Brooklyn was one of the five major boroughs composed in New York City. There is various multicultural neighborhood exist in Brooklyn. Sunset Park was one of the multicultural neighborhoods in Brooklyn, it was located between 41st and 44th streets and Fifth and Seventh Avenues. Sunset Park has been recognized as low residential streets with a classical look, and even its own Chinatown. Independent businesses still reign, with nearby Industry City slowly ushering in the modern era. In addition, the neighborhood of Sunset Park feels like a preserved piece of old New York. Throwback-loving travelers can look forward to supporting independent businesses, enjoying old school restaurants, and stepping out of the shadow of New York’s countless luxury developments. Sunset Park has also been known as a great place for views, in Sunset Park, you will be able to relish in breathtaking views of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn neighborhoods, Staten Island and New Jersey.
Sunset Park was known for its diversity because the population of the Chinese immigrants that settle in Sunset Park is significantly rising in the 1980s and a large number of immigrants from Mexico and the Dominican Republic also settled in Sunset Park between 1900 and 1930. Thus, in 2018, the majority of the population in Sunset Park consists of 29% Asian and 39.1% Hispanic. Therefore, multicultural neighborhoods emerged as the population grew. As a result, Spanish can be found in the majority of store signs on Fifth Avenue and Fifth Avenue has been known as the communities for Hispanics. Moreover, Chinese are presented in most of the stores on Seventh and Eighth Avenue. Therefore, this area has also been known as the Chinatown of Sunset Park. Overall, one can find out how various diverse neighborhoods have shared some interesting characteristics in their neighborhood and benefit society. In Sunset Park, residents share their cultures through a variety of aspects in their community such as language and the style of their businesses. From these aspects, it also creates a culturalistic environment for residents.
Through Sunset Park, some aspects such as the use of the Chinese language and the color red were presented in multiple stores. Many Chinese immigrants chose to settle in Eighth Avenue due to the number eight represent a lucky number in Chinese culture which also motivates many Chinese immigrants to establish their business in that area. Therefore, one can see how the Chinese establish their business in a very distinctive way. As shown in image #2, the store name and its cuisine are shown in Chinese and only the store name has a translation in English. Therefore, one can speculate that the owner is only targeting customers who are Chinese since not much translation in other languages is provided to the store. Similarly, in image #5 and 6, one can also see that this restaurant is mostly written and explained about their food in Chinese. In addition, some stores are only presenting their promotions only in Chinese. In image #3, the cellphone store’s promotion banner is only written in Chinese. Therefore, this explains Chinese owners are more welcome customers who are Chinese since the owners provide more in-depth details about their food in Chinese. Thus, the owner might also have the intention to attract some of the customers from other countries because they also provide a translation of their food in English. It’s not hard to see why the use of the Chinese language was so common in Sunset Park since 40% of the population in Sunset Park were from Asia. In addition, from the images, one can also notice that red appears in most of the businesses in the Asian community due to the color red represent wealth and fortune. in the Chinese tradition. Thus, most of the Asian believe that by using the color red, it will bring luck to their businesses. Overall, Eighth Avenue is also considered an Asian community in Sunset Park because more and more Asians settle in Eighth Avenue.
Another aspect that can be found in Sunset Park was the use of Spanish presented in multiple stores. Fifth Avenue which lies in Sunset Park is considered a Hispanic community since there are many signs of Spanish presented in that area. As shown in images #8 and 9, the majority of the store signs are only written in Spanish, only a few English translations are provided in their stores. Thus, we can also see the business owner of Tacos El Bronco chose Mexico as the logo for their delivery van. Therefore, one can see that the target customers of these stores are Hispanic because the business owner uses the image of their country to attract customers who are also from Mexico. On the other hand, compared to the stores that were in the Asian community of Sunset Park, the store in the Hispanic community is more stylish because most of their store signs have images and logos printed on their store signs, this also depicts the style of Hispanic’s businesses. In addition, Hispanics had the fastest rate of population growth in Sunset Park from 1990 to 2010. Thus, most of the immigrants come from the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Therefore, we can see the population of Hispanics has been significantly growing over the years and it will continue to grow in the future. Overall, we can see how each ethnic group has their unique characteristics and style in their community which allows others to learn through these aspects.
In conclusion, different ethnic groups share their unique tradition and style in their community, with such a diverse culture and population, it also made up the uniqueness that existed in Sunset Park. People from different parts of the world joined in Sunset Park and learned about their cultures and traditions through establishing their communities in Sunset Park. Moreover, they also adopt a special way to run their business in Sunset Park by providing a translation in other languages also attract other ethnic groups. As a result, with this very special method of living in Sunset Park which allows people from different ethnic group to learn different languages and allows the neighborhood to grow stronger in the future.