Brooklyn in the 1950's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Brooklyn in the 1950's - Essay Example Among these displays, some of the very best include those on 83rd and 84th streets. For the tourists nowadays a 3.5 hours tour shuttle is also offered whose name is â€Å"Tony Muia† This is what Brooklyn looks like at present times but in this article we’ll try to have a look about the outlook of Brooklyn as it was in 1950s. The main reference to the history of Brooklyn is a beautiful book by Colm Toibin named â€Å"Brooklyn†, it is basically a novel based on the life of Brooklyn in 50s. This novel basically depicts a sad life and gives an overview about the pattern of life in Brooklyn at that time. Geographical Location: In 1950s, Brooklyn had the same boundaries as of the Kings County which is now the 2nd most densely populated county of United States after the Manhattan County, if we go far behind in the past then Brooklyn was an independent city until it was included in New York in 1898, but still in 1950s, despite of the merger into New York., Brooklyn maint ained its individuality in culture, art and its architecture and it has harbor different cultures in different areas. Downfall of Brooklyn: In the post war years, Brooklyn was the main supplier of the industrial goods to the whole of the country but by 1950 these industrial supplies began to diminish pertaining to the fact that the major industrial manufacturers started to move to other cities which appeared cheaper to them as well as the Brooklyn port also started to decline as larger ships came into scene which required larger ports having deep harbors which was deficient factor in the port of Brooklyn, at that time, economy was unstable and banks were providing loans for building houses on easy conditions so a large number of white middle class community left their native homes in Brooklyn and moved to other localities which appeared to have more prosperous future for them such as Staten Island and New Jersey. Whole of the Jewish community left their homes in Brooklyn and moved t o other places such as Flatbush, Borough Park, Eastern Parkway and Brighton Beach. Most of the Italians also moved from Brooklyn and what could be regarded as a major blow was the incidence of Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles in 1957. This was quite significant as Dodgers symbolized Brooklyn for a very long time so it was a big setback for the residents of Brooklyn and the dodgers wee the unifying factor for the whole diverse ethnic groups residing in the Brooklyn. So everyone in Brooklyn in some way or the other was related to each other through the Dodgers. One such incidence which showed the significance of Dodgers was the defeat of New York Yankees by the Dodgers in 1955 which made their loyal fans felt proud and when this team suddenly became the Los Angeles Dodgers then it was also taken as a sign of the decline of the golden era of Brooklyn. Once all the colors of Brooklyn faded, the manufacturing power of Brooklyn also declined drastically and this can be shown by the fact that the Brooklyn Navy yard was closed in 1966. The Brighter Side: Despite of a large number of people migrating to other areas from Brooklyn, in 1950s there was an influx of a large number of Italians to this area resulting in the predominance of Italians in these neighborhoods and this dominance of Italians still persists in some areas of Brooklyn such as Bensonhurst which is also known as the â€Å"Little Italy† of Brooklyn. In 1950, one major event was the arrival of New York aquarium into the Coney Island. Though the abrupt voting of the Dodgers to join Los Angeles was the significant dilemma for the Brooklyn residents but event after that there were some leaders in Brooklyn like Galamison and Reverend Milton who continued the traditions of the activists to raise their voices against any injustice or