Bushwick

Residential section in the north of the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It became famous in the 19th century as a centre of the brewing industry, established by German immigrants. For a time, it was also known as Brooklyn's theatre district, rivalling Broadway in Manhattan.

Bushwick lies on Newtown Creek and the border with the borough of Queens (where it incorporates the old English settlement of Ridgewood). It was founded by Dutch settlers in 1664, as Boswijck (‘Town of the Woods’) and was initially an agricultural area. Following a large influx of German immigrants in the 1840s, there developed here the great beer-producing complex known as Brewer's Row, with a dozen establishments producing such well-known brands as ‘Rheingold’ and ‘Schaefer’. However, Prohibition and the Great Depression brought decline. After World War II Bushwick became first Italian, and then a Black neighbourhood. During a major power cut in New York in July 1977, the area was badly hit by rioting and looting. In the 1990s, Bushwick was in the grip of poverty and the drug trade.