What’s So Great About Bensonhurst?
The classic blue-collar corner of New York
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in southwestern Brooklyn. It’s a working-class area made famous by shows like The Honeymooners and movies like John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever.
It is located in the southeastern part of Brooklyn, and is bordered by Gravesend, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights to the north; Bay Ridge to the west; Sunset Park to the south; and Marine Park and the Belt Parkway to the east.
The area has been settled since the 1650s when Dutch settlers arrived.
The neighborhood gets its name from the family of Egbert Benson whose descendants sold the land to James Lynch, a New York real estate developer.
In 1835 Arthur Benson, the then-president of Brooklyn Gas, began selling off farmland to create Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea — his new suburb — on condition that it kept the family name.
Today Bensonhurst is one of the largest Italian-American strongholds in all of New York City.
After the 4th Avenue subway opened in 1915, thousands of Jewish and Italian New Yorkers moved to the area. The influx of Italian immigrants in the 1950s led to the area being known as the “Little Italy” of Brooklyn.
