Canarsie

Welcome to the 11236, the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn located on the shores of Jamaica Bay;located at 40°38'N/73°54'W. 2000 Population: 96,301 60%black,27%white,8%hispanic and 5%asian according to the census, or also commonly known as exit 13 on the Belt Pkwy. It is home to the coolest people in Brooklyn, Past and Present and the best Pizza anywhere Armondos,Franks,Original,Pizza Villa. The Canarsie Chiefs and South Shore Vikings football teams and the home of the L Train also known as the Hipster or Love Train. We who live or come from here know we are the best of the best, no other Brooklyn neighborhood hold's a candle to us. I was born on June 16,1636 when Dutch land speculator Jacobus Van Corlaer bought land from Canarsee Indian Chiefs Penhowitz and Kakaspet. This piece of land was named New Amersfoort and extended from Rockaway Pkwy to Jamaica Bay to Flatbush Ave to Kings Hway. After the American Revolution New Amersfort was broken into the township of Flatlands and village of Canarsie. For much of the 19th Century I was a small fishing village inhabited by oystermen of English,Irish and Scottish heritage and a colony of former slaves who lived along Avenue J where Canarsie High School is now. When the Canarsie,East New York and Rockaway Beach RailRoad opened on October 21,1865 I rapidly turned into a fashionable sesaside resort for those who did not want to make the long ferry trip to The Rockaways and many of the large fine homes that are still here were built at this time. About 1880 a huge influx of German Immigrants poured into Canarsie and opened Canarsie Reformed Church 1876, St. Matthews Lutheran 1878 and Holy Family Catholic Church in 1880. The birth of modern Canarsie was beginning in 1905 the RailRoad was sold to the BMT and reopened on July 28,1906 as the BMT Canarsie Line with an electrified third rail. Golden City Park opened on Memorial Day 1907 where the Bayview Houses are now and catered to a largely German crowd from Bushwick/East New York but also many Jews from Brownsville and Italians/Poles from Williamsburg. Prohibition and pollution in Jamaica Bay killed off the Oyster Industry and the Resort but many 1-3 family homes were built during the 1920's. In 1939 the Belt Pkwy opened and after WWII a new building boom occured with all the remaining marshland filled in for homes that were built in the 1950's and 1960's and bought mainly by upper middle class Jews from East Flatbush. During the 1980's many Blacks from the Carribean began to move in and by the mid 1990's I was a prdominantly Carribean community with also large numbers of Chinese,Fillipinos and a long standing German/Italian Community. My name is sort of a mystery it's an Algonquin name meaning Fenced in Land or even a the French word Cannard(Duck) or named after a blind Algonquin chief who one day proclaimed Can-I-See and I am rumored to be the site of an ancient Algonquin Burial Ground. Whereever I get my name from I am still the best of all Brooklyn neighborhood's and if you have'nt visited Canarsie yet come on down and have a slice and a coke. Canarsie in 1873! Home | Browse | Search | Invite | Film | Mail | Blog | Favorites | Forum | Groups | Events | Videos | Music | Comedy | Classifieds