Sunset Park

Residential and commercial district in west-central Brooklyn, New York City. Taking in much of the waterfront of Brooklyn, Sunset Park lies on Upper New York Bay, to the south of Park Slope and north of Bay Ridge. 80% of US troops bound for Europe during World War II embarked from an ocean terminal here.

The area takes its name (which has only been in wide use since the 1960s), from a neighbourhood park that, along with nearby Green-Wood Cemetery, was a popular recreation area in the 19th century. From the 1840s onwards, Irish, German, and Polish immigrants came to live in the district. Later in the 19th century, Scandinavians moved into Sunset Park and Bay Ridge; the first cooperative housing scheme in the USA was set up here by Finns in 1916. Along the waterfront, the huge Bush Terminal complex was built in the 1890s, and the Brooklyn Army Terminal was completed in 1918; this latter facility closed in the 1970s. The elevated Gowanus Expressway runs between Sunset Park and the docks. The district is now about 50% Hispanic, while the large Jewish community in neighbouring Borough Park has also spread east into Sunset Park.