Ever been out to Canarsie? Yeah, it’s way the hell out there. And it’s one of those neighborhoods that people don’t really go out to just spend the day as a local tourist. It’s changed immensely over the years, with many saying not for the better with its fast pace growth in crime over the years. Originally taken from the Canarsee Indians (yay settlers), there was a time when it was a flourishing fishing village (til the neighboring Manhattan island’s pollution got the better of the waters), turned Italian, joined Jewish, then turned mostly black Caribbean and West Indies community. But, we’re not here to give you a history lesson, today. We can, however, point you in the direction of a great publication talking all about Canarsie. Brian Merlis and Lee A. Rosenzweig have put together their next great tell-all called Brooklyn’s Last Village: Canarsie on Jamaica Bay.

We came across this article about Merlis and Rosenzweig’s research, assistance, and description of what their book entails. And, of course, nothing pertaining to Brooklyn would matter without the works of Thomas Wolfe from Only the Dead Know Brooklyn:

“Wit dat, he pulls it out of his pocket, an’ so help me, but he’s got it—he’s telling duh troot—a big map of the whole f—— place with all duh different pahts mahked out. You know—Canarsie am’ East Noo Yawk an’ Flatbush, Bensonhoist, Sout’ Brooklyn, duh Heights, Bay Ridge, Greenpernt—duh whole goddam layout, he’s got it right deh on duh map.”