If you’re a fellow Brooklynite
or you've seen listings on StreetEasy, or a real estate agent refers to it as 'East' Williamsburg, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Is this 'new' neighborhood called 'East Williamsburg' or is it actually 'Bushwick'?
The debate goes on over Williamsburg's status and geographical boundaries.
Williamsburg, along with the rest of Brooklyn, was originally home to the Indigenous Lenape. According to the report by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, after its colonization, the area went from mostly open farmland to being incorporated as the village of Williamsburgh in 1827. By 1835, its eastern border extended to Bushwick Avenue. While the area originally had a large German population, the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 allowed new waves of Italian and Jewish immigrants to come over from the crowded Lower East Side.
The McKibbin lofts first arrived on the scene in the late 1990s, attracting artists to the neighborhood. That is the time when East Williamsburg had emerged. Dan Nuxoll, one of the founders of the McKibbin lofts and who later moved out told The New York Times in 2008, "When we were there, there was a cross-section of people; we were all from New York and had a sense of what that neighborhood meant. I don't think you see that anymore."
East Williamsburg was fabricated when a wave of newcomers came in from the '80s. In her book, "Made in Brooklyn: Artists, Hipsters, Makers, Gentrifiers," which discusses Morgantown, an area alternatively described as East Williamsburg and Bushwick, Amanda Wasielewski writes;
“While many places retain their historic names, real estate agents and property developers know that rebranding a neighborhood to associate it with a more attractive neighboring area can improve its desirability.”
Since rebranding is used for much desirability, it had even inspired a bill called the Neighborhood Integrity Act in 2017 to protect "the integrity of traditionally recognized neighborhoods." This bill was in place to ensure that it would penalize real estate brokers who advertise areas under rebranded names or redefine traditional boundaries "without community input."
East Williamsburg is included on Google Maps where it is bounded by Meeker Avenue to the north, Bushwick Avenue to the west, Flushing Avenue to the south, and Newtown Creek to the east.
So, East Williamsburg or Bushwick? It depends on the demographic and who you are talking to. An old-timer who has lived in the neighborhood and owns a small business may refer to it as Bushwick and the young people who are moving over have their sights set on "East Williamsburg".
