What happens when you start to describe a neighborhood like Bushwick is that an unwarranted ego-identity begins to pops its ugly head out. It’s easy to conceptualize this place just as it is difficult to begin to describe it truthfully.
It makes no difference if you were to paint the local zeitgeist in a negative or positive light. Everything flows here ad infinitum in all directions. Life here is the stillness of a cold winter night and the chaos dripping in that darkness. Like everywhere else, life in Bushwick has no specific course to follow but a path to nowhere nameable.
New businesses compete for property and space. Fresh Bushwick dwellers and lifelong residents foster an ironic and creeping growth. A sweet surrender is happening in Bushwick. What was known at one point as one of the worst neighborhoods in America is now an alluring locale whose name is thrown around in viral pop-culture. It is insane to witness the influx of new residents. Certain blocks here have been literally transformed by development in the span of six months. Incoming denizens to Bushwick carry with them the dream of prosperity and progress centered on art, love, creativity and community outreach. Palpable here is a spiritual component bubbling deep in the heat given off by 125,000 human hearts in the neighborhood burning to live a good life.
Many different groups of people have inhabited the neighborhood throughout the years since when it was just a backwoods village east of New York City. Migrations of people to this place are nothing new, just part of the same continuum. As a malleable, transmutational, sensitive cauldron of people Bushwick is a unique corner of Brooklyn in that it is now a completely open-ended aliveness asking for definition.
Below are some simple suggestions to consider as you contemplate a visit to the neighborhood.
For hangout spots, try the corner of Wycoff Ave and Starr St. off of the Jefferson St. El train stop. You have live music and spinning DJs at a brand new rock club, Radio Bushwick, a handful of bars in the area (Pearl’s Social & Billy Club, Heavy Woods, or enjoy a beer from the large craft selection at The Sampler), and if you get hungry, you can walk over to Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos, a tortilla factory that also doubles as a place to order authentic Mexican food. One stop away on the L is Morgan Ave (not technically Bushwick, but Williamsburg), where there is also a concentrated collection of bars (The Pine Box, Kings County) and places to eat, drink, and possibly encounter an underground musical act (Brooklyn Fire Proof).
If you’re feeling like you’d like to take in some air on a stroll, it’s always nice to walk through Maria Hernandez Park, a sizable and lonely green island in Bushwick where many different types of people in the neighborhood interact while enjoying the public space. Adjacent to the park is Knickerbocker Ave., a bustling thoroughfare of discount department stores and other local businesses, which is fun to walk along to observe the weekend rhythm of people in the streets.
Late night hangouts would include Wreck Room on Flushing Ave., which has an open pool table, and on most weekday evenings is quite tame and mellow. At about midnight on weekends, people flock there to dance, drink and let loose. If you’re partial to dives, hit this place up. Tandem, a bar and dancing area within walking distance on Troutman St., is another down-to-earth place to go to enjoy a drink and groove for a bit before you head home.
If there is one thing I’ve learned about living in Bushwick, it is that sage advice can come from anyone and anything you encounter here. It all depends on how you read between the lines.
