Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)

Ocean Parkway is a broad boulevard and associated neighborhood in the west central portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City.

Route description
Ocean Parkway extends over a distance of about five miles (8 km), running almost north to south from Prospect Park to Coney Island and Brighton Beach. The parkway runs roughly parallel to Coney Island Avenue, an important commercial avenue about 1/4 mile to the east, that runs from Prospect Park to the Atlantic Ocean, as does Ocean Parkway. Ocean Parkway consists of a central bi-directional "main drive" of seven lanes, the middle lane being for left turns or a painted median, and -- to the east and west of the main drive -- medians ("malls") with trees, benches, and pedestrian paths, and beyond each median, a parallel side street ("service lane" for the residences on the far sides of the side streets). The west median also has a bike path, part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The parkway is designated New York State Route 908H, an unsigned reference route.

History
In reports prepared during the 1860s, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (who were also responsible for Central Park, Prospect Park and Eastern Parkway) suggested Ocean Parkway to Brooklyn park commissioners. They drew up a plan for the parkway, inspired by boulevards in Berlin and Paris (including the present Avenue Foch). In 1868 the land was acquired by the City of Brooklyn; work began in 1874 and was completed in 1880. The resulting parkway is similar to Eastern Parkway, with a central roadway, grassy median and pedestrian paths ("malls") to the east and west of, and parallel to, the central roadway, and parallel side roads ("service lanes") on the far side of the malls, for a total parkway width of 210 feet (64 m). Trees, playing tables, and benches line the pedestrian path and boulevard. The parkway begins at Park Circle (now known as Machate Circle after Police Officer Robert Machate) at the southern entrance of Prospect Park) and passes through Windsor Terrace, Parkville and other neighborhoods that were not part of the City of Brooklyn when the parkway was built. As time passed, new neighborhoods (including Kensington) were built along the route. The Prospect Expressway, built in the 1950s, replaced the northernmost half-mile of the parkway, but because of community pressure spearheaded by local civic activist Arline Bronzaft, the city designated the parkway a landmark in 1975 to prevent additional alterations, including replacing the entire parkway with a southbound extension of the Prospect Expressway that was demanded by the federal government.

The pedestrian path was split in 1894 to create the first bike path in the United States. Around 1900, homes were constructed along the far side of the "service lanes" of the parkway, and during World War I many mansions were built. Buyers came to Ocean Parkway from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights and Bushwick. In the 1920s, apartment complexes and one- and two-family homes were constructed; the northernmost portion of the parkway became the site of luxurious, elevator-equipped apartment buildings.

Apartments began to replace older homes in the vicinity of the parkway after World War II.

Horse racing took place on the parkway until 1908, when a ban on open betting took effect. Until the parkway zoning was changed and restoration was carried out in the 1970s, bridle paths existed as well on the Eastern median.