Gowanus

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

February 22, 2007

Standing on one of the four bridges that straddle the Gowanus Canal, it's downright impossible to imagine that this was once a creek that British soldiers crossed during the American Revolution.

Then again, a deep breath and a glance down at the ducks paddling on the slightly rainbow-colored water below also clues one in that this is no "lavender lake" or "perfume creek" anymore either.

The Gowanus Canal, the 1.5-mile long 19th-century link between Red Hook and Brooklyn's interior, has made a remarkable rebound since a long dormant flushing mechanism was repaired in 1999. And although the area's industrial glory days are long past, a renaissance is in the works.

Housing interests are pressing in from all sides as Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill residents are claiming the houses and apartments scattered amid the chop shops, bus lots, scrap yards, warehouses and oil depots that ring the canal.

The blocks around the canal that don't have houses are better known as canvases for graffiti artists, but that is sure to change.

A planned Whole Foods on Third Avenue is inching along toward completion, renovated houses on Bond Street are fetching seven figures and a spirited fight is on to convince the city Planning Department to rezone industrial tracts along the water for housing.

The basics
Find it
Gowanus is defined by Butler Street to the north, Fourth Avenue to the west, the Gowanus Expressway to the south and Smith and Hoyt streets to the east

Transportation
Subway: F, M, R at 9th St.-4th Ave.; F, G at Smith-9th St., Carroll St.; M, R at Union St. Bus: B37, 71, 75, 77, 103

Crime
The 76th Precinct has had no murders, no rapes and 10 robberies this year, compared to no murders, two rapes and 11 robberies at this time last year. Last year the precinct reported no murders, eight rapes and 133 robberies.

Schools
P.S. 32, 317 Hoyt St.; P.S. 58, 330 Smith St.; P.S. 124, 515 Fourth Ave.; P.S. 133, 375 Butler St.; P.S. 372, 512 Carroll St.; M.S. 51, 350 Fifth Ave.; Brooklyn High School of Arts, 345 Dean St.; H.S. 460, 237 Seventh Ave.

Post Offices
257 Columbia St., 275 Ninth St.

Banks
Bank of America, 534 Fifth Ave.; Chase, 390 Court St.; Citibank, 375 Court St.; Commerce Bank, 269 Fifth Ave.; Roosevelt Savings Bank, 1-37 12th St.

Real estate