Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges and More Got Their Names (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jennifer Weiss (Author)
Key Phrases: likely named, street named, New York, Prospect Park, Kings County (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating morsels of Brooklyn history. . . . An entertaining, breezy compilation for the NYU Press, perfect for reading down at Coney, up on tar beach, or out on your shady front stoop this summer. . . . So if you wanna know how Dead Horse Bay, Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, Smith St. Carroll Gardens, Junior's Restaurant, Green-Wood Cemetery, Gilmore Court or the Riegelmann Boardwalk got their names, grab a copy of Brooklyn by Name."

- New York Daily News

"Information is well presented and well illustrated—both factors making this guide easy on the eye. Hardly a location is left unexplored in this fascinating, indispensable guide to a borough undeservedly in Manhattan's shadow."

- Booklist

"Witty, occasionally irreverent and always engaging, Brooklyn by Name takes readers from the six independent towns that once comprised Breuckelen to the modern metropolis. Weiss and Benardo have uncovered surprising data and have woven a compulsively readable narrative. Pick it up, rifle through, and find out about—or be reminded of—the underpinnings of our boroughÂ’s heritage."

- The Brooklyn Rail

"This book is an essential companion for anyone teaching about Brooklyn, for anyone writing about the borough, and for tour guide people. Benardo and Weiss have to be pleased with their product, and clearly should be congratulated."

- Brooklyn Daily Eagle

"Brooklyn streets, parks and sites are dripping with history, and husband-and-wife team Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss have hung them all out to dry in their dictionary of street smarts, Brooklyn By Name."

- Brooklyn Papers

Product Description

"Fascinating morsels of Brooklyn history. . . . An entertaining, breezy compilation for the NYU Press, perfect for reading down at Coney, up on tar beach, or out on your shady front stoop this summer. . . . So if you wanna know how Dead Horse Bay, Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, Smith St. Carroll Gardens, Junior's Restaurant, Green-Wood Cemetery, Gilmore Court or the Riegelmann Boardwalk got their names, grab a copy of Brooklyn by Name."
--New York Daily News

"Information is well presented and well illustrated-both factors making this guide easy on the eye. Hardly a location is left unexplored in this fascinating, indispensable guide to a borough undeservedly in Manhattan's shadow."
--Booklist

"Witty, occasionally irreverent and always engaging, Brooklyn by Name takes readers from the six independent towns that once comprised Breuckelen to the modern metropolis. Weiss and Benardo have uncovered surprising data and have woven a compulsively readable narrative. Pick it up, rifle through, and find out about--or be reminded of--the underpinnings of our borough's heritage."
--The Brooklyn Rail

"This book is an essential companion for anyone teaching about Brooklyn, for anyone writing about the borough, and for tour guide people. Benardo and Weiss have to be pleased with their product, and clearly should be congratulated."
--Brooklyn Daily Eagle

"...a well researched and concise compilation of the historical derivation of the place names in Brooklyn, and engaging stroll through the city's largest borough and its history....the book is easy to pick up, and with its wide-ranging, often quirky fragments of Brooklyn history, hard to put down."
--Bay News

"Brooklyn streets, parks and sites are dripping with history, and husband-and-wife team Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss have hung them all out to dry in their dictionary of street smarts, Brooklyn By Name."
--Brooklyn Papers

"A well-researched and concise compilation of the historical derivation of the place names in Brooklyn, an engaging stroll through the city's largest borough and its history. . . . The book is easy to pick up, and with its wide-ranging, often quirky fragments of Brooklyn history, hard to put down."
--Courier-Life Publications

"An excellent guide to Brooklyn. Explaining Brooklyn's often mystifying names (like Force Tube Avenue and Dead Horse Bay) allows the streets to speak their stories. Walkers in the borough should not leave home without it."
--Mike Wallace, co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898

"Uncovering the remarkable stories behind the landmarks, Brooklyn by name takes readers on a stroll through streets and places of this thriving metropolis to reveal the borough's textured past.--NYU Today

"From Albemarle Road to Zion Triangle, the history of Brooklyn place names revealed in Brooklyn By Name is as fascinating as life in the County of Kings itself. By putting faces to the names of our streets, parks, and neighborhoods, Benardo and Weiss bring to vibrant life hundreds of places where Brooklynites live, work, and play every day. Whether we're called Breukelen, Brookland, or Brooklyn, there's no place like it in the world!"
--Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President

"This beautifully researched, lucidly written and compulsively readable book will have readers bouncing from entry to entry. By focusing on the derivation of Brooklyn's place-names, the authors have subtly traced the borough's rich history of politics, power, greed and idealism."
--Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan

"Taking off from neighborhood names, this page-turner of a book tells of the successive waves of settlers and immigrant arrivals who have given Brooklyn its distinctive flavor. Here are the men and women whose fantasies, foibles, and otherwise-fleeting fame find permanency in the pavements, parks and place-names of the borough that almost wasn't part of New York. Nicely illustrated with an exceptional folio of new photos and unusual old illustrations, and peppered with vivid stories and obscure facts, this book will fascinate even the most provincial of non-Brooklynites. You don't have to live there to love this book."
--Andrew Alpern, co-author of New York's Architectural Holdouts

"Jump into your walking shoes, bring along this marvelous book, and get ready to explore Brooklyn's streets!"
--Judith Stonehill, coauthor of Brooklyn: A Journey Through the City of Dreams

"...a fascinating and often wonderfully quirky look at the borough and a great way to discover teh history that undergirds twenty-first century life."
--The Brooklyn Rail

From Bedford-Stuyvesant to Williamsburg, Brooklyn's historic names are emblems of American culture and history. Uncovering the remarkable stories behind the landmarks, Brooklyn By Name takes readers on a stroll through the streets and places of this thriving metropolis to reveal the borough's textured past.

Listing more than 500 of Brooklyn's most prominent place names, organized alphabetically by region, and richly illustrated with photographs and current maps the book captures the diverse threads of American history. We learn about the Canarsie Indians, the region's first settlers, whose language survives in daily traffic reports about the Gowanus Expressway. The arrival of the Dutch West India Company in 1620 brought the first wave of European names, from Boswijck ("town in the woods," later Bushwick) to Bedford-Stuyvesant, after the controversial administrator of the Dutch colony, to numerous places named after prominent Dutch families like the Bergens.

The English takeover of the area in 1664 led to the Anglicization of Dutch names, (vlackebos, meaning "wooded plain," became Flatbush) and the introduction of distinctively English names (Kensington, Brighton Beach). A century later the American Revolution swept away most Tory monikers, replacing them with signers of the Declaration of Independence and international figures who supported the revolution such as Lafayette (France), De Kalb (Germany), and Kosciuszko (Poland). We learn too of the dark corners of Brooklyn's past, encountering over 70 streets named for prominent slaveholders like Lefferts and Lott but none for its most famous abolitionist, Walt Whitman.

From the earliest settlements to recent commemorations such as Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn By Name tells the tales of the poets, philosophers, baseball heroes, diplomats, warriors, and saints who have left their imprint on this polyethnic borough that was once almost disastrously renamed "New York East."

Ideal for all Brooklynites, newcomers, and visitors, this book includes:

*Over 500 entries explaining the colorful history of Brooklyn's most prominent place names

*Over 100 vivid photographs of Brooklyn past and present

*9 easy to follow and up-to-date maps of the neighborhoods

*Informative sidebars covering topics like Ebbets Field, Lindsay Triangle, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

*Covers all neighborhoods, easily find the street you're on

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814799469
• ISBN-13: 978-0814799468
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,586 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive snippets of Brooklyn history, July 15, 2006

By	Jeddy 3 - See all my reviews

Brooklynites, did you know Empire Boulevard was originally Malbone Street, but was renamed after a devastating 1918 Brighton Beach Line train accident there that killed more than 90 people? Did you know that parts of DeGraw St. in Park Slope were renamed Lincoln Place in 1873 because a famous murder there had caused the street name to be tainted by association? This book is full of amazing name origins like these. It opened my eyes to the tumultuous history of my city and the remnants that are everywhere, once you know where to look. Get this book and impress your smartalecky Brooklyn friends with your obscure wisdom!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Unputdownable"!, July 14, 2006

By	H. Meltzer (New York City) - See all my reviews

I thought I would leaf through a few pages and that would be enough. Was I wrong! I literally could not stop reading this marvelous work. It is immensely readable, beautifully written and funny, to boot.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Names make a city more alive, September 19, 2006

By	Joe McMahon (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews

Brooklyn has several patterns of street numbering, but streets that carry names of people add the presence of those folk, yes, even if the named are deceased! Congratulations to authors Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss for the scholarship and style that went into this handy, fascinating book of Brooklyn neighborhoods and names. A few years ago, when a friend inquired about Maujer Street, Williamsburg, where she grew up, I inquired at the nearby branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. We learned he was a local alderman, but the informative source was only a few typed pages of Brookyn street names. "Brooklyn by Name" has come to the rescue. I believe it is the first book published on this topic. Arranged geographically into eight chapters, it is aided by well-selected and helpful photos. The authors introduce the history of the region, then explain the street names alphabetically. The book's index is complete, not limited to street names, but including famous Brooklynites mentioned in the volume. As for The Bronx, James McNamara spent his lifetime compiling and revising his "History in Asphalt." Two books have been published about Manhattan stret names. As far as I know, no author has published a guide of Queens street names nor those of Staten Island. "Brooklyn by Name" is a model of the genre.