Crown Heights Vignettes

dailyheights.com: Where is Crow Hill?

From the WPA Guide to New York City: "Crown Heights� The section was known as Crow Hill until 1916, when Crown Street was cut through." It was a quiet, sparsely populated settlement in the original Dutch town of Breukelen.

"The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn" tells that when it was Dutch farmland, it was believed to have been called Crow Hill after its tallest hill, whose trees were always filled with crows. The book also says that the name could have come from the mid-1800's when there were African and African American settlements there, and the whites called them 'crows'. A third story has it that the 'crows' were inmates in the Kings County Penitentiary that was there from 1846 to 1907.

I was told that the lower part of the neighborhood, now Lefferts Boulevard used to be a river. I was told that 770 Eastern Parkway used to be a hospital. The hospital was shut down due to illegal abortions in 1930s (that actually explains a lot for my vantage point). It was then claimed by Lubavitch upon the arrival of the Previous Rebbe.

The glass stained window (click to enlarge) above the hastily pained AGUH sign. One can see Japanese inscriptions, a sail boat on top, a tea cattle on the left side of the bay window, two geishas in front and what looks like Buddha on the right side of the window.