Category Archives: Research Experiences

ARCH2205ID_Blog#1_Lana_Belopukhova

FORGOTTEN VINEGAR HILL  

By Lana Belopukhova , march 15, 2017 / Comments 20

Cars parked in front of four Navy uniform stores on Sand Street, Brooklyn. Brooklyn, NY, US. March 1946. Photographer: Andreas Feininger (via LIFE)

 

I chose this photo for the simple reason. This photo shows LIFE.

Vinegar Hill is located in Brooklyn, located east of the Manhattan Bridge. It’s a charming small area marked by buildings of brown stone and Belgian streets that have not yet been asphalted. It’s just four or five square blocks. In the past, Vinegar Hill was a more vibrant and diverse economy. All bars, groceries, cigar’s shops, cleanings were located in the neighborhood. Vinegar-Hill had factories, many of which remained in place.  Vinegar Hill grew so well especially after the Brooklyn Bridge opening in 1883 and became so desirable.
Today’s Vinegar Hill is all that is left of huge desolated territory. But it was little by little destroyed by construction under construction next to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Farragut Houses south of York Street in the 40s and 50s.

But even Vinegar Hill became such a dead neighborhood, the Park now seems to be bringing in more and more people, including tourists.
I believe that Vinegar Hill is well on its way for the second coming of development because of this neighborhood full of history and it allows you to escape the city without actually leaving it.