The Johnson's Guide to the Best of Bay Ridge Series

Happy February!

This month I'm starting a mini-series called The Johnson's Guide to the Best of Bay Ridge. It's mostly about food but I'm also going to share some of our favorite places and obscure facts about the little neighborhood we call home. We love where we live and feel like it's a special place to highlight in the whole of NYC. And in case you're ever in the area, you'll know where to stop. 

Every Wednesday this month I'll share a few places and the first few posts will be our top restaurant recommendations featuring cuisine from around the world! But to start, a little history. 

Bay Ridge is located in southwest corner of Brooklyn at the end of the R line local subway. On a map (or from the air if you're flying into NYC) you can spot the area by locating the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island. The neighborhood is basically "hugged" by the New York Bay and The BQE (a highway). 

The area was originally settled by the Dutch, played a role in the Revolutionary War, and by the 20th Century was mainly inhabited by Norwegian and Danish sailors. Once the subway line extended into the area in nineteen teens, it became more populated and began to diversify. 

You might have heard of the area in a few pop culture references. The movie Saturday Night Fever was set in the area and the character Peggy Olson from Mad Men was from Bay Ridge. Also, many scenes from movies and television shows are shot in Bay Ridge (although they might not say it's Bay Ridge), including several scenes from The Americans.

Today it's an incredibly diverse working-class neighborhood with many apartment complexes, huge mansion-style houses by the water, and the classic Brooklyn "Brownstones" throughout. It has two main business avenues (3rd and 5th Avenues) and a commercial district with shopping (86th Street). It's not a place that tourists have on their bucket list so it's free of the Manhattan crowds (which is nice). Via the good old reliable R train, it's a 40 minute ride to lower Manhattan and just a few stops from the express trains into Midtown. Because the neighborhood is only serviced by buses and a local subway line, it hasn't really caught on as a super trendy area (thankfully) but that has begun to change little by little over the years (yikes).

Dan moved here from Kansas in 2008 (and has lived in 6 different apartments all over the neighborhood) and I moved here from Colorado in 2009 (and lived in 3 different apartments). We've always called this area home and hope to be able to stay here as long as we can afford it. We love the small neighborhood feeling while still having the "city" vibe. We love the parks and the shops and we especially love the food. We like living in a diverse area and intermingling with people from a huge range of ethnic backgrounds. It's changed a lot since we moved here but so have we and that's just fine.

I hope you enjoy this little series and even if you never plan to check it out for yourself, I always like peeking into other places and seeing how other people live so maybe you will too.