A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from August 26, 2009
Little Bangladesh

“Little Bangladesh” is a neighborhood nickname for any area filled with people of Bangladesh descent. New York City had more than one “Little Bangladesh.”
   
The Kensington section of Brooklyn has been home to the Little Bangladesh restaurant at 483 McDonald Avenue and Church Avenue. This area has been called “Little Bangladesh” since at least 2005. Long Island City ih Queens has had a “Little Bangladesh” along 36th Avenue also since at least 2005.
   
   
Wikipedia; Kensington, Brooklyn
Kensington is a neighborhood in the center of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the area south of Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east, Caton Avenue/ Ft. Hamilton Parkway to the north, Dahill Road and 36th St to the west, and Foster Avenue and 47th Street to the south. The neighborhoods that border it are Ditmas Park and Prospect Park South to the east (both of which are parts of Flatbush), Windsor Terrace to the north, Borough Park to the west, and Midwood to the south.
 
Kensington is a predominantly residential area consisting of housing types that run the gamut from brick rowhouses, to detached one family Victorians and apartment buildings. Pre-war brick apartment buildings dominate the Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue frontage, many operating as co-ops. The main commercial streets are on Coney Island Avenue, Church Avenue, and Ditmas Avenue. Ocean Parkway bisects the neighborhood.
 
Kensington is a very diverse neighborhood, containing Ukrainian, South Asian (Bangladeshi and Pakistani), Chinese, Orthodox Jewish, Hasidim, Irish, Polish, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Latino, Mexican, and Caribbean communities.
   
Wikipedia: Long island City, Queens
Long Island City (often abbreviated L.I.C.) is the westernmost neighborhood of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded on the north by the Queens neighborhood of Astoria; on the west by the East River; on the east by Hazen Street, 31st Street, and New Calvary Cemetery; and on the south by Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It originally was the seat of government of Newtown Township, and remains the largest neighborhood in Queens. The area is part of Queens Community Board 1 north of the Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge and Queens Community Board 2 south of the Bridge. The zip codes of Long Island City are 11101, 11102, 11103, 11104, 11105, 11106 and 11109.
 
NFT
Little Bangladesh    
Address:  483 McDonald Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218 (Cross street: Church Ave) 
Neighborhood:  Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace   Book: Brooklyn
Specifics:  Middle Eastern
Phone:  718-871-7080
   
NY1 (New York City local cable news)
05/20/2005 12:30 PM
Asian-American Heritage Week: Little Bangladesh Grows In Brooklyn, Queens
By: NY1 News
Sure, we’ve all heard of Little Italy and Chinatown, and perhaps even Little India. But how about Little Bangladesh?
 
“This strip right here is absolutely a Bangladeshi community, and a Bangladeshi shopping center - everything Bangladeshi,” says community activist Helal Uddin.
 
That’s right, McDonald Avenue in Kensington, Brooklyn, is lined with dozens of businesses owned and operated by Bangladeshis. Here, delis sell imported goods, barber shops buzz with Bangla banter, and restaurants serve up traditional treats.
 
“We have built a beautiful community, and we have linked with City Hall and Borough Hall,” says community activist Faruq Wadud.
 
McDonald Avenue is one of two so-called Little Bangladesh’s. The other is on 36th Avenue in Long Island City.
 
The Queens neighborhood and surrounding area is home to the largest concentration of Bangladeshis outside of Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi population in Queens grew nearly 400 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Census Department. 
 
All City New York
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Little Bangledesh
Had dinner with a friend in the Bangladeshi area of Kensington today, where I used to live. The old Italian restaurant just got turned into a South Asian place. They were having some trouble with the equipment, so we ate across the street.
(...)
I headed east over to the next street, McDonald Avenue, and figured it out. Half the block was a commercial strip, and the preponderance of business were Bangladeshi. I headed back over to the two blocks of Dahill Road and was able to figure out pretty convincingly that this was an almost 100% Bangladeshi residential strip (and later I found out that this little area was indeed sometimes called “Little Bangladesh.)”

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityNeighborhoods • Wednesday, August 26, 2009 • Permalink


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