Bay Ridge: Verrazzano Views and Brooklyn Calm

Bay Ridge is the Brooklyn neighborhood sitting in the shadow of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the span that connects Staten Island with New York's other boroughs.

This is another favorite of New York's Italian-American community, much like Belmont in the Bronx, and locals describe it as a small town inside the big city.

If you're like me and always hunting for the corners of New York that showed up in movies or TV, you'll like knowing this is home to Peggy Olson from Mad Men and Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) 😜.

What to do in Bay Ridge

Bay Ridge feels pretty different from the rest of the city. Sea breeze hits it from two sides, and the views beat what most other New York neighborhoods can offer.

Head to the piers. From there you get cinematic views of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island, the Jersey City skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and the towers of Lower Manhattan.

Back in the day, travelers came down to the Bay Ridge piers to catch the ferries to Staten Island, before the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge linked Brooklyn and Staten Island in 1964.

These days, people come to the American Veterans Memorial Pier to fish and watch gorgeous sunsets.

When hunger hits, you'll find plenty of pizzerias, trattorias, and Irish pubs, most of them clustered along Third Avenue between 76th and 97th Streets, an area locals call Brooklyn's Gold Coast.

But there's much more to see in Bay Ridge, so keep reading!

See the Christmas lights in Bay Ridge

Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights are two Brooklyn neighborhoods that fill up with lights and holiday decorations at Christmas.

It's the classic scene from all those American holiday movies you binge once December rolls around.

There are streets where neighbors compete to put up the best display, sometimes going way over the top, like the «blue house,» one of the most visited every year.

Walking those streets in search of the most decorated, most lit-up facades is an experience in itself. It helps to take the Christmas Lights Tour in Spanish, since the guides take you straight to the most famous houses.

I say the guided tour helps because Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights are residential neighborhoods pretty far from the tourist routes and subway stations, so getting there on your own eats up a lot of time.

Events in Bay Ridge

Bay Ridge pays tribute to its past at The Raggamuffin Parade, an outdoor event held on Third Avenue on the first Saturday of October.

Along with the parades and floats Americans love so much, there's an antique car show. It's impressive to see how many vintage cars turn up and how well kept they are.

Another huge event is the New York City Marathon. After crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from the Staten Island side, runners pack the streets of Bay Ridge, one of the best places to watch the New York Marathon live.

See the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

At the southern end of the neighborhood stands the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn with Staten Island. It's a great spot to take in the whole thing.

Saturday Night Fever in Bay Ridge

That famous John Travolta scene that changed the way the world dances, the one on the lit-up dance floor, was filmed at the 2001 Odyssey nightclub (802 64th Street, Bay Ridge).

Don't get too excited, it's gone: in 1987 it became a gay club called Spectrum, and in 2005 it closed for good. Its famous illuminated floor and the disco mirror ball were auctioned off on eBay, snatched away from the feet of new generations of disco dancers.

History of the neighborhood

This neighborhood was developed in the late 19th century as a country retreat for wealthy Manhattan families. Back then it was known as Yellow Hook, for the yellowish color of its soil. Over time it became home to Italians, Irish, and Scandinavians, and today, much like neighboring Bensonhurst, it's turning into Cantonese territory.

Gentrification in Bay Ridge

The more I dig into New York's history, the angrier I get about gentrification, that upscaling process that wiped out pop culture gems like CBGB, shuttered in 2006 because it couldn't cover the sky-high rent. In the case of this famous disco, you can guess the same thing happened.

That said, urban renewal brings gains too, and there will always be people who are thrilled to see a Starbucks on their corner. It's up to you…

«We have manners»

Let's close this section on Bay Ridge with a line from Peggy Olson, the Norwegian-descended character from Mad Men, filmed at Silvercup Studios, by the way. In the second episode she declares: «I'm from Bay Ridge. We have manners».

Address

Bay Ridge runs from 65th Street on the north to 101st Street on the south, and from I-278 on the east to Shore Road and the harbor on the west

How to get there

Subway R. 77th St, 86th St, and Bay Ridge-95th St stations