern end of Brooklyn’s longest thoroughfare begins at a Sheepshead Bay pier and ends at Greenpoint’s 35-acre McCarren Park, which was once a public pool, then concert venue and now, once again, a pool-to-be. Bedford Avenue crosses through 10 neighborhoods and is 10.2 miles of houses, big and small, storefronts, churches, synagogues, schools, a college, playgrounds, restaurants and a housing development where Ebbets Field once stood. Read More.
.
VOICES OF BEDFORD AVE
By Idil Abshir, Yolanne Almanzar, Joseph Deaux, Mariya Karimjee, and Abigail Ronck
Reporters for The Brooklyn Ink speak to residents of Bedford Avenue who explain why its longest avenue matters.
.
Brooklyn Native Jose Ortiz talks about moving back to the borough and the new neighborhood he found around Bedford.
.
Shannon Shaughnessy: Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn’s main street.
Carol Selby: Clothes from the threads up.
Roger Cowie: IT on Bedford Avenue.
.
.
THE BEDFORD AVE INTERACTIVE SLIDESHOW
The staff of the Ink stitched together an interactive slideshow that takes you from McCarren Park in Greenpoint to Sheepshead Bay. Along the way we’ve put together eight audio slideshows of businesses or places along the avenue. Click on the embedded video icons to play them.
.
THE WHO IS BROOKLYN? MAP
The Brooklyn Ink is collecting data on as many people in BK as possible to answer the question “Who is Brooklyn?” We’re making an interactive map that you can view as it develops. We are asking residents “How long have you lived here?” and “How long do you plan to stay?” to get a picture of the borough’s residents. Check it out here and submit your own report to add to it!
.
Previous Stories
THE BEDFORD AVENUE TREK!
On Thursday Dec 16th, the Ink‘s Joe Deaux and Vegas Tenold walked the entirety of Bedford. To ask Vegas or Joe a question you can get in touch with them about how it went.
Email them at vta3@columbia.edu and jed2144@columbia.edu.
They also live tweeted notes from their trek from @TheBrooklynInk account under the hashtag #bedfordtrek.
Click Here to see a recap of the live coverage and here to see a map of all of their tweets (Silverlight Recommended).
Latest Tweet
Leave a Reply