Ocean Parkway Malls

What was here before?
The Ocean Parkway Malls traverse several neighborhoods, including (from north to south) Kensington, Midwood, and Brighton Beach. Once home to the Canarsie, these areas were later settled by the Dutch and became the towns of Flatbush and Gravesend. They remained largely rural until the mid-19th century. The completion of major roadways like the Coney Island Plank Road (now Coney Island Avenue) and the expansion of railroad access between Coney Island and the rest of Brooklyn spurred development along this corridor as the region became more accessible.

How did this become a parkway?
In 1866, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) and Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) conceived a network of wide, tree-lined avenues that would cut across the grid of Brooklyn and link its open spaces. Modeled after the Avenue de L’Impératrice (now the Avenue Foch) in Paris, Olmsted and Vaux’s new roads differed from their French predecessors in that they stretched for several miles. They were intended to provide sumptuous green corridors where citizens could live and take pleasure drives. Two were built near Olmsted and Vaux’s newly designed Prospect Park: Eastern Parkway, running from Prospect Park to Crown Heights, and Ocean Parkway, connecting Prospect Park toConey Island’s beachfront.

The City of Brooklyn acquired the land for Ocean Parkway in 1868. When the parkway was built, between 1874 and 1876, it started at Park Circle (now known as Police Officer Robert Machate Circle) at the southern entrance of Prospect Park. While Eastern Parkway stopped short of its intended terminus, Ocean Parkway was built as Olmsted and Vaux envisioned, stretching five and a half miles from Prospect Park to Brooklyn’s beaches at Coney Island. The parkway’s central drive quickly became a popular place for impromptu horse and carriage races, earning the moniker Ocean Parkway Speedway.

The parkway was divided according to function, with a center lane dedicated for private vehicles and pleasure driving (originally horse-drawn carriages), flanked by two landscaped malls to create a park-like atmosphere and a place for pedestrians to stroll. Service roads for local and commercial traffic run outside the malls.

On June 15, 1894, thanks to the efforts of the Good Roads Association and cycling enthusiasts, Ocean Parkway became the home of the country’s first bike path. More than 60 “wheelman clubs” from the New York and New Jersey area, as well as bicycle police, were on hand for the opening ceremony. Since racing was still a concern, cyclists were limited to speeds of 12 miles per hour on the bike path and 10 miles per hour on the parkway. Until 1908, there were several tracks for horse racing along the parkway, but these disappeared once open betting was banned. Equestrian use on Ocean Parkway came to an end when the bridle path on the eastern roadway was removed during restoration in the 1970s.

In the 1950s, Ocean Parkway’s northernmost section was replaced with the Prospect Expressway. To prevent further compromises to the historic design, in 1975 the city designated Ocean Parkway as a scenic landmark. A major federally funded restoration, completed in 1980, as well as new noncommercial zoning restrictions, followed. Further renovations in the 1990s replaced the pine trees with more locally appropriate plantings including red cedar trees and American holly. The pathways, bike lanes, and landscaping have been regularly improved.