Midwood, Brooklyn
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, and on the south by Avenue P and Kings Highway. The eastern border consists of parts of Nostrand Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and Coney Island Avenue; parts of McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway mark the western boundary.<ref name="NYT 062903">Leimbach, Dulcie. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Midwood; Bustling Area With a Touch of Country" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, June 29, 2003. Accessed October 30, 2007.</ref>
Midwood is part of Brooklyn Community District 14, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11210 and 11230.<ref name="NYCPlanning"/> It is patrolled by the 70th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.<ref name="NYPD 70th Precinct"/> Politically, Midwood is represented by the New York City Council's 44th, 45th, and 48th districts.<ref>Current City Council Districts for Kings County Template:Webarchive, New York City. Accessed May 5, 2017.</ref>
History
The name "Midwood" derives from the Middle Dutch Midwout (middle woods; Modern Dutch: Midwoud), the name the settlers of New Netherland called the area of dense woodland midway between the towns of Boswyck (Bushwick) and Breukelen (Brooklyn). Jan Snedeker, Jan Stryker, and Tomys Swartwout solicited from Director-General Stuyvesant the right of settling together on a level area of wilderness (vlacke bosch, the flat bush), adjacent to the outlying farms at Breukelen and Nieuw Amersfoort. Through Swartwout's suggestion, the settlement was named the village of Midwout or Midwolde. In April 1655, Stuyvesant and the Council of New Netherland appointed Swartwout a schepen (magistrate), to serve with Snedeker and Adriaen Hegeman as the Court of Midwout.<ref name="memory.loc.gov">Template:Cite web</ref>
Later, it became part of old Flatbush, situated between the towns of Gravesend and Flatlands.<ref name="genealogy">BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS.. Present & Past Template:Webarchive, accessed December 21, 2006</ref>
Settlement was begun by the Dutch in 1652;<ref name="memory.loc.gov"/><ref name=genealogy/> they later gave way to the English, who conquered it in 1664, but the area remained rural and undeveloped for the most part until its annexation to the City of Brooklyn in the 1890s. It became more developed in the 1920s when large middle class housing tracts and apartment buildings were built.<ref>"FISKE TERRACE-MIDWOOD PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT." Historic Districts Council. Accessed March 21, 2015</ref>
Many residents refer to Midwood as "Flatbush", or as being "part of Flatbush", an older and more established neighborhood and former township, which in the 19th century included modern Midwood. The usage of Flatbush to mean Midwood dates to the period when the neighborhood was first formed, and known as South Greenfield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Many also consider the nearby neighborhood of Fiske Terrace/Midwood Gardens to be part of Midwood, but, as in many cities, neighborhood boundaries in Brooklyn are somewhat fluid and poorly defined.
Demographics
Based on data from the 2020 United States Census, the population of Midwood was 52,835. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 73.6% White, 11.8% Asian, 7.6% Hispanic/Latino, 4.6% Black and 2.4% Other. There were 16% of residents over the age of 65.<ref>Demographics_by_NTA.pdf (nyc.gov)</ref>
The entirety of Community Board 14, which comprises Flatbush and Midwood, had 165,543 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.4 years.<ref name="CHP2018">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Rp This is slightly higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.<ref name=":21">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 25% are between the ages of 0–17, 29% between 25–44, and 24% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 13% respectively.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 14 was $56,599.<ref name="CB14PUMA">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, an estimated 22% of Flatbush and Midwood residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Flatbush and Midwood, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, Template:As of, Flatbush and Midwood are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
Character
Shopping
The main shopping streets in the area are Kings Highway, Avenue J, Avenue M, Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Coney Island Avenue.
Kings Highway
In the 1950s through the 1970s, Kings Highway had Dubrow's Cafeteria, a classic cafeteria where holes would be punched in patrons' printed tickets, which would total the cost of the meal. In his run for the White House, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy held a campaign rally just outside Dubrow's Cafeteria. Years later, his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy ("Bobby") held a similar campaign rally there for his run for President.
In the fall of 2008, the NYCDOT planned to implement an experimental congestion parking plan in the Kings Highway Business District, which would have raised parking meter rates from 75 cents to as much as $2.50 an hour. Specific streets were not then designated.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kings Highway is currently anchored by several chain stores and multiple ethnic food stores. Unique businesses include several high fashion outlets, jewelry stores, and sushi restaurants.
The first Original Crazy Eddie store was located on Kings Hwy., then moved to larger quarters just south of Kings Highway on Coney Island Avenue.
Nostrand Avenue
Nostrand Avenue was known for fashionable boutiques and took its place as one of New York's most upscale shopping destinations (even being the cover story of New York Magazine as a secret oasis for fashion). Once a distribution warehouse for a clothing line, Burton's started opening its doors to the public in 1956 for one-off sales events to reduce inventory. Seeing the success of Burtons, Bernie Greenstone and his wife Margarette decided to find a small retail space on the block, located between Avenues M and N to open the soon-to-be famous Children’s clothing store, "Greenstone's" which was first established in 1919 by Margarette's parents until their retirement. Using the same name Greenstone's opened in 1956 and operated at 2750 Nostrand Avenue for 37 years - expanding 3 times. Burtons decided to open 6 days a week (Mon-Sat) and Greenstone's followed suit. Shortly thereafter other stores opened, such as Edna Nelken's Jewelry, The Shirtbox, The Bounty Shop menswear and dozens of other high fashion stores. The block continued to flourish until Burton's - the largest of the stores - closed citing union labor costs. Burton's lay dormant until the Plaza Honda and Oldsmobile showroom opened. This automotive retail entry made parking virtually impossible for customers to find parking spaces and eventually stores closed and Plaza expanded by taking over virtually all retail space on both sides of the Avenue. Greenstone's closed, but Greenstones et Cie (Greenstones & Co.) still exists on Columbus Avenue and West 82nd Street in Manhattan - counting as one of New York City's longest operating children's clothing stores in New York ... from 1919 until today.
As retailers retired, the street changed and became known for its automobile showrooms. A U.S. Postal Service facility (Zip Code 11210) can be found on Nostrand Avenue between Avenues I and J.
Lettered avenues
Avenue J is a major business street in Midwood, with many kosher restaurants, deli, pizzerias, and butchers.
Avenue M, another one of the major business streets of Midwood, is a central location for kosher food and butchers. While in the past it was home to Cookie's, one of Brooklyn's best known restaurants and hang-outs (also popular with the NBC studio staff), today there are no fewer than ten kosher restaurants and three kosher bakeries. From the 1920s through the 1940s, the Dorman Square Restaurant was popular with the Vitagraph studios employees, as well as playing a role in a Vitagraph film or two.
Until the 1970s, Avenue M had its own movie theater. One of Brooklyn's Italian restaurants, Restaurant Bonaparte, also catered to the actors and actresses working on Avenue M in the NBC studios at that time. Restaurant Bonaparte was known for its "Three Musketeers".Template:Clarification needed It also had a wishing well fountain in its lobby entrance, filled with customers' coins. The Avenue has an elevated subway station. Near the end of June each year, the Midwood Development Corporation hosts the popular Midwood Mardi Gras Street Fair along the Avenue, from East 12th Street to Ocean Avenue.
Shoppers can find a municipal muni-meter parking lot on East 17th Street at Chestnut Avenue just north of Avenue M. Many of the retail businesses are closed on Jewish holidays.
Coney Island Avenue
On Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, primarily between Avenue H and Avenue P, are the U.S. Postal Service Midwood station (Zip Code 11230), The Kent Triplex Movie Theater, and other retailers.
Between Avenue O and Quentin Road are Turkish restaurants and a hookah bar.
The United States' largest kosher supermarket opened at the corner of Avenue L and Coney Island Avenue in August 2008.<ref>US's largest kosher store opens in NY Template:Webarchive, Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2018.</ref>
Ocean Parkway
Ocean Parkway is a major tree-lined<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Brooklyn boulevard, largely featuring apartment houses. It is not a shopping district. Local one-way traffic lanes are separated from the main roadway by bicycle lanes and running paths.<ref name="nyc bikemap">Template:Cite web</ref> Most avenues continue from one side to the other; Avenue K doesn't. Ryder Avenue and Roder do neither: Though they are the same one-way road, their names differ by one letter. Ryder begins at McDonald Avenue, reaches Ocean Parkway, disappears on the opposite for one short block, then continues as Roder, ending at Coney Island Avenue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear
Movie theaters
Midwood had several movie theaters, now mostly closed:
- One, still on Coney Island Ave, near Ave. H, is Template:Visible anchor. It was built in 1939 with a single screen, becoming a triplex in the early 1990s.<ref>Article has a clear photo of the entrance. Template:Cite news</ref>
- Template:AnchorOne was on Ave. M, the Century Elm, later an Emigrant Savings Bank branch and now an Apple Bank branch.
- Four of them were on Kings Highway:
- The Kingsway<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- The Jewel
- The Avalon (closed in 1982)
- The Triangle theatre, which opened in 1936, closed in 1952, subsequently "became a furniture store and by 2019 was a clothing store."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was located across from Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Triangle.
Avalon Theater
The Avalon Theater opened on January 25, 1928, and was located on Kings Highway at the southwest corner of East 18th Street. Originally built by a local Brooklyn company as the Piccadilly, it was sold prior to opening to Loews Theaters, which changed the name to Avalon. Designed by Samuel Cohen, the combined auditoriums (the main or lobby floor and the upstairs or balcony) seated 2,119 which included on the lobby floor a separate seating for children. It also featured a Robert Morton theatre pipe organ. Within a year of opening, it became part of the Century Theatres chain.
_01_-_Former_Avalon_Theater_(1720_Kings_Highway).jpg){kind=link}
The theater closed in 1982, and the building now houses a Walgreens on the ground floor, and offices on the upper floors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
East Midwood
The area east of Ocean Avenue is also known as "East Midwood". The volunteer ambulance service serving Midwood is Flatbush Hatzoloh. The nearest hospitals are Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital) and Mount Sinai Brooklyn, both on Kings Highway. Both are certified "9-1-1 FDNY-EMS" receiving emergency facilities. One of Brooklyn's last remaining farms was located on the site of the apartment complex at 1279 East 17th St. (just north of Ave. M) until it was torn down in the mid-1960s.
Parks
Parks include Kolbert Park and the Rachel Haber Cohen Playground and adjacent handball and basketball courts,<ref>Kolbert Park Template:Webarchive, accessed December 21, 2006</ref> near Edward R. Murrow High School, and the track and playing fields of Brooklyn College and Midwood High School.
Friends Field at East Second Street and Avenue L features baseball diamonds and tennis courts. Just opposite the field is the Erasmus Hall High School football field (closed to the public when not in use).
The sprawling square block-long Midwood High School Field (East 16th–17th Street at Avenues K-L) features handball courts, tennis courts, a runners track and a field used for football, rugby and soccer. On June 2, 1958, a Maccabiah event was held at the field, at which Olympic weightlifting champion Isaac Berger, U.S. racewalking champion Henry Laskau, and Olympic hammer throw competitor Marty Engel gave exhibitions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Students from adjacent Edward R. Murrow High School also use the field during school hours.
There are two public pedestrian plazas in Midwood:
- Corporal Wiltshire Square, named in Honor of Corporal Clifford T. Wiltshire, located at the intersection of Ocean Avenue where it merges with Avenue P and Kings Highway.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 27 year old Wiltshire,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a married man<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> residing at "1022 Avenue P, was killed by a direct hit by a shell in October 1918"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while leading his comrades, after their sergeant was killed.
- Template:Visible anchor, located at the crossroads of Kings Highway and Quentin Road (E. 12th–13th Streets), so named in honor of American journalist and poet Sgt. Joyce Kilmer (1866–1918). His is the smallest park in New York City,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>(2017)Template:Cite web</ref> occupying Template:Convert of land.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Police and crime
Midwood is patrolled by the 70th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 154 Lawrence Avenue.<ref name="NYPD 70th Precinct">Template:Cite web</ref> The 70th Precinct ranked 30th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, with a non-fatal assault rate of 42 per 100,000 people, Flatbush and Midwood's rate of violent crimes per capita was less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 372 per 100,000 people was lower than that of the city as a whole.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
The 70th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 89.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 6 murders, 27 rapes, 162 robberies, 273 felony assaults, 173 burglaries, 527 grand larcenies, and 75 grand larcenies auto in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Fire safety
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 276/Ladder Co. 156/Battalion 33, which serves Midwood, is located at 1635 East 14th Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite FDNY locations</ref>
Health
Template:As of, preterm births are more common in Flatbush and Midwood than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers are less common. In Flatbush and Midwood, there were 99 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 17.1 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp Flatbush and Midwood has a relatively high population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through Medicaid.<ref name=":14">New York City Health Provider Partnership Brooklyn Community Needs Assessment: Final Report Template:Webarchive, New York Academy of Medicine (October 3, 2014).</ref> In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 16%, which is higher than the citywide rate of 12%.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Flatbush and Midwood is Template:Convert, lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp Ten percent of Flatbush and Midwood residents are smokers, which is slightly lower than the city average of 14%.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp In Flatbush and Midwood, 28% of residents are obese, 13% are diabetic, and 31% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp 21% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
Eighty percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 77% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", slightly less than the city's average of 78%.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp For every supermarket in Flatbush and Midwood, there are 21 bodegas.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
Hospitals in Midwood include Mount Sinai Brooklyn and New York Community Hospital. Additionally, SUNY Downstate Medical Center is located in nearby Flatbush.<ref name=":14"/>
Post offices and ZIP Codes
Midwood is covered by two ZIP Codes: 11230 west of East 21st Street and 11210 east of East 21st Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The United States Postal Service operates three post offices nearby:
- Kingsway Station – 1610 East 19th Street<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Midwood Station – 1288 Coney Island Avenue<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Vanderveer Station – 2319 Nostrand Avenue<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Religion
Midwood is a diverse multi-ethnic and multi-religious neighborhood; however, the neighborhood is predominantly Jewish.
Judaism
In the 1980s and 1990s, a wave of Orthodox Jews moved into the area from Borough Park, attracted by Midwood's large homes and tree-lined streets. Today, in addition to Ashkenazic Orthodox Jews, the area is home to a burgeoning Sephardic population. Along Kings Highway from Coney Island to McDonald Avenues are many Middle Eastern style restaurants and take-out food shops.
The East Midwood Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, was founded in 1924. The building, located on Ocean Avenue, is a 1929 Renaissance revival structure with a capacity of 950 in the main sanctuary. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.<ref name="NRHPS7P1">"National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet (NPS Form 10-900-a)" Template:Webarchive, OMB No. 1024-0018, Section 7, p. 1.</ref><ref name="NRHPlistings">"National Register of Historic Places Listings" , June 16, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2008.</ref> The Kingsway Jewish Center is an historic synagogue from the 1950s on Nostrand Avenue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.<ref name="nrhp">Template:Cite web</ref>
There are several branches of Touro College there, a college that was started in 1970. Midwood is also home to several large orthodox synagogues, including Congregation Beth Torah,<ref>Congregation Beth Torah</ref> the Young Israel of Midwood,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Agudas Yisroel Bais Binyomin of Avenue L,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Congregation Talmud Torah of Flatbush,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beis Medrash Ahavas Dovid Apsha under the leadership of Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Beck Shlita - The Apsha Rav, the minyan factory<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> known as Landau's Shul (offering minyanim every 15 minutes on an average day<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>), Rabbi Avraham Schorr's former synagogue, known as Khal Tiferes Yaakov on East 15th Street and Avenue L, the Bostoner Rebbe on Avenue J, Steinwurtzels, the Young Israel of Avenue J,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Agudah of Midwood, and several Syrian Orthodox synagogues.<ref>Syrian Jews</ref> Synagogues based out of homes, called shtiebelach, are also common.
In November 2009, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a beneficiary agency of the UJA-Federation of New York, partnered with Masbia to open a kosher soup kitchen on Coney Island Avenue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are many yeshivos in Midwood. These include the Mirrer Yeshiva, Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, Yeshiva Toras Emes Kaminetz, Mosdos Veretzky, Yeshiva of Brooklyn, Yeshiva Ohr Naftali, Yeshiva Tiferes Shmuel, Yeshivas Ohr Yisrael, Yeshivas Vyelipol, Yeshiva Ateret Torah, Yeshivat Mikdash Melech, and Yeshivas Beis Yosef Novardok.
Christianity
St. Brendan's Parish and Our Lady Help of Christians are two Roman Catholic Church congregations located in Midwood. The Church of the Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox serves the Greek residents of the community. The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany also serves the community.
Islam
The area around Newkirk Avenue has one of the largest mosques in Brooklyn, the Muslim Community Center of Brooklyn, also known as Makki Masjid.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
Flatbush and Midwood generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents to the rest of the city Template:As of. Though 43% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 18% have less than a high school education and 39% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp The percentage of Flatbush and Midwood students excelling in math rose from 43 percent in 2000 to 68 percent in 2011, though reading achievement remained steady at 48% during the same time period.<ref name=":17">Template:Cite web</ref>
Flatbush and Midwood's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is about equal to the rest of New York City. In Flatbush and Midwood, 18% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students.<ref name=":21" />Template:Rp<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp Additionally, 75% of high school students in Flatbush and Midwood graduate on time, equal to the citywide average of 75% of students.<ref name="CHP2018" />Template:Rp
Schools and higher education
Midwood contains the following public schools operated by the New York City Department of Education:<ref name="Zillow">Template:Cite web</ref>
- PS 193 Gil Hodges (grades PK-5)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- PS 197 The Kings Highway Academy (grades PK-5)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- PS 199 Frederick Wachtel (grades PK-5)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Andries Hudde School (grades 6-8)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- IS 381 (grades 6-8)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Edward R. Murrow High School (grades 9-12)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Midwood High School (grades 9-12)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Private schools include:<ref name="Zillow"/>Template:Columns-list
Colleges include:
Libraries
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has two branches in Midwood. The Midwood branch is located at 975 East 16th Street near Avenue J. It was founded in 1912 and relocated several times before moving to its current location. The branch was rebuilt in the 1950s and again in 1998, and a public plaza was built in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Kings Highway branch is located at 2115 Ocean Avenue near Kings Highway. It was founded in 1910 and initially occupied several storefronts. When it moved to its current location in 1954, it became the first BPL branch library to be built by the New York City government. The library was renovated in 2009 and now contains a reading room in the basement and a passport office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transportation
The area is served by the New York City Subway's BMT Brighton Line (Template:NYCS trains), IND Culver Line (Template:NYCS trains), and the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line (Template:NYCS trains).<ref>Template:NYCS const</ref>
MTA New York City Transit routes serving the community include the Template:NYC bus link local buses and the Template:NYC bus link express buses.<ref>Template:Cite NYC bus map</ref>
In popular culture
Film
Midwood has long played a part in both film and television production. The film industry established itself in the neighborhood in 1907, when the Vitagraph company occupied studios at 1277 East 14th near Avenue M. Scenes from films like Hey Pop and Buzzin' Around, starring Fatty Arbuckle, were filmed on streets in Midwood.<ref>Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn: Avenue M – Movie Capital of the World? Template:Webarchive, accessed December 21, 2006.</ref> Warner Bros. purchased the studio in the 1920s, using it for short subjects, and moved the studio operation to Hollywood in 1939.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A large smokestack bearing the name "Vitagraph" is still on the property, visible from the BMT Brighton Line. Many Vitagraph employees resided within the community.
The Brooklyn Historical Society and the Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria, New York) have collections on the Vitagraph Studios. An old vintage aerial photograph of the Vitagraph complex (and its streets) hangs today on a wall in the offices of the Midwood Development Corporation.
The Vitagraph Studios were later featured in a New York Times Article (2007), and in the PBS, WNET-13 TV Special 'A Walk Through Brooklyn,' hosted by David Hartman and historian Barry Lewis. Old historic photographs of the studio show that part of it also existed across the Brighton line subway tracks where Edward R. Murrow High School now stands.
After Warner Bros. vacated the land (in the late 1960s-early 1970s), Yeshiva University purchased it for Brooklyn Torah Academy, the Brooklyn branch of their high school. The Shulamith School purchased the property some years later, when it merged BTA into Manhattan Torah Academy. Until 2015 the building was home to the Shulamith Yeshiva School for Girls,<ref name="NYT 062903" /> which moved to Manhattan Beach. Present day, many within the community were unaware that the Shulamith School buildings and property were once a film studio. In 2018, the yeshiva was replaced with an eight-story, 302-unit apartment building.
The Leading Male men's attire store, once located at the corner of Kings Highway and East 12th Street, was the source for the disco attire that John Travolta and the other male cast members wore in the film Saturday Night Fever.Template:Citation needed A duplicate of the white suit Travolta wore in the film was at that time displayed in one of the showcase windows.
Television
NBC Studios
In 1952, NBC Television purchased part of the Vitagraph Studios, which then became known as NBC Brooklyn. Studio 1 along Locust Avenue. A new larger studio known as Color Studio 2 at 1268 East 14th Street, on the northwest corner of Avenue M. Many programs were taped here.
When it was dedicated in 1954, it was said to be the world's largest color TV production studio.<ref>Hawes, William. Live Television Drama, p. 16. McFarland & Company, 2001. Template:ISBN. Accessed September 26, 2017. "In New York, Mayor Robert Wagner dedicated the world's largest television studio as NBC's color production center at 1268 East 14th Street in Brooklyn."</ref>
NBC sold the studio in 2000,<ref name="nyt 199905">Template:Cite web</ref> and the facility became JC Studios. The facility was also used by CBS. In 2014, JC Studios closed, ending 60 years of TV history.
In 2015, OHEL Children's Home and Family Services created offices in the former Studio 1 on Locust Avenue, part of the original Vitagraph Studios. Studio 2, built by NBC, became a self-storage facility.
Notable residents
Famous people who grew up in, formerly lived in, or attended or graduated from a school in Midwood include: Template:Div col
- Woody Allen, writer and director; attended P.S. 99, graduated from Midwood High School, and once resided at both 1402 Avenue K, and 968 East 14th Street<ref>Newman, Andy; and Kilgannon, Corey. " Curse of the Jaded Audience: Woody Allen, in Art and Life" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, June 5, 2002. Accessed October 10, 2007. "I think he's slacked off the last few movies, said Norman Brown, 70, a retired draftsman from Mr. Allen's old neighborhood, Midwood, Brooklyn, who said he had seen nearly all of Mr. Allen's 33 films."</ref>
- Darren Aronofsky, director, attended Edward R. Murrow High School (though he grew up in Manhattan Beach)
- Letty Aronson (born Ellen Letty Konigsberg), film producer and sister of Woody Allen<ref>Hoffman, Barbara. "Woody and his sister" Template:Webarchive, New York Post, Ocgtober 16, 2011. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Tumultuous as his life has been, the former Allen Konigsberg, a k a Woody Allen, grew up in the Flatbush and Midwood sections of Brooklyn without the quake and roar of an overhead Cyclone. But he did have an adoring younger sister who — after Allen’s bitter feud with longtime producer Jean Doumanian — took over as the businesswoman behind the filmmaker."</ref>
- Noah Baumbach, writer, director and independent filmmaker
- Didi Conn, actress, graduated Midwood High School
- Lou Ferrigno, actor, bodybuilder, grew up and lived on East 5th Street in West Midwood
- Patrick Fitzgerald, former US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, attended East Midwood Jewish Center and James Madison High School<ref>Doge, Annie. "The Notorious RBG: Exploring Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Brooklyn Roots" Template:Webarchive, 6sqft.com, March 18, 2016. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933, to Nathan and Celia Bader, Russian-Jewish immigrants who worked as a furrier and a garment factory worker. The family lived in a modest clapboard house at 1584 East 9th Street in Midwood, near the border of Gravesend, in a predominantly Jewish area. They belonged to the East Midwood Jewish Center."</ref>
- Annie Golden, actress, lead singer of the late 1970s band The Shirts; grew up and lived in Midwood
- Elliot Goldenthal, contemporary classical music composer; attended I.S. 240-Andres Hudde Junior High School
- Yosef Goldman, author
- Gil Hodges, baseball player and manager; parishioner of Our Lady Help of Christians Church at E. 28 St. & Avenue M; Brooklyn namesakes include the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, Public School 193 in Midwood, a bowling alley in Mill Basin, and a portion of Bedford Avenue from Avenues L to N, near his home renamed Gil Hodges Way<ref>MAYOR GIULIANI SIGNS BILL NAMING BROOKLYN STREET "GIL HODGES WAY" Template:Webarchive, Mayor of New York City press release, dated February 26, 2001. Accessed September 17, 2007.</ref>
- Lainie Kazan (born 1940), singer, actress (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)
- Ivan Leshinsky (born 1947), American-Israeli basketball player
- Barry Manilow, pop singer and songwriter
- Arthur Miller, playwright, Death of a Salesman<ref>Applebome, Peter. "Present at the Birth of a Salesman" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, January 29, 1999. Accessed October 27, 2007. "Mr. Miller was born in Harlem in 1915 and then moved with his family to the Midwood section of Brooklyn."</ref>
- Isaac Mizrahi (born 1961), fashion designer, TV presenter and chief designer of the Isaac Mizrahi brand<ref>Lee, Felicia R. "Adding a New Note to a Musical Menagerie; Isaac Mizrahi Directs Peter and the Wolf at the Guggenheim" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, December 2, 2013. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Mr. Mizrahi grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn, listening to Leonard Bernstein’s recording of Peter and the Wolf."</ref>
- Joel Moses, Israeli-American computer scientist and MIT professor, attended Midwood High School
- David Peel (1942–2017), underground rock musician<ref>Kilgannon, Corey. "No Less Irreverent at Age 68" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, April 27, 2012. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Mr. Peel was born David Rosario and grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn. He served in the Army in the mid-1960s and then began living downtown and playing the guitar in parks and on the street."</ref>
- Bernie Sanders, politician, 2016 presidential candidate, and U.S. senator from Vermont; grew up on East 26th Street and attended James Madison High School<ref>Horowitz, Jason. "Bernie Sanders’s ‘100% Brooklyn’ Roots Are as Unshakable as His Accent" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, July 24, 2015. Accessed February 21, 2016.</ref>
- Jack Sarfatti, theoretical physicist
- Aaron Schechter (1928-2023), rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
- Chuck Schumer (born 1950), U.S. senator from New York<ref>Sack, Kevin. "In Midwood, the Big Issue Is Still Jackson" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, October 25, 1989. Accessed September 26, 2017. "The neighborhood's politics also have become more conservative as crime has worsened, said Representative Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat who grew up in Midwood and represents the district."</ref>
- Erich Segal, classics professor and novelist; graduated from Midwood High School
- Josh Silver, keyboardist and producer for the Gothic Metal band Type O Negative
- Tony Sirico, actor, "Paulie Walnuts" of HBO's The Sopranos; born in Midwood
- Meir Kahane, founder and leader of the Jewish Defense League lived in Midwood
- Peter Steele, lead singer, bassist, and composer for the Gothic Metal band Type O Negative; graduated from Murrow High School
- Ken Leung, actor, lived in Midwood as a child <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Chris Stein, of the pop band Blondie; attended P.S. 99 in the 1960s
- Tomys Swartwout, founding member of Midwout (Midwood); appointed a schepen (magistrate) to the Court of Midwout; a signer of the "Humble Remonstrance and Petition of the Colonies and Villages of this New Netherland Province" (December 11, 1653); one of the first campaigns for democratic rights in America<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Sy Syms (born Seymour Merinsky), philanthropist, founder and Chairman of the discount men's clothing retailer SYMS; graduated from Midwood High School
- Marisa Tomei, actress; graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School<ref>Collins, Glenn. "Actress's Challenge in Change of Pace and Diction" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, August 10, 1992. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Though she grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn, Ms. Tomei doesn't look, speak, act or vamp like Mona Lisa Vito."</ref>
- Michelle Trachtenberg, actress; attended P.S. 99
- Bruce Wasserstein, investment banker, businessman, and writer; born and raised in Midwood
- Adam Yauch, rapper and founding member of the Beastie Boys
References
Sources
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- Midwood section of Congressman Anthony D. Weiner Template:Webarchive Consulted December 14, 2004
- Interview (with resident) Michael T. Wright- News 12 Networks 'News 12 Bklyn.' 'On The Road In Midwood' Live Broadcast Re: Midwood Celebrities, Vitagraph and NBC Bklyn. History Consulted August 16, 2007, and Sept.- Nov. 2007.
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web