

Shoppers line Eighth Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. Photo: David Chiu
Call me naive, but growing up Chinese-American, I always assumed Sunset Park was just the predominantly Chinese section of Brooklyn. As a kid, it was the only area in Brooklyn outside of my home neighborhood of Bay Ridge that I visited frequently with my parents. On the weekends, I took the B9 bus with the folks from Bay Ridge to Eighth Avenue and 60th Street on the weekends for either groceries or a hair cut. Over the years, I realized that Sunset Park was more than just the Asian enclave–that there was also another Latino part of the neighborhood, especially along Fifth Avenue between the 30s and 50s, which I didn’t really know much about.
- Shoppers on a busy Eighth Avenue street. Photo: David Chiu
- A street merchant on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Seafood anyone? A market on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- No shrimp shortage here at this seafood place on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Looking for dry noodles beyond the ramen at Rite Aid? You can take your pick at this Chinese grocer’s shop on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- The facade looks so nondescript that you might accidentally pass by it and not realize it’s a restaurant. But this is the popular dim sum restaurant Pacificana. Photo: David Chiu
- The busy scene at Pacificana on a busy Saturday afternoon. Photo: David Chiu
- Vegetarian dim sum at Pacificana. Photo: David Chiu
- Egg custard at Pacificana–my favorite dish. Photo: David Chiu
- Sign in front of the Great Taste Dumpling shop. Photo: David Chiu
- Cute doesn’t even begin describe this place called Sweety Shop on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Chinatowns are known for its homeopathic and herbalist shops (I’ve been to herbal tea shops to cure an ailment here and there). So it’s no surprise to find one here on Eighth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Given that Sunset Park contains a sizable number of Chinese immigrants, it’s only natural that there are community organization, such as the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association, to help them get adjusted to the complexities of living in a new city, let alone a new country. Photo: David Chiu
- In my youth, this is the hair salon on Eighth Avenue that I went to for a haircut, right next to the B9 bus stop. Photo: David Chiu
- Sunset Park’s Eighth Avenue is a mini-Chinatown in Brooklyn. And like the Chinatown in Manhattan, it’s very crowded on the weekends. Photo: David Chiu
- Bakery shops are a popular sight in New York’s Chinatown communities. Here’s Lucky Dragon Bakery on Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park. Photo: David Chiu
- The 8th Avenue subway station in Sunset Park. Photo: David Chiu
- Street vendor on Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Zapateria Mexico sells boots on Sunset Park’s Fifth Avenue neighborhood. Photo: David Chiu
- A sight I don’t see often: a fusion place, such as the Corona Restaurant on Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Never seen cakes so elaborate, such as this particular bakery in Sunset Park’s Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Outside vendors, like this one serving beverages, are a common sight on Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Tripe anyone? Butcher shop on Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- Uncle Louie G and the Cupcake Stand sharing real estate on Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park. Photo: David Chiu
- The Tacos El Bronco restaurant and truck on Fourth Avenue. They don’t serve that Taco Bell/Chipotle-styled stuff that is called ‘Mexican.’ Rather, the food they make is the REAL thing and much better. Photo: David Chiu
- Take your pick of tacos and burritos from the Tacos El Bronco truck on Fourth Avenue (The lady in the middle of this photo takes down your order). Photo: David Chiu
- Shopping along Fifth Avenue on a Saturday afternoon in Sunset Park. Photo: David Chiu
- The incline of Sunset Park in Sunset Park. Photo: David Chiu
- The facade of the Melody Lanes bowling alley on Fifth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
- The interior of Maria’s Bistro Mexicano on Fifth Avenue, which is becoming to be one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Photo: David Chiu
- Inside the Green Fig Cafe and Bakery. Photo: David Chiu
- From above, these are the train tracks that link between the 8th Avenue and 59th Street/4th Avenue subway stops along the N line. Photo: David Chiu
- The view of Sunset Park on Fourth Avenue. Photo: David Chiu
Though culturally apart, the Latinos and Chinese in Sunset Park share many things: they’re mostly working-class immigrant families and many own businesses that cater to their respective communities. Especially on the weekends, the streets are always teeming with families taking a stroll or dining out, while vendors hawk their wares. By my own personal observation, Sunset Park appears much less affected by major gentrification than other Brooklyn neighborhoods.
According to Community Board 7’s website, Sunset Park was initially a haven for immigrants from Scandinavia, Ireland and Italy up to the 1950s. In the next decade, the neighborhood became dominated by Latinos from Puerto Rico, followed by immigrants from Central and South America and China. (“The community holds the largest Federal Historic Housing District and has some of the oldest cooperative apartments in the country,” it said). As of the 2010 census, the population of Sunset Park is over 126,000 people–45.5 percent of them are Hispanic, followed by 26.4 percent Asian, and 23.3 percent white.
So not surprisingly, the thing that stands out about the neighborhood is its diversity. Tony Giordano has lived in Sunset Park for 55 years–his grandparents first settled there when Italian immigrants arrived to an already Scandinavian neighborhood. “Many things have kept me in Sunset Park,” he says. “Number one is the location. It allows me to access all the best features of New York City in just a short drive or subway ride. The people are also an important ingredient…they lend a wonderful diversity to the area.”

From this incline in Sunset Park, you can see the city skyline–amazing. Photo: David Chiu
For photographer Vanessa Velez DeGarcia, it was love that brought her to the neighborhood where she has now lived for 15 years: she moved to Sunset Park after marrying her husband, who was born in the area. To her, Sunset Park’s distinguishable characteristics are the view of the Manhattan skyline from the large park (also named Sunset Park, which runs from 41st to 44th streets between Fifth and Seventh avenues) and the friendliness of the people. “The “Greenway” [bicycle] path leads right into the manufacturing warehouses in the neighborhood and sits across the street from the recycling centers,” she says. “It is an interesting bike ride. I enjoy it like visual poetry and see people quietly pushing shopping carts stacked high with bottles and cans. Broomsticks poking out with plastic bags waving in the breeze remind me of ships slowly wading through narrow waterways.”
Prior to moving to Sunset Park five years ago with her drummer-husband Adam Gold, singer-songwriter-keyboardist Greta Gertler of The Universal Thump had only vaguely heard about the neighborhood, particularly the Chinese part of it. “The diversity of culture is what stands out here,” she says. “This is largely a community of immigrants from around the world starting and raising families. That makes quiet streets filled with good food.”
In contrast, photographer Clay Williams and his wife are relative newbies to the area after living in Bedford-Stuyvesant for years. “Sunset Park wasn’t familiar to either of us,” he says, “but I loved the idea of learning a whole new (to me) New York. Honestly, the food was probably the first selling point, to me. The idea of eating tacos and banh mi sandwiches and dumplings pretty much whenever I feel like it endeared the area to me immediately.” He further adds: “I’m fascinated by all the activity out on the streets and in the parks. There are cultures here I don’t know anything about and all I have to do is wander out my door to see and hopefully learn more about them.”
Shutup shutup shutup! Stop telling outsiders about Sunset Park, goddamt! The fucking hipsters are already ruining it for everybody!
What a nasty thing to say