Whether or not you agree, there is no denying the transformations the neighborhood has gone through since the 1600s, when the Dutch named it Boswijck, or “heavy woods.”
One of the most drastic transformations the neighborhood went through was from the 1960s until the 1990s. Though these changes had been occurring for many years at this point, Bushwick was thrown into the national spotlight on July 13, 1977, the day of the New York City Blackout.
Looting mainly along Broadway Avenue and homes going up in flames on July 13 were the tipping points for a neighborhood that had been dealing with an economic decline for over fifteen years.
The looting made national news and the press focused briefly on how Bushwick transformed from a once-prominent neighborhood to a ghost town…