General Information

Midwood lies in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was there that two famous directors – Woody Allen and Darren Aronofsky were brought up and spent their youth.

Additional Information

Midwood is located within Community District 14 and is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch freight line tracks, just above Avenue I and Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, and on the south by Avenue P and Kings Highway. The eastern border is Nostrand Avenue or Flatbush Avenue and Coney Island Avenue. McDonald Avenue or Ocean Parkway to the west is the other boundary.

History: Highlights

Many Midwood residents moved to the suburbs in the 1970s, and the neighbourhood and its commercial districts declined. Drawn by its quiet middle-class ambiance, new residents began pouring into Midwood during the 1980s; many of them were recently landed immigrants from all over the world.

History: Explained

The largest group to come to Midwood was from the Soviet Union, but a substantial number of people also arrived from Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, Guyana and elsewhere in South America, as well as from Ireland, Italy, Poland, the Baltic countries. In a short time, Midwood was transformed, from a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood with a smattering of Irish-Americans and German-Americans, to a remarkably polyglot section of the borough of Brooklyn. Originally settlement was begun by the Dutch in 1652. They later gave way to the English (who conquered the area in 1664), but the neighbourhood remained rural for the most part until its annexation to the City of Brooklyn. It became more developed in the 1920s when large middle-class housing tracts and apartment buildings were built.

Film Industry: Highlights

Midwood has long played a part in both film and television productions. Film industry established itself in the neighbourhood in 1907, when the Vitagraph company occupied a studio at Avenue M and East 14th Street. Among films and TV shows that have been filmed in Midwood are such jewels as Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” or “The Purple Rose of Cairo” by Woody Allen.

Film Industry: Explained

In the 1920s Warner Bros. purchased the studio previously used by Vitagraph. They moved the studio to Hollywood in 1939 but a large smokestack bearing the name Vitagraph is still on the property. In 1952, NBC Television purchased part of the Vitagraph Studios, which then became known as NBC Brooklyn. Many Vitagraph employees resided within the community, but nowadays residents have no clue that the Shulamith School (which currently occupies the location) building and property were once a film studio in its heyday.

Religious Groups: Highlights

Midwood is a mainly Jewish neighbourhood. Several branches of Touro College are located herer, and the area is also home to numerous large orthodox synagogues, including the Young Israel of Midwood. The area between Avenue I and Newkirk Avenue is heavily populated by Muslims, most of whom come from Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.