Midwood - Definition and Overview

Midwood is a neighborhood located in the south central part of Borough of Brooklyn, New York, roughly half way between Prospect Park and Coney Island. It is bounded on the north by Avenue H and the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York and on the south by Kings Highway. The eastern and western boundaries are Flatbush Avenue and Coney Island Avenue.

The name Midwood derives from the Dutch word Midwout (middle woods), the name the settlers of New Netherland gave the area of western Long Island, between the towns of “Boswijck” and “Brueckelen”, because of its thick forests. Settlement began in 1652 but the area remained undeveloped for the most part until the 1920s when large tracts of developed houses and apartment buildings were built. The film industry established itself in the neighborhood about the same time when the Vitagraph company occupied a studio at Avenue M and East 14th Street. Scenes from films like “Hay Pop” and “Buzzin’ Around” staring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle were filmed on streets in Midwood. (http://subway.com.ru/vitagraph/)

The National Broadcasting Company(NBC) set up studios in the neighborhood in 1935 from which the programs of Perry Como and Steve Allen were broadcast. The same studios were used in more recent decades to broadcast the soap opera Another World and the situation comedy The Cosby Show. Other entertainment figures who grew up in the neighborhood were Woody Allen, who graduated from Midwood High School, and Arthur Miller who went to James Madison High School.

Many Midwood residents moved to the suburbs in the 1970’s and the neighborhood and it’s commercial districts declined. Drawn by its quiet middle class ambiance, the area underwent a resurgence in the 1980s. New immigrants to the neighborhood consisted of people from the Soviet Union (the largest group) as will as people from China, Haiti, Israel, Pakistan, Guyana, Jamaica, Iran and India.

The main shopping streets in the area are Kings Highway, Avenue J, Avenue M, and Flatbush, Nostrand, and Coney Island Avenues.

References

• A Virtual Tour of New Netherland (http://www.nnp.org/newvtour/regions/Long_Island/midwout.html) Consulted December 14, 2004
• Echoes Down the Corridor (http://63.147.65.175/books/checho1022.htm) Consulted December 14, 2004
• Midwood section of Congresman Anthony D. Weiner (http://www.house.gov/weiner/neighborhoods/hoods_midwood.htm) Consulted December 14, 2004

External link

• e-midwood web site (http://www.emidwood.com/default.html) Click on one of the red lines on the map and see a panoramic view of what's across the street.
• Avenue J (http://www.brooklynonline.com/midwood/) List of stores, community services, etc. by category.
• Avenue M (http://avem.brooklynonline.com/) List of stores, community services, etc. by category.