Brooklyn Neighborhood On Toxic Waterway

June 2, 2010 - “There’s no place in Brooklyn, or in New York City, that feels kind of more pleasant than being right here, which is odd given that that is a toxic waterway,” said Jennifer Prediger, a producer of environmental videos who lives in nearby Carroll Gardens. “But it’s actually quite lovely. It’s the loveliest toxic waterway I’ve ever spent time on.”

In the course of its roughly 150-year history, the Gowanus Canal has been called many things, but it’s fair to say “lovely” is probably not one of them. Now, however, the Gowanus micro-neighborhood — bounded by the gentrifying brownstone districts of Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Park Slope — is enjoying its moment in the summer sun, drawing the city’s hipsters to its art galleries and rock-climbing gyms, its nightclubs and rooftop film series. The half-empty warehouses and semi-derelict factories — for so long seen as post-industrial blight — now give Gowanus a special cultural edge, like a miniature Baltimore or Detroit (with terrifying pollution substituting for terrifying crime).

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